KeyRemap4MacBook has been around for a while, but I recommend this program for intermediate and advanced Mac users who are comfortable with customizing their computer. Although a keyboard is mainly used for typing, there are modifiers and other special keys that you use for other purposes. Some keys you may rarely use, such as the right-Option, Backslash (\), and Backquote (`) keys, which are good candidates for remapping for other purposes.

How It Works

After you download and install KeyRemap4MacBook, the utility can be found in the System Preferences of your Mac alongside other 3rd party applications.

When you launch KeyRemap4MacBook, it presents you with over three dozen categories of pre-mapped settings for changing the original purpose of selected keys. There are also instructions on how to create your own custom settings. But let’s see how the presets work – for example, the Backslash (\) key, on the right side of your Mac keyboard. If you rarely use it, you might consider changing it to one of six other purposes.

For example, you might want to use it as a Forward Delete key. After you check the box for that behavior, when you type that key it will delete a letter to the right instead of the left of your cursor. Or better yet, you might select the “Backslash(\) to Forward Delete (if no other modifiers pressed)” so the Backslash key can be used for more than one purpose.

The Backquote may be another rarely used key. It could be remapped as a left Delete key or as another way to activate the F8 key, which typically starts and stops your iTunes player.

The same goes for the CapsLock, Fn, and Eject keys, which may be also underused and thus re-assigned for other purposes. KeyRemap4MacBook provides you with a couple of hundred presets. So basically you will want to experiment with various re-configurations and see how they fit into your workflow.

Thankfully, KeyRemap4MacBook also includes a “show enabled only” button so you can quickly see what keys you have changed. If you find the changes are not working for you, all you need do is deselect a setting.

Multi-Touch Extension

For Mac users who want to extend the power of the multi-touch trackpad, KeyRemap4MacBook also enables you to, for example, activate two- or three-finger gesturing for copying and pasting text or other items.

If you enable this feature, you simply press the “C” key (instead of Command+C) to copy text while you have two fingers resting on your trackpad. Likewise, you type “V” to paste the copied text – with two finger on the trackpad.

Other Features

KeyRemap4MacBook includes other features, some of which are a little too advanced for the scope of this article. KeyRemap4MacBook includes Growl support which posts a notification each time you activate a re-mapped key. I found that a little annoying, so I disabled it in Growl preferences (which can also be found in System Preferences).

If you want to speed up the repeat behaviors of your keyboard or change the threshold time when a modifier key is doubled pressed, KeyRemap4MacBook enables you do that. But you might not want to toy with these changes unless you like using your keyboard more than your mouse or trackpad to boss your computer around.

If you find KeyRemap4MacBook is not your cup of tea, the developers have included a way for you to easily uninstall it, in the preferences settings of the program.

I’ve mainly covered the most basic features of KeyRemap4MacBook. There are several others that you can experiment with to your geeky delight.

KeyRemap4MacBook is donationware, so if you like it, consider supporting the developer for his work.

For other MUO articles about keyboard remapping and keyboard hacks, start with these posts:

• Remap Keyboard Keys with These 3 Free Apps [Windows]
• Remapkey: Easily Rearrange Keyboard Keys
• ShortcutWorld: Keyboard Shortcut List For Essential Apps
• MouseFIGHTER: Control The Mouse Pointer With Keyboard Keys

Let us know what you think of this remapping program and how you’re using it in your own workflow.

Well, there’s a way out. The coders at iThink Software also got annoyed with Apple Preferences and decided to write MenuPrefs in order to make it more manageable. Now, instead of click after click, you can now access all of your favourite Apple Preference Panes via the Menu Bar. Finally, there’s now a quick way to access your sound preferences, turn Growl on and off and change your energy saving settings. It’s all just there.

What Does MenuPrefs Do?

MenuPrefs is a simple application which runs in the Menu Bar system wide, allowing access to your Apple System Preferences. Users can choose which preference panes to list in MenuPrefs and re-arrange the order of the list. This means that sysadmins can limit the preferences list to just what’s available for users to change. Other users might limit it to just their most regularly-used preferences.

Get MenuPrefs

MenuPrefs is free and available from the iThink Software website. They’ve made public a serial number for use with the older version while they work on making an entirely freeware product ready for use.

Registration Name: MenuPrefs Freeware User
Serial Number: MP200ST001-E4E4-81NH-JF5C-DW26-G5HC

Installation is about as easy as it gets: just open the DMG and drag the application to the Applications folder. Then when you start it, enter the Freeware license given.

The MenuPrefs icon is now in your MenuBar and is ready to use.

Modifying MenuPrefs

When you start using MenuPrefs you’ll soon see that the list of preferences is rather long. There’s also a “Show All” item to take you to the regular System Preferences pane.

To make changes to your MenuPrefs list, choose the “Preferences” option at the bottom of the list.

The preferences let you choose to open MenuPrefs on startup, which is handy if you want to keep using it. You can also choose whether to show icons in the menu and how big those icons should be.

The list order can be changed to Name order, Location order, Category Order or Custom Order. Location order separates the list similarly to within System Preferences.

Custom order should let you choose which preferences to show in the list, including separators and a custom order. It’s a little buggy for me though and won’t make the changes.

More About Mac Preferences

If you’re keen on tweaking your system, you’ll probably also want to read about these preference changes you can make to your Mac:

• 15 System Preferences Items A New Mac User Should Adjust
• Expand Mac’s Dictionary App by Adding Additional Languages
• Tweak Mac Leopard’s Hidden Settings With xMod
• 15 More System Preferences Items A New Mac User Should Know About

So, is MenuPrefs something you’ve really wanted for a while? Is there anything the developer can do to improve the app? Let us know in the comments!

Installing CompizConfig Settings Manager

As Unity is actually an extension of the Compiz Window Manager, you’ll be able to find the Unity plugin in the CompizConfig Settings Manger. By default, however, it is not currently installed. For easy installation, just click here. The link will prompt the package manager to install the package for you. You can also fire up the Synaptic Package Manager and type in

compizconfig-settings-manager

. You’ll see it along with another package called “simple-ccsm“. You can install either of these packages; they are virtually identical.

If you wish to use the terminal, you can use the commands

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

or

sudo apt-get install simple-ccsm

to install the correct package.

Once that completes, you can launch the Dash and begin typing in “

compiz

“, and the settings manager will appear for you to select. Once that opens, you can scroll down to the “Desktop” section of plugins, where you will find the plugin for Unity. Click on it, and you’ll have some options that you can configure.

Configuring Unity

In the Behaviour tab you’ll find a couple of options that pertain to, well, the behavior of Unity, specifically the dock on the left side. You can choose the Reveal Mode as well as when the Launcher (Dock) should hide itself. Below those options are configuration keyboard shortcuts for various tasks.

When you click on the Experimental tab, you’ll find a couple more options than in the last tab. Although I find that the options you can configure in this tab wouldn’t be something drastic, there is most likely a reason why it’s the “Experimental” tab, so be cautioned with what you change here.

Except for one, all of the options in this tab affect the dock. Changing the Backlight Mode will change whether the background of the icons in the dock are colored all the time, only when the application is open, or never. The Launch Animation option can change what happens to the icon when you click on it. The Urgent Animation is when an application is trying to get your attention, such as when someone mentions your nick on XChat, a program for IRC. You can also change the Panel Opacity, Launcher icon size, and Hide Animation. The Dash Blur option lets you choose what kind of blur you want for the dash, which is the window that appears when you click on the Ubuntu logo in the top left corner.

Conclusion

Unity is a good desktop shell that is capable of letting you easily get your work done. With a nice selection of customization options, you can easily tune Unity to your liking so that it works how you want it to work. That way it can stay out of the way so you can get your work done efficiently.

For more information about the latest Ubuntu release and Unity, you can check out Justin’s post here.

What do you think about Unity? Are you using it or going to use it, or are you deferring to a different desktop shell or environment? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: Wikipedia

But what if you want to dive into the guts of your Mac? You should download Deeper, a program that lays bare a variety of settings on your Mac and lets you make OS X modifications with them in a relatively controlled environment. Let’s take a look at ten very cool things you can do with this program.

Animate Your Desktop Background

Turning on this option will display an animated desktop background that is constantly changing. Deeper comes with 13 animated background options including an RSS reader and a background that uses your iTunes album artwork.

You’ll need a relatively powerful Mac to use the feature without reducing performance noticeably, but this is a fun feature to use if you have a newer machine.

Alter Crashreporter

OS X includes a default crash reporter that displays whenever a program crashes and gives you the chance to re-launch the application. This function is considered the “Basic” Crash reporter.

Deeper lets you switch to using the Developer or Server modes. Developer mode shows a more detailed debug message that can aid in tracking down the reason why a crash occurred. Server, on the other hand, simply logs the crash report so that Crash reporter doesn’t interfere with whatever the system is doing.

Change Arrows In Scroll Bar

This may seem a little OCD, but the default locations of the arrow buttons in OS X bug me. I use a Windows machine as well, so the fact that OS X and Windows machines put the scroll arrows at different locations throws me off. With Deeper this is no longer problem. You can choose to put arrows at the top and bottom of the scroll bar like on a Windows machine, plus you can choose to put the Mac double-arrow at both the top and bottom of a scroll bar.

Fuss About Finder

Deeper offers a huge variety of options that let you change how Finder works. There are a few too many to discuss in detail in this article, but some of the more important ones include the ability to display hidden files and folders, show the item path in the window title, and show folder content previews.

You can also turn off some features, like the animated snap-to-grid and info effects that are used by Finder.

Limit Your Mac’s Functionality

Throughout Deeper there are a number of settings available that turn off critical parts of your Mac. You can disable the ability to shut down or restart a system using the Apple menu or Login window. You can disable the iTunes store. You can even limit the ability to make any OS X modifications to the dock.

The ability to limit these functions means that Deeper can be extremely useful if, for whatever reason, you’re worried that someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing might use your computer. Maybe a child wants to use your computer for a few minutes on a machine without a second user account set up, or maybe you want to safeguard your Mac against mischievous roommates while you leave the room. Either way, Deeper’s ability to limit functionality could be a lifesaver.

Modify Screen Capture Format & Location

Capturing screenshots is way easier in OS X than in Windows thanks to the extra snapshot features available, but the default settings dumps the files to your desktop in .PNG format. This may not be the best place for them, or the best format, depending on what you want to do with the screenshots.

Now Deeper can come to your rescue. The General panel includes the option to change the format (10 additional formats are available including .BMP, .GIF and .PDF) and the option to change where the shots will be sent. Now you can take a lot of screenshots without cluttering up your desktop!

Modify The OS X Dock

By default the OS X Dock is located at the bottom of your display and has a number of animated graphics effects. These effects look good, but may drain performance from older systems. Deeper will let you turn off 3D dock effects and the 3D dock itself. Instead, you can switch to a 2D version with a transparent background.

You can add things, as well ““ for example, you can add a mouse-over effect when you’re viewing a stack of items displayed as a grid.

Conclusion

Deeper is a great program that make its very easy to change your Mac’s settings. There is a lot of flexibility in it, and the fact that it lets you change not only critical Mac functions but also Safari, iTunes and Quicktime really makes it stand out.

MakeUseOf has also published a few other articles on wireless connections that you might find useful. Those include “How to Share the Internet Connection Between Mac and PC” and another article on sharing file between Mac and Windows computers. There’s also an article on setting parental controls on your Mac. Not to be missed, MakeUseOf’s handy PDF guide: The Mac Manual.

Here are the preference items we’ll be looking at.

Energy Saver

Though computers are nothing more than machines, they still need their rest — not only to maintain performance but also to save energy. In Energy Saver, you can set controls for when to put your computer to sleep, as well set times for it to shut down and start back up (click the Schedule button to set shut-down and restart times). I personally only restart my computer about once a week, but I do make sure it automatically put to sleep when not in use.

Software Update

One of the best ways to keep your computer in tip-top shape is to keep it backed up and updated with the latest versions of software. When Apple releases the latest version of its operating system or software, it will send a notice to your computer to download and install that update. If you want to find out whether you missed one or more updates, click on the Check Now button and it will verify if you need to update the operating system or other Apple software installed on your Mac. Note, however, that it will not check for third party applications.

Clicking on the Installed Software button will reveal what versions of Apple software are already installed on your computer. You can also run this check by clicking on the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of your Mac”˜s menu bar and selecting Software Update.

Text to Speech

MakeUseOf has already covered the Speech Recognition feature of System Preferences, but there’s also a feature called Text to Speech which is a handy tool for having your computer read aloud text. I have often use this feature for when I’m too tired to read articles or when I”˜m editing my writing. It’s of course also useful for Mac users with impaired eyesight.

If you want to use this feature, you can set a keyboard shortcut to activate it. After doing so, select some text in any application, such as Mail, and then hit your assigned keyboard shortcut. The computer will read the text aloud.

Also, if you want or need additional computer voice assistance, click on the Open Universal Access Preferences for several useful features.

Date & Time

No doubt by default, you already have the date and time clock set up on your Mac; it can be done automatically. But if you ever need an audio timer, such as for work purposes, you can set one up in Date & Time, in which your Mac will announce the time on the hour, every thirty or every fifteen minutes. This is not a feature you will run 24/7 but it’s a quasi built-in timer that might come in handy.

Time Machine

I know of no better and easier back up system than Apple”˜s Time Machine. If you’re not using it, you should. All that is required is an external hard drive, of say 500 or more gigabytes. Attach it to your computer and open the Time Machine item in System Preferences. From there, click the Select Disk button to do the initial setup. You can click the Options button to selectively exclude data on your computer that you don’t want backed up. Read this article for additional information about Time Machine.

Startup Disk

If you ever need to troubleshoot your Mac or test out some questionable software on another hard drive, use the Startup Disk feature. You will need to have a bootable backup drive connected to your computer to use this feature.

Other

If the last section, Other, of your System Preferences is not very populated, you’re probably missing out on many useful plug-ins and enhancements for your Mac. One particular item that every Mac user will want installed in this area is the Growl notification program. This free plug-in literally works with hundreds of Apple and third-party applications.

If you ever need to remove items in this section, it can easily be done by right- or Control-clicking on the plug-in or application and selecting the Remove… button.

You may not open System Preferences on a regular basis, but knowing about its powerful features can enhance what you do on your Mac. Let us know about overlooked features in System Preferences that you think should have been covered in our two-part article.

Again, if you’re a new Mac user, check out MakeUseOf’s handy PDF guide on how to overcome the fear of switching and a couple of Mac apps you have to try – The Mac Manual.

The items I will cover are found in the Snow Leopard version of System Preferences. I’m not going to cover each section of System Preferences or some of its more self-explanatory items. I will cover some of the hidden and useful items that you may want to change or adjust.

But I won’t go over System Preferences items like Spaces and the Dock that have already been covered.

Application Launcher

One of the elementary items that every Mac user should know about is selecting applications that you want automatically launched when your computer is booted. To do this,  open Accounts (in System Preferences, of course) and click on the Login Items button. Click the + button to add applications you want to automatically launch when your computer boots.

Later, if you find that your computer is taking too long to start up, you might want to cut back your number of login items.

Also, you can add apps to your login by right- or Control-clicking on an application in the dock and selecting Options>Open at Login.

Recent Items

When you need to access recently opened items, there’s no need to go hunting for them in folders. You can click on the Apple icon in the far left of the menu bar and select Recent Items where you will find a list of documents, applications, and Servers you have used.

You can control the number of items that show up on that list by going into System Preferences and clicking on Appearance. Near the bottom, you can select the numbers of recent items you want listed.

Password Protect

If your computer is accessible to other people on a regular basis, you might want to password protect it. Select Security>General and click on Require password. The password will be the same one you use for your account. After the time you set, your computer will log out and will require a password to log back into your account.

CDs & DVDs

Clicking on CDs & DVDs in System Preferences, you can set what you want to happen when you insert a disk into your computer. For example, by default, you might want iTunes to open each time you insert a blank CD, because you typically burn songs to a disk. Or maybe when you insert a photo CD you want Photoshop to open instead of iPhoto.

Keyboard Shortcuts

There are a whole slew of items and controls under Keyboard. In this area you can add, change, and delete keyboard shortcuts for nearly all the applications on your computer. Click Keyboard Shortcuts and then select Application Shortcuts. It’s there you can select an existing application and change or delete corresponding shortcut keys.

You can also add shortcut keys to menu items of any application. Read this article to find out more.

Limit Spotlight Searches

You can do what is called a Spotlight search of everything that is saved on your Mac hard drive, but you might only want certain places to be searched. After clicking Spotlight in System Preferences, you can click off items that you don’t want search results from, such as iCal events or fonts. You can also drag the order in which you want results to appear.

Active Screen Corners

You paid a hefty price for your Mac, so learn to use every inch of it. Click on Exposé & Spaces. Under the Exposé tab, you can assign a few actions to the four different corners of your computer screen. If, for example, you want to quickly put your computer to sleep without using a keyboard shortcut, you can arrange to activate it simply by putting your cursor in an assigned corner.

You will also notice that there’s another set of pull-down buttons for you to assign F-stop keys to perform various actions.

And by the way, if you don’t use Dashboard anymore – very few of us do – you can use its assigned F12 key for something else. So click on the pull-down button and assign no key to it.

Default Sound Settings

If you’re using a couple of sound outputs, for your external speakers and headphones, you can set the default for the level of sound. Click on Sound and then select Output. Select the sound device and then adjust output volume to your liking. For instance, you might want the headphone volume lower than the speaker volume. Now whenever you select a volume output device, it will be at the volume level you set.

In the next part of this article, we’re going to go over a few advanced items in the Mac System Preferences. Let us know if you have any questions concerning this part of your Mac.

Over time, when using your iPad, your preferences might change. Typically the default preferences in the iPad are sufficient for new users, but I”˜m recommending changes you might want to make.

Mail, Contacts & Calendars Settings

In part one I covered general settings for the iPad. Now we move on to Mail, Contacts, and Calendar settings, which are found by tapping the Settings button on the Home page of your iPad.

Most of the default settings in this area should remain, but here are a few of my recommendations.

1. Apple has made setting your mail account pretty easy. Simply click on Add Account and you’re presented with five popular and most used email services. Each selection will walk you through the information you need, including your email address and password. Other information is typically filled in for you.

2. Turn on Fetch New Data if you want the iPad to automatically fetch new mail from your account server. Your account must support push service, and most popular ones do. If you have MobileMe, Microsoft Exchange, Yahoo, or Google Mail “push” account, that means that your mail will be synched between your iPad and server account.

So when you read and/or delete mail from your iPad those messages will be read and deleted on the server side, and visa versa. A MobileMe account also pushes to sync your contacts, calendars, and bookmarks if you select those items in the account settings. A MobileMe account cost $99 per year.

3. The settings in area 3 of the screenshot are okay as it is, but if you have a tendency to accidentally delete emails, you might turn on the Ask Before Deleting setting.

If you constantly get people sending you large images in their emails, or if you don’t want to receive unsolicited images, turn off the Load Remote Images setting.

4. Items in area 4 are self-explanatory, but one change you might want to make is the setting for “Sent from my iPad“. This is the mail signature automatically put in emails you send out. It’s a very cool way of showing people you are a proud and cool iPad owner.

However, to save a little time, consider clicking this setting and adding your name to the signature so that you don’t have to type your name each time you send out an email. Or if you don’t want people to know you have an iPad, then simply clear out this default signature and replace it with something else.

5. In this area, you will want to leave the New Invitation Alerts on, especially if you use a Microsoft Exchange or MobileMe account in which you receive event invitations and you want to be alerted when they arrive.

Typically the Time Zone setting is automatically set when you turn on the iPad, but if not this is where you make that change.

And finally in this area, the default Calendar is set to Birthdays. You’ll want to change that to another calendar – that is,unless you input birthdays into your calendar on a regular basis – so you don’t have to manually do it when you’re creating new calendar events.

For Safari settings, see this article for changes you might consider.

iPod Settings

If you have certain music you typically listen to on your iPad, you might consider changing the EQ (equalizer) settings to the type of music you mostly listen to. The changes you make in the EQ can affect how your music sounds. Try out one or more of them and see if they improve the sound of the music you listen to.

The other settings in this area should be okay, unless you need to turn on the Volume Limit to keep music and sounds from playing too loud.

Video Settings

For general use, these settings are okay as it is. If you would like videos you play on the iPad to always begin at the beginning, you should switch off the Start Playing setting. If you need closed captioning, turn the setting on. And if you will be playing media content from your iPad on your TV using the separate adaptor, then change the settings in this area. NTSC is the broadcast standard settings for the Americas. For other regions, you select PAL.

Photos

Change these settings for your slide shows. The defaults are okay, but you may want to change the timing and repeat settings if you’re using your iPad for showcasing images on a regular basis, and you want your slide shows to, for example, automatically repeat.

Store

This is where you simply view your App/iTunes account. No doubt after you purchased your iPad, you set up an iTunes store account to sync data to your iPad. I believe you can run your iPad without an iTunes account, using iTunes gift cards to download apps, music, and other items.

Apps

When you purchase third-party apps from the Apps Store, some applications will have preference settings unique to their program.

For example, in Apple’s iBook application, I changed the Tap Left Margin to “Next Page“ because I usually hold the iPad in my left hand and this preference allows me to tap the left as well the right margin to precede to the next page. The few times I need to navigate back to the previous page can easily be done with the swipe of my right hand.

It’s a good idea to check the preferences of applications you use on a frequent basis to see if there are any changes you can make to improve the use of the program.

If you have an iPad, what settings do you think should be changed?

There are settings under the hood of iPad which may not be so obvious to new users. If you’re an experienced user of an iPod touch or an iPhone, this article on how to set up an Apple iPad may not be of much use to you.

But if you’re new to Apple’s mobile devices – perhaps a recent owner of the iPad – then you will need to be familiar with the various preferences settings for the iPad. This is part one of a two-part series about the system preferences (note: the settings described here are based on the Wi-Fi version of the iPad, not the iPad 3G version.)

General Settings

Let’s start off with general settings. Click on the Settings icon on the homepage of iPad. The default settings for your iPad are typically okay, but there some settings you may want or may need to change based on how you use the device. Some of this information is based on the official iPad User Guide (PDF), as well as my own recommendations as an experienced user of the iPhone and iPad. The PDF guide is great, but does not always include useful screenshots.

1. About

Clicking on About will give you a general overview of the content on your iPad, including how many songs, videos, photos and applications you have installed. It reminds you of the memory capacity of your iPad and how much you have available.

The list, as you can see, also includes the model and serial number, which you should copy and keep a part of your records just in case the device is ever lost or stolen.

2. Sounds

These preferences refer to sounds you hear when, for instance, new mail arrives or is sent. If hearing these sounds for various features bugs you, simply click them off. I generally like hearing the keyboard click when I’m typing, but I don’t need to hear a beep for new mail and calendar alerts.  Your preferences and needs may be different.

3. Network

When you first turn on your iPad, if there’s a free Wi-Fi network available, the device will automatically try to link to the network. This is where you would go if you need to manually connect to a Wi-Fi network. The VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, which is used within businesses and organizations “to communicate information securely over a non-private network.” You may need to ask a network administrator for the settings you need to configure for a VPN (see the iPad Manual for information).

4. Bluetooth

If you have a Bluetooth device like a set of headphones, speakers, or a Bluetooth keyboard, you can turn on Bluetooth so it can locate those devices.

5. Location Services

Location Services is used for the Maps and location aware applications of your iPad to determine your approximate location when your iPad is turned on and your Wi-Fi is enabled. The iPad Wi-Fi + 3G uses cellular networks and GPS to determine your location. Doesn’t hurt much to keep it enabled.

6. Auto-Lock

This setting automatically closes and locks your iPad after a designated period of time. Increasing the time will often reduce the battery charge, so you should probably leave it at default.

7. Passcode Lock

Use this setting if you use a designated passcode for unlocking your iPad. If you travel a lot, you might want to use this setting just in case your iPad is ever lost or stolen. Additional settings will erase data on your iPad after a specified period of time.

8. Restrictions

If you have kids and you want to restrict them from using Safari, installing applications, viewing explicit videos and TV shows, etc. then you will want to check out the settings for this area.

9. Home

This a handy preference for quickly navigating to the Home, Search or iPod page of your iPad. When you double-click the Home button, it will take you to your selected preference. A single-click of the Home button takes you to the Home page, so I don’t see why there’s any reason to use this setting for Home.

10. Date & Time

The default settings for the date and time information in the status bar at the top of the screen will probably be okay, but this is where you’d change those settings if you travel to different time zones or countries.

11. Keyboard

Theses settings refer to what happens when you type on the built-in keyboard software or an external keyboard. I recommend enabling all these features for they assist you in typing faster on the iPad. Auto-Correction corrects common misspellings; Auto-Capitalization capitalizes the first word of each new sentence you write (as long as there is a period before the new sentence.) Doubling-clicking on the Shift key of the keyboard will lock the caps key and all the  letters you type will be in uppercase. The “,” shortcut lets you double-tap the space bar to enter a period followed by a space when you’re typing. There’s no reason to turn this off.

12. International

The default for these settings are based on the country where you purchased the iPad, so they typically don’t need to be changed. But this is where you can change the settings for different languages and logistical information.

13. Accessibility

These settings are mainly for visually impaired users, or people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a physical or learning disability.

14. Battery Percentage

This setting displays the percentage of battery charge next to the battery icon in the upper-right-corner. I see no reason to turn it off.

15. Reset

Lastly, if you for some reason need or want to get back to the first default settings for the iPad, this is the place to do it. If for example you decide to sell your iPad, you will want to reset all the settings and erase content for the new owner.

Well, that’s it for general settings. If you’re an experienced iPhone/iPod touch user or iPad owner, let us know what settings you use in this area.