Be Very Careful with AI Agents!

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Security/Privacy
AI-generated image of a shiny metallic human-shaped robot tapping a finger on a virtual screen in the air

AI agents—software that can take actions on your behalf using artificial intelligence—are having a moment. The appeal is obvious: imagine a robot butler that triages your inbox, manages your calendar, and handles tedious tasks while you focus on more important work.

That’s the promise driving the recent surge in popularity of OpenClaw (formerly known as Clawdbot and Moltbot), which is now all the rage in tech circles. Token Security found that at least one person is using it at nearly a quarter of its enterprise customers, mostly running from personal accounts. That’s a shadow IT nightmare—employees connecting work email and Slack to an unsanctioned tool that IT doesn’t know about and can’t monitor. Whether you’re an individual tempted by OpenClaw’s promise or a manager wondering what your users are up to, you need to understand the risks these AI agents pose. Read More from “Be Very Careful with AI Agents!”

Why Your Windows Reopen (Or Don’t) As You Expect

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Macintosh
AI-generated image of a keyboard with a big red Restore button on it

Have you noticed that when you restart your Mac or relaunch an app, your previous windows and documents sometimes reappear exactly as you left them, but at other times you’re greeted with a clean slate?

This behavior is controlled by Resume, a technology introduced in OS X 10.7 Lion back in 2011. Resume automatically reopens app windows and documents so you can pick up where you left off after a restart or app relaunch. Read More from “Why Your Windows Reopen (Or Don’t) As You Expect”

Try macOS 26.2’s Edge Light for Low-Light Video Calls

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Macintosh
woman in a dark room wearing over the ear headphones while watching something on her computer screen

We can’t always guarantee optimal lighting for video calls, especially when using laptops on the go. A new feature in macOS 26.2 Tahoe called Edge Light might help. It’s a video effect that uses the outermost pixels of your Mac’s display to create a bright white rectangle that illuminates your face during video calls. It acts like an on-screen ring light in low-light conditions. Read More from “Try macOS 26.2’s Edge Light for Low-Light Video Calls”

New Outlook isn’t Robust and Legacy Outlook is being Retired

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Email, Email
Outlook mail image

If you use Outlook for Mac, especially for business purposes, it’s time to seriously review your use and consider switching to another email client such as Apple Mail or eMClient.

Legacy Outlook is moving towards being retired and New Outlook, in my opinion, is inadequate for business users and has been problematic even for personal use.

One of my biggest concerns is that New Outlook no longer stores a local copy of your email messages on your Mac. Instead, New Outlook stores recently viewed emails in a cache. This cache is not a usable mailbox database. You cannot reliably back up the cache. This means that if you use Time Machine to backup your Mac and you use New Outlook then you no longer have a backup copy of your email messages. I highlight this difference since previous versions of Outlook, now called Legacy Outlook, by Microsoft, used to store a copy of your email mail collection on your Mac.

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Control Song Transitions in Apple Music

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Macintosh
DJ wearing a long-sleeved yellow shirt against a neon-lit blue-violet background.

A new feature for Apple Music subscribers in the Music app in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 is AutoMix, which Apple says causes songs to “transition at the perfect moment, based on analysis of the key and tempo of the music.” It fades between songs as a DJ would, but it’s not always successful. If AutoMix’s transitions aren’t to your taste, navigate to Settings > Apps > Music > Song Transitions in iOS and iPadOS, or Music > Settings > Playback > Song Transitions in macOS, and switch back to the longstanding Crossfade option, which transitions between songs over a user‑specified number of seconds. Or, just turn off the Song Transitions switch and let one song end completely before the next one starts. Read More from “Control Song Transitions in Apple Music”

Five Invisible Characters That Still Matter in Word Processing and Layout

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Macintosh, Word Processing
blurred image of hands on a keyboard. overlay of mock ups of pages of text.

In earlier eras of word processing, users were much more likely to encounter explanations of document structure—not because everyone had to become an expert, but because knowledge was shared differently. Software shipped with detailed manuals, user groups and training classes focused on how documents worked under the hood, and power users routinely shared mental models and tips. (Who remembers being turned onto WordPerfect’s Reveal Codes?) Today’s writing tools are simpler to use and much better at hiding complexity, but that also means fewer opportunities for users to learn that invisible characters even exist, much less that they have different attributes and consequences.

We’ll look at five invisible characters that shape how text behaves: the regular space, non-breaking space, tab, hard return, and soft return. You already use regular spaces and hard returns, but understanding the other three—and when to employ them—can help you create cleaner, more professional documents and troubleshoot layout problems. Read More from “Five Invisible Characters That Still Matter in Word Processing and Layout”

How to Ensure You Don’t Miss Reminders

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Macintosh
blurred pic of the torso and arms of a person using a computer. white bell icons overlay the image.

Recording a task in Apple’s Reminders app on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad is just the first step—the app captures what you need to do—but what matters more is being reminded to take action at the right moment. (The most important step, of course, is following through, but that’s on you.)

Here’s how to configure Reminders to get your attention at the right moment, whether through time-based alerts, location triggers, or when you chat with someone in Messages. Read More from “How to Ensure You Don’t Miss Reminders”

When Google Points to a Chatbot Conversation, Be Skeptical

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Security/Privacy
hand holding a magnifying glass in front of a screen full of blue checkmarks and one red alert box.

Here’s something new to watch out for: poisoned chatbot conversations surfaced in Google searches. The sharing features in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and other chatbots allow users to publish their conversations as public Web pages, which can be indexed by search engines and appear alongside traditional websites in search results. Attackers can seed those conversations with malicious commands, and the conversations themselves look trustworthy in search results because the URL points to a well-known AI company. This risk isn’t theoretical—security firm Huntress documented a macOS malware infection that began with a Google search result linking to a shared chatbot conversation that contained malicious Terminal instructions. Treat chatbot conversations found via Google as you would random forum posts—potentially useful for background or ideas to start your own conversation, but not as authoritative instructions. Be especially suspicious when they offer step-by-step guidance or ask you to copy anything verbatim. Read More from “When Google Points to a Chatbot Conversation, Be Skeptical”

Messages Now Offers Shared Conversation Backgrounds

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Computer Basics
two Black women facing each other against a deep yellow wall.

A potentially surprising and fun new feature in Messages in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 Tahoe is conversation backgrounds. To set one, tap the person or group icon at the top of the conversation, then tap Backgrounds, select an image, and tap the blue checkmark to save. What you might not realize is that conversation backgrounds are shared with others in the conversation who use iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26, so be sure to choose appropriate backgrounds. We recommend explaining what you’ve done, as the background can radically change the look of the Messages interface, which some people may find confusing or even upsetting if it happens unexpectedly. Read More from “Messages Now Offers Shared Conversation Backgrounds”

Reminders (Finally) Adds Time Zone Support

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Computer Basics
dimly lit deep red wall with four analog clocks on it, each set to a different time according to the city named below them. The cities named are Bangkok, Tokyo, London, and New York.

Apple’s latest operating systems have eliminated a longstanding annoyance for frequent travelers: the lack of time zone support in Reminders. If you had set a reminder to alert you at 9 AM Eastern and then traveled from Virginia to California, your alert would go off at 6 AM, which is likely unhelpful and potentially sleep‑disrupting. In iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 Tahoe, you can tap or click the time in a reminder and set the appropriate time zone so the alert fires at the intended local “wall clock” time. For example, set a reminder for “9 AM Pacific” when you’ll be in California so it alerts at 9 AM local time there. Read More from “Reminders (Finally) Adds Time Zone Support”

Stay Safe in 2026 with These New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Backup, Security/Privacy
white background with the shape of a person whose hand is outstretched with a thumbs up. the thumbs is the zero in 2026.

We’re approaching the end of 2025, so we encourage you to consider your New Year’s resolutions. For many people, the new year offers an opportunity to reflect on habits we’d like to adopt or solidify. Although we support reducing social media use and making other positive lifestyle changes, we’d like to suggest a few additional resolutions to improve your digital security and reduce the risk of bad things happening to you online. Read More from “Stay Safe in 2026 with These New Year’s Resolutions”

Printing labels for Christmas cards on a Mac

Posted on by Jim Emery in Computer Basics
teal address label with generic address on it. Christmas themed with ornaments, presents, and a house

It is that time of year again. With Christmas approaching, my wife asked me to print labels for Christmas cards. This should be a seemingly straightforward task using Apple’s Contacts application. Open Contacts, create a new Contacts list and move those friends and relatives to whom you would like to send holiday greeting cards into the list. In fact, Apple has a guide for doing this on your Mac. From here, you can easily print out labels or envelopes. Apple’s guide for this is also helpful.

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Clean Up Your Mac’s Login Items for Better Performance

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Macintosh
open Mac laptop on a desk with animated icons pouring out of the screen towards the top right of the total image

If you use certain apps or documents regularly, you can ensure they’re ready to go after a restart by manually adding them to your Login Items list. Some login items are also added automatically by apps that want to be available at all times. Either way, when the Mac boots, it automatically opens all login items. But it’s easy to end up with login items for apps you no longer use, which can slow down startup and overall performance, increase the risk of conflicts, and even expose you to attacks. Read More from “Clean Up Your Mac’s Login Items for Better Performance”

Canva’s Free Affinity App Takes on Adobe Creative Cloud

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Adobe, Macintosh
affinity by Canva logo on a black background.

Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps—Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign—are best-in-class, and for many people, they’re essential. But if you’re paying $70 per month for a Creative Cloud subscription even though you don’t need the full power of Adobe’s apps, consider Canva’s new Affinity app, available for free for macOS and Windows, with iPadOS coming soon. The extremely capable Affinity combines all the features of the previous Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps (which Canva acquired from Serif in 2024). Read More from “Canva’s Free Affinity App Takes on Adobe Creative Cloud”