Articles by Wayne Linder
A computer user since the early days, and a Mac user since the first Mac 128K, Wayne Linder currently works for a large storage and peripheral company after having several careers in the audio, advertising and IT fields. He helps run Utah’s largest Macintosh User Group - UMUG - and is active on many computer help forums. He is also a member of the Air Force Reserves and enjoys working on his computer until the wee hours of the morning, even though his wife claims he should put down the bloody mouse and exercise a little. (In his defense, he just doesn’t understand the concept of voluntary sweating. What’s up with that?!)
Making the Most of Time Machine
December 6, 2007
In an earlier article, I gave an overview of Apple’s Time Machine backup solution. Today we’re going to go a bit deeper. This won’t be a tutorial on how to use Time Machine, because the interface is pretty simple. Instead, we’ll show you some of the more advanced options. We’ll also see why the format of your drive makes a difference and even take a trip through the steps needed for network backup.
Say hello to Mac OS X Leopard
October 25, 2007
Today, Apple will once again show that they’re good to the core as they let the latest cat, Leopard, out of the bag. Mac OS X 10.5 will show the world that even though they removed the word Computer from their name, Apple hasn’t fallen far from that tree. There, now that we’ve gotten the obligatory clichés out of the way, we can continue with the article. At 6:00 pm today, Apple will have their newest operating system for sale.
Introducing AppleTV - An Honest Look
August 21, 2007
Now that most of the initial furor has died down, I think it’s time to write an article about the AppleTV. Why an article now – on a device released months ago and overanalyzed by both press and users alike? I believe that I and others who have had the AppleTV for a while now have enough experience with it to properly review it. Before I go into the review, let me tell you what led me to purchase the AppleTV.
Put Internet Images on Your Desktop With Automator
March 25, 2007
Do you ever get tired of the same old Desktop image? Do you like cool images of space? Have you always wanted to play around with Apple’s Automator? Did you ever wonder if your dentist was the one out of four who didn’t recommend Trident to their patients who chew gum? Well, this article can’t help you with the last item, but if the others intrigued you, read on! In this article, you will learn how to change your Desktop background every day with an image downloaded from NASA’s Cool Astronomy Picture of the Day.
How to Make Mac Icons
February 26, 2007
A few weeks ago, Matt Cone showed us how Macinstruct’s beautiful icons, courtesy of the talented Gary Gehiere, came to be. In that article, you were shown the beginning stages of icon design – how the meaning of an idea is distilled down to a few carefully placed pixels. The end result, of course, is seen here - on Macinstruct - in the icons scattered throughout the website. But what about the development stage?
Introduction to the OS X Terminal Application
January 22, 2007
The Terminal is an application from Apple used to gain access to the power that is “under the hood” of the operating system. Historically, there have been two ways to access the operating system; a Graphical User Interface (GUI) shell, or a command-line shell. The Mac OS graphical interface allows us to do our daily computing tasks in a manner that is familiar to us – if we want to throw an item away, we drag it to the trash.
Finding Mac Freeware and Shareware: A Beginner's Guide
January 18, 2007
Why would anyone need low-cost software? I’m sure that some people, after switching from the PC, realize that they need some software to put on their shiny new Mac and their pockets are now empty. Or how about students, who, after spending their last bit of pocket change on some yummy ramen noodles, don’t exactly have a few hundred dollars left for a graphic-editing application. Then you have people like me.