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MacOS X – How to use a XBox 360 Controller on Mac

MacOS X – How to use a XBox 360 Controller on Mac
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I honestly had zero use for a XBox 360 Controller on my Mac, since I’m a keyboard/mouse gamer … but I was toying with another article (Kodi on Amazon Fire TV) and was looking for a Game Controller for the Amazon Fire TV.

Looking around I noticed that the Microsoft XBox 360 wireless controller for Windows should work with the Amazon Fire TV and with MacOS X. Since I do play the occasional game on my Mac (yes: that is possible!) with Steam, I figured why not give it a try. The controller, with receiver, isn’t all that expensive.

So in this article: How to connect and use an Xbox 360 Controller on MacOS X …
TIP: For those of you who are trying to get this to work with an XBox One Controller, please read the “Bluetooth XBox One controller on a Mac” article as well.

MacOS X – Determine WiFi Connection Speed

MacOS X – Determine WiFi Connection Speed
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While working on my DD-WRT project for my NetGear R7000 router, I ran some tests to see what the ideal connection setup for my router would be.

During the testing you’d typically want to see the speed of your WiFi connection, possibly including noise, RSSI, channel, country code, used frequency, etc. and initially it can be a bit daunting where to find this information. But … surprise: this info is readily available on your Mac, no extra software is needed, you just need to know where it’s hidden …

Therefor in this article 4 methods to figure this out on your Mac, without the need to install specific software for the task.

MacOS X – Give your Mac Multiple Desktops with Spaces

MacOS X – Give your Mac Multiple Desktops with Spaces
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I didn’t realize how few users really know about “Spaces”, a MacOS X built-in desktop management feature, until a friend was looking over my shoulder and was surprised how fast I switched between desktops.

Spaces, even in Mavericks, allows you to have multiple desktops. With my Logitech Performance MX mouse, switching between these desktops is super easy and super fast. Other mice with extra buttons can do this as well, and in this article I’ll show you how. This option, virtual desktop, is of course nothing new, specially for Linux users. But it is still amazing to see how few people actually use it.

Give it a try, especially when you’re a multi-monitor fan, you’ll LOVE this feature to keep your work environment clutter free.

MacOS X – How to add Facebook Chat to Messages …

MacOS X – How to add Facebook Chat to Messages …
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Messages in MacOS X has the ability to combine multiple chat services. Facebook Chat however does not seem to appear in the list.

This trick will probably also work for other Jabber capable clients on different Operating Systems as well, simply use the same settings.

With this little guide, I’ll show you how to add Facebook Chat to Messages so that you do not need to open the Facebook website every time you get a message.

MacOS X – Fix slow Mavericks – Finder Speed Improvements

MacOS X – Fix slow Mavericks – Finder Speed Improvements
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With the arrival of MacOS X 10.9 (Mavericks) users might run into some speed and high CPU load issues, and quite often they are related to the Finder, specially when you upgraded from 10.7 or 10.8 (not yet seen in clean 10.9 installs).

In this article a two tricks to fix slow Mavericks and get the speed back that you’re used to when it comes to using Finder and Open/Save Dialogs that are slow (specially for those who use network shares).

How to Format the Apple USB Restore stick …

How to Format the Apple USB Restore stick …
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Certain Apple models, like the MacBook Air, have been delivered with a convenient 8Gb USB stick for a system restore.

Obviously, after upgrading to a newer Mac OS X version, this stick has become kind off useless.

When trying to format the Apple USB Restore stick however, you’ll notice that it’s a Read-Only stick, so how can we format this USB stick for normal use … Or to store the image of your current Mac OS X version on?

How to edit Crontab under Linux, MacOS X, QNAP, etc.

How to edit Crontab under Linux, MacOS X, QNAP, etc.
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In this article I’ll show you how you to edit the schedule of the job scheduler (Cron) on of your Linux/Unix based computer or NAS, for running certain tasks unattended.

Cron is a job scheduler and uses crontab, a relatively simple plain text file, as it’s configuration file.
In this file you can add, remove, or edit tasks you’d like to have run at particular dates, times, or intervals.

Please be aware that you’re doing this at your own risk …

Best VNC Client for MacOS X … or how to remote control a computer!

Best VNC Client for MacOS X … or how to remote control a computer!
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VNC, a tool that allows you to remotely access the desktop of a computer, has a long history and has been available in many shapes and forms. Not entirely surprising, plenty of free VNC Servers and VNC Clients are available for Windows and Linux, but the selection for MacOS X appears rather limited.

Sure, there are a lot of VNC clients for MacOS X … but hardly any of them are free,… but why install yet another application when you already have a VNC Client and Server installed?

In this article, we will use the build in VNC Server and VNC Client … it comes with your Mac … for free!

MacOS X – How to remove pre-installed applications

MacOS X – How to remove pre-installed applications
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MacOS X Lion (and other MacOS versions up to MacOS X El Capitan) come with few preinstalled applications like “Chess”, but you cannot remove/uninstall them the conventional way …

A waste of diskspace when you don’t really need the application (especially when you’re running low on space on your snappy SSD drive) …

A short article on how to remove these guys …

Create an installation disk (USB or DVD) for MacOS X

Create an installation disk (USB or DVD) for MacOS X
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Mac OS X Lion is the first version of the Mac OS X Operating System that can be downloaded through the App Store application.

On itself great, and the price (as usual) is definitely not a reason to not do it ($29.99).

But if you’re like me, then you really want a installation disk … for whatever reason (you don’t want to download it again for your other machine, you’d like to have a backup, installation through the App Store didn’t work, etc).

So here a short and quick explanation on how to do just that.

UPDATE: This trick works for other Mac OS X versions as well, even with MacOS X Maverick (free!)!

MacBook Pro – Switch Video Chip at will …

MacBook Pro – Switch Video Chip at will …
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So you have a Unibody MacBook Pro and want to switch between the slow Intel and the faster nVidia video?

Apple equipped most of their Unibody MacBook Pro models with 2 graphics processors; one for long lasting battery life (Intel) chip and the other one for gaming and high performance graphics (nVidia).

The switching happens automatically and there appears to be no easy or obvious way to control over override the switching yourself … or is there?

FavIcon shortcut on your MacOS desktop

FavIcon shortcut on your MacOS desktop
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Windows users really don’t run into this problem, as it appears (mostly) to already do this for you. But how about Internet shortcuts on your Mac?

The MacOS desktop does not utilize the FavIcons of a particular website to make the icon look more distinguishable … and there appears to be no simple one click step to make this happen either.

Apple: Isn’t it time to add this to MacOS? It’s available under iOS? Why not in MacOS X …?

Anyhow; in the article a quick trick for now that makes this happen anyway.

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