GeekwithEnvy

tricks

How To: Use the Mac Version of Ctrl-Alt-Delete

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forceQuitMenuOSX

In the world of Microsoft Windows when things hang up and freeze we can often get out of trouble by pressing the all so familiar key combination, Ctrl+Alt+Delete. Once we get our program menu open we can force close the frozen application and hopefully continue on like nothing ever happened.

Just like any computer Macs freeze up too, and just like with Windows, it’s often because of a locked up or frozen application that needs to be closed. OS X has a similar key combination that will bring up the force quit menu and allow you to easily force quit any misbehaving app.

To open the force quit menu in OS X simply press:

Command (Apple Key)+ Option + Escape (Esc) all at the same time.

* Alternatively, you can also force quit applications on the Dock by Control Clicking (Right Clicking) a running app to open the menu and then by pressing the Option Key to reveal the Force Quit option.

How To Enter Safe Mode on PS3

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If you are having issues with your PS3 like corrupt data, start up screen missing ( you only see the background), or when the PS3 tried to correct issues and otherwise failed, you may be able to correct  them using the Playstation 3 safe mode menu. It’s a menu you may not have even known about but it’s a pretty useful tool that could end up making your PS3 problems go away. You can follow the steps below or watch the video above from Playstation support.playstationLogo

* Please note: Safe Mode is only available to PS3’s with system software 2.60 or greater installed. *

* Warning: Some of the options in the safe mode menu will erase all of your data including saves*

How To Start Up in Safe Mode:

  1. If the System is not already off, Turn off the PlayStation 3 by holding the Power button on the front of the unit till the Power light is red.
  2. Touch and hold the Power button (do not remove your finger from the button). You will hear the first beep, meaning the PlayStation 3 is powering on.
  3. Continue to hold the Power button and after about 5 seconds, you will hear a second beep, indicating the video reset.
  4. Continue to hold the Power button and after about another 5 seconds you will hear a third beep and the system will power off (Power light is red).
  5. Touch and hold the Power button (again, do not remove your finger from the button). You will hear the first beep, again for the PlayStation 3 to power on.
  6. Continue to hold the Power button and after about 5 seconds, you will hear a second beep for video reset.
  7. Continue to hold the Power button and after about another 5 seconds you will hear a quick double beep. At that point release the Power button. If you succeeded in activating Safe Mode, you will see a message on the screen saying, “Connect the controller using a USB cable and then press the PS button.”

How To Put Your iPhone in Field Test Mode

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iphoneFieldServiceSS

Field Test mode can be handy if you’re knowledgeable about cell phone technology but it can also help you get a clearer picture of what your cell phone reception is like in a given area or perhaps you’re just somebody who just likes to tinker with things, either way here’s how it’s done.

If you’re iPhone has a recent version of iOS on it (4.1 and up), which covers most phones, then you should be able to access the Field Test Mode with most carriers.

To Access Field Test Mode:

Dial *3001#12345#* 

This will allow you to look at lot’s of otherwise hidden information about your phone and it’s connection to the network. For the average user, the most notable feature is the ability to look at your overall connection to the network.

The number is in dBm and is much more precise than just looking at a set of bars. As a general guideline anything below -100 is starting to get pretty bad, the lower the number the better and -35 or -40 is about as good as it gets.

 

 

How To Quickly Shut Down Windows 8

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With Windows 8 it seems just a bit difficult to simply shut down your computer. Unlike previous versions of Windows, you can no longer just click Start and then proceed to shut down your PC.

Instead, Windows 8 makes you take the scenic route and either go through the process of logging off or flipping through the Charms menu, diving into Settings then pressing power and finally clicking Shutdown. Super intuitive right? Well, there is an easy way to get around all of this and quickly shut down your PC.

  • Head to your desktop.
  • Right-click and select New.
  • Create a shortcut.
  • Type the following in the text box: “shutdown /s /t 0″(that is a zero at the end.)

Once the shortcut is created you can change the icon of the shortcut to something a little more interesting by right-clicking the shortcut, selecting Properties, and then under the “Shortcut” tab, click Change Icon.

Now you can shutdown Windows 8 in record time!

ShutdownHowToSS

Let’s go a little deeper into what we’re asking the system to do when creating our new shortcut.

When we type “shutdown” we are simply asking the system to execute the shutdown.exe file located in the Windows System32 folder. The “/s” lets the shutdown.exe program know that we intend to shutdown our computer. I know it seems redundant but there are a bunch of other options (sometimes referred to as flags or switches) that the shutdown.exe program can perform including restarting the computer after it shuts down (/r). The “/t” lets the shutdown program know that we are about to tell it the time-out period we wish to use for this shutdown, which is then followed by the actual time-out period we want, in this case we used “0”.

For a full list of options to use with shutdown.exe, you can simply type “shutdown ?” in your command prompt or power shell.