I work with many labs in a high school full of eMac computers running OS 10.4.11 and am having trouble will Universal Access features. The features are great for the users who need them, but in many cases make the computer unusable by users who don't unless someone knows the shortcuts to toggle that feature.
OS X Mountain Lion’s method to enable assistive devices. After installing it on Mavericks, SizeUp gave us the familiar message about enabling assistive devices.
No problem, we thought, as we opened System Preferences and headed over to the Accessibility Pane, where the option has lived for years. Unfortunately, the old check box for assistive devices was gone and none of the new options seemed applicable.
Without the ability to grant SizeUp access to OS X’s underlying control functions, the app was useless! The function is missing from the Accessibility preferences in Mavericks. Thankfully, after a bit of searching, we found that Apple had simply moved the option to the Security Preference Pane. You’ll find it in System Preferences Security & Privacy Privacy Accessibility.
Unlike previous versions of OS X, which used a universal checkbox in an “all or nothing” approach, the new functionality in Mavericks allows users to individually choose which apps can gain control of the system to perform their various scripted functions. In our case, we had to attempt to run SizeUp first, have it fail because control wasn’t enabled, and then we found that it appeared in the new Accessibility list in System Preferences.
![How do you turn on universal access How do you turn on universal access](https://cdn1.tekrevue.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130625_assistivedevices_mavericks_3.jpg)
We clicked the padlock icon at the lower left corner of the window to authenticate as an administrative user, checked the box next to SizeUp, and then found that our favorite app was back up and running again. This change not only applies to window management apps like SizeUp, but also to many other automation utilities and predefined AppleScripts. The change is definitely a positive one due to the new ability to grant control only to specific apps, but it’s yet another example of how longtime OS X users will need to take some to the new features in Apple’s latest operating system. Want news and tips from TekRevue delivered directly to your inbox? Sign up for the TekRevue Weekly Digest using the box below.
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