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Use your Mac, more importantly to know what is running.

If you are like me, someone who is always looking at the Activity Monitor to find out what is running, then there is high chance you know what is running.

What if you don’t know what is running? Sometimes I wonder what process should be running and which one is the redundant one. When you install an apps, there is a chance it will run additional plugin or process without your knowing. So what you need to know what is the default processes that every OS X running.

Take a look at the image below. It shows you the default processes if you don’t run any apps except connected to Internet. Let’s take a look at each process. And, I’m going to explain in human language. :-)

• Quick Look Helper is the background process that generate icon preview whenever you use the Quick Look feature. Let’s say it lets you to view PDF and any supported filetypes directly by pressing space.
• Finder is the application with a smile face for you to navigate your files. It lets you to run Finder.
• Activity Monitor is not running by default. It is the application that I use to see the processes that is currently running, be it an foreground or background processes.
• SystemUIServer is the background process that control how your OS display stuffs on screen. The common usage is to display the icons at the right corner side of Menu Bar.
• mdworker is the background process that is used by the Spotlight to index your files. It is constantly running to build a list that will help you when you use it to search files via Spotlight.
• Dock is the process that generate those beautiful icons at bottom of screen.
• loginwindow is the process that start before anyone login into the computer. It displays login screen, validating login attempts, setting a user environment like launching finder, dock, login apps at the login. It also monitors how you use your mac and provide minor error handling without your consent. Aside the things above, it also handle the logout, restart, and shutdown procedures.
• System Events is the background process that support the usage of AppleScript scripts by the developers. You can say that it is the process that is required to run the features in AppleScript scripts.
• cvmsComp_x86_64 is the process that somehow related to the Intel x86_64 instruction set. It is a terminology in Operating System, therefore you don’t need to understand this process. Update: After some searching, it seems that it is part of the OpenGL framework.
• AirPort Base Station Agent is apparently the process used for tracking wireless network.
• UserEventAgent is a process that handles complicated stuffs.
• Folder Action Dispatcher is a process that run the enabled scripts that have been applied to the folder. Usually, it give additional contextual menu when you right-click a folder.
• fontd is a process that check and validate the “system fonts” installed on your machine. By default, OS X requires some fonts that can’t be uninstalled to run properly.
• AppleSpell.service is the process that check your spelling in any text-based apps or system.
• launchd is the system process that control the behaviour of your computer. It is the core behind your running computer.
• pboard is also known as paste board is the process that is function as the temporary storage for process like copy and paste.

Here is a quick tips how to make use of the Activity Menu in Safari 5.

• Find the link of the video source if you are watching video.
• See the size of the media displayed.
• Display all the image source in single window.

If you have more tips about this feature. Leave a comment and I’ll include it later.

What to write? And for who do I write?

I rarely write about myself. I don’t think the visitors of this site would like find out more about me. If I analyze the keyword and the top content of my site, I’m sure that my visitors don’t care about personal post. Yeah, I said so because I myself don’t care who is the writer behind a blog if I visit it from searching Google. It’s one of the habit unless you know me personally in real life.

If you are one of this site readers. Thanks, it’s my honor. And I’d like to get know my reader more.

More or less, some of you might be a fans of certain blog. When I was learning how to design, my feed would be full of design blog. And it was huge scale of list post everyday published.

It was tiring.

So if you are in that state, be it design blog or lifestyle blog. If you can’t cope up with them. Limit yourself to 3-4 blogs.

And once more, don’t just follow what the blogger writes. You know better about what your needs and lifestyle. If you think what you are doing now works well. Don’t change. It’s your life and you decide how to live it.

Choose wisely what to read and what to follow. No one know better about you, and it’s about you and people around you. Being a follower of some blogs or guide is to discover more options in life. And the choice is yours.

If you have question or want to know a certain topics, let me know. I will try to discover it and share with you what I find.

People who know me will find that I am Apple maniac. True indeed, I love most (if not all) of Apple products. But, I wasn’t born like this. There is some short story before I come to get know Apple products.

I remembered back then 2 years ago when I first started to learn about computer. Everything was fascinating, I was given the chance to use notebook in the office at night since I didn’t have my own. And during that time, I only knew that computer is Windows.

So, I learned my way around Windows. I used a lot of software to optimise Windows. Windows XP was still in its glory era. I even got myself a handbook to tweak the registry just to increase the performance. And it was likely several times the notebook need to be formatted.

And… something amazing happened…

One of my friend brought his shiny elegant MacBook White to our class. I was really fascinated. It was really the first time I could actually see and use it. And the first question from me was “How much does it cost?”. For someone like me who were just a normal college student with no income, moreover living in Indonesia. Buying MacBook was my first goal that I must achieve. And the MacBook White during that time is around 13 million rupiah or around 1400 USD.

MacBook back then was a very expensive product and only some people were able to purchase one. Geeks like me wanted a fast computer. But after that stunning experience, I wanted both beautiful and fast computer. Other brand that came into my mind was Sony Vaio. Apple did that.

It took me a year to work and save in order to buy the MacBook I am currently using to type this post. It might be one of the best money I have spent in these years.

I don’t know about you. But I love how I don’t need to be bothered fixing registry. I love how I don’t need to install 3rd party plugin to get my works done. I love how I don’t need to install driver just to get the display works.

I don’t know if Apple is going to be like that forever. But I’m sure that as long Steve Jobs stay in the company, this love for their products would never change.

And while you are at it, why don’t you read this interview with the former Apple CEO.

Of course, I will be very glad to talk to you on Twitter if you are also an Apple fan.