Apple Mail lets you assign one or more signatures to each of your email accounts. This flexibility is great, but the user interface to make this happen is not intuitive. It’s easy to do, but it’s much easier to be shown how to do it the first time. Here are instructions for creating signatures in Mail and linking these signatures to an email account. Read More from “Set Up Signatures in Apple Mail”
Use DuckDuckGo Instead of Google
DuckDuckGo is a search engine that is much less well-known than Google, but you should check it out. As the title of this article indicates, DuckDuckGo is a privacy-friendly alternative to Google. Read More from “Use DuckDuckGo Instead of Google”
The Internet and The Web Are Not The Same
As many of you may have heard or read, the World Wide Web, more commonly call the Web, turned 25 in March 2014. While conversing with friends and clients I became aware of a common misconception — that the Internet and the Web are the same thing. They are not the same thing. They are not synonyms. Read More from “The Internet and The Web Are Not The Same”
Extra iPhone and iPad Backups Waste Hard Drive Space
Your Mac may be storing extra iPhone and iPad backups. If so, they are wasting hard drive storage space. Here are instructions on how you can easily view a list of all iPad and iPhone backups and remove the extras. Read More from “Extra iPhone and iPad Backups Waste Hard Drive Space”
Nest Earphone Case Prevents Tangled iPhone Earphones
Are you tired of untangling knotted up earphones? If so, check out Digital Innovations’ Nest earbud case. The Nest is an innovative and affordable way to store your earphones (aka earbuds) in a tidy manner. A few months ago, I bought a Nest for $10 and love it. I’ll attempt to describe the Nest in words, but you’ll get a better understanding by watching this 20 second video. The Nest is made of flexible rubber. You flip back the outer lip of the case, then tuck the earbuds into the core of the spool. Next, wrap the earbud cord around the outside of the spool and then snap the outer lip closed. You end up with a neat package that can be slipped into your bag. To extract your earbuds, you simply grab the earbuds and pull them straight up. The cord unwraps from the spool and you’re ready to use your earbuds. I’ve seen a lot of cord wrap devices, but this one is really clever. Check it out.
Wix.com as an iWeb Replacement
When Apple ended the MobileMe website hosting feature and stopped updating iWeb in June of 2012, I knew I needed to find new options for hosting and updating my website. Initially, I simply moved the files from MobileMe to Bluehost, but that didn’t help me if I needed to make changes to the site. Read More from “Wix.com as an iWeb Replacement”
Holding Onto iPhones Is Not A Good Value
I recently replaced my two-and-a-half year old iPhone with a new iPhone. This reminded me that it’s typically not a good value to hold onto your iPhone for many years. Here are two reasons for this belief: Read More from “Holding Onto iPhones Is Not A Good Value”
Create Bullet Lists in Apple Mail
Here are some tips on how to easily create and manage bullet lists in Apple’s Mail application. Read More from “Create Bullet Lists in Apple Mail”
Understand Internet Connection Speeds
Do you know how fast your Internet connection is? What is the unit used for measuring Internet connection speeds? How fast does your Internet connection need to be if you want to stream a movie from Netflix or a similar service? Read More from “Understand Internet Connection Speeds”
Backups Don’t Exist Unless You Test Them
This week’s Tech Tip is a cautionary tale.
Backups Don’t Exist Unless You Test Them. This adage may not make immediate sense to you, but let me explain. It is extremely important to test your backups by actually restoring one or more files. If you don’t know that you can successfully restore a file from your backup, then you don’t know if you really have any backup copies of your data at all. I was recently reminded of this adage when an acquaintance lost all of her email messages and a client came close to losing all his data. Let me elaborate.
Computer Desktop Encyclopedia Gives Simple Definitions for Technical Terms
Do you get overwhelmed by all of the technical terms you encounter? Would you like to get simple definitions for USB, broadband, tether, Wi-Fi or big data? If so, check out the Computer Desktop Encyclopedia (CDE) web site. Read More from “Computer Desktop Encyclopedia Gives Simple Definitions for Technical Terms”
Learn More About the Strength of Your Mac’s Wireless Connection
Would you like to know more about the strength of your Mac’s wireless (Wi-Fi) connection? If so, hold down the Option key and click on the Wi-Fi menu located near the clock in the upper right corner of your Mac’s screen. You’ll notice that additional details about your currently selected wireless network are displayed. I should mention that Apple added these details in Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6. If your Mac is using an older version of OS X, you won’t see the additional details. Here’s a brief explanation about some of these details. Read More from “Learn More About the Strength of Your Mac’s Wireless Connection”
Troubleshooting a Slow Mac
One of the most common questions I hear from clients is, “Why is my Mac slow?” This seemingly simple question can have an array of possible causes. Below are a few things you can easily check. One of these could help you identify, or maybe resolve, the cause of your Mac’s slowness. Read More from “Troubleshooting a Slow Mac”
Regus Offers Virtual, Mobile and Full-Time Offices
You might be interesting in learning about Regus if you answer yes to any of the following questions: Read More from “Regus Offers Virtual, Mobile and Full-Time Offices”
View All Time Stamps In Messages On Your iPhone
Have you ever noticed that the Messages app on your iPhone or iPad doesn’t automatically display a time stamp for each and every message? I know that there are times when I’ve really wanted to know exactly when a message was sent. As it turns out, you can easily view the time stamp for every message. Simply pull the speech bubbles slightly to the left. The time stamp for each message appears on the right side of the screen. How handy!
Use PhoneView To Copy iPhone Voicemail And Text Messages To Your Mac
Update April 2025: PhoneView has been discontinued and is no longer available from the developer. For the past few years, I have typically used iMazing to extract data, like text messages, from iPhones, iPads or iPods.
Have you ever wanted to permanently save a voicemail message that you received on your iPhone? Or maybe a text message or iMessage? While all of these messages are backed up to your Mac when you sync your iPhone, Apple doesn’t provide an easy way to view or extract these messages. Instead, you’ll need to use a third-party application like PhoneView ($30).
Update June 2014: I recently learned about iExplorer. It appears to do everything that PhoneView does and more. For example, PhoneView does not let you retrieve calendar data from an iPhone. I need to do this for a client so I will be trying iExplorer and its helpful tutorials. I bought iExplorer but it appears that the free version lets you extract text messages.
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Use Secure Empty Trash to Overwrite Your Files
When you put a file into Trash and then empty the Trash, you aren’t really deleting or destroying that file. If you really want to destroy that file, you should use Secure Empty Trash, which will overwrite the file. To do this, put a file into Trash, then click on the Finder menu and select Secure Empty Trash.
[Update: December 2015. Starting with OS X El Capitan (aka OS X 10.11), Apple has removed the Secure Empty Trash option because it can’t be guaranteed to work with solid-state drives (SSDs). This Intego article discusses the situation and the ways to securely erase files in OS X El Capitan.]
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Easily Email Safari Web Pages or Their Addresses
Do you frequently want to email either a web page’s contents or its address? If so, here are two methods to do this using Safari version 6. Visit a web page, then go to the File menu and select Share, then Email This Page. (In older versions of Safari you do not have to first select the Share command.) Your default email application will open and display a new mail message showing the web page’s contents. Simply fill in the recipient’s email address and send it on its way. If you only want to send a link to the web page then hold down the Shift key as you click on the File menu. Then the Email This Page command changes its name to Email Link To This Page. Read More from “Easily Email Safari Web Pages or Their Addresses”
Make iPhone Text More Readable
Here are a couple of ways to make text on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch more readable. If you’ve upgrade your device to iOS 7, which Apple introduced in the fall of 2013, you can turn on Larger Type and/or Bold Text. Read More from “Make iPhone Text More Readable”
Fine-Tune Your Google Image Searches
You probably know that you can search for images on Google. The easiest way is to visit images.google.com. You can fine-tune your search to view only images of a preferred size or style. After you have performed your initial search click the Search Tools button. Read More from “Fine-Tune Your Google Image Searches”