Console

The Console application enables you to read messages from Mac OS X system software and applications. You might find this useful if you are a programmer or are troubleshooting a problem. (If not, you'll probably think it looks like a bunch of gibberish.)

To view system messages

1.	Open the Console icon in the Utilities folder (Figure 1).
2.	The console.log window appears (Figure 31). Scroll through its contents to read messages. Figure 31. The console.log window records messages sent by Mac OS and its applications. (What may look like a bunch of gibberish to you and me can help a programmer or troubleshooter debug a Mac.)

Tip

• The most recent console.log entries appear at the end of the document.

To set Console preferences

1.	Choose Console > Preferences.
2.	In the Console Preferences window (Figure 32), set options as desired: Bounce the Console dock icon bounces the log's icon in the Dock when a new message is recorded in the log. Bring log window to front, send back after brings the console.log window to the foreground when a new message is added. (Console must be running for this to work.) The window returns to the background after the number of seconds you specify with the slider has passed. Figure 32. The Console Preferences window.
3.	Click the close button to save your preference settings.