How to Fix OS X Mavericks Biggest Annoyances OS X Mavericks was released yesterday, and while its hard to complain too much about a free operating system, theres a few things Mavericks does that might get your goat. Heres how to fix those annoyances. Re-Enable Your Favorite Text Expander Most text expansion programs work by enabling a special accessibility option in the settings. That option was moved in OS X Mavericks, so theres a good chance your text expander of choice has suddenly stopped working. Thankfully, the fix is relatively easy: Open System Preferences. Select Privacy & Security. Click the Privacy Tab. Select Accessibility. Click the lock button and enter your password. If you text expander is listed here, make sure the box next to it is checked. If not, open up your Applications folder and drag the icon to the System Preferences box. Once your text expander is listed you should have no problem getting it to work properly. If youre using any similar tools that tap into Accessibility options like BetterTouchTool youll need to do run through the same process. Disable Notification Center on the Lock Screen Notification Center doesnt see a whole lot of improvement this time around, but the update does mess with your settings a little bit. If youre not a fan of getting a million notifications, youre going to want to pop into System Preferences > Notifications and take a look at the new options. The big one to check is Show notifications on lock screen. If you dont want your emails or anything else showing when youre computer is locked, uncheck this box. Disable Automatic App Updates Auto updates arent new to OS X, but Mavericks handles them a bit differently than Mountain Lion did. This time around they happen in the background. The good news is youre offered a bit more control of whats updated. Head into System Preferences > App Store. Here you can turn off automatic updates or fine tune how theyre handled. If you dont like the idea of just downloading every updated imaginable, its a good idea to turn these off. Enable Offline Dictation Dictation was introduced in Mountain Lion, but it required an internet connection to work. Since you cant always be connected, Mavericks allows you to download the dictation software so you can use it offline. Head to System Preferences > Dictation & Speech and check the Use Enhanced Dictation box. This enabled the ability to use dictation regardless of whether you have an internet connection or not. Prevent App Nap On Select Apps App Nap is the new system in Mavericks that helps save power and increase battery life. If an apps not currently doing anything, App Nap conserves battery life by slowing the app down. In most cases, this is good when youre working off a laptop, but if you find yourself in a special circumstance where you want to disable it on a per-app basis, you can. Just right-click an app and select Get Info. Then check the box labeled Prevent App Nap. Download Adobe Flash and Java Runtime Mavericks doesnt come packed with two pieces of software youll probably need at some point, Flash and Java. In fact, if you had either installed in OS X Mountain Lion, Apple went ahead and deleted it when you upgraded to Mavericks. Heres how to install Java: Open up Terminal (Applications > Utilities) and type: java -version If Java isnt installed, youll see an option to download it. If it is, youll see something similar to the screenshot above. Click the More info buttons. Find the file for Mavericks, then download and install it. Youll need Java for all kinds of apps, from FTP clients to Minecraft servers, so its not a bad idea to download it right away. Likewise, Apple deleted that copy of Adobe Flash youd installed before the updated. If youre having trouble playing any Flash content, head over to Adobe and re-download the plugin again. Check for App Updates Weve had pretty good luck with app compatibility in OS X Mavericks, but if youre having trouble youll want to make sure you update your software. You can do this either by heading to Apple logo > Software Update, or through your softwares own update system. If you want to double-check software compatibility before you make the upgrade, head over to Roaring Apps and search for your software of choice. ift.tt/HauF8L ift.tt/17IgCxt Source: Lifehacker
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 11:29:49 +0000