Quiet period for Apple offers chance to pass along tips

When it comes to following Apple and the Mac, we're definitely in a quiet period.

The entire line of consumer desktops was updated in early March; the most recent new hardware was the diminutive iPod shuffle around the same time and an updated Xserve in early April.

Looking ahead, the next major Apple event is the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 8, and although all information discussed at the gig is under nondisclosure agreements by the developers who attend, Apple has in the past used the keynote address to show off new technologies of interest to everybody else.

Last year, Steve Jobs announced MobileMe and the iPhone 3G at WWDC, along with details about Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, the next major version of the operating system.

Apple has promised that this year's keynote will include more information about Snow Leopard — and, hopefully, a release date and pricing — as well as a look at the iPhone 3.0 software, which is also under development. If last year was any indication, we'll see what Apple has in store for the next hardware revision of the iPhone.

So, while we wait for the Next Interesting Thing, I thought I'd share a collection of Mac and iPhone tips that you may not be aware of.

Flash blockers. I'm not a fan of Adobe's Flash technology for displaying interactive content on the Web. To be fair, though, that's because Flash is so poorly used online. Blinking, animated Web ads are visually annoying and drain computing resources for no good reason. Or designers sometimes build entire Web sites in Flash that would be better done using HTML.

If you're running Apple's Safari or another WebKit-based browser, install the free ClickToFlash (github.com/rentzsch/clicktoflash). If you prefer Firefox, install Flashblock (flashblock.mozdev.org). In each case, Flash content appears as an empty box with the word Flash or an icon. You can also add sites to whitelists, so content on those pages is automatically loaded every time you visit.

Switching applications. You can do this from the keyboard by pressing Command-Tab, which lets you cycle between open applications. Do it quickly to go directly to the previous-used application. Or keep the Command key held to view a row of all running applications in the middle of the screen.

With Command still pressed, hit Tab again to move between the icons from left to right, or press Shift-Tab to move right to left. You can also move the mouse to select an application.

However, here's a technique I use all the time that isn't obvious. With an application highlighted, press Command-Q to quit it or Command-H to hide it without first making the program active and then quitting or hiding it.

Checking your battery. The performance of the battery in my MacBook Pro took a nosedive, typically offering up only about an hour of use per charge. Eventually, batteries will reach that point, but this was pretty early in the game.

If you think your battery is starting to flake out, check its status in Apple's System Profiler: either launch System Profiler from the Utilities folder, or go to the Apple menu, choose About This Mac, and in the dialogue that appears, click the More Info button.

In the left column under the Hardware heading, click Power. The Battery Information data will tell you the battery's charge remaining and its full charge capacity. More important, under Health Information, you'll see the cycle count (the number of times the battery has been completely discharged and charged again) and the condition (which should read Good).

In my case, the battery had failed prematurely, and because I was still under AppleCare, Apple replaced it for free. (See www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html for more general information on battery care.)

Troubleshooting account. When something goes wrong on your Mac, it's often difficult to know where to start looking for the problem. If it's not something obvious (power plugged in?), you may have a software conflict. And the best way to test for that is to restart your computer using a generic, no-frills troubleshooting account.

In System Preferences, click the Accounts icon. You probably see your name under My Account, and a Guest Account (depending on which version of Mac OS X you're running) under Other Accounts. Click the plus-sign (+) button to create a new, non-admin account; you may have to click the lock icon first and provide your password to unlock the capability to create accounts.

With the new account created, click the Login Options button and set Automatic login to Disabled. Then when you restart your computer, sign in as your test account.

It's a vanilla account, so if you're not experiencing the same problem as in your normal account, you'll know to start looking for software conflicts and that the issue isn't hardware related.

Stay tuned as June arrives to see what Apple has up its sleeves for the second half of 2009.

Jeff Carlson and Glenn Fleishman write the Practical Mac column for Personal Technology and about technology in general for The Seattle Times and other publications. Send questions to carlsoncolumn@mac.com. More Practical Mac columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists.