Do you have a fax machine? Have you ever wanted to test it to confirm that it’s working? Perhaps a colleague or a friend indicated that he or she was unable to send a fax to you. GotFreeFax is an easy way to determine if your fax machine can receive a fax. FaxBeep is an … Read more
Do you use Gmail? Would you like to setup an automated reply email to indicate that you’re going to be on vacation or out of the office? Google provides some simple, step-by-step setup instructions for their Vacation Responder. Since Gmail’s interface changes often, I do not think it makes sense for me to re-write them in … Read more
This week’s Tech Tip is a cautionary tale. Last week, I offered some guidance on how to prepare for a Genius Bar appointment and the importance of knowing that you have a current Time Machine backup of your Mac, before taking your Mac to the Genius Bar. Recently, I had two clients take their Macs to … Read more
Are you planning on taking your Mac, iPhone or iPad to a Genius Bar appointment? Here are some items to keep in mind as you prepare for your appointment. Make a note of which version of the operating system is installed on your device. Check your backup systems so you know, with certainty, that your … Read more
Are you unable to either send or receive emails on your iPhone? Are you getting an error message about an incorrect password? Sending and receiving emails are independent processes so one could be working while the other one is not. More specifically, your iPhone could be able to send emails but not receive emails, or … Read more
I know you subscribe to my Tech Tips to get pearls of wisdom and nuggets of knowledge. Not this week. This Tech Tip is just for fun. Hope you enjoy it. Follow the blue ball through this impressive Rube Goldberg machine.
Read moreDo you use an iCloud email account? (iCloud email accounts can end in any of the following suffixes: Mac.com, Me.com or iCloud.com.) Do some spam emails arrive in your Inbox? Apple’s spam filters are pretty effective, but nobody’s spam filters are perfect. Thus, if spam or phishing emails get past Apple’s spam filters and arrive … Read more
Do you have an HP Color LaserJet MFP M477 series printer? Is your printer displaying 59.F0 error on its touchscreen display? Online research indicates that this error message can indicate that your printer has experienced a hardware malfunction. However, sometimes, this error can be resolved by upgrading the printer’s firmware. Hewlett Packard makes a Mac … Read more
Do you own AirPods, Apple’s wireless earbuds? Have you noticed that your AirPods do not hold a charge as long as when they were new? If so, this could be a sign that your AirPods’ internal batteries are worn out. All rechargeable batteries wear out from normal usage. This is just a fact of life. … Read more
Does your small business have a Mac, in your office, working as a file server? Do you wonder if you should continue to do this or switch to a cloud-based file sharing system, such as Dropbox? Let’s look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of using Dropbox. In the past few years I’ve had … Read more
Do you want to know if some of your passwords have been compromised? A good place to start is the Have I Been Pwned? web site. No, that’s not a typo. I meant to type pwned. It’s a derivative of owned. If you’re still scratching your head, then please read this definition of pwned.
Read moreIs it time to replace your iPhone? If you don’t live near an Apple Store, or just want to do this migration yourself, please follow the guidance I provide in How To Migrate To a New iPhone. If you are not comfortable doing it yourself and you live near an Apple Store then you could let … Read more
Do you use either Parallels or VMWare Fusion on your Mac? Does your virtual machine use the Windows 7 operating system? If so, it’s time to retire Windows 7 and switch to Windows 10. Windows 7 was released in 2009 and Microsoft ended mainstream support for it in 2015. Microsoft is ending their extended support … Read more
Did you Mac fail to adjust its clock this morning when Daylight Savings Time ended? If so, please configure your Mac to automatically adjust it’s date and time, by doing the following:
Read moreEvery fall for the past decade or so, Apple has released major updates to macOS and iOS, the operating systems used by Macs, iPhones and iPads. Despite Apple’s frequent reminders to install these major updates, I think it’s foolish to install them as soon as they’re released since they typically introduce significant change, may contain … Read more
Do you use Time Machine to backup your Mac? Are you annoyed by messages from Time Machine indicating that it can’t backup to a hard drive that you no longer have? Here are instructions on how to remove a specific hard drive from Time Machine’s configuration. If your Mac is using macOS 12 Monterey or … Read more
I strongly recommend that you configure your Mac to require a password when it is awoken from sleep or screen saver. It’ll take a minute or two to setup this feature and it’ll slow down a thief if your Mac ever gets stolen.
Read moreHave you ever had your Mac or iPhone recalled by Apple? Fortunately, this is a rare event. I believe I have personally bought about 10 Macs over the past 35 years and 4 iPhones over the past 12 years. One of my Macs and one of my iPhones needed to be repaired under an Apple recall. … Read more
Do you own an older version of Photoshop, but not want to buy a subscription to use current versions of Adobe Photoshop? If so, here are some alternative image editors that are affordable and well reviewed. While many people find Apple’s Photos application adequate for their photo storage and editing needs, Photos is not sufficient … Read more
Does your new iPhone not have a Home button? Are you struggling to figure out how to do some tasks that used to be done using the Home button? Have you discovered that you can no longer turn off your iPhone by pressing and holding the button on the side and then swiping your finger … Read more