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San Francisco, CA, November 6, 2012—Macs are great for beginners, because the basics are easy. The challenge comes when you want OS X to do things your way. For Mac users who want to travel beyond the basics, Master Your Mac (No Starch Press, November 2012, 424 pp., $29.95, ISBN 9781593274061) is here to help.

"The great thing about OS X is that a complete beginner can turn on a new Mac and start surfing the web in less than five minutes," says author Matt Cone. "But things get tricky after that. How do you connect another monitor or create new trackpad gestures? I wrote Master Your Mac to teach people how to do things in OS X that they didn't even know were possible."

Master Your Mac takes users to the next level with tutorials on how to change hidden defaults, enable undocumented features, repair disk permissions to improve performance, monitor their systems, and even create a bootable USB drive for emergencies. Readers will also learn how to:

Automate tasks with AppleScript, triggers, and Automator macros
Handle massive amounts of email and media with synced accounts and spam filters
Turn their Macs into a file or Web server
Create Safari extensions and use site-specific browsers
Secure their Macs with firmware passwords, firewalls, FileVault full-disk encryption
Install the best apps to boost productivity and fix everyday annoyances

Sure, anyone can use a Mac fresh out of its pretty packaging, but that's no fun. Master Your Mac promises to teach readers to customize their machines to make them work their way.
Covers OS X Mountain Lion.

About the Author

Matt Cone, a freelance writer specializing in Apple hardware and software, has been a Mac user for over 20 years. A former ghostwriter for some of Apple's most notable instructors, Cone founded Macinstruct.com in 1999, one of the most popular online destinations for OS X tutorials.

Matt Cone is available for radio, TV, print, and online interviews. Please contact [email protected].

About No Starch Press
Founded in 1994, No Starch Press publishes the finest in geek entertainment—unique books on technology, with a focus on open source, security, hacking, programming, alternative operating systems, LEGO, science, and math. Our titles have personality, our authors are passionate, and our books tackle topics that people care about. No Starch Press titles have been included in the prestigious Communication Arts Design Annual and STEP Inside 100 competition, and have won the Independent Publisher Book Award (the "IPPYs") from Independent Publisher magazine. Visit http://www.nostarch.com for a complete catalog.

About O'Reilly
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