We're back with another edition of Ask TUAW. This time around we've answering questions about how to resize windows too big for the screen, "compulsive" updating, booting from an SD card, Open GL in Snow Leopard, and more.

As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X (we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions.

Steph asks:

I recently switched from an iMac to a MacBook Pro and now many of my windows are sized to big for the screen of my laptop. I can't reach the corner to resize them and clicking the "Plus" sign in the corner doesn't help. What can I do?

Fortunately, this is very easy to fix. Instead of clicking on the "Plus" sign (the green button) in the top left corner of the window you are trying to resize, Option-click it and the window will fill your new screen size instead.

John asks:

I realize there's a method for updating Mac OSX all the time and sometimes I get the window popping up saying I have updates. Should I always update immedietly when it tells me I have some?

John Gruber mentioned in a recent post about Apple's Snow Leopard list of Enhancements and Refinements that one of the small adjustments to Snow Leopard will be that the default gamma on displays will switch from the typical 1.8 value to 2.2, which is what is used on TVs as well as being the long-standing default gamma value in Windows.

Gamma affects the visual contrast you see on your screen, and a higher value indicates a higher level of contrast. The cost of this higher contrast is that you lose some detail on the less luminous parts of your screen.

If you're interested in seeing what this is going to look like in Snow Leopard, or switching your gamma setting now so that you're used to it ahead of time, here are the steps to do it using the Display Calibrator Assistant:

1. Head into System Preferences, and click on the Displays icon.
2. Click on the Color tab, and press the Calibrate... button.
3. On the Introduction window that opens, click Continue
4. On the next screen, "Select a target gamma", choose "2.2 Television Gamma"
5. Click Continue leaving your Target White Point set to Native (or whatever yours is set to)
6. Now name the new profile you've created, click Continue and then Done.
7. Lastly, you can now choose to switch between your default color profile, and your newly created profile with the gamma set to 2.2.

I realize this might seem terribly obvious to some users, but for others playing with color profiles is not ground they've previously covered. If you're one of those people, this tip is for you.

Problem: Some piece (or pieces) of rogue software have cluttered up your Open With contextual menu, which you can see by right-clicking or control-clicking any document in the Finder. This problem seems to be most prevalent with virtual machines that allow you to open documents with Windows applications, but tend not to clean up after themselves. After having both Parallels and VMWare installed on my MacBook Pro, my Open With menu was a mess.

Solution: Lucky for me, I noticed David Chartier's question about this on Twitter around the same time as I was wondering what to do about it. Some friendly person pointed him to a posting on Apple's discussion forum (also noted on Mac OS X Hints here and here), noting that running a specific command in a terminal window will rebuild your launch services, which repopulates the Open With menu with a current list of applications, without duplicates. It worked perfectly for me, but beware, on my system it took about 10 minutes to complete, and I suspect it could take more on a sufficiently gummed-up system.

Here's the Leopard version of the command (the path to the tool is different in Tiger, see here). I broke it into three lines for readability, but the \ at the end of the line is bash-speak for "keep on going with the same command" -- you can copy and paste it directly and it should work, or if you type it on one line without the backslashes, it will also work fine.

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/\
 LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill\
 -r -domain local -domain system -domain user 

If, preferring to avoid the Terminal, you want a handy GUI app to rebuild the Launch Services database with a couple of clicks, check out Titanium's OnyX or Maintenance utilities, both free of charge.

Against my better judgment, I always download and install Mac OS X updates immediately. That has never caused an issue with any of my Macs until now. Since I installed 10.5.7 literally minutes after hearing about its release, I have been experiencing sporadic issues with USB on my first-generation Intel iMac.

A look through the Apple Support discussion forums showed that this isn't an isolated issue. A number of people have reported losing connectivity to USB hard disks and peripherals. What's rather discouraging to see, however, is that USB issues aren't the only problem that 10.5.7 hath wrought. Other frustrations reported in the forums include:

• Loss of connectivity to Bluetooth peripherals including keyboards, mice, and phones
• Monitor resolution issues (former resolution settings missing, colors "off", screen redraw oddities)
• Mac crashing as it goes to sleep, having problems waking from sleep
• No sound, or sound quality is bad
• Intermittent problems with WiFi connectivity
• Spontaneous shutdowns
• Older MacBook Pros overheating

The list goes on and on... Some forum regulars report that the problems go away after downloading and installing the 10.5.7 Combo Updater (available at http://support.apple.com/downloads/), while others are still experiencing frustrating crashes even after attempting this fix.

TUAW wants to hear from readers who have experienced issues of any sort since updating a Mac to 10.5.7. If you have, what kind of problems are you seeing? What, if any, fixes have worked for you?

We've talked about pet management software before on TUAW. It's software that allows you to keep track of important information about your companion animals, including when the next vet appointment is, what medications they're taking, names and addresses for vets, groomers, and more.

Clarus 1.0 is the latest application of this genre, and it looks like a keeper. The £15.00 GBP program, which appears to have been named after the mythical dogcow of Apple lore, can be downloaded for a free trial. Purchasing the application eliminates built-in limits on the number of contacts, insurance policies, medications, and vet visits.

Unlike other pet management packages, KennettNet built Clarus from the ground up as a Leopard app, and it takes advantage of integration with Address Book, iCal, Quick Look, and AppleScript. Clarus is localized for English, French, German, and Spanish Mac users.

What I find most useful about this program is how it stores all of my pet's care information in one place. Should my cat Ruby require emergency medical care, I have all of her records at my fingertips. If she runs away from home, I can print a "missing" poster with one click.

Clarus gets two paws-up! Moof!

I really didn't have any complaints about the latest Mac OS update. It went smoothly on 3 Macs, and I didn't hear any complaints from friends or associates.

While many people moan about things that didn't get fixed, I'm somewhat concerned about the things that the 10.5.7 update DID fix that I didn't know about.

A bit of background: For about a year I've had a Logitech Webcam. It was designed for the Mac, and was meant to replace the iSight firewire webcam that Apple unceremoniously discontinued.

The Logitech unit, a Quickcam Vision Pro for Mac, has a wonderful crisp image and a nice wide angle view. It is plug and play. That's the problem. As some other users have seen, its internal aperture adjustment sometimes goes haywire, and you have to unplug it, and re-plug it in again to get a picture that is not really, really dark. It's kind of plug and play, then unplug or don't play. Then plug it in again.

Welcome back to Mac 101, our occasional series of tips for new and novice Mac users.

Over the past 25 years, icons may have become ubiquitous almost to the point of fading into the visual background; still, the little pictures that began in 32x32 black and white format have grown up quite nicely into the massive 512x512 icons we enjoy in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Although the list and column views are more utilitarian for most file management tasks, there are times when icon view is the way to go.

You can control whether or not a particular Finder window displays in Icon view via the View Menu ("as Icons," or ⌘-1), and then adjust the display size of the icons via the View Options inspector panel (⌘-J). You can get up to 128px square icons in Finder windows, which is plenty big, but what if you want to see all the graphical power of those fully operational battle icons?

One way to see the full-size icons is via Cover Flow -- simply switch your Finder window to "as Cover Flow" (via the toolbar button, the View menu, or with a quick ⌘-4) and you can scale your icons at will by adjusting the window size. If you prefer not to have that black background around your icon, however, what is there to do? Thanks to Rob Griffiths at Macworld & MacOSXHints, here's a great tip for getting the maximum size out of your icon previews in the Finder without resorting to Cover Flow.

To view icon previews up to 512x512, hit the Spotlight search field at the top right of the window; search for a null string (two quotation marks next to each other, no space in between, like so ""), then change the search target from This Mac to Current Folder and the search type from Contents to File Name. Switch to icon view and you'll see, at the bottom right corner of the window, a scaling slider. Push it to the right to maximize your icon size. It's just the thing for appreciating the fine detail on your bottle of unicorn tears. (If you're looking for the CHOCK LOCK and Rick Astley icons above, they're in the QuickPix 2008 pack from the Iconfactory.)

Rob also hazarded a guess that we might see a more accessible version of this feature in future Mac OS X versions. If you watched the Snow Leopard stealth preview video posted earlier, you know he may well be right.

Gee, quite a day for Apple software updates. Apple has put out an update to Safari beta 4, and the Leopard version requires OS X 10.5.7 which was just released today. There is also a version for Tiger that requires OS X 10.4.11 and security update 2009-002.

Here is a download link. As is often the case with Apple, no details on what this brings. I installed and used it for awhile and nothing new jumped out at me. The installer also comes with an uninstaller in case things get ugly. Let us know what you see, or don't see.

Thanks to Barry for spotting this update.

Once again, it's time for another edition of Ask TUAW: the place where we try to answer all of your Mac and Apple-related questions. This week we're taking questions about tracking your total iTunes purchases, forcing processes to quit, doing a clean install of OSX and more.

As always, we welcome your suggestions for this week and questions for next time. Please leave your contributions in the comments for this post. When asking questions, please include which Mac and which version of OS X you're running. If you don't specify, we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac.

Dima asks:

I would like a way to require a password when the computer wakes from sleep, but not to require a password for just the screensaver. Is there a way for me to accomplish this?

The only way I know of to accomplish this would be to modify the plist file for the screensaver via the Terminal. However, unless this is really important to you, I would not advise doing it. If you want to do it, proceed at your own risk.

Either way, here's the command to enter in the Terminal if you want to try it.

defaults -currentHost write com.apple.screensaver askForPassword -int 0

This will set it so the computer only asks for a password after waking from sleep and not after the screensaver.

Frank asks:

In my finder window, next to my drive's name, there's a number in parentheses. it used to be a (2), but recently it changed to a (3). What does this number mean?

Update: EA has noted that The Sims 3, due in June, will require Mac OS 10.5.7. At least we know it will be by then.

Several outlets are reporting today that Mac OS 10.5.7 is due to drop any time now. Build 9J47 was released on Friday, less than a week after 9J44, and build 9J50 is said to have been distributed on Tuesday. Until now, these updates have been delivered weekly. This accelerated distribution, along with a shortening list of fixes (the latest build only addresses three) are clues that 10.5.7 is nearly ready.

Additionally, some customers have reported that the ATI Radeon HD 4850-equipped iMacs that they ordered have had their ship dates bumped up to this week (there's a rumor that the graphics card requires 10.5.7).

We'll let you know when this shows up, and report any changes (or problems) we experience after installation.

Contactizer, the personal information management application from Objective Decision, LLC, has been updated to version 3.7. The update, which applies to both the Pro and Express versions of Contactizer, includes over 20 new features.

One of the more significant changes is the addition of a new standalone application called Dayboard that allows users to see calendar events, task list items, and birthdays when Contactizer is closed. Other enhancements include the ability to define custom types for tasks and events, QuickLook previews of attachments, and a Cover Flow mode for Leopard users that displays contacts like business cards.

The update is available now and is free to all registered users of previous 3.x releases. Contactizer Express and Pro 3.7 are available in a free 30-day trial, or you can purchase the software for US$119 (€99) for Pro or US$54.90 (€49) for Express. Contactizer requires Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5 to operate.

Foxmarks, the popular bookmark syncing service for Firefox, has now come to Safari. The service is designed to make it easy to keep your browser bookmarks synced when using different computers, by linking each browser to your own online repository. It was previously limited to Firefox, but the most recent version now includes support for Safari as well as Internet Explorer on Windows.

While Safari users have previously been able to sync instances of Safari on different Macs with MobileMe, Foxmarks allows you to sync not just Safari on different Macs, but all three supported browsers (Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer) on both PCs and Macs. So, for instance, if you're one of those poor folks forced to use a PC at work, Foxmarks will keep your Firefox bookmarks there synced with your home Mac's copy of Safari.

Unsurprisingly, Firefox is still the best supported of the three. For instance, password syncing is only supported on Firefox. And, as of yet, the Windows version of Safari is not supported. Nonetheless, if you want to get your bookmark sync on, the newest version of Foxmarks looks like a winner.

The Foxmarks plugins are free downloads from Foxmarks; the Safari version is Leopard-only.

[via jkOnTheRun]

Once again, it's time for another edition of Ask TUAW, where we try to answer all your Mac and Apple-related questions. This week we're taking questions about keeping your Mac laptop running with the lid closed, removing unwanted printer drivers, renaming partitions and the best way to prepare for a clean install of Mac OSX.

As always, we welcome your suggestions and questions for next week; they should be left in the comments to this post. When asking a question please include which machine and which version of Mac OS X you're running. If you don't specify, we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac.

Okay, let's get to it.

Our first two questions today come from Quasimoto, who asks:

On my Macbook, is there a way I can keep my computer running without it having to automatically fall sleeping when I have my lid closed?

Absolutely. Just head on over to developer Semaja2's website and download the InsomniaX utility. This handy piece of software will keep your Mac running with the lid closed and prevent it from going to sleep. One thing to consider if you do decide to use this software, however: Even though Apple supports using a MacBook Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air and a Powerbook G4 with the lid closed, you may want to keep an eye on your laptop to help prevent any potential overheating issues. This is especially true if you plan on never letting the computer go to sleep using a tool like InsomniaX.

Quasimoto also asks:

I have a partition running Windows 7 perfectly, but when I'm on OSX, it shows that partition as 'Untitled' on my desktop. Is there a way to rename that partition to say 'Windows'?

Sure. It's as simple as using a tool you already have on your Mac: Disk Utility. Just go to Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility and double-click to run. Once open, select your Windows partition and then simply replace 'Untitled' with the name of your choice.

This post is a first for me in that I'm typing (or tapping) it in on an iPhone using our Blogsmith CMS. No, there's not a Blogsmith iPhone app that I'm aware of, and I'm not using Safari on the iPhone to pull up our web portal. Instead, I'm controlling my office iMac from about 16 miles away using my iPhone and LogMeIn Ignition.

LogMeIn is a remote access and control application for Macs and PCs that creates a secure connection between two computers by having each logged into a secure server. LogMeIn Ignition adds the ability to control a Mac or PC from your iPhone. To test Ignition, I set up a LogMeIn Free for Mac account and then loaded the app onto my iPhone 3G. How did it work? Read on for more details.

MacMod.com has announced their honorees for the best mods on Macs that they saw last year, and you can see all of the hacks and mods over at their site right now. Most of the mods are case modifications, like the very slick iPhone custom, and the "Xbox G4," as seen above, which is a Powerbook G4 modded into the case of an Xbox 360 (with working ring of light!).

I find it interesting that despite all of the slick case designs and gadget melds, the winner ends up being a software hack (well, it's actually more than a software hack, but still, you won't find any neon tubing in this mod, just a beige case): Leopard running on a PowerMac 8500. The mod itself ends up being a fine trip over the history of Apple's current software, its past machines, and all of the gooey chips and hardware inside. Very cool. Kudos to all the modders for their work -- we can't wait to see what 2009 brings to the mod community.