Mac OS X "Secrets"

Ever wanted to make Mac OS X work just the way you want it?  Were you ever certain that, given Apple's exacting standards, there had to be a way to make x do y?  Well, you were probably right.  Lots of the software settings that were deemed too specific or potentially confusing are lying dormant in your install of OS X right now - and a new Preference Pane can enable them for you.

Secrets is a free download from Blacktree that allows you to turn on numerous hidden options and settings in Mac OS X versions 10.5 and 10.6.  Once its installed, Secrets will live in your System Preferences as its own pane, and will allow you to do things like changing the appearance of the Dock, behavior of Labels and more.  Pretty handy, eh?

(Thanks, Gizmodo.)

Got a New OS? Lynda.com Has Great Training!

With the recent launch of both Mac OS X 10.6 and Windows 7, many of you might be thinking about upgrading your operating system - or already have!  If you fall into either camp, Lynda.com has video introductions that will walk you through the new features of each OS.  To view previews of these videos, visit the links below:

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard New Features
Windows 7 Essential Training

To view the full training modules, request a free Lynda.com account from the HelpDesk at 410-778-7777.

To learn more about Lynda.com, visit oit.washcoll.edu/lynda.

Don't Get Bitten by this Snow Leopard Bug

From Neowin.net:

Reports have been cropping up on the Apple Support forums that users have been losing all their data due to a nasty bug in Snow Leopard, Apple's latest OperatingSystem. Many users are reporting that all settings are being reset and most data is gone, according to iTWire.

The problem, can easily be reproduced when a user logs into the 'guest' account, either on purpose or by accident, and when they log back out of the account and back into their normal one, they find that their account has been fully reset with all data wiped and lost - the account is like a brand new one. The home directory still exists under "/Users/username" but is completely empty. 

Users are reporting that the data is unrecoverable and cannot be found anywhere on the hard drive, and the only way to restore it is if the user has been performing backups on a separate hard-drive. Apparently the problem has been present since a few days after launch, as the forum post dates back to 12th September, but as of yet, Apple has been silent.

It seems the only work around at this stage is to disable the Guest account, or at least disable it and then re-enabling it so that it's a native Snow Leopard account. Another suggestion is to create a new account and enforce parental controls, if you really need a temporary account.

It's not clear how many users are affected, but it seems like any user who had Leopard before the upgrade, and had the guest account enabled are affected and are at risk.

Yikes!  If you have upgraded to Snow Leopard and are a guest account user, contact the HelpDesk today at 410-778-7777 for help with protecting your data.