3 Random MacOSX Tips

I've been a Mac convert for about 4 months now, and I'm loving it. I'm getting more fluent, but I'm still find new tricks and techniques for getting things done. Here are a few that I've found most helpful the last few days:

1. Screenshots

Using my standard MacBookPro laptop keyboard I don't have a snazzy "PrintScreen" button like I had on my old Windows machine, but it turns out Mac gives you even more choices on what to capture on your screen. Here's a few of the tip listed on Taking Screenshots list from MacRumors.com:

• Command-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it as a file on the desktop

See the full list of Screenshot techniques on MacRumors, theres some great stuff on there, but the 3 listed above are what I find myself using most often.

2. Force Quit

It hasn't happened often, but every once in awhile a program will lock up on me. Nothing is more annoying than trying to close a program that won't respond. Everyone knows the standard ctrl+alt+delete for Windows. Command+Option+Escape is how you force a program to quit in MacOSX.

3. Switch JDKs

Switching JDKs on a Mac is done via the Java Preferences UI. Go to Applications | Utilities | Java | Java Preferences and simply adjust the list of JDKs to select which one should be used.