The Reminders app is useful for creating lists of things to do, such as tasks, jobs, projects, even shopping lists. You can easily enter one or more items with tick boxes and then tick them off when they are done. You can go further though, and use Reminders to remind you to do something at a specific location. When you arrive or leave a location, Reminders pops up and shows you the task or tasks you need to do.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Fri, 07/04/2014 - 11:38
There are many email scams and people are constantly working on ways to fool you into revealing your bank details, login details to online services and so on. You need to be aware of the dangers and how to avoid them. Here is a typical email that tried to fool me into revealing my Apple ID - the username and password used to log into Apple services like iTunes. You might get a similar one, so take a look and learn how to spot the fakes.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Tue, 07/01/2014 - 03:19
Apple provides 5GB of online storage space for you to use for free. How much are you using? You might be surprised at the amount and even when you think you are not using any, you could be using several gigabytes and be near your free space limit. Here’s how to check your iCloud storage and why you are using so much space.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Mon, 06/30/2014 - 13:42
If you need a cheap, small, light MacBook that will run all day on its battery, the 11-inch model costs just US $899 (UK £749) and is a bargain and there is nothing to compare. It is a different story with the 13-inch model though and there is an alternative to consider.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Fri, 06/27/2014 - 02:56
When you are working on your computer or simply browsing the web for fun, you will occasionally need to temporarily store information. One way of doing this is with the Notes app or Stickies, the Mac's sticky notes app, but Google Keep now runs on the desktop and it offers several advantages over the OS X built in apps.
How often do you check your email? Probably too often and if there isn’t any new mail, it is a waste of time. If the email isn’t important, it is also a time waster. GMail Counter is a Safari extension that solves the problem.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Wed, 06/18/2014 - 13:47
Apple just launched a new iMac and it is a budget model that costs just US $1099 or UK £899. The obvious questions are what is different, apart from the price, and is it worth considering if you are thinking of buying your first Mac or upgrading from an older model? Is the new iMac a bargain you should immediately snap up, or would it be better to pay a bit more and get one of the other models?
Submitted by rwaddilove on Mon, 06/16/2014 - 13:29
Apple introduced tabs to Finder windows with OS X Mavericks, which is a fact that is very easy to forget. This is partly because old Mac users aren’t used to them and partly because the feature is hidden. It is very easy to simply carry on exactly as we always have completely oblivious to the fact that there are tabs. They also work in non-obvious ways.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Tue, 06/10/2014 - 03:21
Apple Macs are very reliable of course, but like all computers they do occasionally experience problems. If you think that you'll never have a problem because you are using Apple kit, you should check out the Apple Support Communities. There are lots of posts there from people experiencing all kinds of difficulties.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Mon, 06/02/2014 - 12:42
Apple Macs are much less likely to be infected by malware like viruses, Trojans and other nasties than Windows computers, but they are not completely immune. There have been some well publicised virus infections in recent years and large numbers of Macs were affected by malware such as the Flashback Trojan, OSX/Crisis and others. Yes, the Mac is safer, but it is not 100% safe.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Mon, 05/26/2014 - 16:01
If you use the latest version of Chrome for browsing the web on your Apple iMac or MacBook, you will have noticed a new icon in the menu bar, a bell icon which is used to access notifications and Google Now. When Chrome is running, and it doesn't have to be on the screen, it can be minimised, clicking this icon will display a notifications panel that is similar to what you would see on an Android phone. Is it useful? Do you need it?
Submitted by rwaddilove on Tue, 05/20/2014 - 03:37
Wireless networks are brilliant - when they work. Mostly they do work perfectly well, but there are occasions where something isn't right and you have a poor connection or none at all. You can't get on the internet and you might not even be able to get on the Wi-Fi network. Determining what is wrong is not easy, but if you are struggling to diagnose the cause, there is a secret utility buried in OS X that can help.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Mon, 05/19/2014 - 12:16
Do you have the status bar at the bottom of Safari's browser window visible? If you do, it can show useful information like the destination of links, buttons and menus. The downside is that you lose a bit of screen space. That's OK on a 27in iMac, but if you use a MacBook you need every last pixel because the screen is small. Ultimate Status Bar maximise the screen space while providing an even more powerful status bar.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Mon, 05/12/2014 - 09:02
The disks in Apple Macs don't need cleaning, they never get cluttered up with junk, and they just work, don't they? Well, no. The Mac is good, but it is not imune to the build of clutter and file debris that goes with everyday usage of a modern computer. Unwanted files can clutter up the disk drive and duplicates steal space, leaving the drive underperforming.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Fri, 05/09/2014 - 14:50
At the right-hand side of the menu bar on the Mac are a group of useful items like the battery/power indicator, the date, the Wi-Fi indicator, your account name and so on. Have you ever wondered where they come from? It is actually quite interesting and there are additional items that can be placed on the menu bar that are normally hidden.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Fri, 05/02/2014 - 14:30
iPhoto does a great job of organising your all of your digital photos. You just have to plug in an iPhone, iPad or digital camera and it imports all the snapshots you have taken and it stores them on the disk drive. It even organises them for you. But where exactly does it put them and how do you access them outside of iPhoto?
Submitted by rwaddilove on Mon, 04/28/2014 - 08:56
When you open a new Finder window in OS X on the Apple Mac, does it instantly appear or does it take a couple of seconds for the contents to refresh? It can be irritating when Finder is slow and you are in a hurry, and the problem could be the All My Files feature. It is possible to speed up Finder by customising All My Files.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Tue, 04/22/2014 - 06:17
When OS X Mountain Lion or Mavericks is installed on an Apple Mac, a hidden recovery partition is added to the disk drive that contains tools for solving problems, backing up or restoring the disk contents, or to reinstall OS X. For various reasons, this useful recovery partition may be missing on your Mac.
Submitted by rwaddilove on Fri, 04/18/2014 - 03:58
Not all Apple Macs have big disk drives and if you have had one for some time you might be running short of space. This is especially true of Macs with SSDs (solid state disks) and early MacBook Airs for example, only had 64GB SSDs. Even now entry level models only have 128GB. You can free up many gigabytes of disk space by moving the iTunes folder to another disk drive, such as an external unit.
The Reminders app is useful for creating lists of things to do, such as tasks, jobs, projects, even shopping lists. You can easily enter one or more items with tick boxes and then tick them off when they are done. You can go further though, and use Reminders to remind you to do something at a specific location. When you arrive or leave a location, Reminders pops up and shows you the task or tasks you need to do.
There are many email scams and people are constantly working on ways to fool you into revealing your bank details, login details to online services and so on. You need to be aware of the dangers and how to avoid them. Here is a typical email that tried to fool me into revealing my Apple ID - the username and password used to log into Apple services like iTunes. You might get a similar one, so take a look and learn how to spot the fakes.
Apple provides 5GB of online storage space for you to use for free. How much are you using? You might be surprised at the amount and even when you think you are not using any, you could be using several gigabytes and be near your free space limit. Here’s how to check your iCloud storage and why you are using so much space.
If you need a cheap, small, light MacBook that will run all day on its battery, the 11-inch model costs just US $899 (UK £749) and is a bargain and there is nothing to compare. It is a different story with the 13-inch model though and there is an alternative to consider.
When you are working on your computer or simply browsing the web for fun, you will occasionally need to temporarily store information. One way of doing this is with the Notes app or Stickies, the Mac's sticky notes app, but Google Keep now runs on the desktop and it offers several advantages over the OS X built in apps.
How often do you check your email? Probably too often and if there isn’t any new mail, it is a waste of time. If the email isn’t important, it is also a time waster. GMail Counter is a Safari extension that solves the problem.
Apple just launched a new iMac and it is a budget model that costs just US $1099 or UK £899. The obvious questions are what is different, apart from the price, and is it worth considering if you are thinking of buying your first Mac or upgrading from an older model? Is the new iMac a bargain you should immediately snap up, or would it be better to pay a bit more and get one of the other models?
Apple Macs are much less likely to be infected by malware like viruses, Trojans and other nasties than Windows computers, but they are not completely immune. There have been some well publicised virus infections in recent years and large numbers of Macs were affected by malware such as the Flashback Trojan, OSX/Crisis and others. Yes, the Mac is safer, but it is not 100% safe.
If you use the latest version of Chrome for browsing the web on your Apple iMac or MacBook, you will have noticed a new icon in the menu bar, a bell icon which is used to access notifications and Google Now. When Chrome is running, and it doesn't have to be on the screen, it can be minimised, clicking this icon will display a notifications panel that is similar to what you would see on an Android phone. Is it useful? Do you need it?
Wireless networks are brilliant - when they work. Mostly they do work perfectly well, but there are occasions where something isn't right and you have a poor connection or none at all. You can't get on the internet and you might not even be able to get on the Wi-Fi network. Determining what is wrong is not easy, but if you are struggling to diagnose the cause, there is a secret utility buried in OS X that can help.
Do you have the status bar at the bottom of Safari's browser window visible? If you do, it can show useful information like the destination of links, buttons and menus. The downside is that you lose a bit of screen space. That's OK on a 27in iMac, but if you use a MacBook you need every last pixel because the screen is small. Ultimate Status Bar maximise the screen space while providing an even more powerful status bar.
The disks in Apple Macs don't need cleaning, they never get cluttered up with junk, and they just work, don't they? Well, no. The Mac is good, but it is not imune to the build of clutter and file debris that goes with everyday usage of a modern computer. Unwanted files can clutter up the disk drive and duplicates steal space, leaving the drive underperforming.
At the right-hand side of the menu bar on the Mac are a group of useful items like the battery/power indicator, the date, the Wi-Fi indicator, your account name and so on. Have you ever wondered where they come from? It is actually quite interesting and there are additional items that can be placed on the menu bar that are normally hidden.
iPhoto does a great job of organising your all of your digital photos. You just have to plug in an iPhone, iPad or digital camera and it imports all the snapshots you have taken and it stores them on the disk drive. It even organises them for you. But where exactly does it put them and how do you access them outside of iPhoto?
When you open a new Finder window in OS X on the Apple Mac, does it instantly appear or does it take a couple of seconds for the contents to refresh? It can be irritating when Finder is slow and you are in a hurry, and the problem could be the All My Files feature. It is possible to speed up Finder by customising All My Files.
When OS X Mountain Lion or Mavericks is installed on an Apple Mac, a hidden recovery partition is added to the disk drive that contains tools for solving problems, backing up or restoring the disk contents, or to reinstall OS X. For various reasons, this useful recovery partition may be missing on your Mac.
Not all Apple Macs have big disk drives and if you have had one for some time you might be running short of space. This is especially true of Macs with SSDs (solid state disks) and early MacBook Airs for example, only had 64GB SSDs. Even now entry level models only have 128GB. You can free up many gigabytes of disk space by moving the iTunes folder to another disk drive, such as an external unit.
