I encountered the issue of a grayed out folder that can’t be deleted, in MacOS Mail app today. The discussion on Apple’s forums does not provide any actionable answers. After a while I figured out a solution myself and it’s very simple:

1. Create a new mailbox (Mailbox -> New Mailbox…). For Location, choose “On My Mac” and name it the same as the grayed out folder in Favourites that you’re struggling with.
2. Once you add this new mailbox, the one in Favourites should become accessible again. You can now right click on it and hit “Remove from Favourites”.
3. You can now also delete the empty local (On My Mac) mailbox folder that you created in step 1.

Hope that helps.

Today I was busy with refurbishing an old 2009 Mac mini, software wise. It’s such a nice device and it’s still running well, apart from the dead dvd rom. Until now, it was running Windows XP, which is no longer supported by MS, so it was time to upgrade. I bought a fresh copy of Windows 8.1 and did a native install, without Bootcamp. It took quite a few times to figure out which combination of disk formatting and architecture (x86/x64) this old Mac mini can handle.

I followed this guide, but figured out through trial and error what works for this particular machine. The biggest difference is that I ended up installing the x86 (32 bit) version of Windows on a MBR type disk partition scheme. The other combinations mentioned in the article resulted in the machine not being able to boot.

My guide

1. Power on the Mac, hold down Alt to be able to select the startup disk.
2. The Windows installation DVD should be in your Mac’s drive or an external DVD drive (both will work).
3. Select this DVD to boot from, do not select any UEFI options.
4. Once the installer starts, fire up the command line (Shift+F10) and issue the following commands:

diskpart
select disk 0
clean
convert mbr

This is where we diverge from the above linked guide: we’re converting the disk to use the older MBR partition scheme as this is what our 32 bit Windows needs to work on this Mac. Once this is done, you can exit the command line and continue with the installer as normal.

The only thing that did not work for me after the Windows is installed, is the build in sound card. I ended up using an external one that was lying around.

Windows 8.1 is surprisingly snappy on just 2GB of RAM that this Mac mini has and overall the machine is a joy to use for some office work, which is its purpose.

Disclaimer: follow this guide on your own risk.

I’ve set a task for myself to expand my skills each day by learning something new either in programming or in design.

Today I’ve worked with a simple tutorial for Illustrator – How to Create an Abstract Desktop Wallpaper.

Here’s the finished wallpaper, free for download and use. I quite like it.

Are you familiar with developing for Facebook? Dave B. is looking for some. Drop him a line at dbrown0710 AT yahoo.com if you’re looking for a job.

I just removed the following LaunchAgents & Daemons from my Snow Leopard:

• /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist
• /Library/LaunchAgents/com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist
• /Library/LaunchAgents/com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

Best to move to some other directory, just in case you need them later for some reason. Photoshop works fine.

So the point is, why can’t Adobe just ask on install:

• Do you want automatic updates enabled?
• Do you want an application to bridge Adobe AIR and CS products running all the time?

No, I don’t. When I want to update, I press a button. Every service running on the machine is added security risk and it consumes resources.

Today I’ve finally learned how to “bridge” two routers. One connecting to the internet trough ADSL and the second one providing Wi-fi on the other end of house, connected to the first one trough LAN. It’s pretty simple actually, yet without a guide I wouldn’t have done it – meaning either I am extremely stupid with computers!? – or the networking technology is not made for reasonably intelligent human beings.

So here’s a cool guide for setting up an AP (Access Point) using a router.