Make the corners of your Mac screen work for you! Customize your Mac’s “Hot Corners” to allow you to quickly engage useful desktop commands by moving the cursor into the corners of your computer screen.
These moves parallel some of the function commands discussed in our post, Mac Tips: Driving Around the Desktop. While function commands are great when you are typing, Hot Corners really shine when you are browsing on the Internet or working mostly with your mouse. Hot Corners are particularly helpful if you want to use cool Mac functions like Exposé and Dashboard but want to reserve your function keys for other uses (volume, screen controls, etc.).
Setting Up Hot Corners
- Click on the Apple menu icon.
- Click on System Preferences.
- Click on Exposé and Spaces.
- In the Exposé tab, customize your Hot Corners using the drop-down menus under Activate Screen Corners (see picture at right; click to enlarge).
You will have several options for customization, including:
All Windows: lets you see all open windows
Application Windows: lets you see all windows in the active application
Desktop: clears your screen of all windows so you can see your desktop
Dashboard: brings up the Dashboard
This post is part of a series of “Mac Tips” about the latest Mac operating system (Mac OS X). You can find these tips and a lot more in the category “Technology Survival Guide.“