Tucked away in the Mac Applications Folder is another folder, the Utilities folder. I like to differentiate applications and utilities like this. Applications help you get things done with your Mac and utilities help you get things done to your Mac.
- Where Is My Download Folder Its Not In Applications On Macbook Air Louder
- Where Is My Download Folder Its Not In Applications On Macbook Air Pro
Worry not, getting the Downloads icon back into the Dock on a Mac is super easy. This is probably obvious and goes without saying, but if your Mac Dock already has the Downloads folder in it, which is the default state of the Dock for that folder to be included, then following these steps won’t do anything. Alfred – Up Your Productivity. If you like productivity apps or are looking for an app to help you be.
The programs in the Utilities folder help you fine tune, troubleshoot and configure your Mac system. Some of these programs you will likely never use but it’s good to know they are there in case you run into problems with your system.
The programs are listed below. Some of the programs that you will use more often have their own article associated with them. Click through the links for more information.
![Macbook Macbook](/uploads/1/1/1/8/111875429/721013367.jpg)
Activity Monitor
The Activity Monitor let’s you look at the various things that are going on your Mac in real time. You can monitor what programs are using your system memory or hogging your CPU. You can also monitor programs that are accessing your disk drives, your network.
Airport Utility
If you have the Mac wi-fi router AirPort this utility allows you to manage the configuration.
AppleScript Editor
AppleScript is the scripting language included with OS X. With AppleScript you can build your applications that allow you to control your Mac from a simple to use language. AppleScript Editor (formerly Script Editor) is a built in editor that allows you to create your own scripts.
Audio MIDI Setup
Musicians around the world chose to use Mac computers because of the great audio applications that are available for it. If you play a musical instrument and would like to connect it to your Mac you will use this utility.
There are two tabs in this program, Audio Devices and MIDI. Audio devices allows you to adjust the settings on all of the audio input and outputs on your Mac.
The second is MIDI Devices. MIDI, the Music Instrument Digital Interface is a language that is spoken between electronic instruments. Your Mac can speak it too. If you have a keyboard or other MIDI device this utility will help you get it connected to your Mac.
![Applications Applications](/uploads/1/1/1/8/111875429/260272557.jpg)
Bluetooth File Exchange
Bluetooth is the wireless protocol used by your cellphone and cellphone accessories. With it you can send files back and forth between Bluetooth equipped devices. This utility allows you to setup your devices so they talk to each other.
Boot Camp Assistant
Boot Camp is the multi boot feature included in OS X that allows you to install Windows XP or Vista onto your Mac. It’s an alternative to using a virtual machine.
If you intend to run a copy of Windows you will need this program to help you set things up.
ColorSync Utility
If you are doing graphic design work on your Mac you know how important it is that there is consistency between how colors work on your display and other mediums. Apple developed Color Sync as a way to standardize colors on multiple devices.
You can use the ColorSync Utility in Mac OS X to modify an image file. Adding effects, changing color spaces, resampling images or correct the color and brightness of an image are all possible.
Console
The [intlink id=”746″ type=”post”]Console is an awesome utility for troubleshooting your Mac[/intlink]. It rolls up all of the system logs and presents them in an easily accessible form.
Digital Color Meter
The Digital Color Meter is a utility that lets you display the color value of any pixel on your screen. It’s useful if you are doing graphics design work and need to match a color with something on the screen.
Disk Utility
Disk Utility is a general purpose disk management application. With Disk Utility you can repair hard drives, erase disks, partition disks, manage disk image files (DMG). If you have a server you can also manage RAID sets.
Grab
[intlink id=”513″ type=”post”]Grab lets you take screen shots of your Mac desktop or applications[/intlink] and save them in various formats
Grapher
If you are using your Mac for scientific work or are a student check out Grapher. Grapher is a data visualization tool built into Mac OS X. With Grapher you can input equations and visualize the results.
After you’ve created your graph you can play around with the appearance of the graph and create animations that you can share with others.
Java Preferences
Java is a technology that allows you to write applications that will run on a variety of computers. This utility allows you to setup the preferences of the Java Virtual Machine. The Java Virtual Machine is a computer inside your computer that runs Java programs.
Keychain Access
Your keychain is where OS X stores various system and website passwords. If you use a program that requires a password you often are prompted if you want to save it into your Keychain. This program allows you to manage your keychain. If you want to change or remove any of the passwords in your keychain use Keychain Access.
Migration Assistant
If you purchase a new Mac and want to transfer the contents of your old Mac onto your new Mac you run the Migration Assistant. The Migration Assistant will make a mirror of your old Mac. It preserves your setings, preferences, applications and brings over all of your documents.
Network Utility
Network Utility is a swiss army knife tool for testing your network connections. If you think something is going wrong with your network, start by looking here.
Podcast Capture
If you are using your Mac to record podcasts and are sending them to Podcast Producer you will use this Utility. If you don’t know what Podcast Producer is you likely will not need this program.
Raid Utility
Raid is a disc drive protocol designed for high reliability. If you have a Mac Pro and a bank of hard drives you can configure them to run as a RAID array. This utility allows you to setup the array.
Remote Install Mac OS X
If you are lucky enough to have a MacBook Air one thing you might notice is that it doesn’t have an optical drive. This could cause you a problem if you need to reinstall the operating system. Remote Install Mac OS X will allow you to install OS X on your MacBook Air if you have access to another Mac computer.
Spaces
Spaces allows you to have multiple virtual desktops. It’s typically accessed via a hotkey on your keyboard. When you press the hotkey, it runs this utility. You will likely never need to run it on it’s own.
System Profiler
System Profiler is a great troubleshooting tool and one you should become familiar with. When you run System Profiler it takes a snapshot of your entire Mac. It will capture information about your Mac hardware, your Network setup and also the installed Applications on your machine.
It’s most useful when you need to call Apple about a problem with your system because you can export this snapshot and send it to them.
Terminal
Terminal is your window in to the wonderful world of UNIX. Terminal allows you to access all of the great UNIX commands that are installed into OS X.
VoiceOver Utility
The Mac is an accessible operating system. This means that out of the box it is designed so that someone with limited vision can still use the system. It does this with VoiceOver. VoiceOver will enable your Mac to speak to you. Someone with limited vision can use it to read email, highlight and read sentences, read aloud the web.
This utility will allow you to setup how VoiceOver should behave.
X11
The Mac OS X operating system is based on UNIX (if you’ve heard of LINUX this is his big brother). Because of this it can run many applications originally written for UNIX. The X Windows System is the graphical user interface (UI) used by UNIX for their desktop interface and GUI programs. In order to run X programs you need an X Windows System. The X11 Utility provides the environment for you to run X Windows programs on your Mac.
Most people won’t need this and in fact it isn’t installed by default. If you need to run an X Windows application and this program isn’t available you can find it as an optional install on your OS X installation disc.
Conclusion
There you have it, a whirl-wind tour of the Utilities on your Mac. It’s important to have an understanding of the tools in your toolbox in case something is wrong. I hope this gave you enough information to get started. If you have questions about specific utilities please feel free to ask it over in our forums.
About this article
This article includes instructions and suggestions for storing, organizing, and backing up files on your MacBook hard drive. It is intended for any student or employee with a MacBook.
Fig 2. Select hard drive icon and Users to access Home folder
Where are your files?
You have full administrative rights to your laptop. That means you have the ability to save your files just about anywhere on your laptop's hard drive. You may have saved things, intentionally or unintentionally, to locations other than the ones we configured as described below. It's up to you to find and manage those folders and files. Every WSU MacBook hard drive is set up the same way:
- On a MacBook, all of the space on the single hard drive is assigned to one partition called MacBook Pro/Air # where the number represents the year it was distributed (e.g., MacBook Pro 13). Open your hard drive by double-clicking the MacBook Pro/Air # drive icon on your desktop (Figure 1).
- You will see several folders on what is called the root of the hard drive. Do not delete or rename any of these folders.
- Inside the Users folder, you will find your Home folder (Figure 2).
About the Home folder
Your Home folder is a special folder on your hard drive set up just for you. This is where you should save any personal or school-related files on your laptop. To help you keep your files organized, WSU created some sub-folders in your Home folder (e.g., Documents, Music, Pictures). You can use these folders if you wish or you can create your own. You can also create sub-folders within these folders (e.g., a Courses folder inside your Documents folder). Build a folder structure that works for you.
What's a default save location?
Some applications have default save locations for files you create using that application. For example, Microsoft Word opens a specific folder in your Home directory the first time you Save a document and every time you select Save As. WSU has already set the default save location of many of the applications that came installed on your MacBook. For example, the default save location for Word is your Documents folder in your Home directory. When you install applications, a default save location is selected automatically or you are asked to select one during the installation process. You want the default save location to be a folder in your Home directory. For example, when you install Apple iTunes, it will use your Music folder in your Home directory. Sometimes, an application will pick a very strange and out of the way default save location. Keep your eyes on this as you install applications and change the default save location if needed. Also, be careful about deleting or renaming existing folders in your Home directory if they are default save locations for an application.
How do I access the Home folder?
From the hard drive icon
- Double-click the MacBook Pro/Air # drive icon on your desktop
- Open the Users folder
- Open the Home folder. It's the one with the icon that looks like a house and that is named with your username (Figure 2).
From the Go menu
- Select the Go menu
- Select Home. This opens up the home folder and displays its contents.
About the sub-folders in your Home folder
Documents, Music, Pictures, and Movies
These are folders that we created for you thinking that this might be a nice way for you to organize your files. If this works for you, great. If you want to create new folders with new names, that's fine too. However, keep in mind that these folders are default save locations for various applications. Even if you don't want to use them, please don't delete them for awhile until you are sure you have your own folder structure and default save locations worked out.
Applications
You may or may not have such a folder depending on what applications are installed on you MacBook. Don't confuse this Applications folder in your Home directory with the one that contains all of your installed applications. They are two different folders. This one simply stores personal data and files associated with certain applications. For example, the default storage location for the screen shots you capture using TechSmith SnagIt, a screen capture program, is a sub-folder in your Applications folder in your Home directory. The actual SnagIt application itself is stored in another location. For most applications, you can change their default save locations if you wish, but always check this Applications folder to see if there is anything in there you want to back up and retain.
Desktop
The Desktop folder in your Home directory contains all the folders, files, and shortcuts found out on your desktop. Some people like to store things, lots of things, right on their desktop. They save files, folders, and shortcuts to applications right out on the desktop. If this method works for you and you want to replicate it on another MacBook, you will need to back up the Desktop folder and then copy and paste it to your Home directory on the other machine. Note that your shortcuts will not work on the new laptop if the applications they link to are not it the same place. The fastest way to restore them is to delete them and recreate them on the new laptop.
Downloads
This folder contains any application update, printer driver, or other software or hardware-related file you ever downloaded from the web. The vast majority of these files do not need to be retained because you will probably never use them again. However, this folder may also contain manuals, journal articles, image files, and other useful, downloaded documents or media that you do want to retain. Take a look through your Downloads folder regularly. Delete anything you don't need and move anything important to another folder to better organize it. Ideally, your Downloads folder should be empty.
Public
Because Mac OS X is a multi-user operating system, the Public folder is there to allow you to store files that would be accessible to other people who log on to your MacBook. Because no one but you typically logs on to your laptop, this folder isn't very useful. Don't delete it just in case you might need it someday.
Backing up your files
There are several ways that you can back up the files in your Home direcory:
- Drag-and-drop or copy-paste your entire Home folder to network, cloud, or external storage
- Pick and choose individual folders and files within your Home directory to drag-and-drop or Copy-Paste to network, cloud, or external storage
Restoring your files
To restore your files to a new MacBook, reverse the process you used to back them up:
Where Is My Download Folder Its Not In Applications On Macbook Air Louder
- Drag-and-drop or copy-paste your entire Home folder from network, cloud, or external storage to the same locations on your new MacBook
- Drag-and-drop or copy-paste individual folders and files from network, cloud, or external storage to the same locations on your new MacBook
Where Is My Download Folder Its Not In Applications On Macbook Air Pro
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