This is the first in a series of articles about how to easily recycle your Macintosh computer, monitor, printer, ink and toner cartridges, batteries, cell phones and other electronics commonly used in small businesses or around the home. I live in Seattle so I focus on Seattle and King County, but many of these resources are available in the greater Puget Sound area. Read More from “How to Recycle Computers, Printers, Monitors and Other Electronics in Seattle”
How To Edit And Annotate PDFs Using Preview
Did you know that Apple’s Preview lets you easily annotate and merge PDFs as well as delete and re-order pages within a PDF? Preview is a free application which comes bundled with Mac OS X. Apple has been quietly updating over the years and it has become quite capable and user-friendly. Just a few years ago one would have needed to buy the relatively expensive Adobe Acrobat Standard or Professional PDF Editor to do many of these tasks. Read More from “How To Edit And Annotate PDFs Using Preview”
How to Change the Default Application Used to Open a File
Have you wanted to change your Mac’s behavior so Apple’s Preview is used, rather than Adobe Reader to open all .pdf files? You can control which application is used to open any given file type such as .xls, .doc, .jpg, .tiff, or .awk files. Read More from “How to Change the Default Application Used to Open a File”
How to Remove Duplicate Songs from iTunes
Have you ended up with duplicate songs in iTunes that you want to remove? iTunes has a built-in “Display Duplicate” feature which can be helpful, but I prefer to use the slightly hidden “Display Exact Duplicates” feature instead. Here are instructions: Read More from “How to Remove Duplicate Songs from iTunes”
How to Copy a DVD using Mac OS X’s Disk Utility
Here are instructions on how to copy a DVD.
Important Note: Using Disk Utility will NOT work for all DVDs. Most commercial DVDs intentionally have copy-protection mechanisms in place to prevent disk duplication. This method should work fine for DVDs you made using iDVD, for example. Read More from “How to Copy a DVD using Mac OS X’s Disk Utility”
How To Set Up and Monitor Time Machine
This Tech Tip covers provides you with instructions on how to set up and monitor Time Machine. Monitoring your backup system is important. A backup system that isn’t working is useless so please monitor it and test it. Restore a file or two as a test to know that your data can be retrieved. Read More from “How To Set Up and Monitor Time Machine”
Victorinox Swiss Army Computer Briefcase is Durable and Includes Great Warranty
I love my Victorinox Swiss Army computer briefcase. It is very durable and comes with a great warranty. I tend to carry about 20 pounds of gear, including my laptop, in my briefcase on a daily basis. Consequently, when I went shopping for a briefcase, I knew that I’d need one that was well made and durable. Read More from “Victorinox Swiss Army Computer Briefcase is Durable and Includes Great Warranty”
How to Reclaim Storage Space on a Time Capsule
Is your Time Capsule full? Would you like to free up some room for either newer backups of your data or to add another computer in your home? If so, here are some instructions on this process. Read More from “How to Reclaim Storage Space on a Time Capsule”
How to Zoom In on Your Mac’s Screen
Update March 2013: Added instructions for OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion.
Update October 2014: Added OS X 10.9, Mavericks, to the instructions for Mountain Lion.
Did you know that Mac OS X has a built-in zoom feature? This feature lets you zoom in on your screen so everything on the screen is larger. Of course, when you zoom in you can only see part of the screen on your monitor. You’ll need to scroll around to see the other parts of the screen. Read More from “How to Zoom In on Your Mac’s Screen”
How to Take Screen Snapshots on Your iPhone
Did you know that you can take pictures of what’s on your iPhone’s screen? For example, you can take pictures of a text message, a web page or an email configuration screen. Read More from “How to Take Screen Snapshots on Your iPhone”
Do you need help finding your Mac’s cursor?
[October 2022. See Sound Support’s updated post on Find Your Cursor Using Simple Mouse Locator]
If you ever struggle to find your Mac’s cursor then I recommend that you use MouseLocator. This free application puts a halo around the cursor to help your eyes locate it. You can configure how long the halo is displayed. It can be displayed for as little as half of a second, permanently or somewhere in between. You can also control how long the cursor must be idle before the halo will re-appear. Read More from “Do you need help finding your Mac’s cursor?”
Sip & Ship offers private mailbox, shipping, shredding and notary services
I’ve been a long-time customer of Sip & Ship. It is a friendly one-stop shop that is a great resource for my one-person business. They offer a long list of business-related services which are available a la carte. They also offer coffee, muffins, sandwiches, greeting cards and personal gifts. It’s run by a husband and wife team, Diana and Steve, and their staff. I use their Ballard location. A few years ago they expanded and opened a second store in Greenwood. Read More from “Sip & Ship offers private mailbox, shipping, shredding and notary services”
How to Protect Your Digital Images
Here are some safety tips on protecting digital images. The tips come from one of DriveSavers’s recent newsletters. DriveSavers is a top tier data recovery company. Read More from “How to Protect Your Digital Images”
Recovering digital photos from corrupt or erased compact flash or SD cards
If you need to recover digital photos from your camera’s compact flash (CF) or secure digital (SD) card you should know about Glazer’s Camera’s data recovery services. Read More from “Recovering digital photos from corrupt or erased compact flash or SD cards”
How To Calibrate Your Macintosh Laptop’s Battery
All batteries will eventually experience diminished efficiency, storage capacity and will need to be replaced. However, regularly recalibrating your Lithium-ion battery will help to prolong your battery’s life and health, which will help reduce the frequency with which you’ll have to buy a new battery. Read More from “How To Calibrate Your Macintosh Laptop’s Battery”
How to Check Your Mac’s Hardware Warranty Coverage
Do you want to check to see if your Mac is still under warranty from Apple? The technical support section of Apple’s web site lets you easily check to see if your Apple device is protected by either its built-in or the extended hardware warranty. Here are simple instructions on how to do so. Read More from “How to Check Your Mac’s Hardware Warranty Coverage”
How to Delete a User Account in Mac OS X
Do you want to give your computer to another person, but before giving it away you want to remove all of your data? If so, here’s an easy way to accomplish this. We’ll create a user account for the person who’ll be using the Mac, then delete your user account. Read More from “How to Delete a User Account in Mac OS X”
How To Securely Erase A Mac’s Hard Drive
Here are instructions on how to use Disk Utility to securely erase a hard drive connected internally or externally to your Mac. These instructions were written for Mac OS X 10.4 to 10.6. The process is very similar on older versions of Mac OS X, but the screens will look a bit different. Read More from “How To Securely Erase A Mac’s Hard Drive”
How to Restore a File from Your Time Machine Backup
Testing your backup system is a critical, but often over-looked task. You need to monitor and test your backup system not only so you know that it’s properly copying your files, but more importantly so you learn how to use your backup system to retrieve a file. By practicing, you’ll be confident and ready when disaster strikes and you need to restore a file. Read More from “How to Restore a File from Your Time Machine Backup”
How Big is a Kilobyte?
How big is a kilobyte? How big is a gigabyte? Relative to each other, how big are any two files? Here’s some information which can help you get your head around file sizes and comparing them. Read More from “How Big is a Kilobyte?”