OS X: Fixes Hints Tweaks and Tips

Command Line Aliases: How To Create/Add/Edit
Unlike Linux OS X does not provide a user with their own aliases file, so you will need first to create one.

In a terminal:

nano .bash_profile

This will open a blank file, create your alias:

alias ll='ls -lah' alias la='ls -A' alias l='ls -CF' alias ping='ping -c3' alias pingg='ping -c3 www.google.co.uk' alias update='sudo softwareupdate -i -a'

CTRL+O to write to the file, press enter then CTRL+X to exit.

To load the new alias profile in the terminal:

source ~/.bash_profile

To check in the terminal:

alias

This will then display all the aliases entered in the bash_profile file.

Dashboard: How To Disable
The Dashboard is activated by pressing F12, however it is always running in the background hogging resources, so to permanently disable it undertake the following.

In a terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

Followed by:

killall dock

To revert the behaviour run again changing YES for NO followed again by killall dock

Dock - Make Hidden Items Transparent: How To
In the terminal:

defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool YES

To revert the behaviour run again changing YES to NO

Finder - Display Hidden Files: How To
In a terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool YES

To revert the behaviour run again changing YES to NO

Finder - Display The File Path: How To
In a terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES

To revert the behaviour run again changing YES to NO

Screen Shots - Changing the Format: How To
In a terminal:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

Where jpg is the format you want, or substitute with bmp gif etc as required.

Logging out and in is required to activate the change.