With ever more folks coming to the Mac platform, there are plenty of good books available for learning the basics. But what about going behind the basics? Enter “Master Your Mac” (http://macte.ch/3OHWp) from No Starch Press.
The 424-page, US$29.95 book by Matt Cone offers tutorials on how to change hidden defaults, enable undocumented features, repair disk permissions to improve performance, monitor their systems, how to create a bootable USB drive for emergencies and more. Topics include how to:
° Automate tasks with AppleScript, triggers, and Automator macros;
° Handle massive amounts of email and media with synced accounts and spam filters;
° Turn their Macs into a file or Web server;
° Create Safari extensions and use site-specific browsers;
° Secure their Macs with firmware passwords, firewalls, FileVault full-disk encryption;
° Install the best apps to boost productivity and fix everyday annoyances.
“Master Your Mac” is written in a concise, easy-to-follow style. It’s also filled with lots of useful graphics — although we wish the graphics were in color rather than black & white.
Cone, a freelance writer specializing in Apple hardware and software, has been a Mac user for over 20 years. A former ghostwriter for some of Apple’s instructors, Cone founded Macinstruct.com in 1999, one of the most popular online destinations for OS X tutorials.