Have you ever wanted to view a list of items you’ve recently purchased using your AppleID? This would include all purchases made within iTunes, the iPhone App Store or the Mac App Store. Perhaps you need a receipt for your bookkeeper. Perhaps you want to review what your kids have bought. Perhaps you do not … Read more
A kernel panic refers to a very specific type of computer freeze. A variety of things can cause kernel panics. Below is a description of how your Mac behaves when it experiences a kernel panic so you can recognize it if this happens to you.
Read moreWere you using the CrashPlan Home backup service? Have you now switched to BackBlaze or some equivalent backup service? Once you know that BackBlaze has completed its initial backup of your Mac then it’s safe to get rid of CrashPlan. It is my understanding that it is not possible to actually shutdown or close your CrashPlan … Read more
Have you used MalwareBytes to remove malware from your Mac? Malwarebytes does a great job of removing harmful software from your Mac, but it sometimes leaves bits and pieces of the malware on your Mac. These remnants are not harmful to your Mac, but I like to get rid of them anyway. If you are one … Read more
Would you like to be able to use the blind carbon copy (Bcc) feature in Apple Mail? It is easy to enable this feature, but not necessarily obvious how to do so. By default, when you create a new email message in Mail, it only displays lines named To, CC and Subject. To add a … Read more
Do you want to completely erase a Mac and reinstall its operating system? Perhaps you are about to give away this Mac. Or, perhaps your Mac is acting up and you want to start with a clean slate. Here are instructions on how you can erase the hard drive and reinstall OS X, recently renamed … Read more
iOS 11, released in October, 2017, adds an Emergency SOS feature, which also gives you a way to disable your TouchID feature. Disabling TouchID could be desired in the event of a mugging or an arrest.
Read moreIf you use Apple’s Photos application, please read this tip which I think you will find helpful. Apple released Photos for the Mac in April 2015 so the majority of Mac users have migrated to it by now.
Read moreAre you getting messages from your email hosting company that your email account is nearly full? If so, it’s time to move some of your email messages off of your hosting company’s email server and into folders on your Mac. Here are some general instructions for how to do this. These instructions assume you use … Read more
[Update: February 2019 – A few months ago Microsoft released Office 2019 for both Windows and Mac so you should buy Office 2019 now, instead of Office 2016. Microsoft has announced that support for Office 2016 ends on October 13, 2020.] If you use Office 2011, it’s time for you to start planning your upgrade … Read more
If you use CrashPlan Home then you need to make a change. Code42, the company that makes CrashPlan sent out emails announcing that they are sunsetting their CrashPlan Home product and will focus on CrashPlan for Business. As of August 22, 2017 it’s no longer possible to renew or extend an existing CrashPlan for Home subscription. Additionally, … Read more
Before you install iOS 11 on your iPhone or iPad, please check to see if you rely on older apps which are not compatible with iOS 11. iOS 11 is Apple’s latest major release of software for iPhones and iPads, released at the end of September, 2017. For many years, I’ve recommended holding off on … Read more
When you are away from home, you need to make sure your iPhone connects to wi-fi networks to ensure that it’s getting backed up. This tip assumes that you have automatic backups to iCloud enabled. If you need help turning on this feature or checking to see if it’s on, then please refer to my … Read more
Would you like to make the text on your iPhone or iPad easier to read? I believe the following 3 ways to enlarge text have been available since at least iOS 7 and they continue to be available in the current version of iOS. To turn on any of these options do this: Tap on … Read more
Have you ever wanted to share a Bluetooth device with 2 or more iOS devices? For example, do you want to share a Bluetooth speaker or a pair of Bluetooth headphones with both your iPhone and iPad? Sharing one Bluetooth device with multiple iOS devices can cause confusion. This tip will help you to understand … Read more
Do you know how to edit text you’ve typed on your iPhone? I am regularly surprised to find people who do not know it’s possible to do this. Let’s imagine that you’ve typed several lines of text in the Notes app, then you notice a typo back on the first line. You don’t need to … Read more
Are you having problems viewing one or two particular web sites in Safari? Were you previously able to view these web sites? If so, a common cause of this problem is corruption in Safari’s cache. Cache is temporary storage. Specifically, it contains recently viewed web pages. Occasionally, these temporarily stored web pages can get damaged. Thus, … Read more
Are you looking for a good case to protect your iPhone? Would you like the case to be easy to put on and take off? Would you like your iPhone well protected when you drop it? If so, I think you should consider NewerTech’s NuGuard iPhone case. It is a great value and comes in … Read more
Do you have a cluttered Inbox? Do you value emails from a few people more than all the rest? If so, you should make those few people VIPs. By designating a person as a VIP then emails from that person will appear in the VIP Mailbox which appears, separate from and below your Inbox. Here … Read more
Do you want to make sure that Time Machine backs up an external hard drive, USB flash drive or an SD card that is connected to your Mac? If so, here are instructions to make sure this happens. If your Mac is using macOS 12 Monterey or older, use the instructions listed in Section 1 … Read more