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Mac Tricks and Tips, Wallpapers and Applications for Mac Users

Transparent Login Picture

Even though we have put transparent image as our login pictures, the white square box will still be there. This indicates that there is lack of transparency in displaying our login pictures.

But now, it's not a problem. Mac OS X Hints has put up a really interesting topic about how to enable this transparency. All of the steps are done in Terminal.

In their article, Show User Pictures with Transparency, I can conclude three main steps used in adding transparency to login pictures.

  1. dscl . -read /Users/[your username] Picture
    This will help you identify which image you're currently using for Desktop picture. As a response, Terminal will return the path of the picture.
    Picture: /Library/User Pictures/Animals/Butterfly.tif
    Don't forget to copy the path to this file, as you will need it later.
  2. sudo dscl . -delete /Users/[your username] JPEGPhoto
    As explained inside the article, we will have a JPEG version of the image. This JPEG version is the culprit behind the inability to display alpha transparency. With the command line above, this JPEG version will be removed.
  3. sudo dscl . -change /Users/[your username] Picture '/Library/User Pictures/Animals/Butterfly.tif' '/Library/User Pictures/New/Smile.tiff'
    The first parameter under the single quote is the path to the current login picture. This is the path that you've copied to clipboard at the 1st step.
    The second parameter is the path to new login picture that you want to use. Obviously, use new login picture with some transparencies. You need to provide the full path of it. (Hint: You can use drag and drop to accomplish this task)

As usual, logout for the change to take effect.

I cannot fully guarantee that this trick will not harm your Mac. The only thing I can prove is that this trick didn't harm my Mac. So, you can try it for your own risk.

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Recover Deleted Desktop Picture

I have set up a cool image as my Desktop picture and that precious file is accidentally deleted. And I will be really confused if someone came and asked me to send that image file I used as Desktop picture.

I spent my precious two-hours time digging through folders to find where the file is saved inside my Mac and ended up in vain. But then I realized, I can use one trick to recover that deleted Desktop picture. Here is how the trick works:

  1. Open System Preferences
  2. Choose Desktop & Screen Saver and then go under Desktop section
  3. Simply drag out the Desktop picture thumbnail and you will get the copy of that picture file. It works like a charm

For additional illustration, I have embedded the video tutorial for this trick.

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Batch Resize Images

While resizing all my images, photos and wallpapers, I came into this great trick to easily batch resize images that I've never read somewhere else before; You can simply use Preview to batch resize images.

Wanna know more?

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Quick Way to Set Image as Desktop Picture

There is a bunch of ways to set an image as your Desktop picture, such as using Quicksilver or using Automator.

Recently, I've found another quick way to do that. Do you want to know what's that?

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