If you know that a snow storm is approaching your home, do you prepare? Perhaps you stock up on some extra food, test your flashlight or your generator. Do you need to prepare? No, but you’ve likely learned that it’s better to prepare than to pay the price of running low on milk, bread, batteries, … Read more
If you’re considering setting up a new email account and want a free one, here are my recommendations for Mac users. Get either an iCloud email account, from Apple, or a Proton Mail account from Proton, a Swiss company. Not all free email accounts are the same. As you consider your options please keep in … Read more
Below are my current basic recommendations for protecting your data on your Mac, protecting your online accounts, and reducing the likelihood that you would fall for ever more sophisticated scams. I’ll update my recommendations over time so review this Tech Tip periodically. I expand on these security and privacy recommendations in an earlier Tech Tip. … Read more
Do you have some 20 year old documents that you created in Microsoft Word? Are you aware that today’s version of Microsoft Word likely can’t open them? If you have older Word documents that are important to you, please consider converting them to an open format file type such as PDF/A, so you’ll be to … Read more
Email may be the most common form of phishing, but it’s not the only one. Modern Web browsers support a technology that enables websites to display system-level notifications just like regular apps. These push notifications have good uses, such as letting frequently updated websites inform users of new headlines, changed discussion threads, and more. Unfortunately, […]
Read moreApple has quietly announced that it is shutting down the My Photo Stream service, the company’s first iCloud-based effort at helping users sync photos between devices. My Photo Stream had numerous limitations but was free and didn’t count against iCloud storage quotas. If you’re still using My Photo Stream, note that photos will stop uploading […]
Read moreDo you use Backblaze to backup your Mac? It’s a great way to create an off-site backup of your Mac’s data. Backblaze typically automatically installs minor updates but it won’t install major upgrades on its own. Here are instructions on how to manually install a major upgrade of Backblaze on your Mac, such as upgrading from version … Read more
Do you need to scan something? Your iPhone or iPad can now make light work of scanning short documents into PDF format. Learn how here:
Read moreDo you want more security for your iCloud account? Apple’s Advanced Data Protection can now provide end-to-end encryption for nearly all iCloud data. But be aware that Apple won’t be able to recover your account if you forget your password.
Read morePhotos has long provided a hidden album you could use to hold images you wanted to keep a little more private. Until this year, however, it was security through obscurity: anyone who knew to reveal the album in Settings > Photos on an iPhone or iPad or by choosing View > Show Hidden Album on the Mac … Read more
Apple has unveiled the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips and announced the M2 Mac mini and M2 Pro Mac mini, plus the M2 Pro and M2 Max models of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. Oh, and a new HomePod! Read all about it at:
Read moreWe aren’t quite ready to recommend that everyone upgrade to macOS 13 Ventura, but if you use Microsoft Office with macOS 10.15 Catalina, you should start planning for an upgrade. Microsoft has announced that current versions of its productivity suite—Office for Mac 2019, Office for Mac 2021, and Microsoft 365—will receive updates only if your Mac is … Read more
Password management company LastPass suffered a breach in which encrypted customer passwords were stolen. We explain what happened, how LastPass users should react, and what lessons other organizations can learn.
Read moreAre your digital photos a mess? Do you feel overwhelmed when you think about trying to organize them? Do you spend too much time looking for specific images? Do you wonder if your photos are backed up? If you answered “yes” to these questions, then consider this 4-week digital photo organizing class being taught by Mirja … Read more
Have you ever struggled to find your Mac’s cursor? Do you have a really large monitor or multiple monitors? If so, it’s easy to lose track of your cursor. Here are two ways to help you locate it. Starting with OS X 10.11 El Capitan, in 2015, the Mac operating system (macOS) will temporarily increase … Read more
Do you use the Photos app on your Mac? Would you like to feel more comfortable using it? If so, consider joining Mirja Heide, a professional photo organizer, for one of her hour-long Wednesday Workout classes this summer. Learn more about Mirja at Refresh Fotos. She is offering 4 Zoom classes on Wednesdays in June, … Read more
Are your digital photos a mess? Do you spend too much time looking for specific images? Are you looking for a way to get rid of duplicates in your photo collection? Then you should consider hiring a photo organizer such as Mirja Heide of RefreshFotos.
Read moreDo you use Time Machine to backup your Mac? Is Time Machine configured to backup to one or more hard drives? Has one of your backup hard drives died? If so, you want to remove that drive from Time Machine’s configurations. If you don’t remove it then Time Machine will repeatedly remind you that you … Read more
Do you have some older Apple products, like an iPad, iPhone, Mac or Apple Watch that you no longer use? If so, you can send them to Apple and get either a credit towards a future purchase or an Apple Gift Card. When I learned this recently, it was news to me. For years, Apple … Read more
Do you use Backblaze to backup your Mac? It’s a great way to create an off-site backup of your Mac’s data. In September 2021, Backblaze version 8 was released. Backblaze tends to automatically upgrade itself, but for reasons I haven’t been able to identify, Backblaze version 7 doesn’t seem to always upgrade itself to version 8. Here … Read more