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CNET reviews Psystar's Snow Leopard-based Open(Q)

Update: So it's clear, neither this post nor the video constitute the official CNET review. Click here for the full write-up with specs, charts, pricing and detailed analysis.

It's been almost exactly a year since we last reviewed a Psystar desktop. During that 12 month gap, Apple's suit against Psystar has steadily advanced through the court system, Psystar entered into and emerged from bankruptcy, and Apple released a brand-new operating system by way of Mac OS X 10.6.1, aka Snow Leopard. Somehow, none of those events has stopped Psystar from selling its own computers using … Read more

Weekly Utilities Update: Peek-a-Boo, CleanMyMac, BackupLoupe, more...

Our Weekly Utilities Update report is a list of all the updates for many Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. While utilities can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our main focus in this column is to bring you those that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems.… Read more

Deleting locked files

There are a couple of situations where files on drives may be locked, which will prevent them from being directly removed. As such, even though you have them in the trash and choose the option to empty the trash, the files will stay around and give an error that the files are locked.… Read more

Apple releases iPhone OS 3.1.2

Apple on Thursday released an update for the iPhone operating system, bringing the current version of the OS to 3.1.2.

According to notes accompanying the update, Apple fixed three bugs, which may not seem like a lot, but they are important. Among the changes is a fix for what Apple says is a "sporadic issue," where the iPhone would not wake up from sleep mode.

The update also resolves an issue that could interrupt the cell network until the phone is restarted. A bug that caused a crash during video streaming has been addressed in iPhone … Read more

Altered window sizes not sticking

When you change the size and position of a freshly opened window, the new settings should be retained whenever you next open that window, even after restarting the system. This is because the settings for each window are stored in the hidden .DS_Store file within the opened directory for that window. Sometimes, however, the settings will not appear to load properly, which can be frustrating for users.… Read more

Create custom keyboard layouts with Ukelele

Apple provides a number of layouts for various purposes in Mac OS X--mainly for international layout differences, but also for variations such as Dvorak. Besides localization purposes, there are also times when specialized layouts may be useful for certain technical applications, to just disable a key, or to swap two modifier keys' functions on a standard keyboard layout. Regardless of the reason, people have wanted to easily edit or create new keyboard layouts in OS X, but have not been able to do so with any utilities Apple provides.… Read more

How-To: Customize new user account templates

User accounts by default are empty and contain the default system settings such as the starry space background image, the dock at the bottom with iLife and Safari in it, and an accounts folder with a template website and some PDF information documents. While in most cases this is a good starting point, in certain situations people create accounts quite frequently and would like the default desktop to be different, either for something as simple as having the background reflect a company's name, or to ensure specific applications are configured properly on new accounts.… Read more

Applications stop launching by opening a file

Generally, when you open a file, the default program for reading that file will launch and load the file; however, opening a file either in the Finder or in the Dock in Snow Leopard may not open the default application. The application may launch and then become unresponsive without loading the application.… Read more