iPhone’s Control Center Let’s You Access The Flashlight, Calculator And More

Posted on by Tim Hannon in iOS and iPhone/iPad Apps, Software

Do you know you can access your iPhone or iPad’s Flashlight, Clock, Calculator, Airplane Mode, Do Not Disturb feature and more with only two taps? All of these features are available via the iOS Control Center. In iOS 7 through iOS 11, you can to quickly access the Control Center, tap on the Home button on the face of the device, then slide your finger up from the very bottom of the glass. You’ll lift a curtain to reveal the Control Center. Use the image below as a guide.

iOS Lock Screen button for Control CenterIf you have an iPhone without a there is a new Home button, such as the iPhone X, or if you’ve upgraded to iOS 12 then you need to know about the new way to access the Control Center. The new way is to swipe down from the upper right corner of your device. This works if the screen is locked or not.

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Quickly Access Your iPhone Camera

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Hardware, iPhone and iPad, Photo

Will you be taking photos with your iPhone or iPad this holiday season? If so, here is the fastest way to access your device’s camera. Press the Home button on the face of the iPhone. Do you see the camera icon in the lower right corner? Press on this icon and simultaneously slide your finger towards the top of the screen. You will see a visual effect which makes it appear as though you are lifting a curtain to reveal the camera. Use the image below as a guide. Voilà, you’re able to use the camera. It’s that easy.

iOS 8 lock screen with camera icon

Enable Find My iPhone

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Hardware, iOS and iPhone/iPad Apps, iPhone and iPad, Software

If you own an iPhone make sure your Find My iPhone feature is enabled. Find My iPhone is one of the services offered by Apple’s iCloud service. The Find My iPhone feature helps you locate your iPhone, lock it and potentially erase it. Best of all, Find My iPhone is a theft deterrent since this feature makes your phone essentially useless to anybody else. Specifically, it enables a feature that Apple calls Activation Lock. However, all of these benefits require that you enable this feature before the iPhone gets misplaced or stolen. Read More from “Enable Find My iPhone”

How To Restore A Time Machine Backup On To A New Hard Drive

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Backup, Local Backup, Time Machine

At some point, everyone will experience a hard drive failure.  When this happens, a Time Machine backup can save your data.  Here are instructions on how to restore all applications and personal files from a Time Machine backup onto a new hard drive. Time Machine is a backup application made by Apple. It comes bundled with every Mac that shipped with OS X 10.5 or higher. It can be used to backup the contents of your Mac’s internal hard drive to an external hard drive or to an Airport Time Capsule. I’ve written previously about the importance of backups and how to set up and monitor Time Machine. The restore process requires you to first install OS X onto the new hard drive and then restore everything from your most recent Time Machine backup.

(If you’re looking for instructions on how to restore an entire Time Machine backup on to a new Mac read this.)

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How To Identify Your iPhone or iPad Model

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Hardware, iPhone and iPad

Have you ever wondered how to identify which iPhone or iPad model you have? While there are some physical characteristics that might help you generally differentiate one model from another, these differences are often subtle and aren’t always sufficient. Here are a two ways to definitively identify your iOS device.  Read More from “How To Identify Your iPhone or iPad Model”

How To Set Up CrashPlan On Your Mac

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Backup, CrashPlan, Online backup

CrashPlan is a backup application, made by Code42. I use it and recommend it to create off-site, cloud-based, backups. To backup to Code42’s servers, one needs a subsciption. Code42 used to offer both home and business plans, but they stopped selling home plans in August 2017.

A Business subscription costs $10 per computer per month and provides unlimited storage.

With a paid subscription to CrashPlan, CrashPlan runs every 15 minutes and creates multiple backup copies of your files. Every time you edit a file a new backup copy is made.

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Clean Your ScanSnap

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Scanning, Services

Do you use a Fujitsu ScanSnap document scanner? Have you ever cleaned it? I recently cleaned my ScanSnap and it fixed a paper feed issue I was having. I’ve previously recommended Fujitsu ScanSnap scanners. I’ve owned my ScanSnap S500M since the beginning of 2007 and I’ve never cleaned it since it has performed nearly flawlessly. This summer, after racking up over 7000 scans, my ScanSnap started to have problems properly feeding documents, so I looked at the manual for recommended cleaning instructions. I learned that it’s recommended that you clean your ScanSnap every 1000 scans! Read More from “Clean Your ScanSnap”

How To Scan Using Image Capture

Posted on by Tim Hannon in macOS (formerly OS X), Scanning, Services, Software

You should consider using Apple’s easy-to-use Image Capture. Image Capture can both copy photos off of digital cameras and control a scanner to scan paper documents. Today’s tech tip focuses only on scanning. Image Capture can control hundreds of scanners made by Brother, Canon, Epson, HP and other manufacturers. Image Capture is one of many free applications that comes bundled with every Mac computer. I typically prefer to use Image Capture instead of the scanning applications that come bundled with scanners. In other words, if you already have a scanner connected to your Mac, simply open Image Capture and see if it’s able to communicate with your scanner without doing any additional setup. [Note: Check out my Tech Tip about how to scan using your iPhone or iPad if you don’t have a scanner connected to your Mac.] Read More from “How To Scan Using Image Capture”

How To Recover Deleted iPhone Text Messages

Posted on by Tim Hannon in iOS and iPhone/iPad Apps, Software

Have you ever deleted a text message from your iPhone and then quickly regretted doing this? If so, here’s an overview of some options that might let you recover that text message. Unlike deleted voicemail messages or deleted email messages, there isn’t a Trash or Deleted Items folder for text messages. In other words, you can’t quickly recover your text message from your iPhone yourself. Instead, your can try to recover the text message from another device or to buy a product like Mac FoneLab or iExplorer, which currently cost $90 and $35, respectively.  Read More from “How To Recover Deleted iPhone Text Messages”

Magnifying Glass With Light iPhone App

Posted on by Tim Hannon in iOS and iPhone/iPad Apps, Software

Do you ever need a magnifying glass or a bit of light to read a menu or medicine bottle? If so, check out Magnifying Glass With Light or Glasses. Both are free iOS apps for your iPhone. Both of these apps are easy to use, and you would be wise have one on your iPhone.

Glasses has an elegant design and no ads. Magnifying Glass With Light has banner ads across the bottom. If they bug you or if you want to get some advanced features then you could upgrade to Magnifying Glass With Light Pro, which is currently $1.99. Read about the additional features available in the Pro version.

How Often Should You Backup Your Mac?

Posted on by Tim Hannon in BackBlaze, Backup, CrashPlan, Time Machine

Clients often ask me how often they should backup their Mac. They also ask me which files they should backup. My answer is short and sweet. Everybody should backup all files on their Mac’s hard drive every day. Why? Because you never knows when disaster will strike and you’ll need to rely on a recent backup to retrieve one or many files. Whether you use your Mac for business or personal purposes, increasingly most of us have sentimental or important files on our computers which need to be backed up so they can be recovered if a disaster occurs. Read More from “How Often Should You Backup Your Mac?”

Comcast Extends Low-Cost Internet Service to Low-Income Seniors

Posted on by Tim Hannon in Computer Basics, Services

I recently learned that Comcast has offered a low-cost Internet service for low-income families since early 2014. Comcast calls this the Internet Essentials program. As of April 2015, Comcast indicates that they’ve enrolled 480,000 families across the country.   In August, 2015, Comcast started a pilot program in San Francisco to extend this program to low-income seniors. I wasn’t able to find a list of requirements for low-income seniors, but the requirements for low-income families indicate the primary requirement is having a child who is eligible for the National School Lunch Program. The monthly Internet service costs $9.95 plus tax and provides speeds of 10 Megabits. If I learn that the low-income seniors service is extended to other cities, I’ll update this Tech Tip.

Create An iTunes Allowance For Your Kids

Posted on by Tim Hannon in iOS and iPhone/iPad Apps, Software

[UPDATE: April 2016. Apple has announced that they’ll stop offering iTunes allowances but existing allowances with balances will remain intact until used. Instead of iTunes allowances Apple recommends using iTunes Gift cards. ]

Do your kids have their owns iPhones, iPads or iPod Touches? Do you want them to be able to buy apps, music and other items from either the iTunes Store or the App Store? Do you want to avoid giving them your AppleID password which would give them unfettered access to buy things? If so, consider setting up a monthly iTunes allowance. Read More from “Create An iTunes Allowance For Your Kids”

Quickly Find And Open An iPhone Or iPad App

Posted on by Tim Hannon in iOS and iPhone/iPad Apps, Software

Do you have dozens of apps on your iPhone or iPad? Do you spend lots of time swiping back and forth between screens looking for the right icon? If so, you should instead use the built-in search function since it is much faster. If your iPhone or iPad is using iOS 7 or newer then you access the Spotlight search feature by swiping your finger down on your devices screen.  Read More from “Quickly Find And Open An iPhone Or iPad App”