Do you need to recover files that were deleted from a Mac’s hard drive? Here’s a quick overview of three options. Read More from “Data Recovery Options for Mac Users”
Clean Up Your Mac Hard Drive Using OmniDiskSweeper
Do you want to clean up your Mac hard drive? Is your hard drive nearly full and you don’t know why? OmniDiskSweeper (free) can help with both of these situations. OmniDiskSweeper will scan all files and folders on your Mac and list them by size, starting with the folders taking up the most space. This helps you to focus your clean-up efforts on the folders that are taking up the most room on your Mac’s hard drive. Read More from “Clean Up Your Mac Hard Drive Using OmniDiskSweeper”
How to Open Winmail.dat Attachments on a Mac or iOS Device
Did you receive an email attachment named winmail.dat or winmail? Here’s a brief explanation of what this file is and instructions for opening it.
Winmail.dat files are sent by people using Microsoft Outlook as their email application. Under certain circumstances Outlook will encode attached files, like Word or PDF files, in this winmail.dat format. Read More from “How to Open Winmail.dat Attachments on a Mac or iOS Device”
Preventive Maintenance for your Mac
Do you want to know how to perform some routine preventive maintenance on your Mac? Here’s my recommendation of helpful preventive maintenance tasks as well as instructions on how to perform these tasks. You do not need to have advanced knowledge to perform these tasks. Read More from “Preventive Maintenance for your Mac”
How Can I Easily Share Files with Colleagues?
Are you looking for an easy way to share files with your colleagues who use a mix of Macs and PCs? There are many online file sharing and storage systems, but I use and recommend Dropbox. I’ve tried a handful of systems including SugarSync, Windows LiveMesh, Box and GoogleDocs. While I use several of these services on an on-going basis, I think Dropbox is the most versatile and has the best mix of features that I use and care about. Read More from “How Can I Easily Share Files with Colleagues?”
How to Recycle Toner or Ink Cartridges in Seattle
If your printer’s toner or ink cartridge is completely empty, it can be put in the trash according to the City of Seattle’s web site. Otherwise, you should recycle it using any of the following methods. Read More from “How to Recycle Toner or Ink Cartridges in Seattle”
How to Recycle Compact Fluorescent Lamps in Seattle
Have you wondered how to properly dispose of compact fluorescent lamps? Compact fluorescent lamps (CFL or sometimes just CF) are energy efficient light bulbs that contain very small amounts of mercury, so they need to be properly handled and thus can’t be put directly in your trash. Read More from “How to Recycle Compact Fluorescent Lamps in Seattle”
How to Recycle Computers, Printers, Monitors and Other Electronics in Seattle
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”