Dear Aunt TUAW: What is this "Lock" TextEdit speaks of?

Dear Aunt TUAW,

I have a list of books that friends recommend to me. I don't update it a lot but when I do, I just want to go into the list and add new ones.

Today, I was going to add M. K. Hobson's Native Star and Text Edit stopped me, saying the file was locked because I hadn't made any changes to it.

How do I stop Lion from being my big brother? I have enough of those in my real life. I just want to make my edits and save my stuff.

Your favorite niece,

Jennifer

Dear Jennifer,

Auntie is well acquainted with the dialog you speak of. It's supposed to guard against accidental edits of archival material. While Auntie gives credit to Apple for trying to do the right thing, Auntie believes operating systems should not prevent you from doing what you need to in the name of your best interests.

This dialog is produced by (of all things!) a Time Machine preference, which Auntie discovered when she turned to Uncle Steve (who is writing the book on Lion) for assistance late in the Lion Beta period. He directed her to the Time Machine prefs panel where you will find a checkbox that controls whether files are locked or not, and when. Adjust the timing here to your heart's desire or just disable it entirely as an expression of your fundamental right to edit at will.

Hugs,

Auntie T.