Quick Tip #3 • Customize System Preferences

• Customize System Preferences •


I got this tip from the awesome team over at Cult of Mac  so I thought I would share it with you. I can’t believe I never knew you could do this but I am glad I know kow to now.

This is a very easy tip just takes a few steps. 

1. Launch System Preferences so you are looking at the a similar screen as the one below:

2. Click on the View menu, from the Top Menu Bar, and select Customize. You should then see check marks appear next to the icons, like you can see in the above screenshot. This allows you to uncheck the ones you don’t want or need there. Once you are finished. Click Done to save your changes and those icons disappear.

3. That’s it your done. Told you it was easy. 

• If you want to find them again and add them back, simply select Customize again from the View menu and the now hidden icons will show up with a checkbox allowing you to select them if you choose so they can reappear in the System Preferences window. 

• If you happen to not want the icons organized by Category then you can select Alphabetically and watch the icons shift around. Its actually a more minimal view.

Well that’s it for Quick Tip #3, if you have a better hint about this or we missed something make sure to let us know at appleservice@checkpnt.com.

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Double-Tap To Download ‘Waiting’ iOS Apps Right Away

Here is a quick tip I was not even aware of, so if you’re like me this can be quite useful when downloading a lot of updates on your iOS Device. Thanks to Cult of Mac for the tip!

From Cult of Mac:

Yesterday, we showed you how to fix apps that get stuck “waiting” as you downloaded everything to your newly-restored iPad. That’s fine and all, but what if you really, really need to check your RSS reader of choice to read the latest Cult of Mac stories? With this incredibly simple tip, you can just tell the iPad to download that app right away.

To make your chosen app jump the line, just double tap it. That’s it. This simple gesture tells iOS that this app should be downloaded next. If you’re on a fast enough connection, it will seem to install right away.

I wish I’d known this last Thursday when I bought an iPod Touch and mistakenly restored it from an iCloud backup of my iPad and it started downloading almost 20GB worth of apps on the Apple Store’s Wi-Fi. Now all we need is a tip to just abort all of those downloads and start over. As it was I just panicked, reset the thing and started over.

[Via iPad Today]

Quick Tip #2 • Change Audio Settings Quickly from the Menubar

• Change Audio Settings Quickly from the Menubar •

If your someone who happens to use external speakers (USB speakers) or maybe even an external mic, then you’re all to familiar with having to go to System Preferences to make changes to your audio or input settings. Well who wants to do that every time! Todays Tech Point will help you to easily change settings & have your audio blasting through you fancy new speakers in no time!

This tip is surely not obvious, but extremely simple! One of those hidden little tricks.

When you typically click on the sound icon in the menubar you get the volume slider like this:

Now try holding the Option key down and then click on the same volume icon, you’ll get the Input & Output options for your Mac. Like this:

You can now easily select the Input or Output option your looking for (I don’t have anything extra plugged in right now so I don’t see many options). So go ahead make the change you were looking for an your ready to go!

If you have any questions or need more instruction please feel free to let us know!

Thanks for checking out Tech Points by Checkpoint - Quick Tip #1

Quick Tip #1 • Custom Icons for your Folders

• Change your folders icon •

If your someone who really likes to keep files on your system very organized, and you really like visual indicators so you know whats in all of those folders, than changing your folders icon can be a big help. 

For example, say you have a folder than contains only custom music tracks you created using GarageBand. So why not give that folder an icon that some how relates to music. 

Like this icon below:

There are several ways to do this but one quick and easy way to do is to simply follow these steps. 

1. Locate the icon that you want to use.

2. Locate the folder that will be getting the new icon. 

3. Right Click (Ctrl + Click) on both the folder and the icon and select Get Info. You can also select the folder or icon and press Cmd+I, and that will do the same thing. 

4. You then should have the same view as you see here:

5. Next click on the icon so its highlighted blue, and and press Cmd+C to copy the icon. 

6. Finally select the folder’s icon so it’s now highlighted blue, and press Cmd+V.

7. Your folder should now have a custom icon!

Final notes:

•  You can pretty much change any folder’s or application’s icon using these steps. Applications may default back to their original icon once you apply an update though, so you will have to follow these steps again.

•  I would suggest testing this out on a new blank folder just to make sure it works for you. 

If you have any questions or need more instruction please feel free to let us know!

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Go to Iconfactory to find lots of great and free icons! 

If you really like customizing your icons you might want to check out CandyBar, a great app that automates the process a little more.

If you have a better way to do this or any suggestions we would love to hear!

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