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Prevent iTunes web previews from opening iTunes automatically
Ever since Apple rolled out web previews for iTunes links several months ago, I've been meaning to find a way to disable those pages from automatically opening iTunes, which I don't usually have running. <del>These pages have a "View in iTunes" link already, so if I want to open iTunes, it's easy enough to do manually.</del> (Update: A commenter correctly notes that these links do not seem to work after making this change. You will have to open/search iTunes manually.) The Apple Blog posted some instructions for doing this, but that method didn't seem to always work for me. Some links still opened iTunes. My best guess is that Apple uses a variety of methods of opening these links, but The Apple Blog's instructions were only addressing one. Then I remembered RCDefaultApp from Rubicode, a freeware application which allows you to easily set which application will open files based on filename extension (such as the ".doc" in "review.doc") or by the protocol in a URL, such as http:// or itms://. I went into the URLs section of RCDefaultApp (which is a preference pane), and disabled the following protocols: itms:// (this seems to be the most prevalent in my limited testing) itunes:// itmss:// Then I went to the "Extensions" tab and disabled the "itms" extension, based on The Apple Blog's advice. I tested several iTunes web preview links and did not find any which still automatically opened iTunes. The other advantage to using RCDefaultApp is that the settings should work for all browsers. Speaking of iTunes links, the folks over at Bjango have posted an article dissecting iTunes links and how to craft them. Great reading.
TUAW Tip: Freshening Up 'Recommended Applications'
Reader Julius wrote in with an annoying problem: Whenever he tries to open a file by selecting "Other" from the "Open With" contextual menu item in the Finder, he's presented with a list of "Recommended Applications" that (more often than not) has the app he wants grayed out. Ideally, there would be some preference to automatically show "All Applications" instead of just "Recommended Applications," but that doesn't seem to be the case. Sorry. The best option for you comes from our own Erica Sadun, who says to drag the file onto any application icon with the Command and Option keys held down. That way, the Finder will force the app to open the file. This works with items in your dock, or just with an open Applications folder in the Finder. Otherwise, every application maintains a list of the kinds of files it can open. Launch Services, a part of the Mac OS X system, reads these lists, and compiles the set of "Recommended Applications" that you are presented with. As such, many users recommend keeping your Launch Services tidy by rebuilding it using the Terminal, or a utility like RCDefaultApp. It will at least remove the cruft from your list of available applications. Thanks and good luck, Julius!
Ask TUAW: Open With, AFP, iTunes with cell phone, escaping iPhoto, and more
This week in Ask TUAW we'll be considering questions about the "Open With..." menu option, mounting drives over a local network, using iTunes with a cell phone, getting all your original photos out of iPhoto, and syncing files between a notebook and a desktop Mac. Remember new Mac users and Switchers who are enjoying our Mac 101 series should feel very welcome to post questions for Ask TUAW; we're happy to have them. As always, please submit your questions by commenting to this post or using our tip form.
TUAW Tip: Change your default browser or default mail client without launching Safari or Mail
Scott may have ranted about this subject before and it's very possible that I have responded with these suggestions before, but since he gets a do-over, I get one too!I agree with Scott that Apple is just plain wrong in making its users launch Safari and Mail in order to change their default to something else. I understand why they do it - I just don't agree with their tactics. That being said, there are ways to avoid doing it Apple's OS X way and instead do it the old Classic Internet Config way. Launching Safari is no big deal, obviously, but you shouldn't have to if you're not interested in using it. Having to launch Mail in order to tell it that you want to use something else is a bit more of a pain since you can't launch Mail and access the preferences without setting up an account! Why must I set up an account (even a bogus one) in a mail client that I don't plan to use? Fortunately most mail clients ask you when you launch them if you want them to become your default. That's a good thing. But some of those apps (Entourage comes to mind) only ask you once and if you decline at that time you're back to square one. MisFox, More Internet and RCDefaultApp are the three apps that come to mind for Scott (and anyone else who cares) to check out. MisFox stands for Missing Internet Settings for X and it's a GUI app for changing a variety of internet protocol settings. MIME type settings and helper apps. More Internet is a system preference pane which does pretty much the same thing, and it's Universal Binary. RCDefaultApp is also a preference pane and does all of the above and then some. It, too, is Universal Binary. All three will handle mail client and browser default settings without having to ever launch Safari or Mail if you don't want to. All three are free. A colleague just pointed me to IC-Switch, which I wasn't aware of previously and it does all those same things in regard to Internet Config settings - but it installs as a menubar item so that you can change defaults on the fly. If you're aware of other apps that do the same thing, let us know in the comments!
