Launchpad shows a fade effect anytime it is opened or closed. If you want to access Launchpad a little bit faster, it’s possible to disable the fade effects. Use the following Terminal commands:
Mr.R
Save to disk (not to iCloud) by default
OS X Mountain Lion changes the default save location for applications. Any app which support iCloud now displays the iCloud dialog as default when saving a document. With this default write command you can revert to ‘local hard disk’ as default location for saving documents.
Enable the debug menu in Disk Utility
OS X Disk Utility has a hidden debug-menu that, when enabled, can give you access to more advanced Disk Utility features. The debug-menu gives you access to the restore partition (OS X 10.7 and above). The ‘Debug’ option will appear after applying this command in OS X Terminal:
Disable new disks requests for Time Machine
If you don’t use Time Machine, you might notice that every time you attach a empty hard disk to your Mac, you get asked if you want to use this hard disk Time Machine backups. Disable this dialog box with the following command:
Change default appointment duration in iCal (Calendar)
iCal has a feature whereby you can easily create new calendar appointments. Just click ‘+’ at the top left of the window and start typing. For example, “Friday BBQ 20:00” will create an appointment on the next Friday at 8 pm and is called “BBQ”.
Disable ‘Empty trash’ options in OS X Finder
Disable the menu option: ‘Empty trash’ and ‘Secure Empty trash’ in the Mac OS X Finder menubar and command + click trash contextual menu.
Change default screensaver password delay options
Since Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard we have the ability to set how long your Mac is asleep or how long the screen saver is on before it requires a password to wake up again. However, you can’t enter your own custom time period.