The most useful defaults-write options

The following are really useful options to set system-wide for Mac OS X. I'd suggest reading them to guess what they do. You should be able to safely run all of them except the first one which tells spotlight (the search function) to ignore any attached drives forever.

If you find that drives take a long time to unmount (eject), then usually it is because spotlight is indexing them (reading them in their entirety) to see what they contain.

Hence if you find a disk doesn't want to eject, turn off spotlight for that drive.


sudo defaults write /.Spotlight-V100/VolumeConfiguration Exclusions -array "/Volumes"

defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-columns -int X

defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-columns -int 10

defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-rows -int 7

defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-rows -int 5

defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-rows -int 5 springboard-columns -int 10

defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-rows -int X

defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-rows -int 3

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool true

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode2 -bool true

defaults write com.apple.loginwindow PowerButtonSleepsSystem -bool no

defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu 1

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool false

defaults write -g QLPanelAnimationDuration -float 0

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSWindowResizeTime -float 0.001

defaults write com.apple.finder DisableAllAnimations -bool true

defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float 0

defaults write com.apple.mail DisableReplyAnimations -bool true

defaults write com.apple.mail DisableSendAnimations -bool true

defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay 0.25

defaults write NSGlobalDomain ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool true

defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 0

defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security GKAutoRearm -bool false

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security GKAutoRearm -bool false

defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool true

defaults write com.apple.helpviewer DevMode -bool true

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSDocumentSaveNewDocumentsToCloud -bool false

defaults write com.apple.print.PrintingPrefs "Quit When Finished" -bool true

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow AdminHostInfo HostName

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticQuoteSubstitutionEnabled -bool false

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticDashSubstitutionEnabled -bool false

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool false

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticSpellingCorrectionEnabled -bool false

defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleKeyboardUIMode -int 3

defaults write com.apple.finder ShowExternalHardDrivesOnDesktop -bool true

defaults write com.apple.finder ShowHardDrivesOnDesktop -bool true

defaults write com.apple.finder ShowMountedServersOnDesktop -bool true

defaults write com.apple.finder ShowRemovableMediaOnDesktop -bool true

defaults write com.apple.finder ShowStatusBar -bool true

defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool true

defaults write com.apple.finder FXDefaultSearchScope -string "SCcf"

defaults write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.springing.enabled -bool true

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool true

defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces -bool true

defaults write com.apple.finder FXInfoPanesExpanded -dict         General -bool true         OpenWith -bool true         Privileges -bool true

defaults write com.apple.Safari UniversalSearchEnabled -bool false

defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitTabToLinksPreferenceKey -bool true

defaults write com.apple.Safari com.apple.Safari.ContentPageGroupIdentifier.WebKit2TabsToLinks -bool true

defaults write com.apple.Safari ShowFullURLInSmartSearchField -bool true

defaults write com.apple.Safari AutoOpenSafeDownloads -bool false

defaults write com.apple.Safari ProxiesInBookmarksBar "()"

defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDevelopMenu -bool true

defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitDeveloperExtrasEnabledPreferenceKey -bool true

defaults write com.apple.Safari com.apple.Safari.ContentPageGroupIdentifier.WebKit2DeveloperExtrasEnabled -bool true

defaults write NSGlobalDomain WebKitDeveloperExtras -bool true

sudo defaults write /.Spotlight-V100/VolumeConfiguration Exclusions -array "/Volumes"

defaults write com.apple.TimeMachine DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup -bool true

defaults write com.apple.ActivityMonitor IconType -int 5

defaults write com.apple.ActivityMonitor ShowCategory -int 0

defaults write com.apple.ActivityMonitor SortColumn -string "CPUUsage"

defaults write com.apple.ActivityMonitor SortDirection -int 0

defaults write com.apple.addressbook ABShowDebugMenu -bool true

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode -bool true

defaults write com.apple.iCal IncludeDebugMenu -bool true

defaults write com.apple.TextEdit RichText -int 0

defaults write com.apple.TextEdit PlainTextEncoding -int 4

defaults write com.apple.TextEdit PlainTextEncodingForWrite -int 4

defaults write com.apple.TextEdit "TabWidth" '4'

defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled -bool true

defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility advanced-image-options -bool true

defaults write com.apple.appstore WebKitDeveloperExtras -bool true

defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool true

defaults write com.apple.messageshelper.MessageController SOInputLineSettings -dict-add "automaticQuoteSubstitutionEnabled" -bool false

defaults write com.apple.messageshelper.MessageController SOInputLineSettings -dict-add "continuousSpellCheckingEnabled" -bool false

sudo defaults write -g com.apple.keyboard.fnState -boolean true

sudo defaults write -g com.apple.keyboard.fnState -boolean false

sudo defaults write -g com.apple.keyboard.fnState -boolean true


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