Bugs & Fixes: Fixing a Spotlight search failure

Ted Landau offers two ways to repair a corrupted Spotlight index—one involving a Terminal command and the other using a shareware program.

Use an AppleScript to force a desktop picture changeHere’s an AppleScript that will cause your desktop image to change, in whatever order you have set, each time it’s run.
Launch System Preferences with a keyboard shortcutIf you don’t keep System Preferences in your Dock, you can always create a keyboard shortcut for those times you need to open System Preferences.

Bugs & Fixes: Fixing a Spotlight search failure
Ted Landau offers two ways to repair a corrupted Spotlight index—one involving a Terminal command and the other using a shareware program.
Use an AppleScript to force a desktop picture change
Here’s an AppleScript that will cause your desktop image to change, in whatever order you have set, each time it’s run.
Launch System Preferences with a keyboard shortcut
If you don’t keep System Preferences in your Dock, you can always create a keyboard shortcut for those times you need to open System Preferences.
Use a Mail rule to help identify relevant messages
Use a built-in feature of Mail’s rules to easily identify messages from those you’ve recently e-mailed.
Automating Software Update downloads
You've got a three-hour window between 3 and 6 AM to get your Apple updates over a questionable broadband connection. Here's one way to go about it.

How sound is Consumer Reports’ Safari advice?
Safari, the most popular OS X web browser, lacks anti-phishing tools. So should you dump it in favor of a browser that includes such tools? Consumer Reports thinks so.
Inside the OS X 10.5.4 update
A quick peek at some of the other things fixed—and not fixed—in the 10.5.4 update.
When installing software is too simple
A story about a recent Mac switcher who had trouble installing Firefox 3 suggests to Rob Griffiths that some software developers could do a better job of offering clear installation directions.
A closer look at Snow Leopard Server
Here’s a closer look at what Apple has revealed about the next major OS X Server update and what it means when the finished version arrives in a year or so.
OS X virtualization options limited for desktop users
OS X does many things better than does Vista. Its restriction on virtualization is not one of those things.

SoundSource 2.0
This simple utility adds a menu-bar item that lists all available Input, Output, and System audio options.
Name Mangler 2.0
If you’ve got a bunch of files that need renaming, Name Mangler is a great tool to use.
Warp 1.1
Warp 1.1 is a free system utility for Leopard. It adds more functionality to Spaces.
TimeMachineEditor 1.3
If you’ve ever wanted to change Time Machine’s schedule, Time Software's TimeMachineEditor lets you do just that. You can tweak the interval so that Time Machine backs up every, say, four hours, or you can choose to have Time Machine back up once a day, once a week, or once a month.
SuperDocker 2.2.0
If you don’t like Leopard’s 3-D dock, SuperDocker offers a number of variations that you can implement with a few mouse clicks.