Did you know that there are thousands of invisible files on your Mac? Have you ever needed to locate or delete one of these invisible files? Here are a couple of ways to be able to access the invisible files and folders on your Mac. A cautionary note, Apple makes these files invisible for a … Read more
Do you need to display your Mac’s screen on your iPad? To do this, you can use a screen-sharing application. Most of these applications cost money so Splashtop is intriguing since it’s free for personal use on your local network. To access your Mac from anywhere costs $60 per year.
Read moreDo you need to edit PDF files on your Mac? Previously, I’ve talked about Preview’s built-in editing features. If these features aren’t adequate for your needs most people think they need to get Adobe Acrobat, which currently costs $13-$15 per month with an annual subscription, but I prefer to use PDFPen which has a one-time cost of $75 … Read more
Has your Mac suddenly become slow or started having trouble doing the usual daily tasks? If so, you might have some accidentally installed app that isn’t helpful to your Mac. Not all of these apps are malicious, but for the sake of simplicity, I’ll call them malware here. Malware behavior ranges anywhere from giving annoying pop … Read more
Did you know that Apple’s built-in search tool called Spotlight doesn’t search the entire hard drive? There are good reasons why Apple does this (which I won’t go into now), but there are also times when you want to be able to search the entire hard drive. When I’m troubleshooting a problem on a client’s … Read more
This Tech Tip is a cautionary tale. As a general rule, I recommend that you avoid installing apps that claim to tune-up or optimize your Mac. Last week, I worked on two Macs whose performance was negatively impacted by MacKeeper, MacBooster and TuneUpMyMac. A third Mac’s web browsing had been hijacked by Conduit Search. It’s not clear … Read more
Do you type the same information into email messages or Word documents? If so, you would benefit from using a text expander. Text expanders let you create abbreviations then whenever the abbreviation is typed it inserts a word, phrase, sentence or paragraph that you designated. For example, you could create the abbreviation ‘addr. When you type ‘addr … Read more
Deleting or removing an application from a Mac can be both deceptively simple and surprisingly complex. Many applications can be deleted by simply dragging them to the Trash. However, this method will often leave small, related files tucked into various folders on the Mac. Thus, it is useful to know about some other ways to … Read more
Do you want to know the age of your Mac? Do want to gather the technical specs of your Mac so you can sell it on Craigslist? Do you want to find your Mac’s serial number so you can determine if it is still covered by its warranty? If so, you could use Micromat’s free … Read more
Hard drives are the component of a computer that fail most often. Every hard drive will eventually fail. This is why it’s so important to backup your Mac’s hard drive. It’s also prudent to periodically check the health of your Mac’s internal hard drive. I recommend two applications for this purpose: Onyx (free) and SMARTUtility (free … Read more
Do you use your Macintosh computer for hours at a time without taking a break? Do you end up with sore muscles or headaches? If so, you might want to consider taking rest breaks more often. Time Out is a free application that can automatically remind you to take breaks, even dim your screen to force you … Read more
Do you receive a lot of packages in the mail and want to have one place where you can easily monitor their status? Then you need Delivery Status by JuneCloud.
Read moreDo you ever want to do any of the following tasks? View two Word documents side-by-side so you can compare them or more content between them. View two Finder windows side-by-side so you can move files from one folder to another Make a window fill your entire screen
Read moreDo you give a lot of computer-based presentations or training? Do you need you audience members to be able to easily view and track your mouse, see when you click the mouse and see the keyboard shortcuts that you press? If so, Mousepose, could be your best friend.
Read moreI regularly provide small group training and I want audience members to be able to know when I use keyboard shortcuts. This way they can see how I made something happen. For example, I might press the Command key and the P key to tell an application to print a document. Since the audience can … Read more
Is your Dock over-crowded with icons? If so, then maybe you would benefit from using an application launcher. An application launcher allows you to open any application installed on your Mac using your keyboard.
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