· To take a picture of what's on your iBook's screen (called a "screenshot")

1.) Hit Apple+Shift+3. You will hear a little camera sound.

2.) Open up your hard drive.

3.) Find a document called "Picture 1". Open it.

4.) There's your screenshot! You can either cut and paste it into your favorite graphics application, or print it out in all of it's glory.

 · To modify "system images" (ie: the Startup screen and About This Computer images)

1.) Go to Apple.com and download ResEdit, a great utility designed for changing your system.

2.) Open your System Folder on the hard drive. Make duplicates (NOT ALIASES!) of the files called "System" and "Finder". Drag these duplicates (NOT ALIASES!) to the desktop.

3.) Fire up ResEdit. Look around in both of the files you've copied. Inside a resource called PICT, you will find many images that show up around your computer, including some that are actually no longer used on Macs. (such as the old "It is now safe to turn off your Macintosh" screen)

4.) Copy and paste these images into your favorite graphics application. (I use AppleWorks) Now, go wild! Turn your Startup screen into an ID badge by adding your name and address.

5.) When you're through, paste the finished image back into ResEdit. Make sure to first click on whatever image it is you want to replace, or it will just become a new, unused image inside the file. Save your changes and quit.

6.) Take your two ResEdited files and delete the word "copy" from their names. (ie: "System copy" should be changed to just "System".)

7.) Go into the System Folder and remove the two original files. Put them somewhere else on your hard drive in a safe place. Drag your ResEdited files into the System Folder.

8.) Restart your iBook and be amazed!

I personally haven't done too much with this trick. I did put my name, address, and phone number in the About This Computer dialogue box, where it makes sense to be. After all, if you were to loose your iBook...

  · To complete change the appearance of your system (including such things as the close and resize boxes in windows.)

Background Info:

For Mac OS 8.5 and later, Apple engineers had developed an intriguing concept called "Themes". You may have noticed it in the Appearance Control Panel, the selected theme being "Apple platinum". Themes were supposed to allow you to change the appearance of your system without having to use ResEdit. While themes are fully functional, there's one problem: Apple never released any besides "Apple platinum", the standard appearance of OS 8.5 and later. However, nothing ever stopped third-party developers from making their own themes!

1.) Go to http://vision.simplenet.com , which has not only theme files, but some other goodies.

2.) Download some themes! I personally recommend "Aqua", which makes your system resemble OS X, even down to the retro Trash icon. You can see a screen shot of my system with Aqua running here.

REVISED 7/17/2000 - Due to copyright problems, the archive was forced to remove the Aqua theme, so if you'd like it, you will have to e-mail me at TomiBook@aol.com.

3.) Drag the Theme File on top of your System Folder in the hard drive and let go. Click "Yes" when you're asked if you want it to automatically be placed in the "Theme Files" folder.

4.) Without even having to restart, go to the Appearance control panel. Now, you can choose other themes besides Apple Platinum!