Ask TUAW: Boot Camp migration, Photo Booth sans flash, monitoring bandwidth and more

William asks

How can I make all current and future Finder windows open the same size - the default size is too small for my liking, and I generally like the window to be about 80% of my screen size (1280x800).

You're supposed to be able to do this automatically. If you have only one Finder window on the screen, resize and position it as you like. Close that window and then new windows should have the same size. However, it's a known issue that this doesn't always work this way for some people. One possibility is that your hidden .DS_Store files are corrupt as described here. Unfortunately, I don't think a completely reliable solution is available if it's not working for you.

Secondly, how can I disable the white flash in Photo Booth when it takes a photo? It generally makes my face overexposed and I've never managed to get a good photo because of it.

As some fellow readers suggested, just hold down the shift key while hit the button and the flash won't fire. Incidentally, the option key with allow you to forego the 3 second countdown. The keys can also be used together.

Counselor asks

Been wondering for a long time if there was a simple way using mail.app to schedule an outgoing email to be sent at a particular time in the future. If not, does anyone know any other mail application (even web based) that has this function?

You'll need to use an Applescript to do this. Have a look at Mail Scripts which uses iCal to do that actual scheduling.

Zoe asks

Hi, In the last few months I've totally switched over to Mac's (now own 3!!!), and recently just upgraded my UK Broadband service, which, whilst now much faster, is capped at 75GB of downloads per month. However, the ISP's download meter is broken and they are not inclined to fix it. I've google'd and searched, but I can't find a free or inexpensive download meter for OS X - something that just keeps track of all data coming down the pipe into my house.

As fellow reader Gino suggested, have a look at SurplusMeter (donations requested) from SkoobySoft. Keep in mind that this will only track the traffic through your Mac. If you have a home router and use other devices or computers their bandwidth usage will not be tracked. In that case, you'd probably be better off tracking it with your router if it includes that functionality.

EricW asks

1) I have a MacBook with a Boot Camp Windows partition which doesn't work right now. I was unable to install the last Boot Camp Update before the last Windows update automatically installed. I saved what I hope is a back-up that pre-dates the Windows update. But, I think (fingers crossed) I have a back-up of the partition from prior to the Windows update. How do I fix this problem in both situations?

Frankly, I'm not quite sure what you're asking. How did you backup the Windows partition? If you have a byte-level backup you could just uninstall Boot Camp (from OS X), reinstall Boot Camp, then copy over the backup.

2) I just bought a new MacBook. How do I transfer my Boot Camp partition above to my new one? Given the above situation, should I do it directly from my hard drive (I feared it was only a Firewire HD, but it does have USB 2.0, too), or would it be easier to do so directly from my older MB, assuming we get the partition to work again there? Is there software that makes it easy to migrate my Windows partition from one Mac to another, or is easier just do it from the back-up?

The easiest way to do this would be with Winclone (donations requested). Keep in mind, however, that you may potentially have drivers issues when you attempt to boot the new MacBook from the old Windows install.

jonathan asks

I've been using Macs for about 8 years now. i have yet to find a fast way in Finder to check a jpg's pixel dimensions. i remember that on a pc you can just right click, goto properties and in the summary tab, it will tell you width & height in pixels. i dont know how to do this on a mac without opening up photoshop.

I'm not entirely sure what's going on here. If you select a jpg in column view doesn't it give you the pixel dimensions in the preview pane? You should also be able just to select the file and invoke Get Info ( ⌘+i ) to get the size.