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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.

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.

A new feature in Windows Vista is the Preview Pane within Windows Explorer. When the Preview Pane is enabled, selecting a file within Windows Explorer will display a preview of the file (such as Word documents or JPEG graphics). This allows the quick preview of a file?s contents without having to open the file. To enable the Preview Pane, open a folder in Windows Vista then click the ?Organize? button (in the top left-hand corner of the window) > ?Layout? > ?Preview Pane?.

Continuing with the recent line of tips aimed towards Mac users, here is another tip for those who are running the latest version of Mac OS X (10.5 Leopard). While the primary function of the Spotlight search feature in Leopard is to find files and folders, this can also be used as a quick calculator. Enter a formula into the Spotlight search (e.g. 2+2) and the answer will appear in the search results.

A nifty feature in Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) is called Stacks. This allows you to place a shortcut to a folder in the Dock, and clicking this shortcut will spring open a list of all the files within the folder. Stacks is very useful for folders such as Applications, eliminating the need trawl through your hard drive looking for a particular program. To create a Stacks shortcut for a folder, simply drag the folder to the right-hand side of the Dock (next to the Downloads and Documents folder shortcuts). For more information on Stacks, visit: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/desktop.html .