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
If you haven’t already removed Adobe Flash Player from your Mac, now is a great time to do this. Adobe Flash was once the primary format for animations and video clips on the Web, but Apple never permitted Flash on their iPhones and iPads. I believe this marked the start of the shift away from … 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 use Zoom? If so, you should be sure to update it regularly. Zoom’s popularity has skyrocketed due to all of the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. However, the Zoom application has a history of security and privacy issues. Thus, I strongly encourage you to regularly check for Zoom updates and install them … Read more
Do you use either CrashPlan or Backblaze to backup your personal data files on your Mac? Starting with macOS Mojave (aka macOS 10.14), Apple implemented tighter privacy restrictions. Consequently, you now need to explicitly grant permissions to CrashPlan and Backblaze so these applications can access all of your files and folders on your Mac. Here … Read more
Do you use Time Machine to backup your Mac? There’s an adage that goes if it’s worth backing up once, it’s worth backing up twice. Consequently, I backup my Mac to two different hard drives as well as backing up my data to the cloud using Backblaze. Storing backup data on two different hard drives … 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 moreHave you used LogMeIn on your Mac? I used to use LogMeIn to provide remote support to some clients. Earlier this year I changed the way I offer remote support. Read more about that here.
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. When CrashPlan eliminated their backup service for home customers, I recommended that most of my residential customers switch to Backblaze. In the fall of 2019, Backblaze version 7 was released. Backblaze tends to automatically … Read more
Are you planning on taking your Mac, iPhone or iPad to a Genius Bar appointment? Here are some items to keep in mind as you prepare for your appointment. Make a note of which version of the operating system is installed on your device. Check your backup systems so you know, with certainty, that your … Read more
Have you ever had your Mac or iPhone recalled by Apple? Fortunately, this is a rare event. I believe I have personally bought about 10 Macs over the past 35 years and 4 iPhones over the past 12 years. One of my Macs and one of my iPhones needed to be repaired under an Apple recall. … Read more
Do you own an older version of Photoshop, but not want to buy a subscription to use current versions of Adobe Photoshop? If so, here are some alternative image editors that are affordable and well reviewed. While many people find Apple’s Photos application adequate for their photo storage and editing needs, Photos is not sufficient … Read more
Are you retiring an older Mac that has a mechanical, spinning hard drive in it? If your Mac is running OS X 10.11 then continue reading this article. Below are instructions on how you can securely erase the Mac’s hard drive before you donate your Mac or sell it.
Read moreDo you own a Mac laptop with USB-C ports? If so, it came with a USB-C power adapter. Did you notice that Apple no longer includes an extension cord with this USB-C power adapter? If so, you might be interested in Ten 1 Design’s Stella, which is a well designed extension cord.
Read moreDo you backup your iPhone to your Mac? I recommend that you manually backup your iPhone to your Mac, every few weeks, even if you already backup your iPhone automatically to iCloud. When you backup your iPhone to your Mac you have the choice to encrypt the backup or not. The advantage of encrypting your iPhone … Read more
Have you bought a new Mac laptop that comes with USB-C ports on it? If so, you will likely need to buy one or more adapters in order to connect device too it. Below, I discuss a number of different adapters that will likely meet your needs. You might also wonder why Apple switched to … Read more
Have you ever gone to your Mac’s iCloud System Preferences and clicked the Sign-Out button and then had your Mac fail to properly sign-out of iCloud? Typically, signing out of iCloud is a straight-forward process, but on rare occasions, I’ve encountered difficulty. If you’re having this problem, try one of these options that have worked … 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
Have you ever wanted to make a video recording of either yourself or your Mac’s screen? Have you ever needed to make a quick audio recording of your voice using your Mac? You can do this easily using Apple’s QuickTime Player. QuickTime Player is a free application and it comes bundled with the Mac operating system (macOS). … Read more