8 replies to this topic

[Purhonen]

Being relatively new to the Mac OS I am trying to learn how to do things I did almost automatically in Windows.  Having just learned how to "print screen" I thought it would be good to know how to instantly clear the desktop of opened applications/windows with a single keystroke or combination of keystrokes.  The equivalent action in Windows I am trying to do in Mac is the "Show Desktop" command where you simply click on the Show Desktop icon in the shortcut icon tray (not sure if that is the correct name for it; it is the task area immediately to the right of the START button where you can position often-used applications for one-click opening).  Is there a Mac OS equivalent to the "Show Desktop" function?                             Regards, Steve

[LilBambi]

Welcome to the Mac!What kind of Mac did you get? Intel Mac, PPC?Have you tried F11 to clear the desktop? F11 toggles and will show you the desktop. Does that do what you want?

[Purhonen]

LilBambi, on Jun 10 2009, 09:39 PM, said:

Welcome to the Mac!What kind of Mac did you get? Intel Mac, PPC?Have you tried F11 to clear the desktop? F11 toggles and will show you the desktop. Does that do what you want?

I got an Intel Mac Book about two years ago.  I run Mac OS X Ver. 10.5.7.  (I was running Windows XP Pro SP 3 via Boot Camp until recently, but I was getting failures similar to BSOD (Blue Screens of Death) more often than I could tolerate so I eliminated the Windows partition just the other day.)I tried your recommended F11 but it does not do what I want.  The best description I can give is that I want to do on the Mac what the "Show Desktop" function does in Windows -- I want ALL open windows to be minimized.  When I tried the F11 key as you recommended it merely either switched between open Windows, or repositioned the opened windows (in this case two of them) so they would both be visible.Any other ideas?                            Thanks, Steve

[LilBambi]

Might want to try Show Desktop and Quicksilver?Per the Instructibles (a better way to "Show Desktop") on this, you'll need to download 2 freeware applications, and install them:1) Show DesktopThis will hide all the windowshttp://www.everydays...et/showdesktop/2) QuicksilverWe will use Quicksilver to create a HotKey Trigger(that means we'll tell a keyboard key we choose, its new job is to show desktop)http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/ (OLD SITE)http://www.macupdate...fo.php/id/14831I have not used this but apparently these are a good way to get what you are looking for.Maybe others could confirm that this works well. Or you could try it out and see if it works well for what you want to do.

[LilBambi]

I just installed Show Desktop and Quicksilver beta. Show Desktop does exactly what you want I think. And I assigned a hot key in Quicksilver Beta to do Show Desktop and it works great.NOTE: I had to cancel the plugin installation when I started Quicksilver, but then went into Quicksilver and manually added Show Desktop and then configured the hot key for it, and voila!

[Purhonen]

LilBambi, on Jun 12 2009, 11:59 PM, said:

I just installed Show Desktop and Quicksilver beta. Show Desktop does exactly what you want I think. And I assigned a hot key in Quicksilver Beta to do Show Desktop and it works great.NOTE: I had to cancel the plugin installation when I started Quicksilver, but then went into Quicksilver and manually added Show Desktop and then configured the hot key for it, and voila!

Thanks, got it working just as you described.                Regards, Steve

[LilBambi]

Great Steve! :DWondered if it would work the same in Leopard as it does in Tiger ... I was in Tiger at the time and couldn't go to Leopard.  

[Purhonen]

LilBambi, on Jun 13 2009, 05:22 PM, said:

Great Steve! :DWondered if it would work the same in Leopard as it does in Tiger ... I was in Tiger at the time and couldn't go to Leopard.  

Thanks for your help.  I am running Leopard (Mac OS X Ver. 10.5.7).  It did work similarly for me as it apparently did for you, but not completely the way I wanted.  I won't go into detail describing "the way I wanted" you'd probably think I was nuts.  So I've just resigned myself, for now, to either doing the F11 or slogging through minimizing the various windows.Truth be told I use the Mac side of my (actually my wife's) Mac Book rarely, I had Windows XP Pro SP 3 installed until recently; I uninstalled it because I was getting BSODs (Blue Screens of Death) too often.  I'm now trying to install Windows 7 on it.  Having difficulties.  I'm going to post my problem on both the All Things Mac and All Things Windows forums so look for them please.  The post is going to pretty simple and straightforward so I'll give you an early shot at it:  Is it possible to install Windows 7 RC using Boot Camp on a Mac Book?Thanks Again, Steve

[LilBambi]

No idea whether Win7 will install in Boot Camp. Although other than it not being the final release and I would never install it on someone else's computer until it's a Final Release and even then I would not feel comfortable doing that to someone else's computer. I won't even put Win7RC on my Mac, even if it were an Intel Mac, but mine's a PPC.But I did very successfully install it in Virtual Box on my Debian Lenny computer.