In most cases, there is an easy fix for this.

1) Simply perform a right-click on the songs(s) with the missing artwork, and click “Get Album Artwork”. After a few seconds, the album artwork should appear. Most times, it’s as easy as that!

Sometimes, however, this is not the case and you may need to enter the album artwork manually. This step-by-step guide will walk you through this process.

So for this example, we will be working with ACDC’s High Voltage album. After step one above failed to work, we are going to have to input the album artwork ourselves.

1)   The first thing we’re going to need to do, quite obviously, is find an image of the album cover. This can be done from a number of sources. Google Images is a great source to find these images. Another site that is great for album artwork is http://www.albumart.org/

2)   You’ll need to save the image somewhere that is easily accessible. I prefer to just save them to my desktop.

3)   Once the image is saved, you’ll need to re-open iTunes. Once again, right-click on the song(s) you’re looking to add the artwork to and click “Get Info”.

4)   Once the Information menu opens, click on “Artwork” located in the far right corner. This will bring up a blank white square to which to add your album artwork.

5)   You have two options here – you can drag and drop the file from its location into the white square, or you can click the “Add” button and locate the image through a Finder window.

6)   Click “Ok” and you’ll be taken back to iTunes, and you will see your file(s) with the proper album artwork. Any other songs that are in the same album should also automatically display the new image, even if you didn’t select it specifically.

Ta da!

And that’s really all there is to it! This same process works for movies and TV shows which may not be showing the proper artwork.

This easy step-by-step tutorial will help guide you through this process. Don’t worry it’s pretty simple!

1) The first thing you’ll need to do is locate the Keyboard preferences in your computer’s System Preferences (indicated here by the red arrow).

2) Now this next step is optional. For this example, let’s say you’re used to using the F12 key as a custom function. However, the Apple keyboard doesn’t allow you to set F12 as a function because it raises the volume. If you’re looking to change the properties of they keys ranging from F1 to F4, and/or from F7 to 12, you will need to make sure the “Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys” is checked. If you’re not doing anything with the F keys, you can ignore this step.

3) Now this next part is totally up to you, and depends on your specific needs. In this example, we’re looking to change the properties of the F12 key system wide. We want the function to be operational when using any application. So, in this case, we would select “Application Shortcuts”. You can see all of your other options listed below, so feel free to explore them and see what you can do.

4) Once you have the option highlighted, you will then have to select the “+” icon to add your shortcut. Once you’ve done that, a window will appear asking you to select the Application, Menu Title and Keyboard Shortcut.

5) It is important to note that when you’re inputting the Menu Title, it must match exactly the command you’re trying to change. For example, lets say you want F12 to quit Calculator In this example; you must type Quit Calculator in the Menu Title field.

6) Once you’ve clicked “Add”, the function will become operational immediately, and you’ll be able to see your changes once you use Calculator’s File menu as seen here:

Notice the shortcut now indicates "F12"

Notes: A couple other things to keep in mind: you must make sure that the function you select isn’t being used by something else. In this example, F12 will actually show the Dashboard, so you’ll have to disable or remove that shortcut before your new one will work.

Also, the shortcut to Quit is actually Application specific. You will not be able to change the command to Quit by selecting “All Applications”. Since the menu command to quit changes based on what application you’re in, you would need to change it for every single application. In other words, Quit Calculator is one keyboard shortcut and Quit Address Book is another. These must be entered separately. For most shortcuts, this won’t be an issue.

So that’s it! You’ve successfully customized a keyboard shortcut! Feel free to play around and customize other shortcuts to your liking.

Setting a Firmware Password has become extremely easy with Mac OS X Lion. This simple tutorial will walk you through the process of setting your firmware password.

There are really only a couple steps you need to take to set the firmware password.

1)   The first thing we’ll want to do is boot to the Recovery Partition. In case you’ve never done it, we’ll need to restart the computer by holding the Command key and the letter R on the keyboard (⌘R).

2)   This will take you to the Recovery menu. You’ll want to access Utilities from the top menu bar and click “Firmware Password Utility” (it will be the top option).

3)   After selecting Firmware Password Utility, you’ll come to a prompt screen saying that your Password is currently off. It will ask you to “Turn On Firmware Password…”

4)   You’ll be prompted to enter, and then verify your password. This will be followed by a confirmation.  Once you agree, the Firmware password has been set!

Now, if you happened to upgrade from Snow Leopard, and you had a Firmware password set, that password will no longer be valid. You will need to set a new one using the steps above.

And that’s really all there is to it!

For further security measures, you may wish to look at encrypting your drive with FileVault. However, this level of security is more than enough for the average Mac user.

This tutorial describes how to change access rights to items on your computer, as well as how to perform a full reset on all your Home Directory permissions and Access Control Lists (ACLs) to revert them back to the original state (see PART 2).

PART 1: How to View and Change File Permissions

METHOD 1: In Finder

It’s very simple to edit user permissions on individual files, folders and applications without having to resort to the command line Terminal:

1. Select the file, folder or application whose permissions you want to view and edit
2. Choose File -> Get Info from the Finder menu or use COMMAND + I
3. The Get Info window opens and shows the item’s permissions in the Sharing & Permissions section. Under the Privilege column, click on the drop-down arrows to show the available options. Here you can choose which option to set.

User file permissions within the Get Info window

The options displayed are usually as follows, but No Access may not always be a valid option (e.g. for administrators):

• Read & Write
• Read only
• Write only (Drop Box)
• No Access

If the padlock icon is displayed in the lower righthand corner, you’ll be prompted to enter the Admin password before any changes can be applied.

The actions button (the gears icon) at the bottom of the window presents a few more options to change the item’s owner, or apply the changes to all of the enclosed items and subfolders. If you make any changes and subsequently change your mind, there’s also a useful option to revert the changes back to the previous settings.

Additional options to edit permissions

Lastly, you can use the + and - buttons to add or remove individual users and set their permissions on the item. For example, the + button presents a choice of usernames to add to the permissions list, and also allows you to add a new username by creating a new user account.

Adding additional users to the file permissions list

METHOD 2: Using Terminal

More advanced users that are already familiar with UNIX-style commands may prefer to use Terminal’s chmod command to change file permissions and Access Control settings. However, the first method mentioned above is far simpler and can achieve the same results.

The built-in manual can be used to obtain more details about each command. For example, type man chmod into the Terminal window to display its detailed help page and usage information.

The basic steps are:

1. Open Terminal from the Applications folder or using Spotlight
2. At the command prompt, navigate to the directory that contains the item(s) you want to edit. For example cd Documents/Work
3. Type the command ls -l to view (in long format) the contents of the folder and each item’s permissions. The directory contents are displayed with various symbols in the first column to indicate permissions (Read, Write, and Execute) for Users, Groups and Others
4. Use the chmod command to change permissions. Chmod has dozens of options so the manual pages must be read carefully

User permissions shown in Terminal

PART 2: How to Repair User Permissions

A Note About Disk Utility

You might expect that Disk Utility’s Repair Disk Permissions feature (see below) can fix any problems with your permissions. However, this is not the case as it doesn’t resolve issues with the Home Folder.

Verify and Repair disk permissions in Disk Utility - doesn't fix Home Folder issues

Using Repair Utilities to Reset User Permissions

The most effective way to completely reset your Home Folder’s permissions and ACLs back to their original state is to restart your computer and use the Repair Utilities.

Follow the steps below:

1. Restart your Mac and hold down COMMAND + R during restart to open the Repair Utilities screen
2. In the menu bar, click on Utilities and then select Terminal
3. Terminal will open, and at the command prompt type resetpassword
4. The Reset Password tool opens, but note that we won’t actually change the password. Instead, select the hard disk and the relevant user account from the drop-down menu
5. In the area called Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button to reset everything

Resetting all the user permissions takes just a few minutes. When the process is complete, restart your computer and everything should be back to normal.

This step-by-step tutorial will walk you through the process of creating a bootable copy of Lion.

It is important to note that you can only perform these steps BEFORE you have installed Lion. When you download Lion from the Mac App Store, it creates a Lion installer file in your Applications folder. After you have installed Lion, that file will disappear. Thus, we need to create the bootable DVD or USB device before Lion is actually installed.

As explained before, upon purchasing Lion from the Mac App Store, a Lion Installation file will appear in your Applications folder. We will begin the process there.

1)   You will need to right-click on the Lion installer and then click on “Show Package Contents”.

2)   First, enter the Contents folder, and then the SharedSupport folder. In there, you will see a file called InstallESD.dmg. Once you have located that file, you will need to launch Disk Utility.

To burn Mac OS X Lion to a bootable DVD:

1)   Take the .dmg file and drag it into Disk Utility. You will see it show up on the left-hand side menu.

2)   Once the DVD is inserted, click the .dmg file and then select the “Burn” option. Shortly your DVD will become bootable.

3)   To boot to the disk you created, restart the computer and hold down the Option key while it is starting up.

To burn Mac OS X Lion to a USB device:

Note: The following steps will require us to erase the device you are using. If you have anything on the drive, it is best that you move it to another source before proceeding.

1)   Connect the external device and select it from the left-hand menu of Disk Utility. We will need to create a new partition to make the external drive bootable.

2)   Select the Partition tab, and from the drop-down menu, select “1 Partition” (you can rename the partition at this point if you wish).

3)   Make sure Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is selected, and click the Options button. You will need to select GUID Partition Table. Once this is done, click the Apply button located in the bottom-right corner.

4)   You will then need to click the Restore tab from the top. You will have to options: Source and Destination. The source will be the .dmg file, and the destination will be your external drive. Once you have clicked Apply, you are finished.

5)   Similarly to booting to a DVD, you will need to hold the Option key at start-up to be able to select your drive as the start-up device.

It is important to note that it is not imperative that you perform this task. If you have already installed Lion and don’t have a hard copy of the installer, it’s ok. Even if you do perform these tasks above, installing Lion will still install a recovery partition. It’s just an added convenience in case you lose your entire hard drive. Of course, Apple has also released a Lion USB stick, which retails for around $70, so if you must have a hard copy, there are other options available.

Before we proceed, it is important to note that the start-up sound is a system sound and is there for a reason. It lets you know that the computer has passed the POST test. Under normal circumstances if you do not hear the start-up sound, it is an indicator that there is something wrong with the computer. Without this sound, you would not have this warning indicator. Keep that in mind!

Acid (https://discussions.apple.com/people/Acid), a member of the Apple support forums, has been kind enough to post a solution to this issue. All credit to this work-around goes to him. If you are not comfortable entering Terminal commands, I would strongly recommend against doing this, as these steps are use at your own risk.

As always, before you proceed, you should also perform a back up of your hard drive. Cause well… you never know!

1. Login as administrator and open a terminal window

2. Create scriptfile for muting
sudo nano /path/to/mute-on.sh

3. Enter this as content, when done press Control+O to save and Control+X to exit:
#!/bin/bash
osascript -e ‘set volume with output muted’

4. Create scriptfile for unmuting
sudo nano /path/to/mute-off.sh

5. Enter this as content, when done press control+O to save and control+X to exit:
#!/bin/bash
osascript -e ‘set volume without output muted’

6. Make both files executable:
sudo chmod u+x /path/to/mute-on.sh
sudo chmod u+x /path/to/mute-off.sh

7. Check if any hooks already exist (these will be overwritten, so make sure it is OK for you)
sudo defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook
sudo defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook

8. Add hooks for muting
sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook /path/to/mute-on.sh
sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook /path/to/mute-off.sh

Notes:

- /path/to/ is the location of the scripts, I used /Library/Scripts/

- you can skip the unmuting loginhook (i.e. each logout will silence your machine), but I like it this way because I always have sound available exactly at the volume level I set last time

- root has to be the owner of the script files – running an editor from command line with sudo is the easiest way to achieve that (otherwise you need to chown)

- to delete the hooks, use the following:

sudo defaults delete com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook
sudo defaults delete com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook

And that should do it! You can read more about disabling the start-up sound for Mac computers by visiting the Apple Support Forums: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3208783?tstart=100

Again, use at your own risk! As always, we welcome your comments. Give these steps a try, and feel free to post any thoughts, comments or other solutions.  We can then research them further!

1. Disable automatic window animations
2. Disable Mail’s send and receive animations
3. Revert Mail back to the classic look
4. Remove Reading List and Top Sites From Safari bookmarks
5. Disable Mission Control animation
6. Speed up Mission Control animation
7. Disable Launchpad effects

These tweaks to Lion’s interface require command line directives to be typed directly into Terminal, such as the ever-versatile command defaults write, but don’t worry because it’s just as easy to go back to the defaults if you don’t like the new behaviour. Unfortunately, many elements of Lion’s UI are hard to change, and many of its features don’t have any settings to play around with. You may want to consider any of the various “power tool” apps that can help to customise many aspects of Lion, especially if you’re not comfortable using Terminal.

Automatic Window Animations

The window animations in Lion are perhaps not obvious at first – each new window starts small and zooms in quickly to the correct size. The animation doesn’t take long, but it can be quite frustrating at times. You will have to Quit and restart an application for the changes to take effect, as it uses the settings it finds upon launch.

Disable

To disable automatic window animations, open Terminal and type the command:

• defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool NO

Enable

To enable window animations, enter this in Terminal:

• defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool YES

Mail Animations

Mail animations are completely separate from any others, and controlled by their own defaults write command. When you send a mail, the Message window flies off the top of the screen – a feature that some people love and others hate. When you replyto a mail, the Message window pops out of the Mail application and centres in the middle of the screen.

Sent mail windows in Mail whoosh off the screen

Disable Send and Reply Animations

To disable both animations open Terminal and type:

• defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableReplyAnimations -bool YES

• defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableSendAnimations -bool YES

Enable Send and Reply Animations

To revert to the default settings type:

• defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableReplyAnimations -bool NO

• defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableSendAnimations -bool NO

Classic Mode in Mail

Mail’s new Lion layout won’t appeal to everyone, so thankfully it’s easy to use the old classic layout. Enter Mail preferences (hit COMMAND and ,) and choose the Use classic layout option under the Viewing section. Mail switches to a more traditional split-pane view with messages in the top section and content in the lower half.

The classic layout in Mail

The Safari Reading List and Top Sites Icons

Remove Both Icons From the Bookmarks Bar

Both the Reading List and Top Sites icons can be removed from Safari’s Bookmarks bar with a simple defaults write command:

• defaults write com.apple.Safari ProxiesInBookmarksBar '()'

Remove One Icon From the Bookmarks Bar

To remove one or the other, use one the strings below – remember that the item in quotes is the one you wish to keep.

• defaults write com.apple.Safari ProxiesInBookmarksBar '("Top Sites")'

• defaults write com.apple.Safari ProxiesInBookmarksBar '("Reading List")'

Restore Both Icons to the Bookmarks Bar

To restore both icons back to the default location, type the following into Terminal:

• defaults write com.apple.Safari ProxiesInBookmarksBar '("Top Sites","Reading List)'

Both icons can be easily removed

A clutter-free Bookmarks menu

Mission Control Animation

Mission Control is a very useful feature of OS X that helps keep all your open applications, windows and spaces organised. But wouldn’t you like to disable the “zoom” animation and make the windows appear immediately in the correct place?

Disable

You can disable the zoom animations by typing this command into Terminal:

• defaults write com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration -int 0; killall Dock

Enable

Mission Control animations can be turned back on with:

• defaults delete com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration; killall Dock

Speed Up Mission Control Animation

Rather than disable animations in Mission Control completely, it’s possible to speed them up considerably. The following command will do the trick – the example here uses a value of 0.1 seconds, but any number can be used.

• defaults write com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration -float 0.1; killall Dock

Launchpad Effects

Launchpad fades smoothly into view when activated, but the animation can be disabled so that it appears immediately.

Launchpad's fade-in effects

Disable

Launchpad’s show and hide durations can be set independently. To set both to minimal delay, use these defaults write commands:

• defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-show-duration -int 0

• 

defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-hide-duration -int 0

• 
killall Dock

Enable

To reset the animation times back to the default values, use:

• 
defaults delete com.apple.dock springboard-show-duration

• defaults delete com.apple.dock springboard-hide-duration

• killall Dock

Despite the availability of “cleaner” utilities that promise to completely remove unwanted applications and optimise your computer, they are not essential as the procedure is really quite simple.

This tutorial explains how to completely remove a program manually.

Uninstalling Packaged Apps

Many people will be surprised to learn that the majority of Mac applications can be uninstalled just by unceremoniously moving them to the Trash (as long as they are not running at the time, of course).

Occasionally however, a couple of additional steps are necessary to ensure that preferences files and other unwanted items are not left on your computer indefinitely.

Packaged Applications

Many Mac applications (such as iPhoto and iTunes) are packaged into application bundles or packages, which are displayed a single icon but may in fact contain multiple subfolders, preferences and resource files (such as images and other content the application needs). Packages often conveniently store all their files inside the bundle without littering additional files around your computer. To inspect a package contents, right-click on its icon and select Show Package Contents from the popup menu.

The steps necessary to remove a packaged app are:

Use Activity Monitor to ensure an app is not running when you remove it

Now that the application has been successfully uninstalled, it’s advisable to check for any remaining files that may have been left behind. Refer to the section entitled Uninstalling Apps and Additional Files Using Finder.

How to Remove an App Icon From the Dock

Applications can be removed from the Dock easily, but the app is not actually deleted – it remains on your computer and can be opened as normal. To remove an app from the Dock, just drag it towards the desktop and let go – the icon disappears and the Dock automatically move adjacent icons as appropriate.

TIP: when you remove an item from the Dock – if you change your mind but are already in the process of moving it, then without letting go of the mouse just tap the escape key to cancel the action so that the icon automatically returns to its original position. This just saves you having to find the application icon again, so you don’t have to re-add it to the Dock.

Uninstalling Apps and Additional Files Using Finder

Deleted applications can leave behind umpteen preferences files, support files, logs, caches and other miscellaneous content. Before we describe how to remove these redundant files using Finder, here’s a brief rundown on each.

Additional Files: PREFERENCES

Every application keeps its preferences in a file with a .plist extension. These files are usually quite small so they can safely be left on your Mac without causing any serious issues or taking up too much space. The benefit of leaving them in place is that if you decide to reinstall the application later on, your current user preferences should still be intact.

Preference files normally reside in one of two locations:

• ~/ Library / Preferences
• Macintosh HD / Library / Preferences

As an example, the popular image editing app Pixelmator stores numerous preference files in your Library folder, with names like com.pixelmatorteam.pixelmator.LSSharedFileList.plist

Additional Files: SUPPORT FILES

An application’s support files are often much larger than preferences files, especially for multimedia apps like GarageBand. Therefore, it may be preferable to find and delete those files.

Support files are located here:

• ~/ Library / Application Support / <Application Name>
• Macintosh HD / Library / Application Support / <Application Name>

Additional Files: CACHE FILES

Cache files can also be fairly large depending on the app in question, so it’s wise to delete these too when you uninstall an app.

Cache files can be found in:

• ~/ Library / Caches / <Application Name>
• Macintosh HD / Library / Caches <Application Name>

How to Find and Delete Additional Files (and Applications)

Finder is an incredibly useful tool with a powerful search capability built-in. Finder’s search function can be used to locate all of an application’s additional files, as well as the main executable file itself .

Use Finder's search facility and filters to locate apps and preference files

Follow these steps to uninstall an application in its entirety:

1. Make sure the app is not already running by using Activity Monitor as described earlier
2. Open Finder from the Dock or with Spotlight
3. In the Search field in the upper right corner, enter the application name (such as iPhoto) that you want to uninstall
4. To add Search filters so that only relevant files are shown – click the small plus sign beneath the search box
5. Add the following Search filter: (System files) (are included). If “System files” is not found in the drop-down filter menu, choose Other instead and scroll down the list (as shown below), find System files and hit OK. The inclusion of System files in the filter ensures that preference files and such will be displayed in the Search results
6. Add additional Search filters as necessary to find all of the app’s related files. Example filters are: (Kind) is (Application), and (Name) (contains) <application name>. It’s really just a matter of identifying appropriate filters to locate files that may be hidden away in unusual locations
7. You can now safely delete the application’s files and folders identified by Finder. Remember not to empty the Trash until you’re completely sure that your Mac is working properly and  you haven’t deleted any important files by mistake
8. Optionally, restart your Mac if necessary

Add the "System files" attribute to your Search filter in Finder

Applications That Have a Custom Uninstaller

A minority of Mac applications come with dedicated uninstallation programs, which may be included on the original installation disk or inside the application folder or package. However, most apps can be removed as already described but it’s always advisable to check if the app has its own uninstaller first.

As an example, Safari’s DivX plugin provides an uninstall app in the Applications / DivX folder. Just run any such app and follow the instructions to uninstall properly. It’s always worth checking afterwards if the uninstallation has been successful by searching for related files, to make sure they really have been deleted in full.

Some applications come with their own uninstall files

The Easy Method to Uninstall Apps in OS X Lion

OS X Lion makes the whole process of uninstalling apps a doddle. Anyone familiar with the iPhone and iOS will appreciate the similarities, and Apple has made it unnecessary to search for leftover remnants of uninstalled apps.

Hold down the OPTION key, click the little "X" icon and the app is gone!

To fully uninstall an app in Lion:

1. Open Launchpad from the Dock, Spotlight or with the appropriate swipe gesture
2. Hold down the OPTION key (sometimes labelled ALT) until the icons wiggle. You’ll notice a small black and white cross icon in the corner of some of your Applications. Most apps installed from the App Store can be removed in this way, but the technique may not work with older apps. Only the ones that wiggle can be removed!
3. Click the black “X” icon on the app you want to uninstall
4. When prompted to confirm, choose Delete. The app is now completely removed – you don’t even need to empty the Trash

Thankfully, any applications obtained from the Mac App Store can be downloaded again if you need to reinstall them.

Open Launchpad to view installed apps

Keyboard Combinations for Common Special Characters

Here are a few of the most common symbols and their corresponding key combination.

Note that OPTION + 2 simply means hold down the option key (the alt key) and the number 2.

Currency Symbols

• € (Euro sign): OPTION + 2
• ¢ (Cent sign): OPTION + 4
• ¥ (Yen sign): OPTION + y

Copyright and Trademark Symbols

• ® (registered trademark): OPTION + r
• © (copyright): OPTION + g
• ™ (trademark): OPTION + shift + 2

Mathematical Symbols

• ÷ (division): OPTION + ?
• ≤ (less than or equal to): OPTION + <
• ≥ (greater than or equal to): OPTION + >
• ^ (circumflex): OPTION + i
• √ (square root): OPTION + v
• ≠ (not equal to): OPTION + =
• ≈ (almost equal to): OPTION + x
• ± (plus-minus): OPTION + shift + =
• ∞ (infinity): OPTION + 5
• ø (empty set): OPTION + o
• ∑ (N-ary summation or Sigma): OPTION + w
• ƒ (function): OPTION + f
• ∫ (integral): OPTION + b
• ∂ (partial differential): OPTION + d

• “ (left double quotation mark): OPTION + [
• ” (right double quotation mark): OPTION + SHIFT + [
• ‘ (left single quotation mark): OPTION + ]
• ’ (right single quotation mark): OPTION + SHIFT + ]
• „ (double low-9 quotation mark): OPTION + SHIFT + w
• ¿ (inverted question mark): OPTION + SHIFT + ?
• • (bullet): OPTION + 8

Besides the symbols mentioned above, dozens more can be typed using a regular Apple keyboard.

Mac OS has a rather useful built-in utility called the Keyboard Viewer - an onscreen keyboard that displays many of the possible symbols.

To Activate the Keyboard Viewer:

1. Open System Preferences -> Keyboard

2. Tick the box labelled Show Keyboard and Character Viewers in menu bar

Enable the Keyboard and Character Viewers

The Input menu now appears in the menu bar as shown (the 5th icon on the right):

The Input menu in the menu bar

3. Click on the Input menu icon. From the drop-down menu options choose Show Keyboard Viewer to open the utility

The Keyboard Viewer displays common symbols

The Keyboard Viewer shows key combinations such as those mentioned above, and many more. It can also be used to insert symbols – simply click on a symbol to insert into documents or emails.

Try holding down the OPTION key, or OPTION + SHIFT to see the choices available. The Keyboard Viewer remains on top of other windows at all times, and even stays in position when you switch to another workspace in fullscreen mode.

The Character Viewer

Just like the Keyboard Viewer, the Character Viewer can be accessed via the top menu bar when the Input menu has been enabled. Choose Show Character Viewer from the drop-down menu, which opens Character Viewer as shown below. Alternatively, it can be accessed within certain applications such as Safari and Pages by choosing Special Characters from the Edit menu (or COMMAND + OPTION + t).

The Character Viewer

There are literally thousands of symbols within the Character Viewer, grouped into useful categories such as Math Symbols, Punctuation, Arrows and Latin. Simply double-click any item to insert into the current document.

For example, my account’s Full Name is Roland Banks but my Home Folder is set to Roly. Your Full Name is displayed at the main login screen, as well as in the Log Out section of the Apple Menu.

There may be a situation when you wish to rename the Home Folder, but doing so is not simply a case of changing the folder’s name. Doing it that way may cause various problems with file permissions and directory ownership.

The Safest Way to Rename the Home Folder

Apple recommends only one method to rename the Home Folder on Lion. Follow the steps below but remember to back up your important data beforehand. The entire process should take no more than 5-10 minutes.

Important: these instructions only apply to OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and above.

PART 1: Enable the Root User

Before you can rename your Home Folder, the first step is to enable and use the Root User. The Root User has special permissions to carry out administrative tasks, but should be used with extreme care and is normally disabled by default. Only the computer owner should have access to the Root User.

In this case, the Root User is used so that the Home Folder and its file permissions can be updated correctly.

• Under System Preferences choose Users & Groups and then Login Options

• Hit the Join button labelled Network Account Server to open a drop-down window as shown below

Selecting Open Directory Utility launches a separate program that allows you to enable the Root User.

• From the Edit menu, choose Enable Root User and enter the desired password in the Password and Verify fields as below

PART 2: Change the Account Name

There are several additional ways to change the Home Folder name, but the method described below is by far the easiest and also the lowest risk option.

1. Login to your machine as the Root User using the password previously chosen
2. Go to the Users folder (Macintosh HD -> Users) and simply rename it like you would a normal folder. There are a few restrictions on the name: all lower case, letters only and no spaces must be used
3. Back in the Users & Groups pane within System Preferences, add a new user with the same name in the Account name field (see below) that you used in step 2

1. Choose OK when the following warning message appears: “A folder in the Users folder already has the name ‘account name’…”
2. Select Log out from the Apple menu
3. Log in as the new user. All your original documents and folders should now be in the correct place in the Home Folder with the correct access permissions. It’s worth checking through your files briefly however just to make sure
4. You can now delete the original user account (i.e. what your Home Folder used to be called) within the Users & Groups panel in System Preferences
5. Lastly, it’s wise to disable the Root User by following the same process as in PART 1. This time choose Disable Root User from the Edit Menu instead