Readers offer their best tips for viewing all your open windows in OS X, using your wrapping paper tubes from the holidays, and skipping through channels on your Comcast DVR.
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About the Tips Box: Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in—the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, share it here, or email it to tips at lifehacker.com.
Use Spaces and Exposé at the Same Time
Relyt shows us that you can actually use Exposé while in the full Spaces view:
Not sure if y'all know about this at all, but in Spaces on Mac OS X, when you are in the view with all spaces visible, you can do your exposé gestures to view all open windows in all the spaces at once. 4 fingers down shows all the windows and 4 fingers up jumps to your activated space and then to show desktop.
Use Wrapping Paper Tubes as Cable Control
Photo by rwkvisual.
Tsylord lets us know what he's using his empty wrapping paper tubes for:
After all the cheer of Christmas, instead of throwing out those cardboard tubes from the wrapping paper, use them as a cable management system and de-clutter the office! Simply cut to the desired length and slice down the centre for easy expansion. Of course you can also expand on this further by painting, mounting and a more elaborate cutting job.
We've mentioned using cardboard tubes as cable organizers before, but it's worth mentioning at this point—especially since the long wrapping paper tubes (which you likely have many of this time of year) allow for custom sizes. The long ones are even perfect for behind your desk—you can run all your cables through one or two tubes to keep them up and out of the way, instead of letting them create a cable nest on the floor.
Skip Forward 30 Seconds on Comcast DVRs
Photo by Kevin Marks.
Mcjjones shares a lesser-known button function on Comcast remotes:
The Page Up button on Comcast remotes is fantastic for watching tv shows on a DVR. Instead of fast forwarding through commercials, I use the Page Up button to fast forward. It usually takes one press and then sometimes a back 30 second button press. Just found this out and have been using it all week.
A lot of sites on the net talk about reprogramming buttons so you can get this function, but I tested this with our brand new Comcast remote and DVR and it worked like a charm.
Fix Loose Zippers with a Key Ring
Photo by Aaron Harmon.
Matt lets us know how to fix old, loose zippers:
If you've got a zipper that won't stay up, just get a key ring, thread it onto the hole at the top of the zipper, and loop the keyring over the button of your pants before buttoning them. The result is a zipper that won't fall and a fully concealed solution.
If you don't have a key ring handy, you could also probably use a bent paper clip (though it may not be as sturdy).