How to Take Screen Snapshots on Your iPhone
Did you know that you can take pictures of what’s on your iPhone’s screen? For example, you can take pictures of a text message, a web page or an email configuration screen.
Read moreAuthor: Tim Hannon
Do you need help finding your Mac’s cursor?
[October 2022. See Sound Support’s updated post on Find Your Cursor Using Simple Mouse Locator] If you ever struggle to find your Mac’s cursor then I recommend that you use MouseLocator. This free application puts a halo around the cursor to help your eyes locate it. You can configure how long the halo is displayed. … Read more
Sip & Ship offers private mailbox, shipping, shredding and notary services
I’ve been a long-time customer of Sip & Ship. It is a friendly one-stop shop that is a great resource for my one-person business. They offer a long list of business-related services which are available a la carte. They also offer coffee, muffins, sandwiches, greeting cards and personal gifts. It’s run by a husband and … Read more
How to Protect Your Digital Images
Here are some safety tips on protecting digital images. The tips come from one of DriveSavers’s recent newsletters. DriveSavers is a top tier data recovery company.
Read moreRecovering digital photos from corrupt or erased compact flash or SD cards
If you need to recover digital photos from your camera’s compact flash (CF) or secure digital (SD) card you should know about Glazer’s Camera’s data recovery services.
Read moreHow To Calibrate Your Macintosh Laptop’s Battery
All batteries will eventually experience diminished efficiency, storage capacity and will need to be replaced. However, regularly recalibrating your Lithium-ion battery will help to prolong your battery’s life and health, which will help reduce the frequency with which you’ll have to buy a new battery.
Read moreHow to Check Your Mac’s Hardware Warranty Coverage
Do you want to check to see if your Mac is still under warranty from Apple? The technical support section of Apple’s web site lets you easily check to see if your Apple device is protected by either its built-in or the extended hardware warranty. Here are simple instructions on how to do so.
Read moreHow to Delete a User Account in Mac OS X
Do you want to give your computer to another person, but before giving it away you want to remove all of your data? If so, here’s an easy way to accomplish this. We’ll create a user account for the person who’ll be using the Mac, then delete your user account.
Read moreHow To Securely Erase A Mac’s Hard Drive
Here are instructions on how to use Disk Utility to securely erase a hard drive connected internally or externally to your Mac. These instructions were written for Mac OS X 10.4 to 10.6. The process is very similar on older versions of Mac OS X, but the screens will look a bit different.
Read moreHow to Restore a File from Your Time Machine Backup
Testing your backup system is a critical, but often over-looked task. You need to monitor and test your backup system not only so you know that it’s properly copying your files, but more importantly so you learn how to use your backup system to retrieve a file. By practicing, you’ll be confident and ready when … Read more
How Big is a Kilobyte?
How big is a kilobyte? How big is a gigabyte? Relative to each other, how big are any two files? Here’s some information which can help you get your head around file sizes and comparing them.
Read moreRetrieve an Airport Password From Your Keychain
You can use these instructions to retrieve any saved password from your keychain, such as the password to your wireless network. The keychain is a secure place to store passwords.
Read moreTesting Your Carbon Copy Cloner Full Backup
Monitoring and testing a backup system are two critically important steps which many people skip. If you don’t consistently monitor and periodically test your backup system, you could be in for a big surprise when disaster strikes and you try to retrieve files from your backup system. Monitoring and testing gives you confidence that your … Read more
Setting Up Time Machine To Use Multiple Hard Drives
Here are instructions on how to have Time Machine switch between two backup hard drives. My recommendations for setting up a comprehensive backup system for your Mac include swapping between two external hard drives. While one hard drive is being used to backup your Mac the other drive is kept off-site in a secure location. Using … Read more
How to Use Mail’s Previous Recipients List
Did you know that Apple’s Mail application automatically builds a list of all recipients to whom you’ve sent email? I think it’s very useful to review this list a few times each year. By reviewing this list you can easily add useful email addresses to your Contacts and delete outdated email addresses or ones that … Read more
How to Remove and Re-Add a Printer’s Print Queue in Mac OS X 10.6
Here are instructions on how to remove and re-add a print queue. I commonly do this to fix printer issues. Somehow the old queue gets “damaged” and stops working properly. As long as you don’t mind losing any of the print jobs which may be sitting in the queue, go ahead and do the following:
Read moreQuickLook is a Fast Way to View a File
Here are some examples of how I use QuickLook. I often have a Word or Excel file I need to reference. I don’t need to make a change to the document I just want to read some information from it or remind myself of some details.
Read moreWhat are the Pros and Cons of Online Backup Systems?
Are you considering an online backup system? Here’s an overview of the pros and cons of such systems.
Read moreHow to Reindex Your Macintosh Quicken Data File
Here are instructions on how to reindex your Quicken Data File.
Read moreTech Tips from Apple Including an Explanation of Symbols used in Keyboard Shortcuts
Apple produces their own technical tips for the Mac and iPhone. They are short how-to videos. Check them out. I’m sure you’ll find one or two that will teach you a new trick. [Update: February 2018 – Apple Support now has a YouTube channel.]
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