When you reset or change your email account password, you have to enter the new password in two places in your email account configurations in Mail. The first place is in the incoming mail settings. The second place is in the outgoing (SMTP) mail settings. Locating these outgoing settings is not obvious, so I’m frequently asked how … Read more
Restarting fixes a variety of problems. It’s true! You might have heard the adage, When in doubt, restart or if you’ve ever called for computer support you’ve likely been asked Have you tried restarting yet? I know I ask my clients this question almost daily. If you’re having a problem with a device, please restart it. … Read more
I use iText Express as my everyday word processor. I know that Microsoft Word is the defacto standard and Apple’s Pages is a common alternative. I own both and use Pages when I want to easily mix text and graphics to create a newsletter or flyer, but I find that iText Express meets my everyday writing … Read more
Do you have thousands of email messages in your Inbox or Sent folder? If so, read on to learn how this can cause problems as well as better ways to organize your messages. Recently, I’ve had a string of users who have been negatively impacted since they’ve had over 10,000 messages in either their Inbox or Sent mail … 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. I know we can all relate to this scenario. Computer: Please enter your new password. Person: cabbage
Read moreDid your new Mac come without a built-in CD/DVD drive? If you have an older Mac you can use a feature called Remote Disk to share the older Mac’s CD/DVD drive with your newer Mac. Here are instructions on how to set up that feature:
Read moreI’m able to provide remote support for my clients. In order to remotely connect to a Mac, it needs to be on and awake. Here are instructions on how to configure your Mac to never sleep. The instructions vary based on the processor in your Mac. To determine the processor, follow steps 1 and 2 below.
Read moreThis Tech Tip is a cautionary tale. As a general rule, I recommend that you avoid installing apps that claim to tune-up or optimize your Mac. Last week, I worked on two Macs whose performance was negatively impacted by MacKeeper, MacBooster and TuneUpMyMac. A third Mac’s web browsing had been hijacked by Conduit Search. It’s not clear … Read more
Here are instructions on how to burn an iPhoto slideshow to a DVD. Specifically, these instructions are for people who have the current versions of iPhoto (9.5.1) and iDVD (7.1.2) and want the slideshow to automatically start playing when the disc is inserted into a DVD player.
Read moreWould you like to use a wireless keyboard, mouse, or trackpad with your Mac? Bluetooth is a wireless technology that lets one connect various devices such as keyboards, mice, printers and speakers. The maximum range of Bluetooth is about 30 feet. People like the idea of Bluetooth devices since it reduces cable clutter. However, Bluetooth devices use batteries, so … Read more
Have you ever wanted to delete or forward an individual text message from your iPhone or iPad? Here are some simple instructions:
Read moreDoes your Mac get stuck during the startup process? If so, then you might want to try Safe Boot to see if you can get your Mac to startup successfully. Safe Boot is the process of making your Mac start up with a bare minimum of system software. It also forces an inspection of the hard drive.
Read moreIf you use an iCloud email account, here are instructions on how to set up an email auto-reply message. An iCloud email account ends in either mac.com, me.com, or icloud.com. An auto-reply can be helpful if you’re going to be traveling or otherwise not able to reply to email in a timely manner.
Read moreDo you use Apple’s Mail application? Would you like to quickly locate a reply email message you sent? Imagine you received a message in your Inbox and that you replied to it. After you send the reply, Mail inserts a curved, leftward-pointing arrow, as depicted in the image below.
Read moreIf you use Time Machine to backup your Mac to an external hard drive, here are some basics that you can check if backups are no longer occurring.
Read moreMost of us tend to simultaneously keep many applications open. Consequently, we sometimes get lost or overwhelmed by having too many windows open. Would you like to quickly hide all windows so you can see your Desktop? Here are two ways to accomplish this:
Read moreHave you bought a new MacBook Air or Retina-Display MacBook Pro to replace your older MacBook? If so, you might have noticed that the power adapter that came with your new laptop has a thinner connector on it. The thinner connector is called a MagSafe 2 connector. Apple introduced these in 2012 as a replacement … Read more
Do you type the same information into email messages or Word documents? If so, you would benefit from using a text expander. Text expanders let you create abbreviations then whenever the abbreviation is typed it inserts a word, phrase, sentence or paragraph that you designated. For example, you could create the abbreviation ‘addr. When you type ‘addr … Read more
Throughout the day I often use the Find command. I encourage you to incorporate it into your daily habits. I use it most frequently within documents to find a particular word or phrase. Here are some examples of how I use the Find command.
Read moreBacking up your iPhone or iPad is important because it permits you to recover all of your applications, personal data including photos stored on the device. It also allows you to recover text messages and call history on the iPhone. Apple provides two ways to backup your iPhone or iPad and I typically recommend using both methods.
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