Recently I have been experimenting with some of the more advanced settings in Mac OS, specifically editing plist files (which hold the settings and preferences for programs on the Mac, together with system settings). However, on the newer versions of Mac OS many of the plist files are in binary format, and thus they cannot be directly edited using a text editor. However, there is a way to convert these binary plist files into text, allowing them to be directly edited. To do this, open a new Terminal window and use the following command:
plutil -convert xml1 This will convert the existing plist file from binary into text. Additionally, there should not be any need to convert the plist file back to binary after you have finished editing, as Mac OS should be able to read the text base plist files without problem. (more…)

When attempting to burn music to a CD using Windows Media Player a message appears saying “Invalid Alignment” and the process halts. Changing the CD writer has not resolved the problem, so I can only assume this is related to a software problem. Can you help? (more…)

Having purchased The Sunbury 30th Anniversary Rock Concert DVD I attempted to play the DVD on the computer. However, a message appeared in Windows Media Player notifying that codecs need to be downloaded to play the DVD. How do I find these codecs? I have tried updating Windows Media Player from version 10 to version 11 but this has not helped. Also, another message appears saying the DVD is locked and encrypted, and this must be played in a DVD player first. Can you explain this message? (more…)

The last few versions of Mac OS X have included a neat feature called the Finder Sidebar, allowing easy access to commonly used files and folders (including the home drive, network shares and the documents folder). In Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) the sidebar has undergone some rather major changes to help improve usability and address feedback regarding the sidebar. In particular, you can now have greater control over the default items which are displayed in the Sidebar. To display the Sidebar preferences, click on the Finder icon in the Dock and in the “Finder” menu (in the menu bar, at the top of the screen) select “Preferences”. Click the “Sidebar” option and you will see a list of options for what should (and should not) be displayed in the Sidebar. (more…)

Recently I switched from dial-up internet to ADSL. When using dial-up I always disconnected the internet when not in use, and I would like to continue this procedure for security reasons. However, if I use the ZoneAlarm Firewall or LAN Connection status box to disconnect the internet I cannot re-establish the connection. Is there another way to re-establish the connection? Also, whenever I attempt to load a PDF file from the web a message appears saying “This page has been blocked”. Is there a setting in ZoneAlarm or Internet Explorer to allow PDF files to be viewed? The computer is running Windows XP. (more…)