Yahoo acquires Inquisitor!

I was a bit surprised about this blog entry on the Yahoo! Search Blog but very pleased to read that the plugin is still free and now finally free of those affiliate links that our beloved DW has put in which caused quite some stir up in the past.
In fact I downloaded the plugin and installed it once again after trashing it for those shady methods DW has used in the past.
Let's hope that it will stay that way.

MB-switcher

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Pimp your Quicksilver!

Are you a Quicksilver user?
If yes, are you tired of the standard interfaces that come with it?
Well, Julius Eckert has some awesome Quicksilver interfaces that will pimp up your Quicksilver and make the experience even better.

Here are the three very slick looking interfaces.
Click on image to get to the page.


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mozy.com - online backups for mac users also

So I have read a few blog entries about the online backup service mozy and that it got updated for Mac users also. Since it seems to be a very good service and it gets hyped in various places on the net I decided to give it a spin. I have signed up for a free account that gives you a storage of 2GB and downloaded the software also. I am still a bit skeptical to upload private things to an online backup service so I just selected some folders with random files in it to test out the software and the speed of mozy's online backup service. First of all the software that you need will be running in the menubar and it is very easy to select the stuff that you want mozy to backup (there are quite a lot of predefined backup rules in mozy which makes backing up a lot easier). Then there is another section where you can select custom folders that you want to be backupped also.

I have already selected what I wanted to be backupped this weekend but had trouble connecting to the servers. But today I was able to connect to the mozy servers and am currently trying my first backup. Currently, I am backing up about 250 MB of random data and according to the software it will take a bit over an hour till the process will be finished.

I guess I will post about the backup once it is finished.
Up till now I am very impressed about the simplicity that mozy offers.
If you are interested you should check out their site and try out the free storage of 2GB first and if you are satisfied you can opt for different plans.

Mozy Online Backup Homepage


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Microsoft Messenger : mac 7: finally with AV feature

Messenger : mac 7 is finally out!
And it has the long awaited AV feature. If you are a MSN user you should definitely give this a try. I haven't tried it myself yet but will tomorrow for sure.
You can download it here:

Messenger : mac 7 download page

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MacFuse updated: version 1.5

MacFuse has been updated to version 1.5.
If you are a boot camp user I think this software is a must have. In combination with the ntfs3G drivers it allows you to write ntfs formatted partitions also.

If you haven't downloaded the new version here is the link to MacFuse

MacFuse google code homepage

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Make your Vista look like Leopard (almost...)

If you are a Boot Camp user and have Vista installed and don't like the look of Vista there is a way to make your Vista installation resemble Leopard. The solution's name is Vista OS X. You can download the installer from here:
Vista OS X official homepage
Be advised though that the pack fiddles with system files so a backup would be a good idea just in case.

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Microsoft Office 2008 mac update out!

The first real update for Office 2008 mac is out now.
It has the version number 12.0.1 and supposedly fixes quite some bugs.
You can get the download from the Mactopia website.

Mactopia Home

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Get your copy of WhatSize for 5.99$ - only today

Official Homepage: WhatSize

You can get a copy of WhatSize for 5.99$ today from Macupdate.
WhatSize is a truly useful little tool to see which files and folders use up your precious HD space. While it used to be freeware it is now shareware so if you have been using it and waiting now would be the time to get a license.

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SuperDuper! saves the day - Boot Camp trouble solved...

There have been reports that the Boot Camp Assistant has trouble partitioning your hard disk since the 10.5.2 update. In some cases the Assistant just freezes you Mac in some other cases it causes kernel panics. In my case the Mac froze and the BC Assistant just didn't create the partition that I wanted. Then I came across a thread in a Mac forum that someone successfully partitioned his drive after reinstalling Leopard - that gave me an idea, which was to try restoring my SuperDuper! backup for the first time ever. Doing that would get rid of any defragmentation also, I thought. So booting from the install DVD and launching disk utility, I mounted the bootable sparse image disk that SuperDuper! created and started restoring the image to my Macintosh HD (note: the free version can clone your whole disk). I was amazed how fast the restore process was and after about 45mins I booted up my "old" restored OS X. Amazingly, Boot Camp Assistant was now able to create the Boot Camp partition and I was able to install Windows on my Macbook - I guess the problem with Boot Camp in some cases is, that the Assistant fails to move some files on the Macintosh HD to create the partition. If you absolutely need Windows (yes for some specific programs people need Boot Camp) and have trouble installing it this might be an easy safe way to do so.

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Software for Switchers (as well as longtime Mac users) Part VII: X Lossless Decoder

Official homepage: X Lossless Decoder

If you are an iPod owner and value high quality audio then you surely use lossless formats. iTunes however can only use the Apple Lossless format and if you have other formats lying around like flac you need to decode the tracks. A very easy to use, fast tool for that is X Lossless Decoder by a japanese developer. It is freeware and can handle various lossless formats.

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How to fix disk utility rights after 10.5.2 update

Now since the long awaited 10.5.2 update has been released I thought I'd share a little tip on how to fix the rights that disk utility just refuses to repair. In my case I have installed the update via Software Update and this morning when I repaired my rights there have been three entries about some unexpected values in the folder /Applications/Utilities, /Library, and /Applications (I think). Even repairing the rights from the Install DVD didn't help but there is one way how to fix all this. Download the Combo Update from Apple's site (around 350MB); after that restart your Mac into safe mode by pressing the "shift" key while booting and install the combo update in safe mode. After that all the little errors in disk utility should be gone. I don't know if this is old news but I personally didn't know about this and maybe there are still some people out there that didn't know about this little tip.

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How to check your monitor for dead pixels easily

If you are a regular reader of this blog you probably remember that I have gotten a new monitor a few weeks ago. The biggest worry when getting a monitor probably are dead pixels. In my case it certainly was - so I searched the internet a bit to find the best way to check for dead pixels and found a free software called Pixel Check (Link). It's a very simple little app that allows you to color the whole display in various solid colors so that you can check your monitor for faulty pixels easily. If you are about to buy a new monitor or are planning on purchasing one I can truly recommend this little app to check for any defective pixels. By the way, it seems I have been lucky and I couldn't find any dead pixels.

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Appzapper 2 is coming soon!

Appzapper 2 is coming out soon!
Now that should be good news for many Mac users - Appzapper probably being the most popular uninstaller app that exists. I have come across these pictures while surfing the web. I hope you enjoy them.



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David Watanabe responds after Inquisitor bashing...

D. Watanabe has responded to all the buzz concerning his little safari plugin Inquisitor.

You can read it all here on his blog.

Frankly, I still won't reinstall Inquisitor on my Macbook...

MB-switcher

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Inquisitor getting bashed!

Inquisitor a very popular plugin for Safari by developer David Watanabe is getting bashed for manipulating the search results with hidden affiliate links (you can read more here on Tuaw). Now, I really did like Inquisitor since it was "freeware" and added a very nice user interface to the google search box that is integrated in Safari. However, can you call a software like Inquisitor that makes money with hidden tactics a real freeware? It really would have been no problem if David Watanabe had mentioned the affiliate links somewhere in the license or if you are able to just turn it off but the current way is just plain wrong. Let's see what will happen with Inquisitor in the future but for now that plugin is uninstalled on my Macbook and if I will ever trust David Watanabe is another issue.

Original article that discovered the questionable placement of affiliate links.

By the way here is a link to MacRumors' forums where you can find uninstall instructions.

Update: Here are some more detailed uninstall instructions for Inquisitor.

The files you need to trash to get rid of Inquisitor completely are the following:

Inquisitor.bundle (in Library/InputManagers/Inquisitor/)

Inquisitor folder (in "user=you"/Library/Application Support/)

inquisitor.pkg (in Library/Receipts/)

inquisitorPreflight.pkg (also in Library/Receipts/)

inquisitor folder (in Library/InputManagers/)

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avast! mac edition updated

Today, the avast! antivirus mac edition got updated.
I haven't even known that the avast! mac edition demo was out already so it really kind of surprised me when I found out today. I haven't tested it out yet but it is available as a demo version here at macupdate if anyone is interested.
I wonder if anyone has tried out the mac edition yet. I have used avast for a while when I was still a PC user and quite liked it so I probably will try it out soon. Anyone who has tried it: some comments about the software are more than welcome.

MB-switcher

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BetterZip Quicklook Plugin-a must have

Today, I'd like to present a truly useful plugin for Quicklook that I have found after surfing the web for Quicklook enhancement utilities. It is the BetterZip Quick Look Generator. What it does is simple: It enables the use of Quicklook with various archives (zip, rar, etc.). In my opinion this is very useful since you can take a look what's in an archive without extracting it or launching a third party software. What amazes me most is the speed of this plugin. It opens very quickly. In my opinion this plugin is a must have if you are a Quicklook fan and user.

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Remote Buddy 20% off at MacSanta

Since I had the Remote Buddy Giveaway just a week ago I thought I share this with you.
You can get Remote Buddy at MacSanta with a discount of 20%.
So if you really like the app I think that's a really great deal.

MB-switcher

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LiteIcon: Leopard ready

A new version of LiteIcon has been released. LiteIcon was actually the first review of my blog and certainly is an application worth checking out since Candybar is still not Leopard ready and unlike Candybar LiteIcon is not shareware.
If you are a passionate customizer check out this awesome piece of software.

MB-switcher

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AppFresh is Leopard ready

I'm probably very late with this blog entry but AppFresh is Leopard ready.
AppFresh is a little utility that keeps your applications up to date. It is linked with the site iusethis.com so having an account at that page is useful.
An alternative to this little app is a dashboard widget called App Update which works fine for me.
I will try out AppFresh's new version though.

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