Mac OS X Tweaks

Simple changes for a snappier feel.
tagged: tools
My newest project is Pharm450.com, the easiest way to learn pharmacology for USMLE Step 1. Pharm450 packs an entire course on medical pharmacology into a set of entertaining videos that leverage your visual, spatial, and emotional memory so you learn faster and retain more.

Some tweaks to get rid of a few Mac OSX window animations for a snappier feel. Copy and paste these into your terminal (# lines are ignored comments).

# disable new window animation
defaults write -g NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool NO; killall Dock

# disable toolbar in fullscreen
defaults write -g NSToolbarFullScreenAnimationDuration -float 0

# scrolling Finder column view
defaults write -g NSBrowserColumnAnimiationSpeedMultiplier -float 0

# rubber band effect when scrolling
defaults write -g NSScrollViewRubberbanding -int 0

# Dock animations
defaults write com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration -float 0
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifer -float 0
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0

# hide sidebar when opening PDFs
defaults write com.apple.Preview PVPDFSuppressSidebarOnOpening true

These and more can be found on StackExchange.

The OS X Yosemite Security & Privacy Guide has an extensive list of tweaks to disable some unnecessary background services that can save some CPU.

tagged: tools