News and Updates

DssW's latest news and information. Announcements, insights, and guides all appear here first.

Macsimum News Reviews Power Manager 4

Our thanks to Frank Petrie, Macsimum News, for reviewing Power Manager 4. Frank gave Power Manager full marks - a 10/10 rating.

Our thanks to Frank Petrie, Macsimum News, for reviewing Power Manager 4. Frank gave Power Manager full marks - a 10/10 rating. Power Manager is what Apple provides in OS X, but juiced, enabling you to concentrate on your work and leaving the daily myriad of small tasks to the app to manage for you. There is also a Pro version for use in a small office (imagine the cost savings). …

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How to Automatically Start a Keynote Presentation

Ever wondered how conference venues, theatres, and businesses control there large screen televisions and projectors? Most organisations use a surprisingly simple combination of a Mac and some presentation software.

Ever wondered how conference venues, theatres, and businesses control their large screen televisions and projectors? Most organisations use a surprisingly simple combination of a Mac and some presentation software. …

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Setting up the VNC Server in Mac OS X 10.6

A VNC server is included in every edition of Mac OS X, including Mac OS X 10.6 - aka Snow Leopard. You can start the server through a hidden check box in the Sharing preferences.

A VNC server is included in every edition of Mac OS X, including Mac OS X 10.6 - aka Snow Leopard. You can start the server through a hidden check box in the Sharing preferences. …

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How to Automatically Log Out After Inactivity on Mac OS X

Power Manager can automatically log out inactive users. Being able to log out inactive users is designed for use in school computer labs and in situations where computers are shared. By automatically logging out an inactive user, the Mac becomes available for the next person to use.

Power Manager can automatically log out inactive users. Being able to log out inactive users is great for use in school computer labs and in situations where computers are shared. By automatically logging out an inactive user, the Mac becomes available for the next person to use. …

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How to Launch a Program After Inactivity on Mac OS X

Power Manager can launch applications, documents, and scripts after inactivity. The Schedule Assistant includes a task to help create events that will launch an application after inactivity.

Power Manager can launch applications, documents, and scripts after inactivity. Thanks to improvements in Power Manager’s scheduling engine, you can now create multiple inactivity triggered events. Imagine creating an event to warn the user after ten minutes of inactivity, and a second event to automatically log out after twenty minutes of inactivity. This is possible with Power Manager. …

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Allowing Your Schedule to Drift

Mac OS X's ability to schedule hardware power on and wake up is great. However, it does have some limitations. One limitation in particular affected Power Manager's availability field.

When we took the decision to move Power Manager’s power on and wake up capabilities into the trigger structures, we had to accept and overcome a potential problem. Power Manager does not directly power on or wake up your Mac; this capability is handled by Mac OS X and the Mac’s hardware. Software such as Power Manager, and Apple’s own Energy Saver, have to delegate the task to the underlying operating system. …

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Making your Mac Available - Powering On and Waking Up

The design problem is surprisingly subtle and hides more than a few edge cases. When you include conditions and sequences of actions, things only get more complex. Power Manager 4's solution to re-examine the role of power on and wake up was a significant break from past designs. The change opened up conditions and the creation of far more complex and capable events.

You may be surprised to discover that Power Manager does not include actions for powering on or waking up. Instead, Power Manager Professional’s event editor reveals that these tasks are found in the triggers. …

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How to Schedule Your Mac to Power On

Mac computers have the ability to automatically power themselves on. A switched off, shut down, Mac can be scheduled to start up at a specific date and time. This ability is present in all modern Mac computers.

Mac computers have the ability to automatically power themselves on. A switched off, shut down, Mac can be scheduled to start up at a specific date and time. This ability is present in all modern Mac computers. …

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How to Avoid Overloading Your Servers and Network

Having all your Macs automatically powering down at night and powering on in the morning is a great way to save energy. You can schedule your lab of Macs to look after themselves at night and be assured your Macs will be on and ready for use each morning.

Power Manager 4 introduced a new feature called Scattering. Scattering allows you to create events that avoid overloading your servers and infrastructure. Having all your Macs automatically powering down at night and powering on in the morning is a great way to save energy. You can schedule your lab of Macs to look after themselves at night and be assured your Macs will be on and ready for use each morning. …

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Adjusting, Delaying, and Cancelling Events

Power Manager lets you alter your energy saving schedule to suit changes in your own schedule. When setting up an energy saving schedule, we recommend creating events that match to your normal daily or weekly routine. However, it would be foolish to assume your routine does not change. …

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