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Customize Your Mac with Leopard Power Tweaks

lifehacker.com — Now that Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard's been out almost three months, several apps, tweaks, and plug-ins have emerged that can customize (and sometimes re-Tigerize) your Mac.

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  • wildgunman, on 01/15/2008, -1/+4Sweet. The custom recent apps drawer alone is worth its weight in gold.
    • FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 01/15/2008, -2/+1i personally prefer the "favorite volumes" stack since sometimes all 4 of my spaces are covered in open windows, making access to the desktop icons difficult at times.
    • mr.gates, on 01/15/2008, -1/+4But it is digital... it doesn't weight anything.
    • benanzo, on 01/15/2008, -5/+7Sorry, but does it not seem entirely retarded that you have to install third-party apps just to disable the menubar transparency or to make Time Machine backup every three hours instead of every hour? Something's wrong with Apple in this regard.
      • etandrib, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1What if I want to backup every 3.5 hours? They should have that option too. /sarcasm
    • JCDenton513, on 01/15/2008, -3/+1I'm all for a dock with no reflection. I had a hard time telling if an app was running or not, especially if there was a glare on the screen.

      My biggest complaint about Leopard.
    • secleinteer, on 01/15/2008, -1/+1I like how terminal commands are required for most of these "tweaks". Why doesn't Apple allow any customizability in the GUI of its OS? If this were Windows, most tweaks like this wouldn't require a terminal command, because Microsoft isn't so controlling over its OS. I don't understand why anyone would want to lock themselves into whatever Apple decides is "right", when with both Linux _and_ Windows, you have a lot more freedom in changing GUI options.
  • drgooch, on 01/25/2008, -3/+1Doesn't installing or doing all this stuff, in theory, slow down your mac? Or can it slow it down?
    • FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 01/15/2008, -2/+5except for the quicklook plugins, which only slow down quicklook a smidge, no, not really. in fact, turning the 3d-dock off can increase performance as can, theoretically, the opaque menu bar.
  • Insanitation, on 01/15/2008, -30/+7Wait. I'm confused. from what i was told all MACs were perfect and don't need to be changed in any way?
    • vault, on 01/15/2008, -2/+18Mac, not MAC....
    • AGiantBear, on 01/15/2008, -1/+13Who told you that, an Apple rep? They're nice computers, but like pretty much everything else, could use a bit of tweaking...and of course people love customizing stuff just for appearance's sake, too.
    • ArchangelZLT, on 01/15/2008, -2/+4From what was I told attempts of sarcasm would generally fail on digg?
    • MacParrot, on 01/15/2008, -1/+2Phew! I was wondering who was going to be the first mouth-breathing idiot to say that MACS were perfect and didn't need to be changed. Thanks for that Insanitation.
  • mattisallama, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1Seen articles like this a few times on here but dugg it anyways. The recent items stack is pretty cool as well as adding a little bin to put your stacks in.
    • newbill123, on 01/15/2008, -0/+11Caveat on leaving the downloads or recent items folder in the dock: Be careful about downloading or opening porn if your machine is shared use.

      Yes, I speak from experience.
    • bjornski, on 01/15/2008, -2/+1Recent items?

      Windows has had this for ages. (apps and documents)

      WAY TO COPY WINDOWS!

      /kidding. it's damn handy.
  • Hdlsa, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1How do I get the download folder stack bin to stay put when I'm viewing it by date added, not date modified.
    • snoozevmw, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1use touch to change the date added timestamp of the image file to some date in the distant future
  • theholotrope, on 01/15/2008, -9/+3***** PC's.
    =D
    • estvir, on 01/15/2008, -0/+5A Mac is a personal computer. It's a shame buying a Mac doesn't magically make you smarter.. or maybe good ole' Jobs is going to announce that product at MacWorld? There's still hope for you yet, theholotrope.
    • willynilly, on 01/15/2008, -0/+2What do you expect from someone who doesn't know that an apostrophe makes something possessive, not plural?
  • zanderscoffee, on 01/15/2008, -5/+5It's funny. At every release of an operating system people scramble to make them similar to their old operating system. Next release of OSX people will be running about trying to make it similar to Leopard.

    Why not just... stick with Tiger?
    • welldone101, on 01/15/2008, -4/+1But then they wouldn't be able to complain about Leopard online...

      Home PCs: Vista powered Acer, Tiger powered iBook g4
    • stuma9000, on 01/15/2008, -0/+5Because Leopard is significantly better I've found.
    • CCB0x45, on 01/15/2008, -0/+2Leopard is a lot better on my MPB, it runs faster, and has a lot of updated versions of unix utils, I can see people wanting to change the look to more like tiger, but I doubt anyone would choose Tiger over Leopard feature wise.
      • championchap, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1Want to change the look back to Tiger? Eww. Unified theme please.
  • IntoTheNihil, on 01/15/2008, -2/+1This looks pretty solid. Tweaks are always great to mess with.
  • neio, on 01/15/2008, -2/+1Nice list, I'm just waiting for 10.5.2, hopefully that'll fix some issues I've been having with my 3G connection over bluetooth.
  • Sevzi, on 01/15/2008, -3/+0OK, mark the date before Jobs keynote. "Something in the air" is 3G for macbook pros. No blue-ray drives. 16GB iPhone.
  • Magillicutti, on 01/15/2008, -2/+3Okay, but is there anything I can do with this ridiculously huge drop shadow around my active windows?
    • b1kerguy, on 01/15/2008, -1/+2that was one thing i wasn't too hot on in tiger either
      • Magillicutti, on 01/15/2008, -0/+3It was nice and subtle in tiger.. now on leopard, it's crazy, especially on a light background. Thanks for digging me down diggers, an answer to my question would have been sufficient
  • Iuvat, on 01/15/2008, -6/+3I may be wrong, but aren't macs the least customizable OS there is? Yeah, you can change you background, menu bar, and stuff like that, but macs are based off simplicity. In my experience the simpler things are the less you customize them. Compared to other OS's (windows, linux), macs are more hard wired together (metaphorically). If everyone who uses this wants more customization, wouldn't it make more scene to change to something else? Even I have to admit, windows (xp) is getting more stable (than it was), and Linux is getting more widely used, and easier to use. Why do you stay with macs?
    • 2point71, on 01/15/2008, -1/+3I personally went to Macs for my education.
      1) Yes it's less customizable, which provides less distractions for me.
      2) Graphics wise, it tends to handle nicely at the prices it was purchased, the OS helps a lot too.
      3) It's clean.
      :P Personal preference I guess. I used to be windows as well.
    • willynilly, on 01/15/2008, -2/+3Yes. For example, the Mac rams the same, failed 1980s color scheme down your throat. Yeah, we all want to read black text off a white background all day. You like staring into a light bulb? On Windows, you can set up your own color scheme in seconds. On the Mac, you can't do it. AT ALL. Not only is this a pain in the ass to work with (especially for Apple's vaunted target market of "artists" and "creatives"), but it's a huge disservice to people visual deficits.
      • NivenHuH, on 01/15/2008, -0/+6control-option-command 8 will give you the inverted look you're looking for
    • sudowrestler, on 01/15/2008, -0/+4You seem to be asking the question seriously- Macs are well-known for simplicity, ease of use, but if you want to use Unix scripting (shell, Perl, Python, Ruby, etc), or Applescript, or Automator, and things like Quicksilver, you can have probably a more customized user experience than on any other OS. Macs are good at being simple to use if that's what you want; which is due to intelligent design, not because they're less complex under the hood than other systems. In fact it takes a little extra under the hood to pull off that ease of use. They're happy working at whatever level you want. I think your assumption might have been somewhat more accurate about pre-OS X versions of the Mac OS, however. I got into Macs as of OS X 10.4. I'd run every version of Windows between 3.1 and XP, and Linux off and on since before the kernel went 1.0, so I had a fair amount of experience with different systems, and found OS X to be an order of magnitude more sophisticated and flexible than anything else I'd used.
    • CCB0x45, on 01/15/2008, -0/+2You are wrong, I love these posts by people claiming things who have never used a mac(or at least in the last 5 years). Give it a rest, there is obvious reasons why people choose to use macs.
    • DagMX, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1because macs offer a better experience. yes I know i sounds fanboyish, but the Core architecture they have is superior for most media work.

      As for customization, its as customizable as windows. Linux is only more customizable because it has no real set look unlike the other OSs
    • dezee96, on 01/15/2008, -0/+0I use it because I like it. Also, I use it because the new version of Logic Studio completely rocks. I used Cubase and Nuendo until Logic Studio came out recently. I like Cubase and Nuendo too. Logic is better now. I like the fact that in Logic Studio, there is no need to use one of those stupid dongles to run the application.
  • Sevzi, on 01/15/2008, -4/+0OK, redo. MacBook Air is real--no optical, SSD (power of 2), has USB ports, has firewire. No bluray! 16GB iPhone (no brainer). Lossless iTunes audio for sale. IT's set, now let's see!
  • b1kerguy, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1my menu isn't opaque

    umm, ? anyone know what i can do 'bout this? (besides reinstalling)
    • InitialDMP5, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1change the background. the menu bar changes its visibility based on the colors in the background. I had a bluish colored wallpaper and my menu bar was more gray. I changed it to a lime green colored wallpaper and the menubar became opaque, almost transparent. The thing is smart!
  • MisterKen, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1For the iTimeMachine link alone (http://www.xiotios.com/itimemachine.html), this article is dugg.
    Installed iTimeMachine, connected to a network drive and Time Machined my disk via Ethernet. Nice.
    • etandrib, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1This is a workaround until network drives are officially supported. I wouldn't trust this in a production environment.
  • aronsmetana, on 01/15/2008, -0/+2Nice bit of worthwhile suggestions for Leopard
  • jasmith33, on 01/15/2008, -0/+0I've been using the drawer overlay icons for a while - very nice!
  • darkgreystar, on 01/15/2008, -3/+1"Kill the dock reflection" - Put your dock on the side, n00b.
    • InitialDMP5, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1yeah, but some people like it on the bottom. There are little programs that allow you to have the 2D dock on the bottom. The fact that there are options and alternatives is a good thing.
  • lupinglade, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1old news.. but a worthwhile compilation i suppose.
  • astrosmash, on 01/15/2008, -2/+1Anyone got a similar list for Vista?
  • willynilly, on 01/15/2008, -2/+3Power tweak #1: Install VMWare or Parallels and run XP.
    • yugiohdan6, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1and then install Virtual PC (or whatever windows has) and run linux!! (or just skip windows and just go straight to linux!)

      i am by no means a linux fanboy..
    • InitialDMP5, on 01/15/2008, -0/+2I have a mac pro with a seperate windows partition. I don't use VMWare or Parallels. I have to run the little bit of windows based programs I need natively. I have to say, my apple computer runs XP pretty damn fast.

      Because of my work I fell in love with Mac's, but I still use and appreciate Windows XP. So I would have to give you a +1, even though you were being snarky and a little douchey.
    • CCB0x45, on 01/15/2008, -1/+1I have an install of windows on my MPB along with parallels... I really rarely use it except to play games once in a while, there is nothing I can't do on OS X these days except games, and I rarely even reboot to play games as my consoles have basically taken that over. I also run a mythtv box on Ubuntu as well as have an older Dell laptop running Ubuntu, I love linux and unix but I don't see why you would put yourself through the heart ache when you can get such a nice version of unix which is completely tailored to a piece of hardware, I rarely find any linux app that doesn't have an OS X port.
  • briLo, on 01/15/2008, -0/+0Why on earth would you want to tweak Leopard?!?! Isn't that inherantly defeating what Steve thoughts directly???
  • OnlineAddict, on 01/15/2008, -0/+1I'm a new Leopard user, these are great tweaks
  •  

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