Do you wish you had better design skills? Do you have occasional needs to design a flyer, Instagram post, video, logo, invitation, ticket, business card, or brochure? If so, check out Canva. I recently needed to make a flyer, and a friend recommended Canva since I have close to zero design skills. Canva offers both … Read more
This week’s Tech Tip is a cautionary tale. Please make sure you enable the Find My feature on your iPhone or iPad if you bought AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss protection. The Find My feature was originally called Find My iPhone, but Apple renamed it since it has been added to the Mac, Apple Watch, … Read more
If you backup your iPhone or iPad to iCloud, this Tech Tip is for you. Backing up your iPhone or iPad is an important thing to do since it provides an easy way for you to transfer your information to a new iPhone if your current iPhone is lost, stolen, or dies. Thus, it’s important … Read more
Do you use Zoom? If so, you should be sure to update it regularly. Zoom’s popularity has skyrocketed due to all of the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. However, the Zoom application has a history of security and privacy issues. Thus, I strongly encourage you to regularly check for Zoom updates and install them … Read more
Do you use Backblaze to create an off-site backup of your Mac? If so, it’s important to know that by default, Backblaze only stores older versions of your files as well as recently deleted files for 30 days. A 30-day retention period may be sufficient for many, but some will want to extend this to … Read more
Are you familiar with COVID-19 exposure notifications apps for the iPhone? Many states and foreign countries are developing such applications. Here’s a brief introduction to what these apps are and how you can determine if your state or country has developed or is developing its own COVID-19 exposure notification app.
Read moreDo you have an Apple Watch? Have you been inconvenienced by the fact that you need to use your iPhone to install watchOS updates onto your Apple Watch? Apple changed this with the introduction of watchOS 6 in the fall of 2019. You can now directly update software on the Apple Watch. You can use … Read more
Backblaze is an online backup application. I use it and recommend it for many residential clients. Some clients might prefer CrashPlan for Business, which is a competing online backup service I also use and recommend. In my experience Backblaze is a bit easier to setup and monitor. CrashPlan’s appeal is that it offers longer file … Read more
Would you like to reduce the likelihood of having your emails marked as spam? Would you like to try to prevent others from being able to send emails using your email address? If so, you should add SPF and DKIM records to the DNS records for your domain name and consider enabling DMARC. It’s important … Read more
Do you use Microsoft Word on your Mac? Did you know that in October of 2019, Microsoft quietly enhanced Word so it can open PDF files, convert them to Word files, and edit them? Yes, that’s right, Word can now edit PDF files. This feature was added to Word 2019, specifically version 16.30. To determine … Read more
Do you use either CrashPlan or Backblaze to backup your personal data files on your Mac? Starting with macOS Mojave (aka macOS 10.14), Apple implemented tighter privacy restrictions. Consequently, you now need to explicitly grant permissions to CrashPlan and Backblaze so these applications can access all of your files and folders on your Mac. Here … Read more
Here are instructions on how to add a Comcast account to an iPhone or iPad. Comcast, like most email providers offer a type of email account called IMAP. These instructions apply to any IMAP email accounts, not just Comcast. For simplicity, I’m going to write iPhone instead or iPhone or iPad, but the instructions are … Read more
Do you use Time Machine to backup your Mac? There’s an adage that goes if it’s worth backing up once, it’s worth backing up twice. Thus, I backup my Mac to two different hard drives as well as backing up my data to the cloud using Backblaze. Here are instructions for configuring Time Machine to … Read more
Do you have an Exchange email account? Many people think that they have to use Microsoft Outlook on their Mac to access an Exchange account. This is not true. Apple’s Mail application on both Macs and iPhones can be used instead. Here are setup instructions.
Read moreHave you used LogMeIn on your Mac? I used to use LogMeIn to provide remote support to some clients. Earlier this year I changed the way I offer remote support. Read more about that here.
Read moreDo you use Backblaze to backup your Mac? It’s a great way to create an off-site backup of your Mac’s data. When CrashPlan eliminated their backup service for home customers, I recommended that most of my residential customers switch to Backblaze. In the fall of 2019, Backblaze version 7 was released. Backblaze tends to automatically … Read more
Years ago I wrote an article about cleaning your Mac or iPhone screen. Given concerns about COVID-19 and the flu, it’s useful to point out that Apple provides cleaning guidelines for all of your Apple products. In particular, Apple appears to have recently updated their article with guidance on how to disinfect your Apple products. … Read more
Part 1 & Part 2 of this photo organizing tutorial help you declutter your main photo library by neatly organizing valuable screenshots and reference photos into folders in the Notes app. When you separate informational images from precious photo memories, you begin streamlining your photo collection to what matters most. And as an added bonus, … Read more
In Part 1 of this 3-part tutorial, you began organizing your informational images by moving important screenshots to the Notes app and then deleting them from the Photos app. In Part 2, I’ll walk you through how to organize reference photos which include images of furniture, books, cars and clothing. Like with screenshots, remember to … Read more
In this three part series, I’d like to share a few methods for better managing screenshots and reference photos that don’t actually belong in your main photo library where you keep meaningful photos of family, friends, vacations, special events, artwork and creative projects. Many photos and screenshots are informational…photos of books, recipes, products you like, … Read more