Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with apple and windows

Does Apple's window switching inside a program exist in Windows?

DynamiteToast — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:58:48 -0800

My job requires me to use a program in apple. I need to visually compare drafts of some of the work, and because of the nature of the work the differences are often tiny. Mac's have in-application window switching (through the command key + (1-9)) that makes this very easy. Apparently soon we're switching to windows machines. Is there any way to replicate this on windows 7? I've been looking at Autohotkey, and I could use commands like "WinMaximize" and script those to ctrl + (1-9) easily if the window's titles were ever the same, however they will vary from project to project. Any other third party ways to do this? I don't mind paying for a program if it's not too expensive, but freeware would be nice. It should be assumed that I can't get the people who've originally programmed this program to be nice and help in any way. Thanks.

iTunes, seriously, not an option.

crush-onastick — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 07:34:12 -0800

I have a 2nd generation ipod shuffle (the kind that's about 1 inch by 1 1/2 inches and is just a giant clip) which I would like to start using again. However, there is not a single computer nor human in our house which will tolerate iTunes. It's not an option, really; never using the shuffle again will happen before installing iTunes will. I have seen a couple apps on the internet for using this type of shuffle without iTunes, but I haven't found any reviews of them or clear instructions for them. Thus, I am asking y'all. Anybody know a good, easy way to get songs off my vortexbox and onto my little shuffle? I don't need playlists or synching or stats or anything, just the ability to move files from one place to another and listen to them on the shuffle. Thanks! In case it's not clear, we have no Apple products in the house beyond this shuffle. No iPhones, no MacBooks, not iPods. Nothing. We've got a bunch of Windows laptops (Windows 7, Windows XP and I think a Vista machine), a couple Android phones, and a vortexbox appliance running squeezebox server with lots of music on it. There are no music files stored locally on any of the laptops, although copying things to the laptop as an intermediate step to putting them on the shuffle is fine, I suppose, but storing music on my laptop is not an option.

I have had nothing but trouble, frustration and irritation trying to deal with iTunes in this set up and haven't used it since all our music went onto the vortexbox. If there's not a non-iTunes way to this, I just won't do it.

It's probably obvious from the question that I really know nothing at all about these tools. So I'm willing to accept that someone like me can't do this. Thanks.

Thunderbolt for windows?

empath — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:53:13 -0800

How do I get my windows box to work with my Thunderbolt display? I'm trying to get rid of an extra monitor. I'm willing to invest in a new motherboard and/or video card. Has anyone done it?

Fuck iTunes

Lobster Garden — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:18:51 -0800

Can't figure out how to transfer music from old iPod Classic to new iPod Touch on PC. I have a bunch of music on my iPod Classic that is not in iTunes. I also have all of this music stored locally on my PC. I am trying to figure out how to transfer this music to my new iPod Touch. iTunes won't let me click and drag the music from one iPod to another, and clicking "Add New Folder to Library" doesn't do anything at all. I haven't been able to import the music I have stored locally to iTunes (nothing happens when I try this). Googling hasn't been any help because the instructions are either for Mac only, or they say that this doesn't work for iPod Touch (?). I'm running Windows 7. Help?

I'd like to be a power user, not luser in OSX-land

kalessin — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 05:33:40 -0800

I'm a Windows systems administrator and power user and an enthusiastic user of Unix/Linux-based operating systems. I have hand edited make files and recompiled linux kernels manually. I know how to do administrative scripting and am a Microsoft products (SharePoint, if it matters) support professional/systems engineer in my job. I am certainly not the geekiest person I know but I'm in the top 5 percent. I am switching to a Mac Mini (Lion Server, specs maxed toward storage) after decades of using Windows laptops/desktops and some Linux machines. I'm prepared for the lack of physical mobility, but I don't feel prepared for not being a power user. What methods/resources would you suggest I could use to get up to speed with being a Mac Mini and OSX Lion power user? I have used Applescript to make shortcuts for my Dad to use on his older Mac Mini (like starting Safari with private browsing turned on, or starting Safari with the GMail URL, etc.)

I'm totally unafraid of experimenting, but I want to know where to start. I have interests in:
- Systems automation and interesting scripting/shell tweaks
- Desktop customization
- Having the server do household NAS services (music and pictures, primarily)
- Having the server share printing services and possibly scanning services with other devices on the network (we will be acquiring an AirPrint-enabled printer, so this is less of a priority)
- Using the server as an internet-browsing workstation
- Using the server as a gaming platform
- Experimental edge cases but not hacking
- Integrating as fully as possible with our household iOS devices (1 iPads & 1 iPod Touch)

I also have some bonus questions:
- If I run a Windows VM via Parallels, do I back up its image/filesystem via the host operating system (OSX Lion) or do I back it up within the VM (I already own Acronis TrueImage for that kind of backup)?
- If I should get to the point where I'm using a significant portion of the 1.5TB of storage available on the Mac Mini, what backup options should I plan to use for the data? Should I just get a bunch of 750 GB hard drive enclosures and keep using the same image-backup utilities I use now? (Acronis TrueImage for Windows, SuperDuper for OSX) Should I plan to get a Thunderbolt enabled Raid array from Pegasus (Expensive!). Should I back up media/data locally but use cloud backups for personal/identity things? Should I do the reverse? What's the industry standard? What do you do?

As always, thanks very much in advance to anyone who takes the time to answers. Also, please no flaminess. I'm not going to revise my choice about platforms now.

Windows 7 on the iMac

moorooka — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 05:27:18 -0800

A few questions about installing Windows 7 on my iMac. I want to get Windows 7 dual-booting on my iMac. It's an Intel Core i3, which is apparently a 64-bit processor, so I assume I should be installing the 64 bit version, right?

Also, I know that OEM software is meant to come with a new machine, but there seem to be a lot of places selling OEM version of Windows 7 online. Are these dodgy or legit? I know that some OEM software can tell what machine it is being installed on, so would they work on an iMac?

Please let me know about your installing-Windows-7-on-a-mac experiences, potential problems, and driver issues.

Windows machine with a Mac feature?

nickthetourist — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 17:51:53 -0800

Notebook PC: I'm considering getting a nicer Windows notebook to use in addition to my MacBook Pro and there is one key feature that I've only found on Macs: 2-finger scrolling on the trackpad. For those without a Mac, this feature allows you to scroll through webpages, etcetera, by simply placing 2 fingers on the track pad and sliding them up/down and side to side.

Up to this point, all of the Windows machines I've looked at require you to click on the slider with one finger while using a second finger to drag. To me, this is inconvenient.
A few notebooks out there have a feature which allows you to slide a finger along the right side of the track pad in order to scroll, but this doesn't work very well which makes it annoying.

I have asked computer resellers if they know of any notebooks with this feature, but they've given me odd looks and don't seem to know what I am talking about.

So, does anyone out there know of a notebook with this feature?
Also important is the quality of the trackpad. I've found that a lot of notebooks have terrible trackpads that are very poor in comparison to the MBPs.

What do you use to design an Apple?

FauxScot — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 11:32:19 -0800

I have a guest staying with me who suggests that Apple uses PCs and PC-based CAD software for doing the mechanical design of their products. I'm skeptical, and consult the mighty and infallible Oracle of Metafilter for first hand verification. Anyone know what they use... for real?

iLife on PC

lemur — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:18:32 -0800

I want to use iPhoto and some of the other iLife software, but I don't want to buy a Mac. Can I run this software effectively using software such as VMWare on my Windows 7 PC? I suppose the other option is a Hackintosh, but the process looks hopelessly convoluted and I would have to buy what amounts to a new computer. However, I can replace a single component (CPU) of my existing PC and meet the requirements for VMWare. Does iLife run okay on VMWare, or will this pursuit be fruitless?

My kingdom for a disabled Windows key

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:34:02 -0800

How do I disable the left Apple/Windows/"Command" key? Bonus points if I can enable/re-disable quickly. I use emacs a lot and so use the Alt key a lot. Unfortunately, I plug my laptop into a Windows keyboard at work, and the positions of the Alt and Windows/Apple/"Command" keys are switched.

So whilst running Terminal, I often (for example) pull up the Print dialog box (Apple-P) instead of flipping through shell commands. Frustrating!

I'd like to know if there is a way to disable this Apple/Windows/"Command" key when I come into work, and then re-enable it before I go home.

Is there a way to do this that doesn't involve asking the IT dude for a non-Windows keyboard or buying a regular Apple keyboard out-of-pocket? Thanks for your advice.

Help me migrate a Windows system to Apple's bootcamp

photoslob — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:54:20 -0800

I need help migrating an existing Windows XP file system from a Thinkpad to a new Macbook running bootcamp. Here's what I'm trying to do: my daughter's Lenovo is on it's last legs and I'm going to buy her a new Macbook. The school she attends mandates that she must have a Windows machine so I'm going to install Windows in boot camp on the Mac. I've removed the drive from her old Lenovo and I'd like to just copy over the Windows file system onto the boot camp partition. Is this possible? My assumption is no. Is there a way to "ghost" the Macbook from the existing Windows file system?

opening a macro file on a mac

eggerspretty — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:00:18 -0800

Any way to open a file with existing macros in Mac Microsoft Office 2008? I have some study material that grades itself using some type of macro. When I download it off of my iDisk, the macros are lost in opening the file in Windows 2008. I'm not terribly savvy on this kind of thing, and I'm two steps from sending Steve Jobs an email assuming that this is part of his stupid decision making process (along the lines of his hate for flash). The tests are pretty long and detailed so I really would like the option of not grading the whole thing myself.

I don't want to have to wind up the old Dell. It runs slower than molasses uphill.

How can I stream my music library to my iPhone?

criticman — Tue, 04 May 2010 11:11:46 -0800

How can I stream my music library to my iPhone? Now that Simplify Media is out of business (a month after I bought their $9 app, THANKS!), what is the best method to stream my home iTunes library (or a folder tree of MP3s if no iTunes method) to my iPhone?

Simplify Media worked great in that I could stream all music to my iPhone, browse by artist, album, song. The quality was good, worked well over 3G or WiFi. Browsing was simple, like iPod function on iPhone.

I have an 8GB, work provided (so cannot sell it, buy myself a bigger one) iPhone 3G. I have 25+ GB of music (and a lot more if I ever import the other half of my CD collection).

I am open to all kinds of ideas, but of course if there is an app I am just not finding that would be easiest. I would rate my technical skills as high (not uber-geek, but I'm a programmer/IT manager/web developer by trade and have been for over 10 years).

iTunes and music is on a Windows Vista 64 machine at present. I also have a Mac OS X 10.6 netbook (shhhh) that I could move the library to if that is what it takes to get this to work.

Thanks!

How to remap a mac keyboard for Windows usage?

WhereAmI — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:41:18 -0800

I am using the slim, aluminum Apple Bluetooth Keyboard on my Windows XP computer. It works fine for typing, but I need to change / re-map a few of the keys to their windows xp equivalents and need your help. Here's a link to the keyboard I'm referring to: Link For example, I need the eject key (in the upper right hand corner) of the keyboard to be the Windows "Delete" key so I can hit "Control Alt Delete" to log in to my Windows machine (I currently cannot do this as no key is mapped to the windows "Delete" equivalent). I also need to re-map the right side "Command" key to be a "Control" key.

Here are the 2 keys (circled in red) that I need to re-map: Link

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Let me know if you need more information from me.

Thanks!

Key differences between Apple and Microsoft's UI guidelines?

jragon — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 07:30:53 -0800

I'm preparing a talk for my design studio on the key differences between Apple's Human Interface Guidelines and Microsoft's Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines. Looking for any resources. I'd like to be able to give a checklist to Mac-centric designers (such as myself) as a way to verify designs against the Windows way of doing things.

Small stuff like the order of "ok/cancel" buttons or close buttons on the top right versus top left, or bigger stuff like Apple's historical one-button mouse and how it affects software design... it's all valuable.

Thanks!

Voice to Text Conversion

CollectiveMind — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:17:33 -0800

I am considering buying "Dragon" voice to text software. Many of the audio files I want it to convert, however, are in Quicktime. Neither the packaging or the website (that I could find) say whether it will convert non-Microsoft compatible audio files. Does anybody know?

Dual booting Leopard and Windows without a blank cd or dvd?

yaymukund — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:45:44 -0800

I would like to install Windows XP on my Macbook Pro (running Leopard) with a Windows XP image (iso) and an external drive but without a blank CD. The end goal is to dual boot XP and Leopard, preferably without erasing my current Leopard install.

I bypassed Boot Camp's CD/DVD check by mounting the image using Toast Titanium, so it reboots successfully. Obviously, after restarting the laptop the Windows install CD isn't found and it starts Leopard as usual. If I can restore the Windows image on a flash drive and restart, it should work, right? Right??

rEFIt and grub are also possible solutions, as long as the boot camp drivers work. The easy method (by far) is to get a blank CD/DVD but I would like to finish this today if possible.

Dock recommendations for a 2 year-old Macbook Prop?

decrescendo — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:08:42 -0800

I'm trying to make my "main computer" my 2 year-old MacBook Pro instead of my home-built desktop. How can I best do this? Does anyone have any dock recommendations for that MacBook Pro? I figure the best way to get the use out of my expensive laptop is to make it my primary computer because, as of right now, it's not. I only use it on travel right now and it bothers me that I paid so much for it for that type of use. Also, my 4 year-old XP desktop is starting to have some wonky power issues that make me nervous (on top of the HDs being 4 years old). I think she's about ready to be retired.

I'd imagine the best way to do this would be buy a dock for my MacBook Pro and hook that dock up to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. I'd then get the desktop ease of use while using the Mac as much as I'd like to be. (Hopefully I don't get sick of using OS X 24/7 as opposed to just on travel.) On top of that, I can just un-dock it if I want to use it in my living room while watching TV like I sometimes do.

I have a lot of music on my desktop so I plan on making a server of some sort to play nicely with this docked MacBook Pro.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a MacBook Pro dock? I bought it in February of 2008. Keyboards, mice, and monitors are the easy part.

And if I buy a new laptop in a year or two, would I probably have to buy a new dock, too? Or are most docks usable with most laptops? How much does laptop size play into dock selection?

I'm trying to win a bet

metacort — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:30:50 -0800

Is Windows 7 an upgraded version of Vista (like Snow Leopard presumably is of Leopard) or completely re-built from the bottom up?

Can anyone lend me a hand in designing my new home network computer setup?

decrescendo — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:54:03 -0800

Can anyone lend me a hand in designing my new home network computer setup? I have two computers right now.

1. Macbook Pro from about a year ago. In awesome shape. Bought it new. I currently use it mostly on travel and in my living room when I'm watching TV and browsing the net.

2. Desktop I built myself in 2006. I use this computer to store all of my music and listen to said music through speakers that are hooked up to it. I also have tons of pictures and videos stored on this machine. 3 harddrives, around 1.5 TB of space I believe.

I'd really like to make this Macbook Pro my primary computer. I spent too much money on it to use it for browsing the net in my living room. I want to be able to have access to the videos, pictures, and music that are currently on my desktop wirelessly while I'm on my Macbook.

How would I best go about this? I can see retiring this desktop or using parts of it to create a server. I envision this server living in my closet somewhere with a lot of storage and backup capability. I'd like to be able to access the data on this server wirelessly via my Macbook anywhere in the world.

And if I have speakers in my bedroom and a 7.1 system in my living room, how can I "beam" music on my server to these seperate speaker setups via my Macbook (basically it would sorta function as a remote control). I don't want to listen to music THROUGH the laptop or speakers connect to the laptop; I want it to come through other setups.

Also, would swapping out my laptop for a new one in a few years be an easy way to tech refresh this system since the server probably wouldn't have to be built from the most up-to-date components? The laptop is going to be what accesses the internet and edits video and what not.

So can I make this setup work and is it easy? (And does anyone have any good resources for building this server?)

What's up with my music files on my PC?

ishotjr — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:12:02 -0800

What is up with my music files' titles turning into nonsensical four-letter titles? Ok, this is a little long, but it's a weird problem that is hard to describe.

I use iTunes on a (Dell) Windows Vista PC laptop. I noticed this issue probably over a year ago, but was too lazy to do anything about it until now.

Thousands of my music files are in files within "C:\My Music" that are named with F and then a number, F00 thru F49. All of my music was originally in "C:\Users\ishotjr\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music," and some of it still is. Within the F-named folders, the files are named/songs titled in three different ways.
1) Most are with four letters in caps, example: AJOM. They are seemingly random and not acronyms of the real titles. Within this, most, in the artist/album, etc. fields in Windows Explorer, have the correct info. A few have nothing at all in those.
In either case, if I choose to play it in iTunes (by clicking the option within Windows Explorer, where I'm viewing the files), it brings me to the song that is properly titled within iTunes (i.e., AJOM takes me to "Levitate Me" by The Pixies in iTunes).
2) A few of the songs are named with their correct name, but with the track number proceeding it (i.e. 01 Debaser)
3) Even fewer are named completely normally, with just the actual song title.

Another weird twist is that in iTunes itself, there are a handful of files that are actually named with the four letter names. Most of these are all from a Velvet Underground greatest hits compilation, but there are a few that aren't.

There seems to be no pattern as to how I procured the music and what's in these weird files. I did bring most of the music onto my computer from my iPod when I got the computer, but some of it I have purchased since owning this computer. The software I used to bring the songs from the iPod to the computer was some free program that I don't recall the name of and deleted to save hard drive space when I was done using it.

The real kicker is that most of these weirdly-named tracks are NOT duplicates, so I can't just delete them. Most of the time, it's one or two songs from a given album that are named weird and in the F-named folder instead of in the folder with the rest of its album-mates.

It seems that I might be stuck consolidating the 49 "F" folders into one (not so hard, just tedious), then trying to rename the thousands of song backs to their proper names by clicking them through to iTunes and manually entering the name of each song into the file name in Windows, then moving all of the songs to the correct place. It's not necessary to do this to be able to listen to the songs, but it's annoying having my files all over the place, especially when I want to delete entire albums off of my hard drive to make space.

My actual question is two-part:
1) Has anyone ever had this weirdo thing happen to their music files before?
2) Does anyone know a better way to fix it than to do everything manually (which will take for-ev-er)?

What is the best way to sync my contacts (name, email, phone number) between my iPhone, MacBook Pro, and Gmail? I am using Address Book at the moment but should I be using something else?

decrescendo — Sun, 03 May 2009 14:50:45 -0800

What is the best way to sync my contacts (name, email, phone number) between my iPhone, MacBook Pro, and Gmail? I am using Address Book at the moment but should I be using something else? What is the best way to sync my contacts (name, email, phone number) between my iPhone, MacBook Pro, and Gmail? I am using Address Book at the moment but should I be using something else?

I just synced them using the "Sync with Google" option in Address Book. Then, I deleted all the garbage contacts that Address Book pulled in from Google since it apparently takes in the "My Contacts" and "All Contacts" contacts. (I ended up with a bunch of stupid Craiglist emails getting pulled in to Address Book; aggravating.)

Then, I plugged in my iPhone and it updated itself with the Address Book.

After that, I went back and completely deleted my Gmail contacts since Gmail wouldn't sync itself back with Address Book in order to delete all the garbage Craiglist contacts it had created.

Then, I used "A To G" to create a .CSV from Address Book to import into Gmail. The big pain this creates (other than not having Gmail sync in the step previously) is that I have to re-add all of Google Talk contacts.

There HAS to be a better way? Does anyone have any ideas?

And I haven't even begun to bring my PC into this equation. Does anyone have any tips for that, too?

64-bit Vista on Mac Pro?

richg — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:24:02 -0800

I'm thinking of getting one of the new desktop Mac Pros recently announced. I'd like to both run Apple's OS X and also use Boot Camp to run 64-bit Windows Vista on it. The question is: will I be able to use the Mac Pro's keyboard and mouse with Vista? Will I be able to use an Apple Cinema Display with Vista? If I have to plug in a PC keyboard and mouse, and use a PC display, that doesn't appeal. I'd like to use the 64-bit version of Windows Vista to access more 6 or 8GB of memory. I'm worried about the lack of 64-bit device drivers, esp. for the Apple keyboard, mouse and display.

I'd appreciate advice from anyone with experience or insight into this.

How to read .msg files on a Mac?

Coherence Panda — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:56:33 -0800

I've got a bunch of (important) single .msg files that I want to read on my Mac (10.5.x). Any advice? Any tool that converts entire mailboxes doesn't seem to apply, and the only dedicated .msg reader I could find is broken. Renaming as .txt doesn't work either. Nor does Emailalchemy or NeoOffice. Help!