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53 Windows in OS X
To run Windows XP, Vista or the latest Windows 7 applications on a Mac, simply install the free virtualisation software developed by Sun Microsystems: VirtualBox for OS X hosts (Intel-based Macs only). It can be downloaded from www.virtualbox.org/ wiki/Downloads.
The trick is to also install Guest Additions so that you can navigate seamlessly from the Windows screen to the Mac desktop using a mouse. There is also better support for screen resolutions and folder-sharing.
After installing VirtualBox in a Mac and loading it with your choice of Windows operating system, go to Chapter 4 of the included VirtualBox manual and follow the instructions for installing Guest Additions.
You mount the ISO file so that it appears like another CD/DVD-ROM drive in your Windows OS.
The VirtualBox Guest Additions installation will start automatically.
54 Access BootCamp directly from desktop
BootCamp now comes with Snow Leopard. If you hate powering down Snow Leopard to power up BootCamp to access your Windows XP partition, here is your answer.
Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac virtualisation software works much like VirtualBox (see tip 53).
The key difference is that it makes your BootCamp partition accessible from your Snow Leopard desktop.
After using it, I find it well worth its price of $129.
55 Connect to your office VPN
It is easy to set Snow Leopard to connect to your office VPN (virtual private network).
In System Preferences, click the Network icon under Internet & Wireless. Above the padlock icon at the bottom left corner of the dialogue box, click on the '+' button.
In the pop-up menu, select VPN, type in an optional Service Name for this connection and click Create.
To facilitate activation of the connection, enable Show AirPort status in the menu bar.
If you need to access the VPN, simply click Connect VPN on the top menu bar.
56 Copying and pasting
The copy-and-paste function in Mac OS X used to work with only text. You could copy an extract from a document or e-mail and paste it into another document or e-mail.
Now, you can use this function for entire files.
This is really useful when you want to send an attachment without having to navigate a very small window to scour endless folders for the right file.
You just need to locate the file from within the Finder, select it and copy it using the keyboard shortcut. Then, paste the file into Mail using the appropriate keyboard shortcut.
57 Get the picture?
The size of a new passport photo has to be 400 x 514 pixels, with a file size of no more than 60KB. Easy enough to achieve with Photoshop software but the humble Preview app in OS X will also do the job.
Open the image with Preview and crop it to the right dimensions.
For the final adjustment, go to Tools, Adjust Size and specify the size in pixels. Then, go to File, Save As and slide the Quality slider until the file size is correct.
You can also use Preview to annotate or add text to photographs or PDF documents. Just select Annotations in the Tools drop-down menu box.
58 More drive for old Macs
Remember when a 160GB hard disk was standard in a laptop? Well, 250GB is now considered the minimum and 500GB the ideal. Next year, it will be 1TB.
However, you may not need to buy a new MacBook Pro. Just upgrade the hard disk. Specifics, like placement of the hard disk and access to it, vary from model to model but the procedure is the same.
Remove the bottom cover and battery pack to get to the drive.
Disconnect the hard drive cable. Note that there are thermal sensors connected to it. Free the sensors from the body of the drive.
Remove the retaining brackets and disconnect the drive.
Unscrew the mounting bolts, fix these to the new drive and install the new drive.
When installed, you can do a free Mac OS X installation by inserting the original setup disk.
Then mount the old drive in an external drive enclosure, making it an external drive.
Use Migration Assist (found in the Utilities folder under Applications) to migrate your applications, user data and preferences to the new drive.
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