The
way your Mac operates and responds to commands can be adjusted through the
system preferences but a whole lot is hidden. If you're not looking with the
right tool, you will never discover those hidden system preferences.
TinkerTool
from Marcel Bresink gives you access to many of the hidden system preferences
that are available in OS X.
TinkerTool
is designed with an easy-to-use graphical interface without all the confusing
commands that Terminal comes with. You can tinker with Mac's preference
settings all you like.
tinkertool for mac
Pros
·
Easy-to-use app that exposes many useful system
settings.
·
You can undo changes made to your preference
settings.
·
Organizes preferences by the apps or services
they affect.
·
Very safe; it only affects your user account and
not anyone else’s.
·
It's free.
Cons
The
only con I came up with is I wish it could do more.
TinkerTool,
currently at version 5.32 at the time of this review, is designed for use with
Mavericks and OS X Yosemite.
Because Apple usually makes changes to existing
system preferences, adds new preferences, or in some cases, removes
preferences, TinkerTool should be matched to the version of OS X you're using.
You can find other versions of TinkerTool on Marcel Bresink’s web site if you’re
using an older version of OS X.
Tinkertool Download | Installing Tinkertool
TinkerTool
installs as a standalone app that resides in your /Applications folder.
One
note about uninstalling TinkerTool: Since the app just makes changes to various
system preference files, uninstalling the app won't cause any of the
preferences to revert to their previous state. If you wish to revert any
changes you made, you should use the Reset tab within TinkerTool before you
uninstall the app.
Getting Started With TinkerTool For Mac
TinkerTool
launches as a single-window app composed of a toolbar along the top and a
window that contains the various preferences you can change. The toolbar
organizes the preferences by app or service, and currently contains the
following:
Finder,
Dock, General, Desktop, Applications, Fonts, Safari, iTunes, QuickTime Player
X, and Reset.
Selecting
any of the toolbar items displays a list of associated preferences you can
change.
Most
of the options are set by placing a checkmark in a box to enable them, or
removing a checkmark to disable them.
In other cases, drop-down menus allow
you to select from multiple options. In many cases, changes you make won’t take effect until the next time you log in,
or in the case of changes to the Finder, until you restart the Finder.
Fortunately, TinkerTool includes a button to restart the Finder for you.
Using
TinkerTool is very easy. If you've used your Mac’s
System Preferences to set the various system options, you'll be able to use
TinkerTool without any problems.
Unexpected Issues When Setting Preferences
TinkerTool
is actually safe to use am mentioned earlier, but remember that TinkerTool
exposes system options that Apple chose to hide from the general user. Some of
the items are hidden because they would only appeal to a limited audience. Some
of those hidden preference changes can cause strange behavior or
inconveniences.
Take
for instance, using TinkerTool to remove the title bar from QuickTime Player.
This will give you more display space for watching movies, however, without the
title bar, you'll have trouble dragging the player around, or closing a player
window.
You'll probably end up having to force quit the QuickTime Player; an
inconvenience, but not something that will harm your Mac.
The
TinkerTool FAQ is there to guide you on how to go about making various changes.
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