Two settings that many users are missing in iTunes 8 are the ability to disable the Genre column when using the Browser, and the preference to disable teh link to the iTunes Store in your music library.

Luckily, macosxhints has already solved these problems - but it will require you to fire up the Terminal.

To remove the Genre column you need to launch the terminal and enter the following text:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes show-genre-when-browsing -bool FALSE

When you relaunch iTunes the Genre tab will be gone. If you want it back, repeat the process but replace FALSE with TRUE.

If you want to disable those iTunes store links you’ll need to enter the following:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes show-store-arrow-links -bool FALSE

When you relaunch iTunes those links will be gone. Again, if you want them back, repeat the process and replace TRUE with FALSE.

Twitter is a great way to stay in touch with people around you. Confused? Watch Twitter in Plain English below:

We’ve done a Review of Free Twitter Clients, but Lifehacker found a method that is pretty unique.

For this to work you must have the latest version of Fluid (review). Fluid is a site specific browser, meaning the entire browser works on one site. This is extremely useful for web apps like Gmail, Google Docs or even Twitter.

The video below from Fluid’s blog shows you how to use Hahlo and Fluid to make a sweet Twitter client:

You can even enable Growl support! The end result is a surprisingly good Twitter experience:

Are you on Twitter? Follow MacintoshTips.

Reader Jean Pierre writes:

If you click on the Finder icon in the Dock, it will open you Home folder. You can change that. Go to Finder Preferences > General > New Finder window opens and from the popup menu, choose any folder you want (I like the Applications folder)

While this is a great tip in itself, there’s a lot more that you can do with the Finder preference pane. As mentioned before, from the General tab, it is possible to change the default folder that pops up when you click the Dock’s Finder icon. You can also choose to have new folders always open in a separate window. From here, you can also decide what you want to appear on the Desktop.

The labels section is self explanatory. From here, you can rename the various color labels. One suggestion I have would be to assign different colors for different school subjects or work projects.

The sidebar tab is also very straightforward, you choose what you want to appear in your sidebar, simple as that.

Finally, we have the advanced tab. By default, Finder will show you a warning before emptying the trash, and will warn you before you change the extension of a file. The 2 options that are disable by default are “Empty Trash securely” and “Show all file extensions” (.jpg, .pdf, etc.).

Reader Alex Hwang recently wrote in about GLTerminal, a Terminal.app replacement that recreates a terminal from 20 years ago.

GLTerminal accomplishes this by:

• Allowing you to change the screen brightness
• Allowing you to “curve” the text so that the edges wrap backwards
• Allowing you to make the screen flicker
• Emulating a baud rate for painfully slow speeds

While GLTerminal doesn’t have nearly as many features as Terminal.app–it’s strangely comforting. Something about using GLTerminal makes command line work much more enjoyable.

Leopard requires a special version, but everyone else should be fine with the default download.

Also remember you can full-screen GLTerminal with Command+Enter for the full effect.

In Mac OS 10.5 you’ll notice a completely new firewall menu, and you’ll notice that it is now under the “Security” tab of System Preferences.

So the question was asked, “What is the best way to set up my 10.5 Firewall?”

The word firewall is originally an automotive term that was used as the barrier between the passenger compartment and the engine. The “firewall” in the car was designed to protect the passenger from a fire in the engine.

In the same way your computer firewall is designed to protect you from a security breach. Since these security breaches come in all shapes and sizes (from port exploits and Safari bugs to finding your password and using ARD or SSH).

So naturally the best way to secure your computer with a firewall is to choose the, “Set access for specific services and applications”. If you then leave the following window blank (don’t give access to any programs), you’re pretty safe and that is the safest way to use your firewall.

Using this setting you would need to set every program that you want to allow an incoming connection from. Keep in mind that this includes programs like iMovie when it tries to connect to YouTube to share videos. Also you would need to allow your printer drivers to accept connections if you use printer sharing.

If you choose to use this setting, which is the most secure, realize that when you choose to block everything, you’ll probably run into unexpected problems. If that happens, first check your firewall and see if that is causing the problem before emailing your technical support!

If you find it frustrating you can’t switch between active windows in Photoshop by pressing Command+Tilde (Command+~), you’re not alone.

Thankfully there’s a few quick shortcuts nearby that accomplish the same thing:

• Command+Shift+Tilde
• Control+Tab
• Control+Tilde

Are there many Photoshop users out there? More or less Photoshop tips?

I perform a lot of domain whois lookups. If I have an idea for a domain and want to check its availability, I generally do a search for domain whois and then lookup my domain with one of the listings.

There’s nothing wrong with this process, but with Quicksilver we can improve any task we do regularly.

Creating a Domain Whois Bookmark in Quicksilver

One great way is by creating a bookmark of the domain whois site, with the search query as ***. We would do this for a site like DomainTools like this: http://whois.domaintools.com/***

You can see below I have created two boomarks, one for whois and one for IMDB.

You also need to enable the “Web Search Module” in Quicksilver Plugins and restart Quicksilver to enable it.

Now, to use this you would invoke Quicksilver (Command+Space). Press Command+R to refresh the index if you didn’t restart.

Type the name of your bookmark, in our case “whois” and press tab. The action should be “Search For…”, followed by a textfield. Enter the domain lookup and press enter. It should look something like this:

And then:

There’s another way to accomplish this though.

Domain Whois Through Terminal and Quicksilver

If you look at the image above of the Quicksilver plugins, you’ll notice I also have the Terminal Module enabled. This plugin lets you run Terminal commands directly from Quicksilver.

This is a much quicker method because you don’t need to load a web browser–only a terminal.

The workflow for this is Command+Space (invoke Quicksilver), Enter “.whois mactips.org”–note the period before the whois. Press tab and start typing “terminal” and the “Run a Text Command in Terminal” action will appear:

Hit enter and you have your whois:

The period before the “.whois mactips.org” enables a textbox field–so you can enter data and pass it to applications. We’ll dive into this more in the future.

There you have it, two easy ways to perform a domain whois.

The great part is you can do this with any command or bookmark. Search your favorite sites directly from Quicksilver or have easy access to the terminal.

I upgraded WordPress last night because of a vulnerability, but in the process managed to break the feeds. So the widget and RSS were broken. While debugging the issue I stumbled on NetNewsWire’s View Source feature.

Control+Click on any feed and click “View Source.” I was expecting a rather dull plain text editor but this actually made it very easy to debug the feed:

This is a great way to see what’s going on under a broken feed.

Also, the problem with the feeds should be fixed. Sorry if you got duplicates of MacTips in your news reader.

.Mac has always been a little expensive when compared to other alternatives. The upside has always been a @mac.com e-mail address and seamless integration with OS X.

One of the best features of .Mac is iDisk, which acts as a remote hard drive for storing and sharing files.

But if you’re willing to get your hands dirty you can replicate many of iDisk’s features with free alternatives.

Any WebDav server will work–but many hosting companies don’t offer this.

There are ways to create your own WebDav server, but many of us still don’t have this option.

Luckily there are free services to fill the void, namely Box.net:

Box.net is a web-based service that lets you store files online, share with other people, and collaborate on projects.

Box.net is perfect because it’s free for smaller files which is ideal for many users and it offers a WebDav server.

Once your signed up you need to connect to your drive. To do this, open Finder and go to Go -> Connect to Server…:

Enter the address http://box.net/dav and click Connect. Enter your e-mail and password to connect to your WebDav server.

Now you can easily store and share files as if Box.net were just another hard drive.

You can also remotely access these files directly from Box.net:

Box.net makes it extremely simple to share folders with other users, so quickly sharing large files just became a lot easier. Not to mention you can also do things like Publish iCal Calendars.

iDisk is a great solution for anyone willing to spend a couple of bucks. But if you’re on a tight budget and want to share files quickly and easily, Box.net is a great solution.

Does anybody else know any free file hosts that support WebDav?

iCalendar is one of the first applications that made me lust for a Mac. In many ways it’s the essence of an OS X application, both beautiful and functional.

One great way to make iCal a little more usable is by subscribing to shared calendars.

A shared calendar is a calendar that is maintained by somebody else, that you’re able to view inside iCal. One popular example of this is a holidays calendar, shown below:

This way you don’t have to manage every individual holiday yourself.

Some great places to find shared calendars are at Apple and iCalShare.

Creating Your own Shared Calendars

Another interesting aspect of shared calendars is creating your own and sharing them among friends and family. One great example would be sharing a calendar of everybody’s birthdays and anniversaries.

To do this you need an iDisk or a free alternative to iDisk. Then in the menubar, go to Calendar -> Publish.

If you have an .Mac account you can click Publish. Otherwise you’ll have to enter your Box.net details as a private server, then click Publish.

To easily access this URL you can Control+Click the calendar and select “Copy URL to Clipboard” or “Send Publish Email.”

If you’re not using a public server (like Box.net), make sure you send the username/password.

Shared calendars are a great way to share information without the pain of updating individual calendars.