Apple has now provided the ability to enable or disable the transparent menu in Leopard with update 10.5.2.

It’s now available as a check box option under the Desktop & Screen Saver Preferences.

How to make the Leopard Time Machine run the backup right now.

1. Run Terminal from the Utilities folder.

2. Type /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle
/Contents/Resources/backupd-helper &

The ampersand at the end runs the backup in the background.

Alternately, you can right-click/control click on the Time Machine icon in the dock and click Back Up Now.

I learned a pretty useful trick for my Mac Book Pro. I use it for presentations, and I’ve been restarting it whenever I plug it into a projector. With this tip, I don’t have to.

1. Press the Apple key > Sleep.

2. Plug in and turn on the display.

3. Press the Escape key to wake the computer.

And that’s it. Open System Preferences > Displays to turn Mirroring on or off as needed.

Source: Mac OS X Leopard Pocket Guide

I’m glad that Apple decided to add a feature Internet Explorer for Windows users have had for a long time to Safari 3 for Leopard. You can now right-click/control-click any image and select Use Image as Desktop Picture.

Safari stores the image in a folder at username/Library/Safari.

In Mail for OS X Leopard, you can disable HTML email and view messages in plain text instead.

1. Exit out of Mail and open the Terminal application from the Utilities Folder

2. Type defaults write com.apple.mail PreferPlainText true and press Enter.

To enable HTML again you can type the command defaults delete com.apple.mail PreferPlainText instead.

Stacking is probably my favorite feature in Mac OS X Leopard. Here’s how to work with this feature to help organize your life on your Mac.

To create a stack, drag a folder of documents to the Dock.

Stacks appear as a Fan or Grid depending on how many items are in the Stack.

You can control this behavior by right-clicking on the stack or holding down your mouse button until the menu appears and choosing View as then choosing Fan or Grid.

Leopard is out, and I must say that I am really impressed! I love the way you can create your own widgets easily in Safari, the screen sharing feature and the new translucent look. The OS is just plain”sexy”. That seems to be the strategy that works for Apple.

Apple sells sleek laptops, innovatively designed desktop computers, and the most popular music device on the planet. It’s not only about owning technology that’s easy to use though, it’s about being seen with them too. It’s just plain cool to own something from Apple. You never see them carrying around HP laptops in movies, hell no! That guy uploading the virus to the alien computers to save humanity is using a Mac to get it done!

All of my co-workers regularly bring their Acer and HP laptops to work. If I walked in with an iBook, boy it would make them talk! And the iPod? You always know when somebody is holding an iPod. If not by the look of the iPod itself, you can always spot those white earbuds sprouting out of the pocket of the owner.

My favorite place to go when I visit the mall is the Apple Store. They just have so many cool things to play with and when you walk out with something you just feel cooler. Even the boxes to the products are designed so well, you never want to throw them out. I still own the box (that included a nice handle on the top) to my iBook I purchased 6 years ago.

My one concern with products from Apple is the price, although that didn’t stop people from buying the iPhone. You can get a PC or regular MP3 player for way cheaper than a Mac or iPod. I should mention though that Leopard has way more innovations than Windows Vista and is priced more reasonably.