Contents
- 1 Codecs Pack for QuickTime
- 2 Show all files in the Finder
- 3 Prevent .DS_Store file creation on network volumes
- 4 Remove the Music Store from iTunes 5’s Sources list
Codecs Pack for QuickTime
Just Great! Get it here: Twenty08
Show all files in the Finder
Using a simple Terminal command, you can work with all the files on your machine from the Finder. Open Terminal, type this command, and press Enter:
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
To make the command take effect, you need to restart the Finder. One way to do this is to hold down the Option key, then click and hold on the Finder icon in the Dock. When the contextual menu appears, select Relaunch and the Finder will restart.
Prevent .DS_Store file creation on network volumes
This KnowledgeBase article explains how to prevent OS X from creating new .DS_Store files when opening folders on remote volumes mounted using SMB/CIFS, AFP, NFS, and WebDAV. The creation of .DS_Store files (and more so, ._AppleDouble files which are not covered in this hint) is frequently the source of complaints against Mac users, who often leave a trail of these files scattered throughout the filesystem when “visiting” a Windows computer. Even with this hint in place, the .DS_Store files will continue to be created on local volumes (which is a good thing).
To prevent the creation of these files, open the Terminal and type:
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true
It may be necessary to log out and back in, or even to restart the computer (which is what the article states), for the change to take effect.
Note: Most of the settings controlled by data in .DS_Store files are “cosmetic” in nature — for example, Finder window position, view style, icon position, etc. However, .DS_Store files in OS X also store Finder “comments” so in this sense, disabling .DS_Store files may result in loss of data.
Remove the Music Store from iTunes 5’s Sources list
Apparently under iTunes 5, there is no way to disable the Music Store entry from within iTunes’ Preferences section — in iTunes 4.9, you could uncheck a “SHow iTunes Music Store” box, and the store would vanish. So here’s a workaround for version 5. In a Terminal window, enter the following for the same effect:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes disableMusicStore -bool YES
Make sure iTunes isn’t running when you run the above command. Restart iTunes, and the store will be gone from the Sources panel.
[robg updates: As noted by many commenters below, this function was simply moved to Parental Controls — where Apple also added the ability to remove the Podcasts entry as well. So this hint as it stands now is redundant; sorry I missed the move of this feature to the new panel, but I literally hadn’t even looked at Parental Controls (our two year old isn’t doing a lot of music browsing yet). Thanks for the corrections in the comments…]