When we help someone with their Mac for the first time, we often notice that their desktop is a disaster. Icons are scattered willy-nilly and often piled on top of one another, making it hard to locate anything. For most people, the solution is easy—sort the contents of the desktop. In the Finder, choose View […]
Read moreApps are everywhere these days, but it can be hard to remember that many exist in multiple versions. You can often run the same app on a Mac, an iPhone or iPad, and in a Web browser, each of which has benefits. Generally speaking, Mac apps: Have better-designed, more obvious interfaces that improve the user […]
Read moreDo you have trouble concentrating at work because of a loud office environment? Or do you work at home and want to block out the sounds of kids or appliances? In macOS 13 Ventura, Apple added background sounds you can play to mask what’s going on around you. Go to System Settings > Accessibility > […]
Read moreThe Mac’s Desktop is a remarkably useful place. It’s a good spot for in-progress documents, screenshots, images dragged out of Web pages, and more. However, app windows tend to obscure the Desktop, making it harder to use. There are two quick ways you can temporarily hide windows, making it easy to access icons on the […]
Read moreYou probably use Messages every day to send texts from your iPhone, but do you know the answers to these frequently asked questions about Messages?
Read moreShould you upgrade to macOS 13 Ventura? There’s no need to install it today, but we think it’s now safe for those who want to take advantage of the new features and integration with Apple’s other operating systems. Details here:
Read moreHave you upgraded your Mac to macOS 11 Big Sur or a newer version of the Mac operating system (macOS)? One of the many new features is that the Menu Bar can be customized more significantly than before. While I appreciate this capability, Apple actually made it harder to add the battery percentage to the … Read more
One of the best ways to protect the files on your Mac is to enable FileVault. It is a feature of the Mac operating system (macOS) which performs on-the-fly encryption and decryption of all of your personal files when you save them and open them again. The beauty of FileVault is that this encryption and … Read more
Since a very full hard drive can produce unwanted and erratic behaviors on a Mac, I typically recommend keeping at least 10% of your hard drive’s capacity available. In other words, you want your internal storage to be less than 90% full. Determining the fullness of your Mac’s hard drive is not as easy as … Read more
Is your iPhone, iPad, or Mac nearly full? Do you receive a lot of photos and videos via text message? You might consider storing your text messages and their attachments in iCloud to free up storage space on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Have you ever setup a new iPhone, iPad or Mac and notice … Read more
Is your Mac’s hard drive getting full? Have you ever noticed that Apple designates some of your storage space as purgeable space? What is purgeable space? Apple introduced the concept of purgeable space in macOS 10.12 Sierra. If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or newer, you can easily see if it has so-called purgeable … Read more
Did you know that you can bypass using your Mac’s Trash and simply delete a file immediately? Somehow I failed to learn that Apple added this feature in 2015 with OS X El Capitan (aka OS X 10.11). Deleting a file is usually a two step process. First, move the file to the Trash, then … Read more
On November 12, 2020, Apple released the next version of the Mac operating system (macOS). It’s name is macOS Big Sur. Like all major operating system upgrades, it’s prone to have some significant bugs and/or will make some of your older applications incompatible, so please hold off on installing this major upgrade for a while. … Read more
Do you have an Exchange email account? Many people think that they have to use Microsoft Outlook on their Mac to access an Exchange account. This is not true. Apple’s Mail application on both Macs and iPhones can be used instead. Here are setup instructions.
Read moreDid you Mac fail to adjust its clock this morning when Daylight Savings Time ended? If so, please configure your Mac to automatically adjust it’s date and time, by doing the following: Click on the Apple menu and select System Preferences Click on Date & Time Click the Date & Time button. Use the image below … Read more
Every fall for the past decade or so, Apple has released major updates to macOS and iOS, the operating systems used by Macs, iPhones and iPads. Despite Apple’s frequent reminders to install these major updates, I think it’s foolish to install them as soon as they’re released since they typically introduce significant change, may contain … Read more
Do you think your Mac abruptly installed an update to your Mac’s operating system on its own, without your permission? While it is possible for this to occur if you have automatic updates enabled, I have also had clients inadvertently instruct their Mac to install macOS updates. This occurs because people get confused by the choices … Read more
Would you like to make sure that your Mac is not configured to automatically install updates to the Mac operating system (macOS)? If so, follow the instructions for the version of macOS installed on your Mac. To determine which version you have installed, please click on the Apple menu, in the upper left corner, of … Read more
Have you noticed that once Apple releases a new version of the Mac operating system (macOS) that previous versions vanish from the App Store? Have you ever needed to reinstall one of these older versions of the Mac operating system (macOS)? It can be challenging to do this since Apple does not make older versions readily available … Read more
Do you use the Flag button in Apple Mail to tag some of your messages with a small red flag icon? This is a quick way to mark some messages so they’ll get your attention when you review your Inbox in the Mail application. Did you know that Mail offers 7 colored flags? Did you … Read more