Getting to know the basics of your computer.
Do you need to store many Terabytes (TB) of data or does your business operate a server that needs to be available to your staff at all times? If so, you might want to understand the basics of RAID. A RAID is a group of hard drives working in tandem to give you increased storage … Read more
Is your Mac’s internal storage nearly full? If so, you may have seen an error message indicating that your startup disk is nearly full. I typically use OmniDiskSweeper to free up storage space on a Mac. One of the easiest techniques I use to free up some storage space is to remove backups of iPhones … Read more
Did you know that there are thousands of invisible files on your Mac? Have you ever needed to locate or delete one of these invisible files? Here are a couple of ways to be able to access the invisible files and folders on your Mac. A cautionary note, Apple makes these files invisible for a … Read more
Do you want to schedule a Genius Bar appointment to talk with Apple about repairing your Mac or iPhone? Over the past few years, Apple has made it harder to schedule a Genius Bar appointment. There may be a good reason for this, such as Apple has learned that many issues that customers bring to … Read more
Are you confused by messages from Malwarebytes about the need to update or upgrade? If so, you’re not alone. My general recommendation is that you always want to update Malwarebytes, but you probably don’t need to upgrade it.
Read moreDoes your Mac need more memory? If you’re not sure of the difference between memory and storage please review my article about this. Briefly, a computer’s memory is a computer’s working space. The computer temporarily stores open files and open applications in memory. If your Mac doesn’t have enough memory then its performance can be … Read more
Would you like to change the initial page displayed when you open Safari on your Mac? If so, follow these instructions. Fortunately, Apple hasn’t changed how this is done in many versions of Safari. These instructions will certainly work on Safari versions 5-11 on Mac OS X version 10.6.x up to macOS High Sierra (aka … 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 moreWould 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
In most situations, I tend to recommend that you buy Apple’s extended hardware warranty, called AppleCare. Apple enhanced AppleCare in 2017 so I think it’s an even more compelling option.
Read moreYou are the weakest link in your computer’s security! Please keep reading this important Tech Tip. If you’re not already aware of this fact, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the easiest way for a hacker to get into your Mac is through you. Tricking you into divulging information, installing software … Read more
Would you like to access free video training courses on Mac OS, iMovie, Keynote, Photoshop, Lightroom, InDesign, WordPress, GoogleDocs and other topics? For about 20 years, Lynda.com has offered video-based training on thousands of business, software, and creative skills. Typically, a monthly subscription costs $20-$30. I recently learned that the Seattle Public Library offers access to Lynda.com video … Read more
Please watch out for tech support phone scams. There are two types of scams. The first type are scammers who call you at home and fraudulently claim to be from some group like Apple or Microsoft. The second type are groups that you mistakenly call when you’re seeking technical support.
Read moreDoes your Mac fail to find files that you know exist when you search for them? Or, does Apple Mail or Outlook fail to find email messages when you search for them? If so, this problem could be caused by a corrupt Spotlight index. Spotlight is the name of Apple’s search capabilities built into the Mac … Read more
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
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 moreTo 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
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 moreWhat 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
Everybody should have an off-site backup of their data. Off-site backups are good protection against fire, floods, burglaries, earthquakes and similar events. These are rare events, but over the past 20 years, I’ve seen all of these events occur and affect client data. As you design your backup system keep in mind the primary 3-2-1 rule. … Read more