Workaround for Having No Scrollbar Arrows in Mac OS X Lion

Although you can set scrollbars to always display in windows, there is no option to show the actual scrollbar arrows anymore in Mac OS X Lion. A simple workaround to get used to this is to start using the keyboards up and down arrow keys instead.

(via: OS X Daily)

Also note that while you hold down the Option key and type the up or down arrow you’re able to scroll by an entire page as it’s displayed on screen. And when you add the Command key to the mix you’re able scroll all the way to the top or bottom of a page.

I’m pretty sure this method of scrolling has worked in earlier versions of OS X — at least 10.6 that I’m sure of, and probably all the way back to 10.3, if not before that.

Still, it’s a handy trick to learn if you like to navigate using the keyboard.

• Easy Keyboard Access to the OS X User Library Folder
• Navigate Finder with arrows
• Yasu Updated for Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion”

This method doesn’t require opening Terminal or using any special app. All you need is to add a quick setting to your Keyboard System Preferences.

Normally in the Finder, if you click the “Go” menu, you won’t see your User Library folder. While it’s a bit of a pain for power users, I can understand why Apple chose to go this route. Many inexperienced users have gotten themselves in big trouble poking around in here.

However, when you hold down the Option key and select the “Go” menu, that’s when you’ll see your User Library folder — but you’ll notice it’s the only folder that doesn’t have a keystroke attached to it. This is kind of a pain if you like to navigate by keyboard like I do.

Here’s how we can easily solve that problem.

Open up System Preferences and select the Keyboard preference. Click the “Keyboard Shortcuts” tab, then click “Application Shortcuts” in the left pane. Then click the “plus” icon just below the right pane…

In the sheet that drops down, select “Finder” as the application (that’s pretty important), type “Library” in the Menu Title field (that’s important too), then assign a Keyboard Shortcut of “Option + Shift + Command + L” and finally click the “Add” button…

Now you’ve got a keystroke assigned to the Library menu option in the Finder “Go” menu. It’s okay to quit System Preferences now.

Back in the Finder, if you hold down the “Option + Shift” keys (our new keyboard shortcut slightly changed the behavior of the menu), and click on the “Go” menu, you see the Library folder has your shortcut assigned to it.

Now, when you’re in the Finder and need quick access to your Library folder, just type “Option + Shift + Command + L” and the folder automatically opens for you. No more having to hold the Option key to select the menu item.

• Keyboard Scrolling in Lion Application Windows
• FastScripts 2.6 Update Available from Red Sweater Software
• Navigate Finder with arrows

As in the past, with major Mac OS releases like this one, I can’t say for sure Yasu will work with Lion until I’ve been able to install the system on a test machine and fully qualify it. So… Until I’m able to, I can’t guarantee 100% compatibility, and would recommend holding off using it until I can sound the all clear.

Know that as soon as Lion is available and I’ve got it in my grubby mitts, this will be my number one priority to focus on.

Update: I’ve been able to fix some small issues in the Yasu/Lion compatibility area, but I continue to be vexed by the new “feature” Apple added called Application Restore.

Basically, after running Yasu and it rebooting your Mac, Lion will relaunch Yasu once you log back in. I believe it’s due to the system thinking it was halted (rebooted/shut down) improperly – though I am using Apple’s own shutdown methods.

I’ve yet to find a solution to this problem. Since it’s counter to what users would be expecting, I cannot in good conscience release an update and expect them to “deal with it.” I’m continuing to attempt a fix.

More info as I have it.

• Yasu Updated for Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion”
• MacBook Pro Intermittent Black Screen or Loss of Video
• Yasu Updated to Version 2.7.3

Fix slow start-ups in OS X

Sometimes after adding new system components or otherwise changing the hardware configuration of your system you may find that the OS will load rather slowly. Usually this will only happen after the first restart as the system configures the kernel extensions needed for the new hardware; however, there are times when it can persist.

Via MacFixIt

A decent semi-advanced troubleshooting article from MacFixIt that covers troubleshooting slow start-up issues in OS X.

If you’re somewhat Terminal.app savvy, it’s worth looking at. For those who shy away from the nerdy underbelly of OS X (a.k.a. Unix), I plan to add this to the system cache cleaning routines of Yasu in the very near future.

• MacFixIt ‘General Maintenance’ Recommendations
• Yasu Updated to Version 2.7.3
• Playing It Safe When Booting Up Mac OS X

Mac only: Multiple monitors do great things for your desktop space, but your menu bar sticks to one screen. If you’re looking for more menu access, free utility SecondBar puts one at the top of each monitor.

As veteran Mac users know, each application’s menus fill in the menu bar at the top of the desktop, not the window of the app itself, as in a Windows desktop. When you have a lot of apps open in different spots, it becomes inconvenient to access an app’s preferences or deeper features with a mouse. SecondBar adds a customizable menu bar to your second, third, or tenth monitor, letting you keep your focus on one screen at a time.

SecondBar is a free download, Mac OS X only.

(Via Lifehacker: mac os x.)

• Easy Keyboard Access to the OS X User Library Folder
• Navigate Finder with arrows
• Future of Tweetie 2 for Mac beta in doubt

Since I’ve had this machine, a MBP Unibody 2.6 Ghz / 4 GB RAM purchased in September of 2009, I’ve had to back it up, completely wipe the internal HD, and restore 5 times. Two of those times, I’ve completely zeroed the drive for extra measure. I even tried starting entirely from scratch once hoping that would finally fix my issues to no avail. In that time I’ve ended up with a “keys out of order” error more times than I can remember. Running a single user “fsck” at boot usually cannot fix the problem. I had to lay out $100 for DiskWarrior to finally resolve that. Still, through all of that, I seem to keep coming up with issues on this unit. I’ve never had this much trouble with any Mac I’ve owned–ever.

Here are the symptoms that eventually lead up to the disk to going bad: When putting the machine to sleep for more than an hour by closing the clamshell, upon waking by re-opening it, the MBP will spontaneously log itself out, sometimes only once, other times it will happen multiple times in a row (I think I counted 5 logouts once). Usually, after all that excitement, any app that I try to launch will immediately crash. I do not keep any apps running when putting the unit to sleep anymore. I’ve lost too much work because of it. Twice I’ve gotten kernel panics instead of spontaneous log outs. It is far more likely that this machine will wake with an issue than not.

Logs allude to crashed threads in windowserver, CoreGraphics, as well as a video driver (not sure which right now). I’ve tried removing every single system add-on that I’ve ever installed, but still have problems. I’ve also cleared every single cache I can get my hands on and then some, but still have problems.

Right now, I’m testing the memory using Memtest. When I left for work this morning, it had not found any problems yet. If it were as simple as a bad memory module I’d be thrilled — but to be honest, I’m thinking the problem lies in the 7200 RPM drive I had installed as a BTO option when I ordered it from Apple. It’s always seemed to be a little finicky.

Because of this lemon fresh Mac, I’ve lost countless hours, and have fallen way behind schedule on a project that I promised would be delivered a month ago. I’m finally giving up and visiting the Genius Bar at my local Apple store tomorrow. So far, I’ve had pretty good luck with them helping me solve issues with other machines. Hopefully they can with this one too. I just hope I don’t have to send it back to China to get fixed. That would put me another month (or more) behind schedule.

More to follow, I’m sure…

• Yasu and Lion: Compatibility
• MacBook Pro NVIDIA Recall Extended
• MacBook Pro Intermittent Black Screen or Loss of Video

Last night, when I cracked the MBP open, I was greeted with a nasty kernel panic which lead to a whole array of disk errors that could only be repaired using DiskWarrior (a huge shout out to Steve Basile (@xebrawerx) for the reminder on Twitter — this saved my bacon last night).

After rebuilding the disk directory, I decided to see if I could get to the bottom of the flakiness once and for all. I started off by disabling every “add-on” utility I had: Growl, TextExpander, Hazel, Default Folder X, etc. Then I got to digging around in the Apple control panels to see if there as a setting I was missing somehow.

When I got to the Security system preference, the “Use secure virtual memory” was selected. It got me thinking that if the VM was being encrypted, and when the machine is put to sleep that maybe something in memory (RAM) or on the hibernation disc image is changing which doesn’t match the encrypted VM somehow on wake, thus causing the machine to not know what’s where in RAM. It’s a stretch, but worth a try I figured.

So far, by turning off the “Use secure virtual memory” option — which I’d enabled in Leopard 10.5 without issue — the machine seems quite stable, waking without issue. As a (possible) added bonus, performance seems to have increased a touch since the virtual memory isn’t having to be encrypted on the fly.

More to follow if there’s anything worth noting — as in I was wrong in my assumption and my MBP is really a MBL (MacBook Lemon).

UPDATE: Nope. That didn’t fix it. Back to the drawing board. Thinking Genius Bar visit is in order for this weekend. Maybe bad RAM?

UPDATE 2: Decided to completely wipe the machine and do a fresh install of Snow Leopard, along with fresh installs of all applications. A pain in the backside, but the only real way to be sure it’s software related instead of hardware. More to follow…

• MacBook Pro Intermittent Black Screen or Loss of Video
• Yasu and Lion: Compatibility
• Yasu 2.6.8 b2 Available for Download

• Updated reset launch services for better Snow Leopard compatibility.
• Rewrote cache removal routine. Allows removing large number of files, and logs exactly which files are being removed.
• Added Flash Cookie removal as part of “Remove cookies” option.

You can download the most current version at http://jimmitchell.org/yasu/. Complete release notes are available here.

• Yasu 2.6.8 Final Released
• Yasu 2.6.8 b2 Available for Download
• Yasu 2.7.6 Released