Mac OS X Lion: The Missing Manual

Date & Time

Your Mac’s conception of what time it is can be very important. Every file you create, save, or even open is stamped with this time, and every email you send or receive is marked with it. As you might expect, setting your Mac’s clock is what the Date & Time pane is all about.

UP TO SPEED: System Preferences: Under the Hood

The entire System Preferences program is nothing more than a series of graphical front ends for underlying Unix settings. (If you know Unix and feel so inclined, you can, in fact, bypass the System Preferences panel completely. Using the defaults command, you can use Mac OS X’s Terminal program to make any of the changes described in this chapter—and many others.)

The individual preferences panes are represented by package icons (Launchpad) in your various Library folders. For example, icons that Apple supplies with Lion are in System→Library→PreferencePanes. Mac OS X also looks for preferences modules in the Network→Library→PreferencePanes folder, if there is one.

Now suppose you’ve downloaded some new preferences module and you want to install it. Just double-clicking a downloaded System Preferences pane does the trick.

If you prefer manual control, you can put a downloaded module into your Home→Library→PreferencePanes folder. (To get to your Library folder, which is usually invisible, press the Option key; choose Go→Library in the Finder.) The beauty of this arrangement, of course, is that everyone who shares the Mac now can see a different assortment ...