Macworld's best tips, tricks, and How-To's

Geek Factor: Running X11 apps on the Mac

You can run Unix programs from the comfort of a graphical user interface on your Mac. Brian Jepson explores OS X's X11.

Bugs & Fixes: Fixing iPhone 2.0 sync problemsHaving iPhone problems after last week’s iPhone 2.0 and MobileMe releases? Te Landau tells you how to fix iPhone syncing problems by reinstalling iTunes and how to fix MobileMe-to-iPhone sync problems.
Disable shadows in 10.5 window screen capturesLearn two ways to prevent 10.5’s (large) translucent shadow from being captured when you take screen shots of windows.

Latest Help and Tips

Geek Factor: Running X11 apps on the Mac
You can run Unix programs from the comfort of a graphical user interface on your Mac. Brian Jepson explores OS X's X11.
Bugs & Fixes: Fixing iPhone 2.0 sync problems
Having iPhone problems after last week’s iPhone 2.0 and MobileMe releases? Te Landau tells you how to fix iPhone syncing problems by reinstalling iTunes and how to fix MobileMe-to-iPhone sync problems.
Disable shadows in 10.5 window screen captures
Learn two ways to prevent 10.5’s (large) translucent shadow from being captured when you take screen shots of windows.
Change Excel's ‘edit in cell’ keyboard shortcut
Learn one way to change Excel’s Control-U shortcut to the easier-to-use F2 (which also matches the Windows’ shortcut).
Downgrading the iPod touch
If you've upgraded your iPod touch to the 2.0 software and would like to return to the days of 1.1.4, here's how.
Working Mac: Save time and type less
If you regularly mouse through menus to find the commands you want in OS X and your favorite apps, there's a quicker way: Kirk McElhearn explains how to take advantage of keyboard shortcuts.
Making Office 12.1.1 update work
Does the MS Office 12.1.1 Update fail because it can't find the software necessary to perform the update? Here's why and how to fix it.
Two text selection tricks
Learn how to select text not just character-by-character, but also word-by-word or paragraph-by-paragraph.
MacBook Pro and the bad battery
How can you tell if your MacBook's battery is on the fritz? Follow along.
Activating your iPhone 3G: What you need to know
Jonathan Seff found that waiting in line for hours was just the first part of a lengthy journey to get and activate a new iPhone 3G.
Annotate non-PDF images in 10.5’s Preview
Learn how to use Preview’s annotation tools on non-PDF images in OS X 10.5.
Bugs & Fixes: iChat freezes and a missing plugin
What to do if a critical plug-in goes missing? Ted Landau turns to the Pacifist utility.
Add superscript, subscript buttons to Office toolbars
Learn how to add superscript and subscript buttons to the toolbars in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel in both Office 2004 and 2008.
Taking screen shots with iPhone 2.0
You can take screen shots with the iPhone 2.0 software. Hooray!
A heads-up on purchasing things in the App Store
If you're browsing the App Store, there's something you need to know about that Buy button!
Secrets of Mac trackpad, from iBook to MacBook Air
Depending on which Mac laptop you have, there are up to 10 specialized trackpad functions you can use to make navigating the screen, Mac OS X and various applications faster and easier. Computerworld’s Ryan Faas takes a look at each of them.
Work around a Word 2008 image placement issue
Learn how to avoid an issue when trying to precisely position images in Word 2008’s new .docx format documents.
Digital Photo: Extreme vacation photography
Want to add some pizazz to those vacation snapshots? Derrick Story explains how to take your digital camera underwater or up into the sky and get photographs that'll wow the folks back home.
Headphone Buyer's Guide
Earbuds or headphones? Full-size or miniature? No matter what kind of listening hardware you like to plug into your iPod (or iPhone), Dan Frakes has some advice and recommendations for finding the perfect pair.
Excerpt: Learn GarageBand tips and tricks
It’s no secret that GarageBand is entry-level music editing software. But at the same time, GarageBand can perform feats that aren’t immediately obvious. In this excerpt from Take Control of Recording with GarageBand, Jeff Tolbert shares some tips and tricks for the music-creation software.