In OS X Lion Apple decided to hide the Library folder where most of your configuration and cache files are located. This is fine for most people, but for those of us who like to tinker it's a bit annoying. Developer Daniel Jalkut wanted an automated way to automatically show the Library folder at login, so he put together a simple Applescript.

The script file is only a few lines of code, but it makes it so every time you login the Library folder will be available. Here's how to do it:

1. Download UnhideLibrary. Make sure it unzips to a script application file after downloading. You'll need to keep this file around, so I recommend storing it somewhere in your home folder.
2. Open System Preferences.
3. Click the Users & Groups icon.
4. Select the Login Items tab for appropriate user.
5. Click the + icon and select the downloaded UnhideLibrary script item.
6. Log out and log back in again.

Now when you log in you won't have to worry about fudging around with Terminal commands to reveal the Library when you're trying to tinker with profile settings.

Permanently Unhide Library | Red Sweater via One Thing Well

Lion introduced a new feature called "elastic scrolling", in which you can scroll past the top or bottom of the window and it'll "bounce back" like a rubber band. If you find this feature distracting or annoying, you can turn it off with a Terminal command.

Just open a terminal and type:

 defaults write -g NSScrollViewRubberbanding -int 0 

Then, restart any elastic-enabled apps that are currently running. You should find that scrolling has returned to its old, more traditional method. To restart the Finder, just type this command in a Terminal:

 killall Finder 

Of course, you can log out or restart your machine to make the changes as well.

If you want to revert back to the default elastic scrolling, just run this command and restart your apps again:

 defaults delete -g NSScrollViewRubberbanding 

Check out the video above to see the tweak in action. Note that while this should work in many apps, it won't necessarily work in all of them—it'll definitely work with all apps that come bundled with OS X, though.

Remove Rubber Band Scrolling in Most Apps | MacOSXHints

Want a simple way to count characters, words, and paragraphs in any Mac program? Mac OS X Hints shares an Automator script that adds a right-click option to selected text so you can get a word count in any program you want.

Word counts can be helpful in a variety of situations, especially in emails where you want to keep them down to a minimum most of the time. The Applescript that Automator runs will add the option to count characters when you select a block of text and right-click it. You can download a precompiled version over on Mac OS X Hints, but it renders the menu option in French for some reason. To fix this, follow the directions over on Mac OS X Hints, but use commenter Newscientist's version of the code to correct the language. It's a handy little extra to add into OS X so you can get a quick word count anywhere.

Build a service to count characters, words, and paragraphs | Mac OS X Hints

OS X's Spotlight is a great tool for finding that file you lost or launching apps, but it can do a lot more than just find the occasional file. Here are some of the coolest Spotlight tips, features, and shortcuts to make your Mac a time-saving, file-searching powerhouse.

Make Advanced Search Queries

Spotlight's beauty lies in its simplicity. It's a single search bar that can find nearly anything on your machine with a few keystrokes. However, if you need to perform more advanced searches, you can do so without ticking a bunch of boxes and filling out advanced search forms. You just need to use a few operators—not unlike the operators you'd use on Google or Gmail. These include:

• Boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT to to include or exclude terms. For example, invoice NOT paypal or invoice -paypal will find you all files that contain the word invoice and don't contain the word "paypal", which can be useful for filtering out certain items. You could even go more advanced with parentheses and quotes, like invoice AND credit NOT (paypal OR "google checkout").
• You can search for files of a specific type by using the kind operator, e.g. invoice kind:pdf.
• You can search for files from a specific date range using operators like created or modified, e.g. invoice modified:yesterday for something modified yesterday, or invoice created:1/1/2012-4/10/2012 to find something created in between January 1st and April 10th.

These are just a few examples of the advanced searches you can make. Experiment with common operators to see what else you can find.

Make Calculations and Look Up Words.

This one's pretty well-known, but it bears repeating. If you need a quick calculation done, there's no reason to open up the Calculator app. Just type your calculation into Spotlight. Whether it's something simple like 2+2 or something as complicated as sqrt(16)/2*(55.6+9). Just type it in and the answer will show up at the top of your results. You can even highlight it and press Cmd+C to copy the answer to your clipboard, for pasting in another program.

You can do this same thing with words. Just type a word into Spotlight and it'll show you the definition. You can click on the definition (or highlight it and press Enter) to view the full thing, or press Cmd+C to copy it for pasting into another app.

Copy or Move Files From the Search Menu

Need to copy a file to your desktop, Dropbox, or other location? No need to dig through your file system to find it. Just search for it in Spotlight, highlight it in the results list, and press Cmd+C. Then, you can paste that file wherever you want with Cmd+V in the Finder. It'll even work for contacts and email messages (it'll paste a .vcard or .emlx file).

Alternatively, you can drag that file out of the Spotlight results to copy it to a new location, or hold Command and drag it to move it to a new location. If you hold Command and Option while dragging, it'll create an Alias to that file if you want quick access to it from your desktop or another folder.

View a Search Result in The Finder

Half the time, when I'm looking for a file, it's because I don't actually know where it is, or its buried so far in the Finder that I don't want to click around the file system to get there. Searching for it in Spotlight will get you the file, but you can also use this keyboard shortcut to view that file's parent directory. Just highlight the file and press Cmd+Enter (or Cmd+Click on the file) to view it in the Finder. It's immensely handy for searches where you need to do more than just open the file.

Get a File's Info and File Path

If you want to see information about a file—like what kind of file it is, how big it is, where it resides, and more, you can just highlight it and press Cmd+I. This will bring up that file's Get Info window, just like it would if you were viewing it in the Finder. If you just want to know the path to that file, you don't need to open up the Get Info window; you can just highlight the file and press Cmd+Option.

Quick Look a File From the Search Results

If you want to get a slightly closer look at an image, document, or other quick look-compatible file, you can just highlight the file and press the Command key. Alternatively, you can just hover over it with your mouse. You'll get a little popup showing a bit of info about the file, as well as a preview. It isn't as large as the actual Quick Look window in the Finder is, but sometimes it'll do the trick. If you need a closer look, you can always press Cmd+Enter to show the file in the Finder, then hit Spacebar to bring up the regular Quick Look window.

Got any other cool Spotlight shortcuts or tips that we missed? Share them with us in the comments below, and enjoy all your extra seconds saved with Spotlights built-in time savers.