bundlebit

Since the update to 10.5.2 Mac OS X users have the option to stop the Menu Bar from being translucent. This is done in System Preferences / Desktop & Screen Saver

If you need to test your RAM, Microsoft offer a free tool called windiag. The tool has its own loader, so it works autonomously for Intel or AMD processors, this means it works for Intel Macs or Linux Systems just as well as for Windows machines. You can download the ISO file here, burn a bootable CD and boot your computer from the CD. That's it.

Go here for the German windiag website.

And here's a reminder on how to burn an ISO disc image in Mac OS X:

1. Insert a blank disc.
2. Start Disk Utility.
3. From the File menu, choose Open Disk Image and select the ISO to be burned.
4. In the list of volumes, you will now see an item representing the ISO file. Select it.
5. Click the Burn button and follow the instructions.

This reminder is courtesy of vocaro on macosxhints.com. Thanks!

Not so long ago I upgraded a 12" PowerBook from Tiger to Leopard OS X, resulting in a blue screen on restart right after installation.
The cause was the Unsanity Application Enhancer installed on the old system. If you do an upgrade, check if you have Application Enhancer (a helper Extension in System Preferences, used for Applications like Airfoil for example) installed and uninstall it if its there.

In case the blue screen is already there, help is provided on the Apple's Support Discussions:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1197402&tstart=45

Boot your blue screen Mac in Firewire-mode if possible (by pressing T on startup), connect to another computer and remove the following files:

/Library/Preference Panes/Application Enhancer.prefpane
/Library/Frameworks/Application Enhancer.framework
/System/Library/SystemConfiguration/Application Enhancer.bundle
/Library/Preferences/com.unsanity.ape.plist

If Firewire-mode doesn't work you may have to remove your hard disk and place it in an external drive to sort t out. For me Firewire-mode worked fine though.

Can't find the Boot Camp Assistant.app on your freshly installed OS X 10.5? No one's going to believe you? - It's part of the system they'll say..? Well, it's just happened to us on 3 brand new MacBooks.

Luckily there is an easy solution to install Boot Camp separately:
Insert the OS X Leopard installer DVD, in Finder press command + shift + g () and enter the following path:
/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/Packages/ for the Leopard retail CD or /Volumes/Mac OS X Install Disc 1/System/Installation/Packages for Disc 1 that came with a new Mac.

Then double-click the BootCamp.pkg - this package is the Boot Camp installer.

Kein Boot Camp installiert? - Boot Camp lässt sich in OS X Leopard von der System DVD einfach nach installieren:
Aus dem Finder geben sie folgendens Tastenkürzel ein: (umschalttaste + befehlstaste + g)
/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/Packages/ für die Leopard DVD oder /Volumes/Mac OS X Install Disc 1/System/Installation/Packages für Disk 1 die mit einem neuen Mac mitgeliefert wurde.
Dann doppelklick auf BootCamp.pkg

If your Mac won't shut down, there's a big chance the problem lies with iDisk Sync being turned on (in System Preferences), - it can even cause problems in manual mode. It may also use up a large chunk of local disk space, because the system keeps a copy of your iDisk's contents.

macosxhints.com now have an easy solution to enable backup on mounted network drives with Time Machine: type the following in your Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

and Time Machine will let you select mounted network drives (under Set up Time Machine / Change Disk). I have no idea how reliable it is to use Time Machine with network storage and what kind of format is best. I still use a Firewire disk. Another issue is, that Time Machine will eventually fill all available disk space, no matter how many TB you have (more on this issue discussed here).

We we're trying to connect to a Mac running OS X 10.5.1 from a Windows machine running XP over the network...

Following the instructions the Sharing Preference on our Mac gave us, we were without a chance.

OS X 10.5. suggests the following path: smb://10.0.1.9. - we got nothing but error messages on our Windows machine. I remembered in OS X 10.4. it used to be backslash, - and indeed, without the "smb" and using double-backslash instead of double-slash it works.

Why the hell do Apple tell us "Windows users can access your computer at smb://10.0.1.9." when this obviously doesn't work? Maybe I don't know enough about Windows (true!) and using this path somewhere other than in Run from Start Menu would work..?

However, the Sharing Preference Interface in OS X has gone from bad in 10.4 to worse in 10.5 - this is not what a Mac should be - which is to offer an intuitive and user friendly interface. Although it must be said, technically it has improved, for example by offering the long missed option to allow access to specific folders.

On Windows enter your Mac's address 10.0.1.7. in the Run app:

If you can't see the smb://... path in your Mac's Sharing Preference, remember to click "options" located bottom right in the sharing preferences window and select "Share files and folders using SMB" and deselect the AFP checkbox - this used to simply be "Windows Sharing" in 10.4 Tiger...

To configure your Mac so you can access more than just your shared folders from the PC, add whichever directory / folder you want by clicking on the plus below the Shared Folders pane in the Sharing Preference window (in my example this is the folder "Larne" - with you it might be the "Documents" folder. Then grant Read & Write acces for yourself in the Users pane in the same Sharing Prefs window.

About the Mac OS X 10.5.1 Update
"...Addresses a code signing issue; third-party applications can now run when included in the Application Firewall or when whitelisted in Parental Controls."

There you go, - solves THIS Skype problem.

If Apple won't do it, manufacturers will: Nokia and Sony Ericsson ( P1, P990, W950i...) offer their own iSync plugins:

Sony Ericsson | Nokia

A new feature in Leopard is the inclusion of an application called "Screen Sharing" - it is apparently based on Apples Remote Desktop. The Screen Sharing app (which Apple suggests we use via the iChat app where it is built in as a feature), is actually a separate application located in
/System/Library/CoreServices/Screen Sharing.app

Mac OS X Hints posted the following hint, which greatly improves usability of this app, by adding favourites and the Bonjour-Browser, - enter the following command in Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.ScreenSharing ShowBonjourBrowser_Debug 1