by MARK WEST 03/08/10

Mac Tips

Special Keys

You probably call this the "Apple Key", but it's officially called the Command Key and it is located near your spacebar. It is used on a Mac much like the control key is used on Microsoft Windows®; example: control-c on Windows copies and on a Mac we use command-c; control-v pastes on Windows and command-v pastes on Mac OS.

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The Option Key is located near the Command Key and is sometimes called the ALT key. This key can frustrate a Windows user, as it doesn't work as a Windows ALT key does (you'll often use the Command Key on Mac where ALT is used in Windows), such as when tabbing through open applications: on Windows it's ALT-Tab, on a Mac it's Command-Tab.

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The Control Key is located near the Command Key and has special funtions on a Mac (see "Right Clicking" below).

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Exiting A Bad Program

On Windows, Alt+F4 will quickly terminate a program.

On Mac OS, Command+Q will quickly terminate a program.

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The "3-Finger Salute"

On Windows, when a program stops behaving properly, you can press Control+Alt+Delete to invoke the Task Manager to make an application stop.

On Mac OS, you can accomplish the same thing by pressing Command+Option+Escape; this invokes the Force Quit menu and you can make applications stop.

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"Right Clicking"

Sometimes you need to right click. On most computers it's easy, as they come with a two-button mouse. On Mac OS, you typically find a single-button mouse.

You can plug a two-button mouse in to a Mac and it will work. The reason is because two-button mice work on Unix and Mac OS is a Unix variant that uses parts from FreeBSD's and NetBSD's implementation of Unix.

You can also "right click" on a Mac with a single button mouse. To do so, you can do either of the following:

1. Press and hold the Control Key while clicking.
2. (This one only works if you have a Mac with a touchpad - usually a laptop) place two fingers on the touchpad while clicking.

Teacher Lock

No, this isn't some condition that teachers get after too many years in the profession. Inspire allows teachers to enable "Teacher Lock" to lock down Inspire. By lock down, I mean no one can edit or save the file with changes. So if you know you're going to be away from your laptop for a while, this could be helpful.

When Inspire is unlocked, you can see all of its functions:

When Inspire is locked, you only get a partial view of your operating systems functions, and you can neither save nor edit the flipchart:

If a student minimizes the screen, certain operating system choices are locked too. On Mac OS, they can't get to your dock or Macintosh HD. In Windows, the start menu is hidden.

Note this doesn't completely lock down Windows or Mac OS, it locks Inspire. If a student exits the program (Mac OS -> the red dot, Windows -> The red square with a white X in it), they'll dump out of Inspire and have access to your computer as normal. However, this is a handy way to keep wandering hands from changing parts of your flipcharts.

So how do you use it?

Go to the Tools Menu. Click it and scroll down to More Tools. Click it and scroll down to Teacher Lock. Click it.

So now you are greeted with the teacher lock screen.

The default password (which is 1234, by the way) is very weak; if you haven't changed the default password, change it by clicking on the change password button. It brings up this dialog box:

So type in 1234 as the old password. choose a new password and enter it twice as shown above. Please note that if you forget your password, you'll have to unistall and reinstall Inspire. Pick a password you can remember. Press OK. Now your back to the password dialog:

Type in your new password and click the OK button. Now it's locked.

Help! I've locked it, how do I unlock it?

Go to your ToolBox and click the Main Menu (Upper Left icon - it's blue and white). Click Tools and scroll down to More Tools. Click it and scroll down to Teacher Lock. Click it.

Now a familiar dialog box appears:

Type your password, click OK, and resume saving and editing as usual.