(disables BeamSync automatically at every login)
Here is a simple Automator application I put together to automatically disable BeamSync when logging into Snow Leopard. It’s not a particularly elegant solution, but gets the job done; I have been searching online for that one program which supposedly existed some time ago on the link http://glyf.org/beamsync/beamsync.gz, with no success. The other option – to modify com.apple.windowserver.plist with Property List Editor and put value of “deferredUpdates” to 0, just didn’t work for me, not even when doing a terminal command “sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver Compositor -integer deferredUpdates 0″ and rebooting – the changes just won’t stick.
Anyway, to use this Automator action, you WILL need a Quartz Debug app (version 3.0) from the earlier XCode Leopard bundle (not from Snow Leopard). You can actually download it from this link. Quartz Debug app should be located in the Applications folder. Another thing you need to make sure is that when you launch Quartz Debug app is that the Beam Sync Tools window should already be open – to do so, launch Quartz Debug, open Tools menu, select Show Beam Sync Tools and quit Quartz Debug. Next time you launch Quartz Debug, the Beam Sync Tools should also open automatically.
To automatically disable BeamSync at login, just add “qd” to login items in the Accounts preference pane. Download the app “qd” here.
Hope it works well for you. Cheers.
P.S. Disabling Beamsync results in faster drawing and therefore a more fluid interface. Practical benefits are noticeably smoother scrolling (Safari, Twitter and within apps in general), smoother QuickLook previewing, smoother Exposé and Spaces transitions, more fluid video playback, etc. The downside to it is that you’ll see some tearing of window edges when moving windows around, but it is not too bothersome – for me at least. The increase in frames-per-second is substantial and really makes the interface feel “fresh” again.
