What is your Mac OCD?

[mickbab]

- Tidy desktop. If there are icons they must be large-ish. Currently at 100x100 with the largest grid spacing.
- Tidy dock. I don't like long docks with all the unused apps in them. I currently have Finder, DB, Mail, FireFox, MSN, iCal, TM, SysPref, 4 stacks and the trash.
-Nothing selected on the desktop.
-Column view!
-iTunes must always be on the far left of the screen, with all the columns visible for whatever playlist I am in at the time. MSN must be in the top right corner.

Nothing else I can think of at the moment.

 

[macuser154]

1. I hate having a messy desktop
2. I hate having loads of windows minimised
3. Same as you, I hate having things selected on the desktop
4. I hate the screen having loads of apps on it
5. Only have apps in my dock that I regularly use

 

[allan.nyholm]

How do you do this?! I've been trying and trying, but as a recent switcher I just can't make it stick. Everytime I change the view on one folder, it changes them all. It almost makes me miss my PC.

Try when you have the view set to Coverflow, enter the View settings with Command+j - there at the top of the window that opens you will see something like "always open in Coverflow" or "always open in Icon view" - check the box.

 

[dmmcintyre3]

I am turning into a pack rat when it comes to open windows again. The only place with visible desktop is in-between the dock and the edge of the screen.

Short battery life (my iBook lasted 6 hours while my PB lasts 1:30)

10.5.7 made my battery last 2 WHOLE HOURS!!!!

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

Mine are:

1. Nothing on the desktop can be selected.

2. Only volumes are on the desktop; no folders or individual files

3. If possible, close the app's window and leave it running.

4. Only one thing minimized at a time.

5. Safari, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote all have to take up the entire screen.

6. The desktop background has to be something of significance.

7. Finder windows must be in icon view, not column or coverflow or list view, and they must have a picture as the backdrop.

The only reason I've got Address Book on the Dock is so there aren't too many blue icons next to each other.

 

[sputacus]

1. I hate having a messy desktop
2. I hate having loads of windows minimised
3. Same as you, I hate having things selected on the desktop
4. I hate the screen having loads of apps on it
5. Only have apps in my dock that I regularly use

DITTO!!!

 

[OMG! iPhonez!]

I can't sleep at all unless each and every one of my files is on at least three drives.

My time machine is three MyBooks RAIDed together, and I also have a FreeAgent I drag stuff manually to. I also keep a Passport drive with my critical files on it at my parents house in case my condo explodes.

 

[Captain Awesome]

After installing a Snow Leopard beta on my dads computer, I was kinda annoyed that the checkmarks in the Wi-Fi menu are too close to the names. Hope they fix that one.

 

[erikistired]

i can't use safari because it will sometimes open in a place different than i want it. drives me crazy.

i also have to have finder showing in the menu bar unless i'm using an app.

 

[Shotgun OS]

I don't use tabbed browsing that often. I must open every new link in a new window because I guess I feel too constrained in tabbed browsing. So, at the end of the day, I end up with like 20 safari windows and 10 finder windows all open.

 

[268144]

Hmm

-I love to mod the interface, icons, dock skin, theme, wallpaper etc.
-I have to have a the GUI looking perfect or i cannot work.
-column view, apart from some special folders.
-when viewing video, full screen in another display.
-iTunes, full volume or mute.
-Fonts, they have to be fairly small.

Example of what my desktop looks like now :

 

[Oh-es-Ten]

This makes me feel better...

The usual...

- Must empty trash as soon as it has something in it
- Same as above but in apps such as iPhoto
- Nothing selected on the desktop
- Hate anything but drives on the desktop (labels on right, Show Item Info)
- Hate seeing anything at all in Downloads stack or Downloads window in Safari

The other...
- All of my folder and file names must have a capital letter to start with
- Weekly Time Machine backup on a Saturday
- Weekly Restart on a Sunday
- Must delete played Podcasts in iTunes and viewed RSS in Mail even though both apps are set to do this automatically
- Go through ~/Library/Preferences and delete anything older than a few months

Very amusing thread!

I want to hear from our chronic re-installer about how long he can go without re-installing...

 

[Kat King123]

i have most of the same here (hard drive only on desktop,etc) but the thing that bothers me the most is when the fans start turning up i have the quit everything so they turn back down makes me think i have an old computer btw can i get that drive icon?

 

[pjmburg]

I don't have too many, but here goes....
I can't stand the 3-d dock, so I have to use the hidden 2-d one.
I only keep programs I actually use one the dock. Not that that's really OCD, but I always see soccer moms bring in machines that still have Garageband on the dock.
I don't mind leaving programs I keep pinned to the dock open, but if it's something that usually isn't there, I have to kill it as soon as I'm done with it.
I never keep windows open for programs that I can run in the background (iTunes, BitTorrent, Adium contacts, Mail).
I don't empty the trash that much, but whenever I check my free hard drive space, I have to clean it out just to make sure.
There are icons for folders that I have to have changed in the dock, but not in the finder.
I often check battery life using the hardware meter, even though it's right on the screen.
I always have to sleep the display when I leave my desk, but never the actual computer.

 

[daneoni]

Clean desktop and clean hardware. Also regular maintenance...at least once a week

 

[bobr1952]

I always close apps that aren't being used (my wife doesn't, I really should kick her arse).
I like the desktop to be tidy.
Don't like the trash having anything in it.

Hmmm--this sounds like me--well except for the wife--don't have one of those--so no arse kicking there.

 

[adamfishercox]

I've lightened up but I've still got some... most of them can't be fixed.

- I'd really like all menu items to have equal space between them
- Hazel empties my trash every hour
- Dock can have nothing in it that I don't use at least once per day.
- I used to put nothing on the Trash side, but since Leopard I've accepted it as a random junk place.
- Finder bugs the crap out of me by not saving my 72px evenly spaces perfectly aligned windows.
- Safari needs to be centered when I'm on my big screen, all the way to the left when I'm on the MBP screen.

 

[Nilla]

Always hiding my daily used apps in the background, keeping the trashcan empty, only allowing my internal and external hard drive icons to be seen on the desktop and a small dock containing the 10-12 most used apps.

 

[techfreak85]

Hmm

-I love to mod the interface, icons, dock skin, theme, wallpaper etc.
-I have to have a the GUI looking perfect or i cannot work.
-column view, apart from some special folders.
-when viewing video, full screen in another window.
-iTunes, full volume or mute.
-Fonts, they have to be fairly small.

Example of what my desktop looks like now :

ur menubar looks like it has a different font or something. what did u do? i like it.

 

[macintoshtoffy]

I can't stand a messy computer; hence the reason why my white Mac is still white rather than caked with dirt, same with my iMac. I like to keep the nice and clean.

 

[ortuno2k]

Hmm

-I love to mod the interface, icons, dock skin, theme, wallpaper etc.
-I have to have a the GUI looking perfect or i cannot work.
-column view, apart from some special folders.
-when viewing video, full screen in another window.
-iTunes, full volume or mute.
-Fonts, they have to be fairly small.

Example of what my desktop looks like now :

OMG this is soooo nice! What is this GUI program called?

 

[ortuno2k]

This is a great thread! Makes me glad I'm not the only one about some of the OCD-ness...
Anyways, here are some of mine:

- All programs must be hidden when I must temporarily open something else.
- Only one program's window open at the same time, unless I'm working with more than one program.
- Clean desktop, only my Mac HD & my external HD, which I use for Time Machine.
- Downloads folder cleaned out periodically.
- Trash emptied periodically, at least every 1-2 days.
- No horizontal bars.
- Almost all my iTunes music has album art, and must be organized by Album Name.
- Close programs when not in use, except for Mail & iTunes.
- Items in dock which I use often.
- Icons size 48 x 48, arranged by Kind.
- I never use any other wallpaper than the one that comes with Mac OS. I usually have on the blue-swirly one.
- Links in the Bookmarks Bar (Safari) must be arranged in alphabetical order, and must not be wider than the size of the window, to avoid the >>
- Never shut down my MBP; only sleep. Restart once every other week, or when applying updates.
- Install OS X once or twice a year.

That's about it... my wife says if I make my post too long, it won't get read.

 

[vansouza]

I can not breathe if an app is open and I am not using it... the only always open apps are Safari and Mail... anything else if not being used is closed... very OCD about that... carry over from the DOS days I guess; or I could just be sick...

 

[eXan]

I can not breathe if an app is open and I am not using it... the only always open apps are Safari and Mail... anything else if not being used is closed... very OCD about that... carry over from the DOS days I guess; or I could just be sick...

Get more RAM

 

[Ann P]

1. Trash must be empty at all times
2. No duplicate files (unless necessary)
3. Downloads folder cleared everyday
4. Reset Safari often

I'm sure there's more!