Display or Record Your iPad or iPhone On Your Mac
Do you need to make your iPad or iPhone’s screen show up on your Mac’s screen? If so, here are some options for you to consider: QuickTime AirSquirrels’ Reflector
Read moreAuthor: Tim Hannon
PDFPen An Affordable PDF Editor
Do you need to edit PDF files on your Mac? Previously, I’ve talked about Preview’s built-in editing features. If these features aren’t adequate for your needs most people think they need to get Adobe Acrobat, which currently costs $13-$15 per month with an annual subscription, but I prefer to use PDFPen which has a one-time cost of $75 … Read more
How To Encrypt PDF Files On A Mac
Would you like to encrypt a PDF? Encrypting a PDF can be handy if you want to protect sensitive data contained in a PDF that you store on your Mac, or before you share the PDF via email, Dropbox or via some other means. Encrypting a PDF can be accomplished easily using Apple’s Preview application … Read more
Add, Remove or Rearrange Items On Your Mac’s Dock
Would you like to add frequently used applications or documents to your Dock? Would you like to remove rarely used items from the Dock? If so, below are instructions on how to do this. The Dock is the row of icons that’s typically located across the bottom of the screen, though it can be moved. Apple … Read more
Configure Your Mac To Empty Trash After 30 Days
Would you like your Mac’s Trash to automatically delete files after they’ve been in the Trash for 30 days? If so, Apple recently added this feature to macOS Sierra (aka OS X 10.12).
Read moreConfigure Your iPhone To Delete Text Messages After 1 Year
To prevent your iPhone from accumulating gigabytes of text messages, I recommend that you configure it to delete messages after 1 year. Text messages are typically quite small so they won’t consume much space, but the photos and videos that are attached can gobble up space. If you’d like to save some of these attachments … Read more
Equip Your Next Mac With Enough Storage Space
If you’re going to be buying a Mac soon, please make sure you equip it with enough storage space. Here is how you can figure out how much storage space you currently use on your Mac and some guidance on selecting how much storage you might need in the years ahead.
Read moreSecurely Erase Your Mac’s Solid State Hard Drive
Do you want to either sell or retire a Mac that has a solid state hard drive (aka flash storage)? If so, it is prudent to securely erase the hard drive beforehand. Here are instructions on how to do this. This procedure will make all of your personal data inaccessible. There are two stages of this process. In phase … Read more
Consider Buying A Refurbished Mac, iPhone or iPad
Are you in the market for buying a Mac, iPhone or iPad? Would you like to get the best deal possible? If so, here are some suggestions on how to do some comparison shopping and some encouragement to consider buying a refurbished product.
Read moreFix Dropbox After Changing The Name Of Your Mac’s Home Folder
Do you use Dropbox? If you ever change the user account name on your Mac then Dropbox will break and will display a fairly cryptic error message. Here are instructions on how to fix Dropbox. Click the Dropbox icon that appears in your Mac’s menubar, click the gear icon and then select Quit Dropbox Open … Read more
Set Up An Out Of Office Message In Gmail
If you have a Gmail account or a G Suite (formerly called Google Apps) email account, then you ought to know how to set up an out-of-office message. This feature is sometimes also called an auto-reply. Google calls it a Vacation Responder. Regardless of what you call it, here is how you can configure it. Open … Read more
Using The iPhone’s Do Not Disturb Feature
Turn on the iPhone’s Do Not Disturb feature to completely silence your iPhone (or iPad). This feature can be very handy if you sleep with your iPhone or iPad close to your bed. I typically have my iPhone’s ringer set to Silent mode, but if I’m in a meeting and I don’t want my phone to buzz or … Read more
Fix Common iPhone Backup Issues
Is your iPhone or iPad configured to backup to Apple’s iCloud servers? If so, your iOS device should automatically get backed up daily. If your iOS device is displaying a message indicating that it has not backed up in a few weeks (or more), here are some basic items that you should review. Read another Tech Tip … Read more
Recycling CFL, HID or Fluorescent Light Bulbs In Seattle
Washington State now has over 200 drop-off sites for recycling compact fluorescent lights (CFL), high-intensity discharge lights as well as fluorescent tubes. In a previous Tech Tip I listed how to recycle CFLs in Seattle. The drop-off locations listed on the websites mentioned in this older Tech Tip are no longer the only locations. All recycle locations … Read more
Comcast’s 1 Terabyte Data Plan
Is Comcast, aka Xfinity, your Internet Service Provider (ISP)? If so, you should be aware that starting November 1, 2016 they’ll be implementing monthly data caps in some cities. You can get the full details in this Business Insider article about Comcast. In a previous Tech Tip I wrote about Comcast implementing and then removing monthly … Read more
Searching Your iPhone or iPad
If you don’t know how to use the search feature on your iPhone or iPad, I think you are doing yourself a disservice. The search feature is easy to use and powerful. Here are instructions for using it. Wake up or unlock your iPhone (or iPad). Place your finger in the middle of the screen … Read more
When and Why Would You Want to Use Webmail?
What is webmail and why would you want to use it? Webmail is a term that is commonly used in two ways. It’s used to describe web-based email services like Yahoo Mail and Google’s Gmail. Webmail is also used to describe web-based access to any email account. For the past decade or more, nearly every ISP or email … Read more
Configure Time Machine To Use a New Hard Drive
Do you need to reconfigure Time Machine to use a new external hard drive? If you read my Tech Tips regularly you’ll recall that I strongly recommend that everybody setup automatic and redundant systems to backup their Mac. If you use Time Machine to backup your Mac to an external hard drive then you will … Read more
Deleting Incomplete Time Machine Backups
Does Time Machine continually display a status message of Preparing Backup and, thus, it fails to ever complete its current backup of your Mac? If so, you might need to delete the InProgress backup file. These InProgress backup files are created as part of Time Machine performing a backup. However, if the backup fails or gets … Read more
How To Reveal Missing Mail Folders
Are you missing your email folders in Apple Mail? Did these folders disappear after you upgraded your Mac’s operating system or after you migrated your data to a new Mac? If so, there’s likely an easy fix. Apple added a Show/Hide button to Apple Mail. I believe they added it to Mail starting with OS X … Read more