Install Google Chrome Without Google's Pushy Updater (Standalone)

Google has gotten in the bad habit lately of requiring you to install Google Updater to download any of its desktop apps, but if you're not keen on the required Updater install (and want to try Chrome), try the Google Chrome Standalone installer.

It downloads a full offline installation package for Chrome. The downside: It won't automatically update when Google Updater pushes out new versions of Chrome. But don't worry, we'll keep you updated

Link: Google Chrome Standalone Installer

Rooted Android Phones: Force All CPUs Active

Open Terminal Emulator, execute [For example on a quad core]:

!Get Root Acces
#su

!Read CPU information 
#cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
#cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
#cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
#cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_min_freq
#cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq

!Make the files writable
#chmod 666 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/online
#chmod 666 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online
#chmod 666 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/online

#chmod 666 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/online

#chmod 666 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor

!Set online status to 1 and make the files readonly
#echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/online && chmod 444 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/online

#echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online && chmod 444 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online

#echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/online && chmod 444 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/online

#echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/online && chmod 444 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/online

!Set CPU scaling to interactive and make the file readonly

#echo interactive > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor && chmod 444 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor

Good Luck.

Apple Mac Cleaning Utilities

There are many Apple Mac cleaning utilities out there. I have used some of them, out of testing, and I'm listing the ones I like in the order which I liked:

• OnyX.app
• Yasu
• Cache Out X.app
• MainMenu Pro.app
• Trash It!.app
• CleanMyMac.app
• Lion Cache Cleaner.app
• TinkerTool.app
• iTweaX.app

Rooted Android Phones: Force All CPUs Active

Open Terminal Emulator, execute [For example on a quad core]:

!Get Root Acces
#su

!Read CPU information 
#cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
#cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
#cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
#cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_min_freq
#cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq

!Make the files writable
#chmod 666 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/online
#chmod 666 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online
#chmod 666 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/online

#chmod 666 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/online

#chmod 666 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor

!Set online status to 1 and make the files readonly
#echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/online && chmod 444 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/online

#echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online && chmod 444 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online

#echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/online && chmod 444 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/online

#echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/online && chmod 444 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/online

!Set CPU scaling to interactive and make the file readonly

#echo interactive > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor && chmod 444 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor

Good Luck.

Organize Things On OSX With Symbolic Links

If you want to move for example your Downloads folder to another drive, you can use Symbolic links to do that and organize your folders. Here is how:

1. Ensure that you are working within your home folder, type
   cd
2. Move the Downloads folder to your second drive, replacing Data (the name of my second drive) with whatever yours is called. You may be prompted for your OS X password.

   sudo mv ~/Downloads /Volumes/Data/Downloads

3. Create a symlink to allow you to access your new Downloads folder in the old location. Again, replace Data with the name of your second drive.

   ln -s /Volumes/Data/Downloads ~/Downloads

   


Speed Up Apple MacBook/Pro CPUs (Disable Throttling) and Overall Performance via EFI Settings

The below are command combinations I've tested and have found to speed up any MacBook/Pro (x86). Execute each line from the terminal then reboot.

Boot Args

sudo nvram boot-args="arch=x86_64"
Allows Mac OS X to boot into 64-bit mode. Mac OS X Snow Leopard (and all versions beyond it) will boot into 64-bit mode by default. Nowadays, this boot flag is mainly used on AMD Hackintoshes, where choosing between 32-bit mode and 64-bit mode is actually important.

sudo nvram boot-args="idlehalt=0"
Setting idlehalt=0 causes the kernel to stop halting a CPU core if no other thread in that core is active, idlehalt=1 causes the core to go into a low-power mode. An x86-only argument.


sudo nvram boot-args="UseKernelCache=Yes"
Mac OS X Lion and Mountain Lion can use the kernel cache to install kexts, allowing Mac OS X to boot faster. However, the kernel cache is turned off by default, and you have to enable it by using the boot flag "UseKernelCache=Yes" (without quotation marks). Installing Easybeast or UserDSDT with Multibeast will automatically turn the kernel cache on for you. If Mac OS X is booting extremely slow on your Hackintosh, the kernel cache might be malfunctioning. In addition, some laptops have trouble with the kernel cache feature. In these cases, you can turn the cache off with "UseKernelCache=No" (without quotation marks). Turning off the kernel cache is equivalent to using the "-f" bootflag in Snow Leopard.

sudo nvram boot-args="darkwake=0"
The DarkWake feature in Mac OS X Lion and Mountain Lion allows you to wake up certain parts of your Mac from sleep, while leaving other parts in sleep mode. Unfortunately, this feature often messes up sleep on Hackintoshes. Enter this bootflag to turn it off (enter darkwake=1 to turn it on, if turning it off doesn't do the trick). Additionally, if your verbose bootup is freezing at a bunch of commands that mention "SleepEnabler.kext", entering darkwake=0 should be able to turn SleepEnabler.kext off. (Once you boot into OS X, be sure to remove SleepEnabler.kext completely by deleting it from either /Extra/Extensions or /System/Library/Extensions in your hard drive.)

Using the OS X Terminal instead of the Finder to copy files effectively

The Finder's abilities to copy files is usually adequate, but sometimes when managing large data transfers it can introduce some burdensome quirks.

While in OS X people often copy individual files or small groups of files between locations using the Finder, there are times when you might copy hundreds if not thousands of files at a time, especially for the purposes of backing up or migrating data from one drive to another. For the most part, the Finder's copying process is perfectly adequate for moving these files; unfortunately it does have some drawbacks that can hinder the copying process.

When the Finder copies files, it first catalogs all files to be copied and then treats the copy process as one all-or-nothing copy routine. Because of this, if you copy multiple files and there is an error in accessing one, then the system will cancel the entire process and revert the system to its state before the files were moved. This setup is good from some standpoints since it ensures that all files were copied properly; however, it can be frustrating if you are trying to recover as many files as possible from one location such as a hard drive with bad sectors.

One approach to overcoming errors that prevent a full copy process is to copy in smaller batches, but this can be time-consuming and impede on organization. Another approach that may be more successful is to use the OS X Terminal to perform the copy. There are several commands that can be used to copy files from one location to the next in the Terminal, and using them is fairly straightforward.

First ensure that you have both the source files and your copy destination mounted and available on your system so you can see them in the Finder. Then open the OS X Terminal and perform the following steps:

1. Enter your copy command and options.
There are many commands that can copy files, but the three most common ones are "cp" (copy), "rsync" (remote sync), and "ditto." As with any terminal command, each of these is a separate program that can take optional flags to tailor its behaviors for your needs, such as allowing it to preserve permissions on the copied files, or allow it to copy recursively into directories, and so on. These options can be looked up in the manual pages for each program, which can be done by typing "man cp" or "man ditto" in a Terminal window (or doing a Google search), but for most purposes the following options should be adequate:

cp -av

rsync -av

ditto -v

2. Specify your source files
With one of the above commands and flags typed, continue by typing a single space and then drag the parent folder of your source files to the Terminal window. When you do this the full path to the folder will be input at the cursor along with a single space. Remove this space by pressing the delete key once, and then type "/*" to tell the command to specify all items within the parent folder (otherwise the parent folder itself will be the target). At this point the command should look similar to the following:

rsync -av /path/to/source/*

3. Specify your destination folder
After you have entered the slash and asterisk characters, enter a space and then locate the folder where you would like to copy the files and drag it to the Terminal window. As with the source folder this should enter the full path to the destination folder. This time instead of adding a slash and an asterisk to the end, only add a single slash so the command looks like the following:

rsync -av /path/to/source/* /path/to/destination/

This command now tells the computer to run the "rsync" command (or other copy command you've chosen), and use the "a" and "v" options for this command (in this case they are for "archiving" and "verbose" mode to ensure all files are copied as-is and list them as they are being copied). It then tells the system to target all files within the source directory and put them within the destination directory. At this point, pressing Enter will run the command, and copy the files.

Unlike the Finder's copy process, if an error occurs, then these commands will leave the successfully copied files and likely output a warning or other reason why the error occurred, and also provide an active list of the files that were copied so you can both determine what was successful and what caused any errors, and be able to address the problem only for the faulty files instead of having to copy everything over and over again.

Blocking Unwanted Connections To Ad Sites In OSX

The Internet as is sucks big time! You have Ad sites violating your privacy and trying to track your WWW behavior to profile you. You can use your built-in OSX Hosts file to make the Internet not Suck as much. But more importantly, protect your identity and privacy and speed up your browsing noticably. Here is how:

Step 1 – Download hosts-file from mvps.org

download hosts-file from http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.zip

Step 2 – unzip host-file

double-click on the downloaded file hosts.zip

Step 3 – become root

open a terminal and type:
$su - administrator
$su - root¹ (Launch the Directory Utility and enable root in the edit menu - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1528)

Step 4 – replace current host-file

first it's a good idea to backup your current hosts-file:
#cp /private/etc/hosts /private/etc/hosts.sik
#cat [location of your unziped hosts-file]/hosts > /private/etc/hosts

Step 5 – Flush the DNS cache

flush the DNS cache, and have your host file changes to take immediate effect:
#dscacheutil -flushcache; exit
 

Display Running Services Only On Mac

Open Terminal, Execute:
launchctl list | grep -v '^-'