Thursday, 8 August 2013

How to Install Mac OS X on a PC (Without Using a Mac)

There are many great tutorials on the web for using a Mac to install Mac OS X Snow Leopard on a PC. Unfortunately, you may be unable to follow such tutorials if you do not readily have access to a Mac to perform the preparation necessary for the installation.

Great progress has been made in hacking PCs to run OS X, and it is now possible to install Mac OS X without a Mac. Thanks to some great tools put together by some brilliant hackers, it is also much easier and does not involve nearly as much time and effort as was once required.Sorry for the delay to publish the post after the announcement due to low speed connectivity i had to take this much time for screen shots and all.The entire work is not mine,, perhaps i had praticzlly carried out entire process thrice as my own after that only am publishing this one. I had tried to give as many as link's i can to each subtopics.Each links are from trusted sources and of my fellow bloggers. Take a detailed tour through the steps and dont forget to give back the feedbacks

your's Albin Paul.

Step 1: Getting The Hardware Ready

I recently purchased the following set of hardware for the purposes of building a Hackintosh (often PCs running Mac OS X are referred to as such):

The motherboard has an 8-pin power connector on it, and although it is possible to connect a single 4-pin connector to it, you may encounter odd issues running with just a single 4-pin connector. To ensure that you provide sufficient power to the board, you should purchase the 4-pin to 8-pin power adapter. Alternatively, you could purchase a power supply with 3x 4-pin connectors (1 for the 20+4-pin main connector, and 2 for the 8-pin connection) or an 8-pin connector.

I did not purchase a hard drive or video card, as I used some I already had from another PC, but you will need those items as well. As of the time this article was written, you can get a 1TB drive shipped for $75 and an NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT video card for $65.

I also purchased v10.6.3 of OS X Snow Leopard retail DVD for a mere $29 (was about $35 with shipping & handling).

All-in-all, the full system (without monitor) will run you around $600 (you could also add a 22″ monitor for $170). You could certainly try doing it even cheaper with different hardware, but you’ll need to figure out the appropriate changes to make in the BIOS and boot loader installation.

I did my best to put together a fairly modern system for a very reasonable price. Having used this set of hardware, I can affirm that it runs OS X Snow Leopard very well. Without a doubt, $600 – $800 is a far cry from what you would spend on an equivalent Mac from Apple. Granted it won’t be as compact or pretty as an iMac, but it will be just as functional.

Step 2: Putting The Hardware Together

If you purchase the hardware I used, along with a hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce video card, you should be able to follow the instructions exactly as I’ve laid them out. If you’ve never built a PC before but are willing to give it a try, you’ll definitely want to check out The Idiot’s Ultimate Guide to Build Your Own PC. It is a step-by-step guide to building your own PC, with plenty of photos to help you out.

You can try following this tutorial with existing hardware you have as well, although you may need to make adjustments when configuring the BIOS and installing the boot loader. The more modern your hardware is, the better the chances are it will work for you. It would be best if you have a 64-bit Intel dual-core (or quad-core) processor, although an older CPU might still work as well. I would recommend NVIDIA GeForce video card, but ATI cards should work too.

Step 3: Prepare The Boot Disk

In addition to the hardware and a retail copy of Mac OS X Snow Leopard, you’ll also need a blank CD. You may want to use a rewritable CD if you’re using a different hardware configuration, just in case the first one I recommend doesn’t work for you. There are two boot disk images that will allow you to install OS X directly from the installation DVD:

iBoot (by tonymacx86 and MacMan)
Empire EFI (by Prasys)

I successfully used both of them with my hardware setup. However I recommend you try iBoot first, as it is a bit leaner and doesn’t take as long to boot. If you’re using my hardware configuration, be sure to download the iBoot Supported disk image. If you use Empire EFI, download the Empire EFI v1.085 R2 image.

You can use one of many free programs to burn CDs if you don’t have one. Be sure to use the disk image burning mode in your CD burning software. Do not just simply copy the disk image file to a blank CD. I like InfraRecorder, because it makes this very easy. All you have to do is click the Write Image button, select the image, and burn it. Once again, you may wish to use rewritable media if you’re using a different hardware configuration than mine.

Step 4: Bios Configuration

Fortunately, the Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3 does not require a lot of configuration to run Mac OS X. When you first turn on or reboot the machine, press the delete key to enter the BIOS setup. You can just load the Optimized Defaults, and just make a few changes within three sections of the bios: Advanced BIOS Features, Integrated Peripherals, and Power Management Setup.

4.1 – First, go to Advanced BIOS Features and set the First Boot Device to CDROM. I have my USB drive as the second drive and then Hard Disk as third – you can configure yours the same way if you wish to ever boot from a USB drive. Just be sure that Hard Disk is the Second Boot Device or Third Boot Device.

4.2 – Next, configure SATA to run in AHCI mode in the Integrated Peripherals menu. You’ll need to set both PCH SATA Control Mode and Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode to AHCI.

4.3 – Finally, go to Power Management Setup and set the HPET Mode to 64-bit mode.

Step 5: Installing Mac OS X

5.1 – Insert the iBoot (or Empire EFI) boot disk.

5.2 – When you see screen below, eject the disk.

5.3 – Insert the Retail Mac OS X Snow Leopard DVD, wait a few seconds, and press F5.

5.4 – When you see the screen below, select Mac OS X Install DVD (it should already be selected) and press Enter.

5.5 – If all goes well, you should eventually see the language selection screen for the installer. If all did not go well and you do not make it to the language selection screen, try downloading a different version of iBoot or Empire EFI.

5.6 – Select your language and click the arrow to proceed.

5.7 – Next, you need to partition your drive. Click on Utilities > Disk Utility.

5.8 – Select your disk drive.

5.9 – Click Partition.

5.10 – Select 1 Partition for the partition scheme. Note: If you have a drive that is larger than 2 TB, do not create partitions larger than 1 TB. Split the drive into multiple partitions, and be sure the main installation partition is 1 TB or smaller.

5.11 – Enter a name for the partition (I used Hackintosh).

5.12 – Select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the Format.

5.13 – Click Options…, select GUID Partition Table, and then click OK.

5.14 – Click Apply.

5.15 – Quit Disk Utility and proceed with the installation. Install on the Hackintosh partition.

Step 6: Installing the Boot Loader

Do not fret when you reboot after the installation and get a boot error, as you will need to first boot the machine with iBoot (or Empire EFI). Eject the Mac OS X Snow Leopard install DVD, put your boot CD back into the drive, and reboot the machine. Now when you boot up, you should see a second choice for your installation partition (Hackintosh if you named it that way). Select the Hackintosh partition and press Enter to boot into OS X.

Once you’ve completed the first-run setup, open up Safari and download Multibeast. Multibeast is another superb tool by tonymacx86 and MacMan that makes it stupid easy to install the boot loader, along with all the drivers necessary for your Hackintosh to function properly.

In addition to downloading Multibeast, you will need to download the DSDT for the Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3 and copy it to the desktop. Be sure to save it as

DSDT.aml

. Launch Multibeast and make the following selections (your choices will differ if you have a different motherboard/hardware configuration):

UserDSDT
System Utilities
Advanced Options > Kexts > Audio > LegacyHDA > ALC889
Advanced Options > Kexts > Graphics > NVEnabler
Advanced Options > Kexts > Network > RealtekR1000SL
Advanced Options > Patched Kernels > 10.3.1 Supported Kernel

After MultiBeast finishes installing, eject the iBoot CD and reboot the system. You should be able to boot right up from the hard drive, and all your devices should work just fine.

Step 7: Getting Started with Your New Mac

So what now? Most certainly you’ll want to check out 5 apps to get more out of your new Macas well as 15 must-have apps for your Mac. In fact, you should probably just go ahead and browse the entire Mac section on MakeUseOf, as you’ll find a wealth of great free stuff for your new Mac in there. And most importantly make sure to download MakeUseOf’s getting started manual for Mac. Highly recommended for switchers.

If ever you encounter into problems with your new Mac, you can always seek help fromMakeUseOf Answers.

If you have any problems installing Mac OS X on your PC, just post a comment right here and we’ll do what we can to help. Just be sure to provide as much information about the hardware you’re using:

Motherboard make and model (i.e. Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3)
CPU model (i.e. Intel Core i3-530 )
GPU model (i.e. NVIDIA GeForce 9900 GT)

I never managed to get sleep to work. When I try to put the computer to sleep, it sort of goes into a coma. The fans never shut down and the machine doesn’t wake up when you press the power button. If you manage to get sleep to work with my hardware configuration, please do feel free to share your solution in the comments on this article.

There are also many great forums and sites out there that provide a lot of information and assistance with running Mac OS X on PC. Here are just a few you may want to check out:

If you do seek assistance from any of these or similar resources, be sure to search for your problem before posting it. You will be flamed to no end if you ask a question that has already been answered. Another tip for posting in these forums: never call it a MAC (in all caps) instead of a Mac, or you will solicit many abusive responses. Mac is an abbreviation not an acronym.

Here are a few more links that provide tools and files to help you set up a Hackintosh on hardware other than what I’ve mentioned here:

myHack – Another bootloader/kext installer, similar to Multibeast
Kexts.com – A good resource for downloading Kexts (device drivers)
Kext Helper – A tool that makes it easy to install new Kexts
Kext Utility – A tool to ensure proper kext installation
Chamelon Boot Loader – The boot loader that pretty much all the boot disks out there use (including iBoot and Empire EFI).
netkas PC EFI – Used in combination with Chameleon to provide maximum compatibility for booting OS X. Most boot disks use this as well.
BootCDMaker (French) – Utility (for Mac) to create your own custom boot disks

A million thanks to tonymacx86 and MacMan for developing iBoot and Multibeast to make installing Mac OS X Snow Leopard on PC a piece of cake. Enjoy your new Hackintosh and let us know what you think of it!

Disclosure Statement: Please note that the links to the hardware in this article are affiliate links. MakeUseOf will earn a small commission on any purchases you make. Commissions earned will support the staff of MakeUseOf and allow us to continue to bringing you more great articles.

Disclaimer: Please note that running Mac OS X Snow Leopard on hardware other than a Macintosh is against the Mac OS X End User License Agreement (EULA). If you have concerns about this, you may wish to read Is Making Your Own Hackintosh Legal? By installing Mac OS X you are in breach of a contract (breaking a contract is not the same as breaking the law). As long as you own a legal copy of the software, you are not in violation of copyright law.

Monday, 5 August 2013

How to Customize Folder Backgrounds and Icons in Windows Explorer

We’ve covered a lot of Windows tweaks over the months, and today Am going to show you how to customize the look of your folders in Windows Explorer to add a background image or change the folder icons.

Choose a Picture to Show as a Background for the Folder Icon

Did you know that the default folder icon in Windows Explorer can be customized to have a background image? Just like your Desktop!

The default background of folder icons is a thumbnail preview of the contents inside: images from inside the folder, icons of the applications or file types found in the folder, etc. This can be customized and you can have it replaced by an image of your choosing.

To do this, right click on the folder for which you want to change the icon background image and select Properties. Or simply select it and press Alt+Enter on your keyboard. This opens the Properties window of the folder.

Here, go to the Customize tab, in which you will find the Folder pictures section. Click on theChoose File button, Browse and select the picture you want to use as background. Then, press OK twice.

Once you selected the picture, click on OK again, and you are done.

Now the background image is applied to the folder icon.

Pretty cool, isn’t it?

Change the Icon of your Folder

Another thing you might want to do, is change the icon of a folder. If you’ve customized your folder as shown in the previous section, the background image of the folder icon will be replaced with the new icon. To switch back to the background image view, you must revert to the default folder icon.

This section will show you how to customize your folders assuming that you are not interested in changing the background image of the folder icon but you simply want to change its icon completely.

This is done from the same Customize tab of the folder Properties window. Go to the Folder icons section and click on Change icon.

In the Change Icon window, you need to select the new icon that you want applied. Click onBrowse and navigate to its location, select it and press OK twice.

One thing to remember: icon files are stored as standalone .ico files but can also be found inside .exe, .icl or .dll files.

Once you select the new icon, click again OK, and you are done. The new icon is applied to the selected folder.

Use a Background Picture for your Folder

Another piece of customization you can do, is to set a background picture for your folder and also change the way text is shown, in order to match your background. This can be done using a number of free tools. The most user friendly you can find is called Windows 7 Folder Background Changer. Long name isn’t it? :)

This tool was released by the Windows Club and can be downloaded from Softpedia. Once you have it on your computer, unzip it and run its main executable as admin (Right click -> Run as administrator).

Note: If you don’t run it as administrator, chances are high that the application will crash.

Once the application is open, select the folder for which you want to add a background image. Then, click on Change Background Image and select the image you want to use.

One very important tip: do not forget to change the text color. Simply click on the box nearText Color and customize it so that it has enough contrast vs. your background image. Otherwise you won’t be able to see the text very well.

As an added feature, you can select if you want to Show Shadows Under Text and choose toApply To Sub Folders the background image you have just chosen.

Once all configuration is done, close the application and the settings are applied.

Any Other Tips?

I’m pretty sure many Technopheniac readers love customizing the visual aspects of their operating system. Do you have any other tips worth sharing about how to further customize how folders in Windows Explorer look like?

Thursday, 25 July 2013

Googles Android 4.3 released ............!!

Google released its newer Android version 4.3..........!!!!!!

So I'm as disappointed about the new ''features'' of Android 4.3 as the rest of you. But I thought it was still worthwhile to go into a little more detail about what is different in this new update. Having said that, I'll save my jumping for joy for when Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie releases.

The Google presentation yesterday showcased three main updates in 4.3 Jelly Bean. We'll cover those here and also share a couple of other things you'll see in this most recent update.

Smart Bluetooth v4.0 (or low-energy Bluetooth)

Not exactly the sexiest update to lead with, but when there's not much news to report you go with what you've got. Smart Bluetooth has been available in iOS for quite some time, so it makes sense Android has included it in the 4.3 release.

Basically, Smart Bluetooth enables your smartphone or tablet to connect with low-power Bluetooth devices, like sports wearables, that we are increasingly seeing. This technology expands the functionality of your device to link to more peripherals like heart-rate monitors, glucose monitors, pedometers, thermometers and so on. This update is obviously in anticipation of the rise of wearable technology that tends to be based quite often on biometric data and fitness apps.

Multi-User Restricted Profiles

Multi-user possibilities have been extended in Android 4.3 to include options for setting restricted profiles for certain users of the smartphone or tablet. This is great news for families that share devices but don't necessarily want everyone to have full access to their personal information. This can especially cause problems when credit card details have been saved and someone gets trigger happy with in-app purchases.

Android43RestrictedProfiles — Multiple users can share the same device, some with restricted profiles.

You can block certain sites or apps, hide purchasable content and so on, depending on the user. Point of sale systems can also utilize the update because multiple users can use the same tablet with all their personal settings saved, making device sharing that much easier and private. Individual users can also have different profiles saved for off-work time, at work and specific tasks, like presentations (no need to clear up your messy home screen again).

Open GL ES3.0

Open GL ES3.0 is now included as standard in Android 4.3. Open GL is an accelerated 3D graphics specification for portable devices that allows much more life-like rendering of images in real time. The Google demo showed some lovely examples of how this works in games, where you can get lens flares and shifting shadows generated by 3D-modelled objects, making games much more natural looking.

android 43 opengl 02 — Android 4.3 will feature Open GL ES3.0 accelerated graphics as standard.

There's also improved textures and handling of 3D graphics in general. Open GL ES3.0 was released a year ago, but until now, has not appeared in smartphone or tablet operating systems. A trio of new games designed for Android with this technology in mind were also demoed.

What else is there?

You can project web and offline content from your Android 4.3 updated portable device to a Miracast-enabled television, wirelessly. This was in evidence in Android 4.2 however. There's the ''Daydream'' screensaver to ''display useful and delightful information when idle or docked,'' and more improvements to the Notifications shade, giving you increased options from within the pull-down window.

CPU boosters have been included to provide better performance when the screen is active and to conserve battery life when the CPU is not needed. There's also changes to the dialler, which now features auto-complete, and some of the Wi-Fi issues from 4.2 have been resolved. Wi-Fi will also now scan for networks even when turned off, to provide better location data without draining the battery.

So, that's about it. Nothing groundbreaking, and certainly no indications of what we'll see in Key Lime Pie. But better performance on our devices while we await the next major iteration of the Android OS will certainly take our minds off how long it will take to be released. Android 4.3 is out already for Google Nexus devices, and will roll out very soon to Google editions of the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4.

What do you think of the updates to Android 4.3? Anything you like? Anything they missed?

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Intro to next up comming POST.

Today (24/7/2013) when i was on a chit chat with ma friend ANEESH R.U during the lecture sessions of college hours,, He asked me about installing mac os on normal laptop which vas ma earlier field of interest and had some physical training on my pc as well as laptop.

Today i got a sudden inspiration on this topic from his words............thnx ANEESH R.U.

Anyway i decided to carry out ma own virtual as well as real experiments on this same topic,, also I altered the ongoing job topis of our UTH team as this.

We assure you ma great readers that i will be back with great tutorial on the topic " How to install Mac os on Normal Pc's"

(since we have restricted data usage we are sorry to include vedio tutorials for this time.)

Monday, 22 July 2013

What to do before giving away or selling your Android phone or tablet............!!

What to do before giving away or selling your Android phone or tablet

Before parting with any Android device, review this hardware and software checklist

With the ever-growing Android market, more and more people are buying and selling Android phones and tablets every day. Some people — like myself — depend on the value of their used devices to purchase the latest and greatest. But before shipping that phone or tablet off to its new owner, it is vital to make sure everything important has been removed.

The top concern for many folks in this position is that of privacy protection. Personal information like phone numbers, emails, and compromising pictures are things nobody wants falling into the wrong hands. It's also a good idea not to send any "extras" along with the device, like any one of the cards (microSD, SIM, etc.) that could be hiding in various nooks and crannies of any Android phone or tablet.

Of course, before removing any hardware or erasing any data, you'll want to backup the important things to keep or transfer to another device. Whether it be applications, music, or family photos, it needs to be correctly copied over to removable storage on the device itself or to a personal computer.

Let's get started.

Hardware

There are many different Android devices out there, each with a different hardware layout. This article would be much too long to include specific instructions for every phone and tablet, however it shouldn't be hard to spot the following if you look carefully enough.

Remove your SIM card

Most phones and many tablets use one of these to access a cellular network for voice, text, and data -- it will need to be transferred to your new device (unless you got a new SIM card or switched carriers). Devices that don't use a SIM card are non-LTE CDMA devices (older hardware on Sprint and Verizon) and WiFi-only tablets.

If your device has a removable back, chances are the SIM card is visible once the back cover and/or battery are removed. Devices without removable back panels should have a SIM card slot somewhere along the device's outside edge — a special tool that came with the device may be needed to pop the SIM card out. (Alternatively a fine needle or paperclip pay do the trick.)

Remove your SD card (if the phone has one)

This is something you definitely do not want to accidentally leave in a device before giving it away. Larger capacity microSD cards can cost upwards of $50. While not as common today, many older phones had SD card slots. Examples of newer devices that have them are the Samsung Galaxy S4 and many tablets. Like the SIM card slot, the SD card slot is usually behind the removable back plate or somewhere along the device's edge. The slot may be spring loaded, so try pushing before pulling.

Accessories

These items are commonly sold or given away with a device, however in the case of selling the accessories separately or using them for a second device in your possession, they should not be overlooked.

If your device has a removable battery (many newer phones and most tablets do not), make sure no aftermarket/extended battery is in the device. It should be easy to tell the original battery since it probably has the original equipment manufacturer's name on it. (If in doubt, try Googling the part number printed on the battery.)

Was your device's case part of the sale? If not, and you want it, take it off -- especially if it's one of those expensive battery cases. While this would seem like a no-brainer, some cases -- like the official Nexus 4 bumper -- are easily missed.

Since most screen protectors are not reusable, and even the ones that are are probably scratched, used protectors are of little value. If the screen protector currently on your device is in bad shape, however, do the courteous thing and remove it for the next owner.

Software

Data handling is probably the most important thing when selling or giving away a device. Not only do you not want to lose all those family photos and your Bieber song collection, but you don't want the next owner to have access to your Google accounts, data, and media.

Back up personal data

Most folks' biggest concern when backing up data is saving their photos and videos. If your device has an SD card, it may be as easy as removing the card and connecting it to a computer (or first copying to the SD card, then onto a computer). If the multimedia is stored on internal memory, you'll need to connect the device to a computer via USB cable. Once connected, you'll be able to drag and drop any files you want to keep (including photos and videos) onto your computer.

Nexus devices and many tablets tablet store photos and videos in a folder called "DCIM." If you use both the camera app that came with your device and a 3rd party camera app (e.g. Shot Control), be careful -- there may be a separate photo/video folder for the 3rd party camera app.

The other common concern when backing up is transferring apps and their data to another device. Those with rooted devices probably already have a backup app like Titanium Backup installed. For the rest of us, Koush's Carbon Backup should do the trick.

Remember that as long as your contacts, email, etc. are linked to your Google account, they are already backed up in the cloud and will restore themselves automatically once you sign in on another device. If they aren't linked, make sure to use a carrier service or a 3rd party app to back anything you need up.

Wipe data (factory reset)

Once you're absolutely, positively, 100% sure you have everything you need backed up, you can wipe your device squeaky clean. There are a couple ways to do this. You can boot into recovery and use the factory reset/wipe data command, or go the more user-friendly route and go to Settings > Backup & reset > Factory data reset (if you don't have menu options exactly like this, you should have something very similar). This will erase everything on your device. If you're presented with checkboxes asking if you want to wipe external or internal storage, be sure to check these too.

When the device restarts, it should boot into some kind of welcome screen -- just like when it was booted up out of the box. After the reset, you can reboot to check and make sure everything is gone, if you so choose. If you're leaving an SD card in the device for the next owner, be sure to delete all its contents too. A factory reset does not always wipe removable SD cards.

If you've rooted and ROM'd your device, it would be a good idea to go back to the place where you got the tools to do so and find a guide to completely restore your device to its factory state. For Nexus devices, this includes flashing a factory image and relocking the bootloader. If you have no idea what any of this means, this probably doesn't apply to you — unless you let someone else monkey with your phone or tablet. If you need to do this and forgot how, there are lots of helpful guides and information in your device's specific forum.

The bottom line / Conclusion

While the above are all simple things, they are very important things -- which is why we're mentioning them here. The used Android market is very large and important to people who don't want to or can't afford $600+ for a brand new device. While I'd like to give Android users -- especially those savvy enough to read Android Central -- the benefit of the doubt, it's better to remove what you need or don't want the next user to have, before it gets into their hands. That way we can spent more time on the fun things, and less on worrying about whether or not the people that got our private data are dishones