1. Click Start. Then choose a library you want to change. Let's pick up "Pictures", for example.

2. Right-click on "Pictures" and select "Properties".

3. Press "Include a folder" to add folder to a library. You may add several folders.

4 Also, you may choose, to show or not, the link for this library in the Start menu.

5. Press "OK" to confirm changes.

Mac OS X v10.6 and later

1. From the Apple menu choose System Preferences....
2. Click on Accounts.

   

3. Click on the lock and authenticate with an administrator account.
4. Click Login Options....
5. Click the "Edit..." or "Join..." button at the bottom right.

   

6. Click the "Open Directory Utility..." button.

   

7. Click the lock in the Directory Utility window.
8. Enter an administrator account name and password, then click OK.
9. Choose Enable Root User from the Edit menu.

   

10. Enter the root password you wish to use in both the Password and Verify fields, then click OK.

Mac OS X v10.5

1. From the Finder's Go menu, choose Utilities.
2. Open Directory Utility.
3. Click the lock in the Directory Utility window.
4. Enter an administrator account name and password, then click OK.
5. Choose Enable Root User from the Edit menu.
6. Enter the root password you wish to use in both the Password and Verify fields, then click OK.

Mac OS X v10.4.x or earlier

1. Click the Finder icon in the Dock.
2. From the Go menu, choose Applications.
3. Open the Utilities folder.
4. Open the NetInfo Manager utility.
5. Click the lock in the NetInfo Manager window.
6. Enter an administrator account name and password, then click OK.
7. For Mac OS X 10.2 and later, choose Enable Root User from the Security menu.
8. For Mac OS X 10.0 and 10.1, choose Security from the Domain menu, then Enable Root User from the submenu.
9. If you have not previously set a root password, an alert box may appear that says "NetInfo Error," indicating that the password is blank. Click OK.
10. Enter the root password you wish to use and click Set.
11. Enter the password again for verification and click Verify.
12. Click the lock again to prevent changes.

Summary

With Target Display mode, you can use your 27-inch iMac with Mac OS X as an external display. Connect any computer or other device with a Mini DisplayPort to your 27-inch iMac using a Mini DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable or using a converter that converts other electrical, video, and audio protocols from another source device to Mini DisplayPort compliant signals.

If you have a Time Capsule on your network, you can use it as your Time Machine backup disk.

Once your Time Capsule has been configured, open Time Machine preferences and click Select Backup Disk. 

From the sheet that appears, select the Time Capsule you would like to use for backup.

Tip: Click "Set up Time Capsule" to open your AirPort utility to setup and configure your Time Capsule. Enter the name and password or password only that you set for your Time Capsule via the Airport Utility.

Selecting items to exclude from the back up

In Time Machine preferences (in System Preferences) you can click the Options button to adjust settings. A sheet similar to this appears when you click Options:

This sheet allows you to exclude files, folders, or entire volumes from being backed up. You might want to do this to avoid filling up your backup disk.

Tip: If you regularly modify a very large file (greater than 1 GB, for example), you might want to add the file to the "Do not back up" list. Time Machine backs up modified files, regardless of how much or how little the file changed from the previous backup.

The "Warn when old backups are deleted" option tells Time Machine warn you when older backups are removed from your backup disk to make space for more recent backups. 

Manually begin a Time Machine backup

From the Time Machine menu, choose Back Up Now, or right-click or Control-click the Time Machine Dock icon and select "Back Up Now."

Time Machine lets you automatically back up your entire system in Mac OS X v10.5 and Mac OS X 10.6 or later. Time Machine keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on your Mac--system files, digital photos, music, movies, TV shows, documents, and so forth. You can easily go "back in time" to restore files if you ever need to.

Setting up Time Machine for backups

Setting up Time Machine is as easy as connecting an external hard drive to your Mac via FireWire or USB, or by connecting to a Time Capsule. You can also use a secondary internal disk if your desktop Mac has one (that is, a disk that you don't start up from).

Note: If you'll use Time Machine with a Time Capsule, skip to "Setting up Time Capsule for Time Machine backups"

If you haven't specified a backup disk yet, the first time you connect a hard drive Time Machine asks if you would like to use it as a backup drive.

Click "Use as a Backup Disk" to confirm you want to use the disk for Time Machine backups.  Time Machine preferences will then open with this disk selected as your backup.

That's all you have to do for Time Machine to automatically back up your Mac. Time Machine keeps hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups until your backup drive is full.

About the first backup

The first backup may take a while. You may want to set up Time Machine in the evening so that the initial backup can be done overnight. If your backup disk is a Time Capsule, the initial backup may be faster if you leave your computer in the same room as the Time Capsule, or use an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to one of the Ethernet ports on the Time Capsule.  You should not interrupt the initial backup. You can continue to use your Mac while Time Machine backs up.

Once the initial backup is completed, Time Machine performs subsequent hourly backups of only the files that have changed on your Mac since the last backup (as long as your Mac is awake and the backup disk is connected).

Changing your backup disk

You can manually select a backup disk in Time Machine System Preferences if you want to.

1) Choose From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.

2) From the View menu, choose Time Machine.

3) Click "Select Backup Disk".

4) Choose a disk where backups will be stored, then click “Use for Backup.”

Note: Every available disk that can be used to store backups is listed. If you’ve partitioned a disk, the available partitions are listed. Time Machine can’t back up to an external disk that's connected to an AirPort Extreme, or to an iPod, iDisk, or a disk formatted for Microsoft Windows (NTFS or FAT format).  If you select an NTFS or FAT-formatted disk, Time Machine prompts you to reformat the disk. Choose a different disk or reformat the disk in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Because reformatting erases any files on the disk, only do this if you no longer need the files or if you have copies of them on a different disk.

If your backup disk is on a network, the network server must use Apple File Protocol (AFP) file sharing and both your computer and the networked backup disk should have Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later installed.

The most common format for a Time Machine backup disk is Mac OS Extended format, but Time Machine also supports Mac OS Extended (Case sensitive, Journaled) and XSan formats.

If the disk is partitioned using the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition type, some partitions may not be available for use with Time Machine. The GUID Partition Table (GPT) or Apple Partition Map (APM) partition types are recommended.

Time Machine works best if you use your backup disk only for Time Machine backups. If you keep separate files on your backup disk, Time Machine won’t back up those files, and the space available for Time Machine backups will be reduced.

Symptoms

• If you are unable to type letters, numbers, or symbols, you may have Mouse Keys enabled on a keyboard that has no numeric keypad or Num Lock key.
• If you log in as a different Mac OS X user (who does not have Mouse Keys enabled) while the keyboard is in this state, you will be able to type numbers using some keys, but you will be unable to type letters.

Resolution

Mouse Keys may have been enabled through the Universal Access pane of System Preferences or by pressing the Option key five times (if this setting is enabled in Universal Access preferences in System Preferences).  If you are using a new computer and have never enabled Mouse Keys, you may have used Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant to migrate a user from another system which had Mouse Keys enabled, or you may have used MobileMe to sync the preference for Mouse Keys from another computer.

1) Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.

2) Choose Universal Access from the View menu.

3) Click the Mouse tab.

4) Click Off, next to Mouse Keys.  If you have already logged in as a different user where Mouse Keys is disabled, click On and then click Off next to Mouse Keys, to return the keyboard to normal operation.

Additional Information

When Mouse Keys is enabled with one of these keyboards, you can use the keys 7,8,9, U, I, O, J, K, L, M, and '.' (period) to control movement of the mouse pointer and mouse clicking, but other numbers, letters, and keys cannot be used. (Keyboards with no numeric keypad or Num Lock key include: Apple Wireless Keyboard (2007), the built-in keyboard on MacBook (Late 2007) or newer, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro (Early 2008), or newer.)

The following keys will continue to operate normally when Mouse Keys is enabled: Esc, Function keys, Eject, Delete, Tab, Shift, fn, Control, Option, Command, and the arrow keys. 

If you would like to control the mouse pointer with the keyboard and also use the keyboard for typing, enable "Press the Option key five times to turn Mouse Keys on or off" in Universal Access preferences. Then, press the Option key five times each time you want to switch between controlling the mouse pointer and typing.

If there is no color on your computer display, one of the screen contrast effects in System Preferences may be turned on.

There are two screen contrast effects: "White on Black" and "Use grayscale."

To return your screen to its regular appearance, make sure that both of them are turned off.

To turn off the contrast effect:

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and then click Universal Access

Click Seeing.

Make sure "Black on White" is selected and deselect "Use grayscale" if it is checked.

You may have noticed that Windows 7 has a default country theme. For example, the Windows 7 that I bought has a United States theme listed under Aero Themes. But, it also has several other country themes stored in hidden files. Here is how you can access them.

Start by opening up Windows Explorer. Once opened, look for the Organize button located in the upper left side of the window on the top toolbar.

Click the Organize button and select Folder and search options from the drop down menu. This should open up the Folder Options window. Click the View tab. Under the section labeled Advanced settings, look for the value Show hidden files, folders, and drivers and select it.

Next, look for the value Hide protected operating and uncheck it. If prompted with a popup window click Yes, than click the OK button.

Browse to the path Windows\Globalization\MCT. Upon doing so, you should see five MCT- folders. Each folder represents a different country. Open up a folder of your choice, and open up the Theme folder located inside the according country folder.

You should see that country’s theme as AU, CA, GB, US, ZA, etc… Double click the theme to activate it and add it to your Windows 7 themes library.

Active any or all themes that you would like to install by clicking the according theme files via the MCT folders. After you have checked out the new themes, go ahead and change the Globalization settings back for Windows.

Launch Windows Explorer. Click the Organize tab and select Folder and search options from the drop down menu. Click the view tab and reselect Don’t show hidden files, folders, and themes. Also reselect Hide protected operating system files. Click the OK button.

That’s all there is to it. You should now have several new country themes available in your Windows 7 themes library. Right-click on your desktop and select personalize. You should now see your new themes listed.

Want to check out some more themes that Microsoft has released? Head on over to this page http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/personalize. Just find a theme you like and click the download button next to that theme.

It will save to your computer as a Windows 7 theme file. Double click the theme to activate and add to your theme library.

One of the biggest inspirations for colorful swear words since we started using Windows 7 has been when trying to put the computer into sleep mode, but instead accidently hitting the big shut down button on the start menu rather than the little arrow beside it. Lo and behold, there is actually a very simple remedy for this problem.

First, click the start button. Right click directly on the button where it currently says Shut Down. The only link available says Properties—click it.

In the menu that appears, click the selection menu next to Power button action. From there you can choose the power function you use the most often. In our case, that option is Sleep, but if you are using a networked computer, you might want to choose Log Off. If you share a family computer, you might want to choose Switch User.

Click Apply and OK. If you click the start menu now, you will see the power button with the option you just selected. We predict far fewer four-letter-word utterances in your near future.

Bonus Tip: In the menu above, if you click Customize, you have complete control over what appears on your start menu. If your start menu is displaying too many recent programs, you can minimize the number shown in the selection box at the bottom of the menu.

If you would rather not search through all of your programs to find the ones you use most often, you can also increase this number.

For those of you who are minimalists, you could go through the entire list of possible things to display on the start menu and select don’t display this item and your start menu would look far less cluttered.

Change User Name in Windows 7

First, click on Start and then Control Panel. Then click on User Accounts and Family Safety.

On the next screen, click on the User Accounts heading at the very top.

Finally, click on Change your account name to actually change the user name. If you want to change the user name for a different account, click on Manage another account.

Now type in the new user name that you desire and click the Change button.

That’s it! Once you click Change, you’ll be back to the previous screen with a preview of the new login screen.

Change User Picture in Windows 7

To change the user account picture, simply click on the Change your account picture link in the second step above.

You can either choose from the default pictures in Windows 7 or you can click the Browse for more pictures link. Once you have chosen the desired picture, click on the Change Picture button.

Change/Create User Password in Windows 7

If you want to create a password for your user account or change the current password, click on the Change your Windows password link.

If you don’t already have a password setup for your user account, you can click on the Create a password for your account link, otherwise you can click Change your password.

So those are the most common three tasks when managing user accounts in Windows 7.