Mac How-Tos

Updated January 12th, 2017.

Women's March Madness logo NCAA Women’s March Madness Calendar for iPhone, Mac, and iPad - March Madness NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament calendar in ics (iCal) format. Updates automatically! Teams, date, times, and TV. Works with Google Calendar too.
March Madness Calendars for iPhone and Mac NCAA March Madness Calendar for iPhone, Mac, and iPad - March Madness NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament calendar in ics (iCal) format. Updates automatically! Teams, date, times, and TV. Works with Google Calendar too.
2023 Women's World Cup featured image 2023 Women’s World Cup Soccer Tournament Calendar for iPhone, iPad, and Mac Calendar apps - Women's World Cup Soccer Tournament schedule for iPhone, iPad, and Mac calendars. Works with Google Calendar too. Updates automatically. Free.
Leagues Cup Calendar for iPhone and Mac Leagues Cup Soccer Tournament Schedule for iPhone, iPad, and Mac Calendar apps - Leagues Cup Soccer Tournament schedule for iPhone, iPad, and Mac calendars. Works with Google Calendar too. Updates automatically. Free.
NHL Playoffs Calendar for iPhone and Mac NHL Playoffs Schedule for iPhone, iPad, and Mac Calendar apps - NHL Playoffs calendar in iCal (ics) format for iPhone, iPad, Mac, & Google Calendar. Times, dates, TV stations. Updated with scores as games go final. Includes links to 3-minute video highlights.
UFL Calendar main image UFL Schedule for iPhone, iPad, and Mac Calendar apps - UFL calendar in iCal (ics) format for iPhone, iPad, Mac, & Google Calendar. Times, dates, TV stations. Updated with scores as games go final.
How to add your COVID-19 vaccination record to your iPhone’s Wallet, for Californians - Add your COVID-19 vaccination record to your iPhone's Wallet app, for quick, secure access. This article tells you how.
MLB Playoffs Calendar Major League Baseball (MLB) Playoffs Calendar for iPhone and Mac Calendars - Here's the Major League Baseball (MLB) Playoffs Calendar in ".ics" format for your iPhone and Mac. Subscribe to the calendar and get updates as game times and teams are determined.
Five essential Mac Safari keyboard shortcuts featured image Five Mac Safari shortcuts that you can’t live without - Speed up your web browsing with these five essential Mac Safari keyboard shortcuts.
How to get rid of HPDeviceMonitoring.framework pop-up featured image How to get rid of “HPDeviceMonitoring.framework will damage your computer” pop-ups on your Mac - Here's how to fix the pop-up messages saying "HPDeviceManager.framework will damage your computer" in three easy steps. (HP's method takes 12 steps.)
How to password-protect a Word document on a Mac - Here's how you password-protect a Word document on your Mac. You can require a password for opening a document and another for editing.
How to password-protect an Excel document on a Mac How to password-protect an Excel document on a Mac - Here's how you password-protect a Excel document on a Mac. Step-by-step instructions. Easy as pie. Keep your private stuff private.
How to solve “this page was reloaded because of a problem” in Safari 14 with macOS Mojave - If Safari 14 doesn't load pages properly on your Mojave Mac you might need to reinstall the system. It's easy, and it works. Here's how.
Seven Tips and Shortcuts for the Mac Calculator app - The Mac Calculator app has hidden powers. Here are my favorite Mac Calculator tips: conversions, paper tape, commas, scientific functions, more.
Eleven ways to add attachments to a Mac Mail message - Everything you need to know about attaching files to Mac Mail messages. Includes eleven ways to do it! The Definitive Guide.
Why do some Mac Mail attachments appear as icons but others don’t? - The Mac Mail app shows attachments as icons, unless they're single-page PDFs or images. If you want everything to be icons that's doable.
Best ad blocker for Safari on the Mac - You need an ad blocker for Safari, and Wipr is the best one. It's cheap, it's easy, and it works. Get it, set it, and forget it.
Four ways to control which app opens for a given document - Many of us double-click icons and whatever happens, happens. Here's how to control which app is launched, and then some.
Top 10 things to do to maximize your Mac’s performance - Maximize your Mac's performance by making it faster and easier to use. Change a few settings now and save time and effort day after day.
Mac Mastery Series: Save Time and Effort with Smart Folders - Find Word documents opened in last 2 weeks, or images more than 1000 pixels in height & width. Or... you name it. Automatically. Here's how.
How to Customize Finder Toolbar featured image Mac Mastery Series: Save Time and Make Things Easier by Customizing the Finder’s Toolbar - Add text labels to buttons in Finder Toolbars. Remove unwanted buttons. Add buttons you want. Add favorite apps and folders to the Toolbar.
Rename multiple items at once Mac Mastery Series: Rename Multiple Items at Once - Rename multiple files at once using the Finder's "Rename Items" feature. Change "IMG0245" through "IMG0745" to "Texas 1" through "Texas 501."
New Folder with Selection Mac Mastery Series: New Folder with Selection - Clean up and organize your Mac's desktop the fast and easy way using the Finder's "New Folder with Selection" command.
XFL Calendar XFL Schedule for iPhone, iPad, and Mac Calendar apps - XFL calendar in iCal (ics) format for iPhone, iPad, Mac, & Google Calendar. Times, dates, TV stations. Updated with scores as games go final.
2023-2024 College Football Bowl Game Schedule for iPhone, iPad, and Mac Calendar apps - College Football Bowl Game calendar in iCal (ics) format for iPhone, iPad, Mac, & Google Calendar. Times, dates, and tv stations. Updated every year.
Office 365 Mac activation featured image How to activate Microsoft Office 365 when stuck on “Loading” - Microsoft Office 365 for the Mac seems to have a bug that prevents activation in El Capitan and Yosemite. Here's the fix.
Best online college football schedules Best Online College Football Schedules - Here is a collection of the very best college football schedules available online. Teams, times, TV-- you name it, it's here.
Mac Option Key tip #08: Option-Empty Trash - Skip the "Are you sure?" dialog when emptying the Trash by holding the Option key. Also helps when something won't delete. Try it!
Option Click to download Mac Option Key tip #07: Option-Click to Download in Safari and Chrome - Trying to download a PDF form in Safari or Chrome? Hold the Option key as you click the link and the document goes to your downloads folder.
Option-drag animated gif Mac Option Key tip #06: Option-Drag to Duplicate - The Option-Drag technique works all over the place. It's one of the handiest Mac things to know. It lets you make copies of things, rather than move them.
Show pixel dimensions of an image without opening it, on a Mac - Image dimensions are important: hi-res for printing, low-res for online viewing, etc. Quickly get the image you want by using this tip.
Rotation Arrows with and without the Option key Mac Option Key tip #05: Rotate the Other Direction - Rotate pictures 90 degrees counter-clockwise in iPhoto, Photos, and Preview. If you want to rotate the other direction, hold the Option key.
Contacts icon Mac Option Key tip #04: Reveal a Contact’s Groups - The Mac's Contacts app reveals the Groups a contact is in, at the press of a key. Of course it's the Option key. This will help you one day.
Command-Option-w Mac Option Key tip #03: Close All Finder Windows - Close all of your open Finder windows with a keystroke. You know about Command-W; try adding the Option key. Or, Option-click a Close button.
Malwarebytes: This scan found some malware. How to remove adware and malware from your Mac - Adware and malware take over your searches, spy on your browsing, and slow down your Mac. Remove it with Malwarebytes for the Mac. Here's how.
Option key with menu bar battery icon Mac Option Key tip #02: the Battery Status Menu - Hold the Option key while clicking on the Battery Status menu on your Mac laptop and find out whether your battery is in good shape or not.
Option key plus WiFi symbol Mac Option Key tip #01: the WiFi Menu - Hold the Option key, then click on the WiFi menu to see some interesting stuff about your network. Handy for trouble-shooting. Try it!
Blinking Yellow Light on an Apple Airport– what it means, what to do - Blinking yellow light on your Apple Airport needs attention. Fnd out what the problem is and update firmware using the Airport Utility.
Edit menu/Paste and Match Style Clean up text with Paste and Match Style - If things look messy after you paste some text, undo it and try "Paste and Match Style" instead. It's right there in the Edit menu. And it works great.
How to Open PDFs on a Mac with Preview instead of Acrobat Reader - Acrobat Reader is complicated and no fun to use. Here's how you can set Apple's clean and elegant Preview app as the default app for PDFs.
Time Machine set-up How to set up a Time Machine Backup - Time Machine backup software is part of the Mac system. It will back up your Mac automatically, every hour. Here's how to set it up.
NFL Calendar logo NFL Post-Season Calendar for iPhone and Mac - Get the NFL Post-Season schedule into your iPhone or Mac's Calendar app. Calendar includes teams, times, and TV info. Updated with scores. Also works with Google Calendar.
How to Make and Use Smart Folders on a Mac - Smart Folders can quickly show you all of your images, all recent documents, and more, Quit losing time hunting for files. Use Smart Folders.
Apple's October 30th Event How to watch Apple’s October 30th, 2018 event - How to watch Apple's October 30th event, and what to expect. New iPads are a good bet, as are refreshed MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs.
How to sync text messages between your iPhone and your Mac - You want your iPhone's text messages to sync with your Mac and iPad-- all messages, green and blue both. Here's how you set it up.
Apple Special Event September 12th, 2018 How to watch Apple’s September 12th 2018 Special Event - Here's how to watch Apple's September 2018 announcements on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad.
WordPress logo How to make a free WordPress Blog (Part 3) - How to make a free WordPress.com website, including review of major features in the Dashboard. Posts, pages, menus, themes, and more.
WordPress logo How to make a free WordPress Blog (Part 2) - WordPress.com blogging basics: how to make a new post, how to edit it, how to add an image to a blog post, how to create & assign categories.
WordPress logo How to make a free WordPress blog (Part 1) - Learn how to make a free WordPress blog using this easy tutorial. All you need is a web browser and an internet connection.
Text Replacement examples Make Your Own iPhone and Mac Text Replacements for Auto-Correct - Add custom Auto-Correct text replacements to your iPhone & Mac. Save typing: xpand a short string into a longer one Make fewer typos.
Moom, Paste, and Alfred-- essential Mac add-ons Essential Mac Add-on Apps - Three apps that make using a Mac easier, faster, and nicer. I install these on my Macs and you should too! The apps: Moom, Paste, and Alfred.
Sad Finder How I Rescued a Mac Whose Finder Didn’t Work - The Mac started, but I couldn't open a Finder window or see any files on the Desktop. Fixing it was easy once I knew what to to.
Library Folder Mac Option Key tip #12: Open your Library folder - Your user "Library" folder is really important-- so important that Apple hides it. Here's how you can find it and open it up.
Messages icon, 256 x 241 Mac Option Key tip #11: Delete a Messages conversation with one click - Cut your work in half in the Mac OS Messages app. Deleting conversations used to be click-the-x, wait for a box, then click Delete. Now it's one click.
Mac Option Key tip #10: One-click System Information - Apple's System Information app can be accessed by going to the Apple menu while holding down the Option key. You save one click this way. And you look cool.
Special characters Mac Option Key tip #09: Special Characters - You can type many special characters using the Option key. This post includes a handy cheat sheet for commonly-needed characters like "ñ" and "é" and "."
10.11.6: thumbs up! Should I update my Mac to 10.11.6? - Should you install the 10.11.6 update on your Mac? Probably yes. Download 10.11.6 Combo Update and install it the "pro" way.
Google Search Tips: eliminate results you don't want How to get better Google search results - Google can give too many search results, including some with terms you don't want. Here's how to eliminate results you don't want. The trick? A minus sign.
Google Search Tips: how to get only the newest articles. How to search Google for the newest results - Want Google to show the newest, freshest articles-- like when you're searching for the best tacos in Austin? Here's how to get what you want.
Google Search Tips: search for different kinds of pictures How to search Google for different kinds of pictures - Search Google for photographs, line drawings, cartoon-like, artistic, and more. Want pictures labeled for reuse? Here's how.
Google Search Tips: search images by color How to search Google images by color - Search Google for images by color. Sometimes they make it easy for you with big "red" and "blue" buttons; I show you how.
How to restrict your Google search to a single website - Restrict a Google search to a single website. Handy for filtering out results and returns better results than searching at the site itself.
Transcend JetDrive Lite How to Expand Storage on MacBook Pro Retina and MacBook Air - There are two ways to upgrade MacBook Pro Retina and MacBook Air storage. One is very easy; the other is slightly less easy, but worth it.
How to Show (and Hide) Invisible Characters like Paragraph Marks in Microsoft Word on a Mac - Light blue marks in your Word documents are "invisible characters" (returns, tabs, & spaces). Here's how to turn them off, and back on.
Can't Log Into User Account Mac What to Do When You Can’t Log Into Your User Account on a Mac - If your Mac turns on, but won't log into your user account, there may be an easy fix. Here's how to revive a sick user account on a Mac.
Unidentified Developer How to Open a Mac App from an Unidentified Developer - Here's how to open an app that your Mac says can't be opened due to being from "An unidentified developer"-- while keeping your Mac secure.
Open DNS How to Block Porn Sites and Phishing Sites AND Speed Up Your Home Network - Block porn sites, phishing sites, and make your network faster with one simple change. Use OpenDNS's server numbers at no cost. Here's how.
10.11.5 thumbs up Should I update my Mac to 10.11.5? - Download 10.11.5 Combo Update and install it the "pro" way. Should you install the 10.11.5 update on your Mac? Probably yes
10.11.4: I say thumbs up! Should I Update My Mac to 10.11.4? - Wondering whether you should upgrade to 10.11.4? This article helps you decide. Includes info for Macs on 10.11 and for Macs on older systems.
This is how I do it. How to Make “Recent Items” More Useful - Increase the number of items in the Apple Menu's Recent Items list from the default 10 to 50 and increase your odds of finding what you want.
How to Turn On the Mac’s Scroll Bars - Scroll bars give you visual information at a glance, IF they're turned on. They're off by default. Here's how to turn them on.
Mac OS X 10.11.3 update: don’t do it - Updated May 27th, 2016.I’m seeing a lot of problems with Apple’s 10.11.3 update. If you’ve already installed the 10.11.3 update and everything seems fine, consider yourself lucky; if you haven’t installed it, play it safe and don’t install it. I’ve never seen a more problematic update. UPDATE: the 10.11.4 update is out and I’ve seen... Continue Reading →
How to recognize phony virus scams on Mac and iPhone - Updated October 9th, 2018.Most of the blog posts I write are positive, upbeat, “Looky what you can do with your Apple thing!” articles. Lots of how-tos, lots of reviews, all designed to help you do more with your Macs, iPhones, and iPads. Basically, I show you what to do. This time, I’m going to show... Continue Reading →
How to know when it’s going to rain - Updated April 13th, 2020.UPDATE March 2020: Apple likes the forecast.io people so much they bought the company. UPDATE: forecast.io has changed. It’s still great, but it’s now called darksky.net. Read my new article about darksky.net, written in October 2016. When it comes to rain, most of us have questions like these: “Do I have time... Continue Reading →
2015-2016 College Football Bowl Game Calendar for iPhone and Mac - Updated April 13th, 2020.UPDATE: I’ve created the 2016-2017 College Football Bowl Game calendar for you. Click here to get it. When asked whether you want to subscribe, click YES. UPDATE: here is the 2016 College Football schedule, for each team in America. The nice people at collegefootballcalendar.net have put out a calendar showing every college... Continue Reading →
How to password-protect a Numbers 3.5 document on a Mac - Updated December 19th, 2015.Apple’s Numbers 3.5 app on the Mac has a nice feature that lets you protect a document with a password. Without the password, the document won’t open. You don’t need this every day but someday you will, and here’s how you do it. (You do it exactly the same way you do... Continue Reading →
How to password-protect a Numbers ’09 document on a Mac - Updated December 19th, 2015.You can password-protect a Numbers ’09 document. That means no one can open the document unless he has the password. This can be very handy if you share your Mac with other members of the family, or if you have roommates who “borrow” your stuff, or if you have a very, very... Continue Reading →
How to password-protect a Pages 5.5 document on the Mac - Here's how you password-protect a Pages 5.x document on your Mac.
How to password-protect a Pages ’09 document on a Mac - Updated December 19th, 2015.You might have a reason to want to password-protect a Pages ’09 document. Maybe it’s your Christmas list. Maybe it has performance review notes. Maybe it’s your diary. Whatever it is, you might not want people to be able to open it unless they’re invited. You need a way of locking your... Continue Reading →
Secrets of the Mac OS Dock - Updated July 4th, 2016.Secrets of the Mac OS Dock We use the Dock all the time without thinking much about it. But, it turns out there are a lot of “Dock things” worth thinking about. The more you know the better you can use it. That goes for me too: while writing this article I... Continue Reading →
Hmmm! Why Don’t Photos Sync between my iPhone and Mac? - If you took a picture with your iPhone, and expected it to land on your Mac, but it didn't-- here's how to fix it. iCloud synching requires WiFi.
Season’s Greetings, and a Present for You - Updated April 13th, 2020.— Season’s Greetings, and a Present for You — It’s been a super year for me and my blog. I published my 400th article, doubled the blog’s readership, and connected with readers from around the world. With your help– comments, suggestions, and encouragement– I turned this blog into a forum for helping... Continue Reading →
How to Fix Yosemite’s Spotlight Search - Updated January 7th, 2017.I get a lot of complaints about Yosemite’s Spotlight search. Generally the complaints are “Spotlight finds everything except what I’m looking for!” Actually, what often happens is Spotlight does find what you’re looking for, but it finds so many other things that the thing you’re looking for gets lost in the soup.... Continue Reading →
How to Get Rid of Ads in Safari, Chrome, and Firefox on the Mac - Updated August 31st, 2021.Here’s how you remove ads and adware from web pages with a simple plug-in. This speeds up your web browsing because you’re downloading less material. There are roughly a billion active websites, and whichever ones you go to, I am positive that you aren’t going there for the ads. You’d never do... Continue Reading →
Schedule Outgoing Emails on Your Mac with SendLater - Here's how you can write an email today, and have it go out tomorrow morning. I use this all the time. Super-handy.
Easy Automation with IFTTT - Updated April 13th, 2020.Weren’t computers supposed to make things easier, doing all sorts of work for us while we sit on the porch drinking lemonade? It hasn’t exactly turned out that way, not for most of us. A free service called IFTTT (IF This, Then That) aims to change that. I use it and it’s... Continue Reading →
How to Update Flash Player on Your Mac - How to update Flash Player on a Mac. Step by step instructions, with Phishing Scam Quiz to help you recognize fake Flash Player installers.
Mac OS Yosemite: Should You Install It? - Updated December 19th, 2015.Readers of this blog are likely aware of Apple’s new Mac OS “Yosemite” (aka Mac OS 10.10). They’re also likely aware that it’s a free upgrade, and that all you have to do is click a button to start the installation. The question is, should you install Yosemite? Should you click that... Continue Reading →
How to use the Launchpad - Updated November 21st, 2015.If you’re using Mac OS 10.7 or higher your Mac includes a very handy app called the Launchpad. Its icon (shown above) is probably in the Dock, and you’ve probably seen it, and maybe even used it– but without a little instruction you may not have realized its power. So here’s a... Continue Reading →
My Four Favorite Money-Saving Shopping Websites - Updated April 13th, 2020.Our friend Ben Franklin said “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Actually, there’s some debate about whether he actually said that, but the thought is a good one. You can’t always bring in more money but if you buy stuff at a discount it’s almost the same thing. The four websites... Continue Reading →
iOS 8 Tip #8: Make and Answer Phone Calls From Your iPad - Updated April 13th, 2020.Eight for 8, Day Eight. I make a point of turning off my iPhone’s ringer when I am in someone else’s office or home. Occasionally I forget to do it, and when a call comes in I rush to slide the switch to “mute.” That’s what happened last week, but when I... Continue Reading →
400 blog posts How to Write 400 Blog Posts, Part 1 - I've published my 400th blog post. Here's how: tools, services, the works. I didn't know much about blogging when I started but I do now.
How to Make a Good Password - Updated October 9th, 2019.— How to Make a Good Password — UPDATE: even though your passwords aren’t stored as plain text at places like LinkedIn and Target it isn’t terribly hard to figure out what those passwords are should there be a data breach. This video shows you how password cracking gets done. You’ve no... Continue Reading →
Get Full-Screen Preview using Quick Look with the Option Key - Updated December 18th, 2015. Right when you think you know everything you learn something new. You already know about Quick Look, the Mac’s handy feature that lets you pop open a preview of images, movies, and many other kinds of documents by pressing the space bar (of course it only works if you’ve clicked on... Continue Reading →
Three Super Mail Tips for Mac OS X - Updated December 19th, 2015.Note: these tips work for Mac OS X 10.9, 10.8, and 10.7. Apple’s Mail program is by far the best way to read email, and it’s even better when you know how to use it better. Here are three of my favorite Mail tips. Give them a try. If they don’t help... Continue Reading →
Two Mysterious Mac Problems Solved - Updated December 18th, 2015.When things don’t work properly on a Mac we usually think it’s either a software bug, a problem with preferences, a software interaction the user isn’t aware of, or maybe user error. Thanks to Apple’s excellent quality control we rarely suspect a hardware issue, but sometimes the hardware is the problem. Here... Continue Reading →
The Easy Way to Fix CAPITALIZATION ERRORS - Ever type in ALL CAPS on your Mac by mistake, and want to fix it? It's easy to do and it takes about two seconds. Here's how to do it.
Get Faster Internet Just by Asking - Updated December 18th, 2015.I get my internet service through Time Warner Cable. I think the speed originally was 5 Mbps. Somewhere along the line I upgraded to Time Warner’s “Turbo” internet and got it up to 20 Mbps. I thought that was pretty fast. (I test the speed at www.speedtest.net. Avoid clicking the links that... Continue Reading →
WiFi Problem Solved via SMC Reset - Sometimes your Mac's WiFi acts funny-- you can't connect to WiFi networks that used to work automatically. Here's how to fix it.
Fix Your MacBook Pro’s Trackpad (maybe) - Updated July 24th, 2016.If your laptop’s trackpad won’t click anymore, but otherwise it works fine, the problem might not be the trackpad! Weird but true. The problem might be your laptop’s battery, because when the battery goes bad, it swells, and when it swells, it presses up against the trackpad. Which makes it difficult– maybe... Continue Reading →
How to boost the maximum sound volume on a Mac - Make your Mac's speakers louder with "Boom." Especially great for laptops with their tiny speakers. Increase the volume of everything.
How to be a Faster Mac User, Part 1 - Updated April 13th, 2020.Want to be a faster Mac user? Watch this video and see how it’s done. Click the picture to start the movie. Dave F. wins the coffee cup because I saw him click the little tiny up/down triangles in a dialog box and that inspired me to write this blog post. You... Continue Reading →
Clone Your Hard Disk– Automatically - Here's the easiest way to clone your Mac's hard disk automatically.
The Daily Tip: New Folder from Selected Items - Updated April 12th, 2016.I see a lot of Macs in a day and most of them have a giant mess of files on their desktops. Cleaning things up, for most people, is a four-step process: Make a new folder Select the files you want to drag to the new folder Realize you can’t find the... Continue Reading →
The Daily Tip: Tips and Shortcuts for Mac Mail - Updated January 26th, 2017.If you’re a Mac user you’re probably using Apple’s Mail program for email. Here are some of my favorite Mail tips and shortcuts. 1. Command-Shift-MHide the Mailbox list if it’s showing, show it if it’s hiding. Go from this… … to this… … and back, using Command-Shift-M. Show the Mailbox list when... Continue Reading →
The Daily Tip: Automate ebay Searches with SearchDome - Updated April 27th, 2016.Automate ebay Searches with SearchDome ebay is great, but if the thing you’re looking for isn’t available the first time you search for it you’re going to have to come back and search for it again. That’s a bit of trouble, and half the time you forget to do it anyway. So... Continue Reading →
The Daily Tip: Google Translate - Updated December 18th, 2015.Do you ever need to translate something into another language? Of course you do. Here’s how you do it quickly and effortlessly, using Google Translate. 1. Go to translate.google.com. Here’s what you’ll see: In this case the box on the left is set for English, which is what I’m going to type... Continue Reading →
The Daily Tip: Use Spacebar to Scroll Down - Updated December 1st, 2015.Here’s a tip that makes web browsing on a Mac a whole lot easier. It works in Safari, Firefox, and Chrome, so you can learn it once and use it everywhere. It’s a simple, one-step procedure that could not be easier. Just remember: this is for Macs, not for iPhones and iPads.... Continue Reading →
The Daily Tip: Show Day, Date, and Time in the Menu Bar - Updated December 18th, 2015.That little menubar clock at the top right of your Mac’s screen is handy, as it’s always nice to know what time it is. Of course, it is also nice to know the day of the week, and by default the day of the week shows up right next to the time.... Continue Reading →
How to Use iPhoto to Fix a Bad Photo (Episode 3) - Updated April 12th, 2016.Episode 3 of a three-part series on using iPhoto on a Mac to fix bad photos. This installment: removing blemishes (and lamp posts). Click the image below to watch my video tutorial. Copyright 2008-2023 Christian Boyce. All rights reserved.
How to Use iPhoto to Fix a Bad Photo (Episode 2) - Updated April 12th, 2016.Episode 2 of a three-part series on using iPhoto on a Mac to fix bad photos. This installment: fixing pictures that are washed out. Click the image below to watch my video tutorial. Copyright 2008-2023 Christian Boyce. All rights reserved.
How to Use iPhoto to Fix a Bad Photo (Episode 1) - Updated April 12th, 2016.Episode 1 of a three-part series on using iPhoto on a Mac to fix bad photos. This installment: fixing pictures that are too dark. Click the image below to watch my video tutorial. Copyright 2008-2023 Christian Boyce. All rights reserved.
Can’t Add a Printer? Reset the Mac Printing System - If you can't add a printer, maybe it's time to reset the printing system. The mechanism is hidden; Apple does not make it easy to find.
Time Machine One Time Machine Mystery Solved - Updated December 1st, 2015.Every so often I solve a problem and the solution involves some luck. I had one of those the other day. In an attempt to save someone else from struggling with a similar problem I’m writing it down. Or writing it up. Whatever. The problem involved Time Machine. The Mac was a... Continue Reading →
Forecast.io: Great Weather Website - Updated October 29th, 2016.UPDATE October 2016: Forecast.io is now Darksky.net. See my article about Darksky.net and the Darksky app. Forecast.io is the nicest, cleanest, and most useful weather website that I’ve ever seen. It’s from the same people who made the excellent Dark Sky app for iPhones and iPads, and like Dark Sky it’s all... Continue Reading →
Another Flash Update - Updated November 10th, 2016.Once again a bug in Adobe’s Flash plug-in presents a serious security risk to Mac users, and once again Apple has disabled all but the very latest version of it. Which means that if you’re using Safari on your Mac and you try to load a webpage that requires Flash you’ll get... Continue Reading →
Macworld/iWorld 2013 - Updated December 18th, 2015.I’ll be speaking at Macworld as part of the RapidFire session. It’s a lot of fun for everyone: each of ten speakers gets 5 minutes to demonstrate something cool. I’ll be covering Moom, Desktop Curtain, and Typinator (and speaking very quickly). Here’s a link to my PDF handout. Macworld/iWorld 2013 runs this... Continue Reading →
How to Use iPhoto’s Batch Change feature - Updated December 1st, 2015.This is another one for Dad, but I’ll bet it helps a zillion other people too. Sometimes in iPhoto you want to change the names of a whole bunch of photos. For example, you might want to number them sequentially, with a prefix indicating the name of the album they’re in. That’s... Continue Reading →
How to Use Dropbox’s Previous Versions feature - Dropbox remembers what you've put into it, even if you've deleted it or written over it. Here's how you can recover files that you have somehow lost.
How to Eject a CD from a Mac - Updated January 7th, 2017.Here’s another tip for Dad, the new iMac owner. You might be thinking “What could be so hard about ejecting a CD? Push a button and out it comes.” Well, yes, but… sometimes things go wrong. Here’s how to handle it when they do. Actually, the first thing to do is NEVER... Continue Reading →
Best Mac Keyboard Shortcuts - Updated December 18th, 2015.Dad is now a Mac owner. He used a Mac at work way back when but things have changed a lot. And, even the things that haven’t changed a lot are ancient memories for him. I thought it would be a good idea to put together a series of Mac hints for... Continue Reading →
How to Use Safari’s iCloud Tabs - Updated July 18th, 2016.(No, that’s not the official iCloud logo, but I thought it would be fun to build one from Safari icons.) Safari’s iCloud Tabs is a feature I didn’t think I’d be interested in, and now I use it all the time. Give it a try and see if you’re not hooked, same... Continue Reading →
Stuff I Use (2012 Mac Software Edition): Part 1 - Updated December 16th, 2016.— Stuff I Use (2012 Mac Software Edition): Part 1 — Here are some software goodies that I use on a daily basis. They don’t cost much, but man do they make a difference. Keyboard Maestro Keyboard Maestro lets me assign shortcut keys to just about everything. I can press F9 and... Continue Reading →
Six Safari 6 Tips (for Mac) - Updated January 7th, 2017.Safari 6 is loaded with features that you’re not likely to stumble upon. Here are six of my favorites. Check ’em out: 1. If you type search criteria (or a web address) into the Unified Search Field, and hold the Shift key down when you hit Return, you get your results in... Continue Reading →
Big Day of Updates: iOS 6, Mountain Lion 10.8.2, and Lion 10.7.5 - Updated January 17th, 2018.Who says there’s nothing new under the sun? I don’t, especially after today. All in one day, Apple released: iOS 6 OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion OS X 10.7.5 Lion The short story: back up your devices, then go ahead with the updates.(Click here for an excellent and exhaustive Macworld article on... Continue Reading →
BetterTouchTool Puts the Magic into Apple’s Magic Trackpad - Updated October 9th, 2019.This is Apple’s Magic Trackpad. It’s like a MacBook Pro’s trackpad, only bigger, and designed for use with a desktop Mac. I’m using one with my iMac and after a couple of days getting used to it, I’m hooked. I think you will be too. The Magic Trackpad has a couple of... Continue Reading →
Mountain Lion Hints and Tips - Updated January 7th, 2017.I’ve had Apple’s $19.99 Mountain Lion installed here on an iMac (2.7 GHz Intel Core i5) for about two weeks, enough time to find a few niceties and doodads that you might be interested in. Here goes. Address Book has been renamed “Contacts” (matching the iPhone and iPad apps) and it has... Continue Reading →
How to Use Rules in Mail to Process Email Automatically - Updated December 18th, 2015.In the olden days, mail came in an envelope and if you were lucky, a secretary went through the mail for you, prioritizing and filing and sometimes handling things personally so you wouldn’t have to. Unfortunately, most of our mail comes electronically, but fortunately, we can create a “virtual secretary” to process... Continue Reading →
One-Touch Google Maps Directions Using Apple’s Address Book - Updated April 12th, 2016.Apple’s Address Book has a neat feature: when you click on the label next to someone’s address it launches your web browser and shows you that address on maps.google.com (Google Maps). Very handy, but wouldn’t it be neat if it gave you directions to that address as well? Of course it would.... Continue Reading →
MacBook Pro with "Good Morning" speech bubble. How to Make Your Mac Read Out Loud to You - Here's how to make your Mac read out loud. It can read Mail messages, web pages, and more. Includes how to adjust the voice to your liking.
How to Make Your iPhone and iPad Read Out Loud to You - Here's how you make your iPhone and/or iPad read out loud to you. Read emails, web pages, even whole books. Super handy.
What to do about the Flashback trojan - Updated January 7th, 2017.Bad news and good news about Flashback. First the bad news. There’s this thing called Flashback and it will mess up your Mac big-time. You could get it simply by visiting an infected website. Flashback will inject code into your browser and the modification lets the bad guys collect information as you... Continue Reading →
Use Preview to Mark Up Images - Use the mark-up tools in the Mac's Preview program to create callouts, annotations, etc. on any image that Preview can open. Super handy.
Hear the Christian Boyce Macworld|iWorld Report on the Radio - Updated December 18th, 2015.I’ll be giving my annual “State of the Mac (and iPad, and iPhone)” address this Saturday on the Digital Village radio program, hosted by Ric Allan and Doran Barons. The show starts at 10 AM this Saturday, January 28th, 2012 and in Los Angeles you can listen to it live on the... Continue Reading →
My New Favorite Keyboard Shortcut: Command-option-f - Updated December 18th, 2015.I like keyboard shortcuts. I especially like keyboard shortcuts that work in multiple programs (like Command-P for Print). Recently I learned a new one: Command-option-f, and it works in seven programs. Learn it once and get seven times the usage. I really should tell you what it does but you’ll figure it... Continue Reading →
How to Add Color to Lion’s Finder Sidebar - For some reason Apple removed color from the Finder's sidebar. Here's how you put it back. This works for Macs on 10.6.8 through 10.10.
Happy Thanksgiving - How to make a delicious turkey on your Primo Kamado or Big Green Egg. How to watch lots of football and shop online for deals.
Apple Airport 7.6 Update - Updated December 18th, 2015.Apple put out a firmware update (version 7.6) for its Airport wireless routers. It helps with AirPlay (that amazing feature that lets you show your whole iPad 2 or iPhone 4S screen on your TV, provided you have an Apple TV), and with network performance. Apple doesn’t say much more about it,... Continue Reading →
Use Google to Search One Website - Updated December 18th, 2015.Right when you think you know everything, you learn something new. At least that’s what happens to me. Yesterday, I learned how to restrict my Google searches to a particular site. This can be very handy when you know that you read something on the internet, and you are sure you know... Continue Reading →
Automatically Open Multiple Websites, Part 2: your own AppleScript - Updated December 18th, 2015.Last time, we saw how we could open multiple websites with a single click. Problem is, the websites that we opened with one click were the ones I chose. So, now we’re going to learn how to specify which websites get opened. We’re going to write an AppleScript, and we’re going to... Continue Reading →
Automatically Open Multiple Websites, Part 1 - Updated December 18th, 2015.(There’s nothing I like better than saving people time and trouble by showing them a better way to use their Macs. These simple AppleScripts will save you time and trouble day after day after day.) I am willing to bet that you have a bunch of websites that you look at every... Continue Reading →
Save Money on Your AOL Bill - Updated December 20th, 2015.(This one is for AOL users. If you are one, read on. If you aren’t one, read on anyway. I’ll bet you have at least one AOL-using friend that can put this information to use.) Actually, I could have called this “Eliminate Your AOL Bill.” Keep reading. Once upon a time, AOL... Continue Reading →
Lion’s Mail: How to Fix the Toolbar - Updated January 3rd, 2016.Ah, Lion. It’s almost as if someone is trying to make our Macs harder to use. Here’s one example: the default setting for Lion’s Mail app has the toolbar displaying icons only. Problem is, some of the icons are new, and we don’t know what they do. Solution: set the toolbar to... Continue Reading →
How to Print Faster, and Save Ink - Save time and ink (and money!) by printing in a "fast" or "draft" mode. If you print to an inkjet printer this will help you out.
Lion Update 10.7.1: Big Improvement - Updated December 18th, 2015.Today Apple released its first update to Mac OS X Lion: 10.7.1. You can read a little about it on Apple’s site. If you’re on Lion already, this update is a must. Here, 10.7.1 runs in glorious silence, quite a difference from my Mac’s “roaring” (get it? Lion? Roaring?) fans under the... Continue Reading →
How to Bring Back “Search For” in Lion’s Finder Sidebar - Updated December 18th, 2015.You have questions, we have answers. It’s a match made in Heaven. Today’s question: “What happened to “Search For” in the Finder sidebar? I liked being able to use this occasionally and don’t understand why it was dropped. Is there any way to get it back? Thanks. Sincerely, Anonymous.” What a great... Continue Reading →
Clear Out Bad Addresses in Apple’s Mail - When addressing an email, do incorrect email addresses pop up? Would you llke to clean that up? Of course you would. Here's how.
Good Stuff in Mac OS X Lion - Updated December 18th, 2015.Even though Mac OS X Lion has kept a lot of us busy looking for work-arounds and otherwise solving problems, it also has some nice touches which bear pointing out. Here are a few that I especially like. 1. Finder: New Folder with Selection. Select some files, then choose File/New Folder with... Continue Reading →
How to Fix Lion’s Finder Preferences - Updated December 18th, 2015.My first look at Lion’s Finder was a mix of “that looks familiar” and “holy cow, what happened here?”. Some of Lion’s Finder looked like Snow Leopard’s, but some of it didn’t. Turns out that some of the stuff that didn’t is the result of some questionable default choices (by Apple), and... Continue Reading →
Grab Bag: Your Lion Questions, My Lion Answers - Updated October 9th, 2019.A lot of people come to this blog via Google, and I get a report of what exactly they were looking for. Lately, I’ve had a lot of visits from Google searches for “Lion won’t work with Microsoft Word,” but that’s hardly the only one. I thought I’d wade through the last... Continue Reading →
Best Safari 5 Extensions - Updated December 18th, 2015.Safari 5 introduced a new feature to Apple’s web browser, namely Extensions. Extensions allow programmers to “extend” Safari’s abilities beyond what comes standard. Here’s a link to Apple’s official Safari Extensions Gallery page, with many many many Extensions to read about and download. Four extensions that I’ve found handy are AdBlock, ClickToFlash,... Continue Reading →
Apple 10.6.8 Revised Update - Updated December 17th, 2015.Apple put out a “supplemental” 10.6.8 update today (July 25th, 2011). Among other important fixes, it restores network printing functionality that broke with the original 10.6.8. Apple puts it this way: “resolves issues with certain network printers that pause print jobs immediately and fail to complete.” Sounds good to me. Go to... Continue Reading →
Breakfast with the Lion - Updated October 9th, 2019.I installed Mac OS X Lion onto my MacBook last night. Once installed, Spotlight began indexing my hard drive, and that’s a pretty intensive process that really slows everything down (except for the fans inside the MacBook, which were going full-speed). Considering the “About 10 hours remaining” in the following dialog box…... Continue Reading →
A Brief Lion Update - Updated October 9th, 2019.At this very moment I am backing up my MacBook in preparation for a Lion install. I want to be able to go back to 10.6.8 in a hurry if I have to, so what I’ve done is purchase a 500 GB hard drive (same size as the drive in my MacBook), stick... Continue Reading →
Don’t Rush to Install Lion (Mac OS X 10.7) - Updated December 17th, 2015.We all like new stuff. With Apple’s new Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) coming out tomorrow and for only $29.99 it’s oh-so-tempting to download it as soon as possible. But I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You might end up with a better operating system, but you might also end... Continue Reading →
How to Compress a PDF on a Mac, Including in Lion - You can compress PDFs using Preview on the Mac. Do it when you create a PDF or do it later on. You can control the amount of compression too.
VIDEO TIP: My Favorite Safari Tips - Updated April 12th, 2016.Today’s tips are all about Safari. They will save you time. I guarantee it, or double your money back. Click the picture below to start the show. You’ll see, in vivid color, how to access the Google search box from the keyboard, how to open links without leaving the page you’re on,... Continue Reading →
Quicken for Mac Incompatible with Lion - Updated December 17th, 2015.UPDATE (March 8th, 2012): Intuit has built a Lion-compatible version of Quicken 2007! You can read all about it on their site, at this page. Unfortunately, they do not provide a link or any information about how you go about getting the Lion-compatible version. Come on, Intuit. That’s not very nice. I... Continue Reading →
Mac OS X 10.6.8 Printing Issue, and a Fix! - Updated August 18th, 2017.— Mac OS X 10.6.8 Printing Issue, and a Fix! — We interrupt The iMom Project to bring you this news about the Mac OS X 10.6.8 update. If you have a networked printer there is a chance that the printer won’t work after you update to 10.6.8. 10.6.7 works perfectly but... Continue Reading →
Search Google Images by COLOR - Updated July 16th, 2016.I know, everyone knows how to use Google… but not everyone knows how to use Google IMAGES to search by COLOR. They will if they read this blog entry. Suppose you go to Google and you search for something. Here, I’ve searched for Yoda. I want pictures, so I’ll click either of... Continue Reading →
Apple Security Update 2011-003 and the Mac Defender Malware - Updated December 19th, 2015.There’s this bad thing called Mac Defender. It comes from bad guys (Russians, just like in the movies). Then there’s this good thing called Apple Security Update 2011-003. It comes from good guys (Apple, Inc.). You want the Security Update 2011-003 because you DON’T want Mac Defender. So, Step One: go to... Continue Reading →
How to Type Perfectly, Part II - Updated December 17th, 2015.If there’s something you type all the time, and it’s more than a few characters, why not have your Mac type it for you? This tip will show you how. Let’s say, hypothetically, that your name is “Christian Boyce.” Now, let’s say you stay up late doing blog entries and AppleScripts and... Continue Reading →
How to Type Perfectly, Part I - Updated December 3rd, 2015.Suppose you were writing an email using Apple’s Mail program. Suppose you made some typing mistakes (who me?). Suppose your email looked like this: Not very good! But, those red underlines do show you where you made mistakes, and there are plenty of ways to make corrections. I will cover those in... Continue Reading →
Time Machine Another Time Machine Backup Success Story - Updated June 14th, 2016.One of my customers has a Mac Pro tower, and the hard drive went bad last week. A replacement drive was only $60, and it was even bigger and faster than the one that died. Of course the new drive was blank… but we had a Time Machine backup so we restored... Continue Reading →
How to Type Spanish Accents, French Accents, and Upside Down Question Marks - Type accents, umlauts, upside-down question marks & exclamation points on a Mac. Type things like "¡Olé!" and "résumé" and "¿Qué pasó?" Spanish, French, more.
VIDEO TIP: How to Add PDFs to Your iPad - Updated April 13th, 2020.Recently I hit upon the idea of gathering up as many of my PDF manuals as I could– manuals for my printer, for software, for my camera, etc.– and putting them onto my iPad for reading in the iBooks app. The way I do it is easier than what I’d seen described... Continue Reading →
Quick Fix for a Facebook Security Issue - Updated December 3rd, 2015.Facebook has a nice little security hole, and someone has already done a “proof of concept” hack to show that it’s easy to get into someone’s account. The hack involves “listening” as people log into Facebook using an open network (such as what you’d find at Starbucks) and capturing names and passwords.... Continue Reading →
VIDEO TIP: How to Customize the Mail Toolbar - Here's a video showing how you can customize the Mail app's toolbar on your Mac, making it easier and faster to use.
QR Codes: the Next Big Thing - QR codes store information in a blocky graphic. This article shows you how to make them and how to read them. Could save you a lot of time.
Google Instant Previews - Updated December 3rd, 2015.It’s not easy keeping up with Google— they make changes all the time, and they almost never make a big deal about them. Google Instant Previews is a good example of that. What it does is show you “Instant Previews” (hmmm!) of each website in search results, which makes it a little... Continue Reading →
Safari Shortcuts That I Just Learned - Updated December 3rd, 2015.I did a little experimenting today and found some new (to me) Safari shortcuts. Maybe they are new to you too. Try ’em out and see how they work for you. Option-Down Arrow: scrolls down one windowful. Fantastic. No more “click click click” to scroll down.Option-Up Arrow: scrolls up one windowful. Duh.... Continue Reading →
VIDEO TIP: Safari Bookmark Collections and Tabs - Updated December 17th, 2015.Click the picture below and learn how to use Bookmark Collections and Tabs in Safari to speed up your web browsing. Guaranteed to save you time. Your friend(s) will be impressed. Copyright 2008-2023 Christian Boyce. All rights reserved.
RetailMeNot.com: Money-Saving Website - Updated December 18th, 2015.Ever buy something online, and right at the end you see a little box that says “Enter your promotional code here”? Ever wonder how you’re supposed to get those codes? I get them from RetailMeNot.com. RetailMeNot.com provides discount codes for use on other websites (and printable coupons for use in stores, and... Continue Reading →
VIDEO Tip: Safari Bookmarks - Updated April 12th, 2016.Back by popular demand, it’s VIDEO. A picture is worth a thousand words, so a movie should be worth even more. Let’s test that theory out. A couple of weeks ago we had a contest about Safari Bookmarks and cool ways to make them. Nine-year old Zach won it with the first... Continue Reading →
Safari Bookmark Tips - Updated December 18th, 2015.You probably think you know all about making bookmarks in Safari, and maybe you do. But, do you know know all about editing bookmarks in Safari? You will in a minute. Let’s start with making a bookmark. Click the plus sign to the left of the URL, or go to the Bookmarks... Continue Reading →
A Little Google Tip - Updated December 3rd, 2015.When you search with Google you sometimes get MORE than what you want, and it clutters up the results. For example, suppose you’re looking for Mac help in Austin, Texas. You type in… Mac help Austin Texas … and you get a pretty good list. But, there are a lot of repair... Continue Reading →
New Mac App Store - Updated December 16th, 2015.Apple introduced its Mac “App Store” today and I love it. I think you will too. First things first: your Mac has to be on 10.6.6 or later. Here’s a link to the 10.6.6 Combo Update. You can’t use the update unless you’re already on 10.6.something, FYI. When you install the 10.6.6... Continue Reading →
Office 2011: Don’t Bother - Updated December 18th, 2015.Executive Summary: we waited three years for THIS?! Don’t bother buying it, unless you absolutely have to. And, keep in mind that in some ways it’s not even as good as the previous version. Microsoft’s Office, like McDonald’s hamburger, is very popular without being very good. Thanks to clever bundling arrangements on... Continue Reading →
How to Tune Up Your Mac - Updated January 20th, 2020.If your Mac seems a little slower than it used to be it might be in need of a tuneup. Here’s the procedure I run for the Macs I’m responsible for. Done once a month, this routine will help your Mac to run its best. It’s a three-step program. Step 1: Run... Continue Reading →
How to Print Mailing Labels - Updated October 3rd, 2020. UPDATE: Apple’s Address Book app has a new name. It’s now known as “Contacts,” starting in OS 10.8, for consistency with the name used on the iPhone. The label printing works the same way regardless. (Are you looking for how to print mailing labels from your iPhone or iPad? Here’s my... Continue Reading →
How to Use the Mac’s Hidden Printing Features - Updated July 6th, 2016.— How to Use the Mac’s Hidden Printing Features — Everyone knows how to print… it’s just File/Print, or Command-P for the keyboard people. What else is there to know? Plenty. Here are some tips that will have you printing faster/better/more efficiently than ever before. Tip Number One: Expand the Print dialog... Continue Reading →
How to remove old email addresses from the Mac Mail program - When addressing an email, do incorrect email addresses pop up? Would you llke to clean that up? Of course you would. Here's how.
Quickly Edit Events in iCal - Updated December 15th, 2015.Maybe I should have known this one and maybe everyone else already does. I guess we’ll find out. When you make an event in iCal it is assigned a “calendar” (category). The one that’s assigned is the one that’s selected in the list at iCal’s left. Often, it’s not the one you... Continue Reading →
Time-Saving Mail Shortcut - Updated April 13th, 2020.I think you’re going to like this one. Actually, I think you are going to hit yourself on the forehead and say “I can’t believe it!” On to today’s tip, for Apple Mail users. When you’re using Mail to read email your window looks something like this (but, hopefully, not as blurry):... Continue Reading →
Groovy Time-Saving Command-Drag Tip - Updated December 15th, 2015.Back in July I wrote about how cool it is to have icons in the Toolbar at the top of Finder windows, making it quick and easy for you to drag and drop without going all the way to the Dock. Today I discovered a groovy time-saving shortcut that makes putting those... Continue Reading →
Rearrange Your Menubar Icons - Updated July 4th, 2016.Seems as though the icons in my menubar are multiplying. I know what they are but I don’t remember putting them there. (In fact, I didn’t put them there– most were placed there automatically, during the initial installation of various programs.) Regardless of how they got there, now I want to rearrange... Continue Reading →
Single-click Envelope Printing - You can print envelopes in one click if you use a little AppleScript. Here it is.
Pile of old phones How to trade in your old cell phones, computers, and other electronics for cash or gift cards - Updated March 11th, 2018.— How to trade your old cell phones, computers, and other electronics for cash or gift cards — RadioShack’s Trade-and-Save program is no longer. But there are plenty of other options for trading in your old cell phones and computers and other electronic equipment, including: Apple’s Trade-in Program Amazon’s Trade-in Program Gazelle... Continue Reading →
iTunes University - Updated December 15th, 2015.Apple’s iTunes university offers more than 250,000 free lectures, videos, films, and other materials— from universities, museums and art institutions, and libraries all over the world. You’ll find courses from Stanford, Michigan, and Cal (and many, many more); lectures about past and current exhibits from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MOMA (the... Continue Reading →
Speed Up Your Mac (#3) - Updated December 15th, 2015.So much of what we do with files starts with a drag and a drop. You might drag an image to Mail in order to send it to someone, or to iPhoto to add it to the iPhoto Library. You might drag an image to Photoshop in order to open it for... Continue Reading →
Speed Up Your Mac (#2) - Updated December 7th, 2015.As we’ve seen before, sometimes it’s not the Mac that’s slow. Sometimes it’s the user. Even if you’re fast you can get a little faster still. Here’s another hint that will save you time, day after day after day. It’s all about checking boxes. Read on. The typical Print… dialog box looks... Continue Reading →
Speed Up Your Mac (#1) - Updated December 15th, 2015.Everyone wants a faster Mac. It’s a lot easier– and cheaper– to make yourself faster at using the Mac you have. Here’s a great way to do it. First in a series. Ever seen one of these? It’s a Print dialog box with a couple of pop-up menus. If you want to... Continue Reading →
World Cup 2022 featured image World Cup Soccer Calendar for iPhone, Mac, and iPad - Google calendar with entire World Cup 2022 schedule. Updates automatically. For Mac, iPhone, iPad, and other devices too.
Mail Tip: Photo Browser - Updated December 7th, 2015.Apple’s Mail program gives you several ways to send digital photos via email. There’s the hard way (make a new email message, then click the paperclip icon, then hunt around for your picture, then give up); the less-hard way (switch to iPhoto, find your picture, select it, and click the Mail icon),... Continue Reading →
My Favorite Shopping Site - Updated December 16th, 2015.(Note: last week one of my customers– Tom Nevermann,AKA “The Moving Doctor“— asked me to help him find a good deal on USB-powered speakers for his Mac. I took him to www.dealnews.com and set up an email alert for him, and now every time a good deal on USB-powered speakers comes along,... Continue Reading →
iPhoto: Edit Using Full Screen - Updated December 15th, 2015.I’ll bet you use iPhoto a lot– not just for storing and organizing your photos, but for editing them too. The usual method of editing starts with you choosing a photo to edit by viewing thumbnails, as shown below.Then you double-click a thumbnail and get the editing window shown below. The picture... Continue Reading →
Time Machine Please please please back up your Macs - Updated May 26th, 2016.Another hard drive bit the dust this week. This one was in a three year old MacBook. Fortunately, the machine had been backed up regularly using Time Machine. When the hard drive died we replaced it with a new one, started up from a Snow Leopard DVD, connected the backup drive, and... Continue Reading →
iTunes App Store Wish List - Updated December 8th, 2015.All of a sudden, the iTunes App Store has a “wish list” feature. Didn’t used to, and it made shopping for apps a little harder than it had to be because you had to write down the names of apps that you thought you might want to go back to. Now (as... Continue Reading →
Time Machine to the Rescue - Here's another Time Machine success story. Time Machine saved the day for my customer when her Mac's hard drive died.
Dropbox– cboyce says “Thumbs Up.” - Updated December 8th, 2015.This is Dropbox. You want it. Here’s the link. They have a little video there, right on the first page. It’s worth watching– it explains the whole thing. However, if you’d rather have ME explain it for you, read on. Suppose you have a laptop and a desktop Mac. There is bound... Continue Reading →
Google Translate, now even easier - Updated December 8th, 2015.Ever use Google Translate? It’s really handy. I know there are other options but there are things about Google Translate that are hard to beat. Have a look by clicking here. Better yet, have a look by Control-clicking here, and then choosing “Open Link in New Window.” That way, you can play... Continue Reading →
How to Save Time with Auto-Fill in Excel - Updated July 6th, 2016.— How to Save Time with Auto-Fill in Excel — Take a look at the Excel document below. Notice anything? Of course you did– each column is a series, progressing from a starting item to an ending item in some sort of regular way. It took me 59.4 seconds to enter this... Continue Reading →
Interesting Dock Behavior - Updated December 8th, 2015.Pictured above: a Dock with the magnification feature turned on. This feature, which makes Dock icons squirm as you move your mouse over them, is absolutely adored by some people, but not by me, because a squirming target is harder to click on. Tonight, for some reason, I thought it would be... Continue Reading →
Travelers, save time and trouble with Tripit.com - Let Tripit keep track of your flights and hotels and it will put the info you need into your Mac and iPhone calendars! Completely automatic.
How to Compress Movies for Email - Making movies is fun but they are hard to email because they're so big. Here's how you can compress a movie so it's small enough to send.
VIDEO: How to use Photo Booth - Updated April 12th, 2016.Doing a little experimenting today– thought it might be fun to make a video showing how to use Photo Booth. Click the picture and you should see a movie. You MIGHT have to click a little triangular button after that– look around, it’s worth it. And no, I don’t know why you... Continue Reading →
Another Reason to Like Snow Leopard - Updated December 15th, 2015.Ever use the “Help” menu in 10.3 or 10.4. or 10.5? If you have, you know it’s the slowest thing ever. But, in 10.6 (Snow Leopard), it’s fast. Really fast. So, now, it’s useful. If you’d previously given up on getting help from the Help menu, and you’re now on 10.6, give... Continue Reading →
Address Book to Google Maps - Updated December 15th, 2015.Google Maps is fantastic, better than Mapquest in my opinion. If you’re not using it you are missing out on a terrific service, and of course you can’t beat the price (it’s free). Enter maps.google.com into your browser, type in any address, and presto, you’re looking at a map of that location.... Continue Reading →
Even More Stuff I Like: Cameras preference pane - Updated December 15th, 2015.One of the things I like about iPhoto is it kicks in automatically when I connect my camera. One of the things I don’t like about iPhoto is it kicks in automatically when I connect my iPhone for synching or charging (iPhoto kicks in because it thinks of the iPhone as a... Continue Reading →
More Stuff I Like: Automatic Time Zone - Updated December 15th, 2015.Well looky here: another nifty improvement in the Date & Time preference pane, thanks to Snow Leopard! Finally, all of a sudden, and only in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, your Mac can show you the correct time for wherever you are– automatically! Those of you who travel with a Mac... Continue Reading →
Stuff I Like: Snow Leopard Date options - Updated December 15th, 2015.I’ve been digging around in Snow Leopard, looking for something new, and I found something in the Date & Time preference panel. Finally, after years of waiting, we can display the day, the date, and the time in the menu bar, all at the same time! Until Snow Leopard, you got the... Continue Reading →
Time to Upgrade to Snow Leopard - Updated October 9th, 2019.Apple released the 10.6.2 Snow Leopard update and it fixes a whole lot of issues (click the link and start the download while you read). I had been waiting for this update before moving to Snow Leopard, and I’m glad I did. Apple had already put out the 10.6.1 update, but that... Continue Reading →
All You Need is the Command-L Keyboard Shortcut - Updated March 29th, 2016.According to the Beatles, All You Need is Love. If I had been a Beatle I would have suggested All You Need is Command-L because Command-L does so many things for a Mac user. First, this Quiz:Question: how can you tell when someone’s a long-time Mac user?Answer: because he calls that crazy... Continue Reading →
Introducing Managed Service from Christian Boyce - Updated December 14th, 2015.We’re introducing something new today: Managed Service from Christian Boyce. In a nutshell, you get the same great service as always, but you get it sooner and it costs you less. Click this link to read all about it. Copyright 2008-2023 Christian Boyce. All rights reserved.
Google Stuff You Didn’t Know - Updated July 16th, 2016.— Google Stuff You Didn’t Know — UPDATE: I’ve written a new series of articles on Google search. Read this one, and then use these links. How to restrict your Google search to a single website How to search Google Images by color How to search Google for different kinds of pictures... Continue Reading →
Another Time-Saving Safari Tip - Updated April 13th, 2020.Part 2 of a continuing series, apparently. Ever come across a word you don’t know on a web page? Unless you’re my Dad, I’m sure this has happened to you. Assuming that you’re not my Dad, when you do find a word you don’t know, do you stop what you’re doing and... Continue Reading →
Time-Saving Tips for Safari 4 - Updated December 14th, 2015.You probably spend a lot of time with Safari. Use these tips and you’ll have more time for other things. Tip #1: Send a web page link via emailYou would not believe how many people ask me how to do this. My own mother asked how to do this tonight (sorry, Mom–... Continue Reading →
Readability Make Web Pages More Readable - "Readibility" created clean, easy-to-read, distraction-free versions of web pages. Safari on Mac and iOS now incorporates a similar feature.
How to Eject a Stuck Disc - Updated December 14th, 2015.(above: international “eject” symbol, at the top right of a keyboard near you)One of these days a CD or a DVD is going to get stuck inside your Mac. That’s a total drag, but it’s easy enough to get it out. Try these moves before you bring it to the Apple Store:... Continue Reading →
Your Appointments, Sir - Here's how I use an AppleScript to look at my Calendar and then read the day's events to me out loud, every morning, automatically.
How to Use the Genius Mix feature in iTunes - Updated July 6th, 2016.Apple’s new iTunes 9 has a couple of nice new features. One of the nicest is called “Genius Mixes.” Previous versions of iTunes has Genius Playlists, which I knew about but never used because it didn’t seem all that groovy, but Genius Mixes are exclusive to iTunes 9– and they are very... Continue Reading →
Your Photo on NationalGeographic.com - Updated December 15th, 2015.Hey, photographers: National Geographic wants YOU. Rather, they want your pictures. Only if they’re good though. Every day they publish “The Daily Dozen” online, twelve photos submitted by regular people. Maybe even you. Some of the photos selected for the Daily Dozen will also be published in National Geographic’s print edition. Here’s... Continue Reading →
Sports Calendars for iCal and iPhone - Get sports calendars onto your iPhone and Mac, from Rivals.Yahoo.com.
Scroll through Mail messages the easy way - Updated December 14th, 2015.You learned way back in July of 2008 that pressing the spacebar in Safari will scroll the window down. You also learned that holding the shift key and pressing the spacebar in Safari will scroll the window up. I just figured out that the same moves work in Apple’s Mail program. Press... Continue Reading →
Time Machine to the rescue - Updated October 9th, 2019.I mentioned in a previous post that installed 10.6 “Snow Leopard” on my MacBook, didn’t like it, and “rolled back” to 10.5.8. Rolling back meant using Time Machine, and I’m here to sing its praises and to talk you into using it. What’s Time Machine? Time Machine is backup software provided as... Continue Reading →
Command-D, your time-saving friend - Updated April 13th, 2020.I’ll bet you’ve seen a dialog box like this before: Or maybe like this one: Or this one: You probably already know the keyboard shortcut that lets you click the Save button without using the mouse: you hit Enter, or Return. That’s great, when you want it. But what about the rest... Continue Reading →
More About the Dock (part 2) - Here's a one-step drag-and-drop method for sending a file as an attachment. In one move, you generate an email with the attachment. So easy.
More About the Dock (part 1) - Updated December 14th, 2015.I wrote about the Dock (“Hickory Dickory Dock”) in July of last year. It was a decent little article and the stuff I wrote then is still helpful today. Lately, though, I’ve noticed that a lot of Mac users are unaware of some of the Dock’s finer points. Here, then, is More... Continue Reading →
Customize Safari’s Toolbar - Updated April 5th, 2016.Safari’s a nice browser but you can make it nicer by customizing the toolbar. What you learn in this blog post will help you in other programs (Mail, the Finder, Pages, Keynote, and many more) so you’re getting a lot for your money here. This is Safari’s toolbar, right out of the... Continue Reading →
Safari 4 Tip of the Day - Updated December 13th, 2015.Usually, when you close a Safari window, you mean to do it. But sometimes you make a mistake and close the wrong one. That’s when you say “Come baaaaaack…” and of course it doesn’t. Next time that happens, try this: Go to Safari’s History menu and choose the well-named “Reopen Last Closed... Continue Reading →
Interesting Airport-HP AiO interaction - Updated December 13th, 2015.I hate to sound like a broken record– I mean, a corrupted MP3– but HP’s Mac software is the worst. I love their printers, I love their scanners, but I hate their software (and that keeps me from buying their printers and scanners). Ugh. HP sells a lot of equipment (to people... Continue Reading →
FREE job-hunting AppleScript - Updated October 10th, 2016.You might not have heard but there’s a recession on. People are looking for work. For myself, I had the brilliant idea of searching the job postings on www.craigslist.org every day for Mac-related stuff, but quickly found that craigslist is sort of picky about search terms, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll... Continue Reading →
10.5.7 update - Apple's 10.5.7 update for the Mac is out. Here's what's in it, and how to get it. Recommended: the "combo" update.
Bigger is Better: Mail - Here's how you change the size of the text of incoming Mail messages, and the size of the text in the message list.
Bigger is Better: Safari - Updated December 13th, 2015.(First in a series.) A couple of weeks ago Mom was asking me how to make things bigger on her Mac. Naturally I had her select Displays from the System Preferences (under the Apple), and in there I had her choose any size that WASN’T the one with the largest numbers. Just... Continue Reading →
Tip of the Day: Address Book “Smart Groups” - Updated December 13th, 2015.If there’s one feature of Apple’s Address Book that is overlooked by almost everyone it’s Smart Groups. The regular kind of Group is handy, and you should read up on them (try going to the Help menu in Address Book and looking for “Groups”). In a nutshell, you add people to a... Continue Reading →
10.5.6 update– do it (my way) - Updated December 13th, 2015.Apple’s released the 10.5.6 update, so naturally I am getting zillions of calls about whether it’s safe to install or not. It is. Just be careful, as usual. Do it like this: Restart your computer. Find the Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder, in the Applications folder, on your hard disk) and... Continue Reading →
iFixit.com - Updated December 13th, 2015.What a cool website, and gee don’t I wish I’d found it before I took apart that iBook and couldn’t put it back together again. Click the picture and have a look. How-to manuals. Parts. Friendly tips. cboyce says “Check it out.” (Here’s the manual I should have read before taking apart... Continue Reading →
Stuff You Ought to Know - Newer Macs come with little pictures on the function keys (top row of keys, with names like “F1”) and they are supposed to tell you what the keys do. The pictures aren’t all that clear, and on older keyboards the pictures aren’t there at all. Here are some explanations. Newer keyboards:F1: make the screen dimmerF2:... Continue Reading →
10.5.5 update - Updated July 3rd, 2016.Hard to recommend the 10.5.5 update just yet. There seem to be some installation issues. Half of the machines at Boyceworld took the installation without incident and are working fine. The other half took forever to restart after the install, then went to a blue screen, then turned themselves off. After restarting... Continue Reading →
Stuff You Didn’t Know You Had - Updated December 13th, 2015.And now, something completely different! Apple loads new Macs with a lot of software that we all use (iPhoto, Safari, Mail, iTunes, etc.). They also load new Macs with a lot of software that almost no one uses. But if more of us knew about it, more of us would use it.... Continue Reading →
Tip of the Day, September 3rd, 2008 - Today’s topic: The Desktop. We love The Desktop. We put all of our stuff there. And then we open up Safari, or Mail, or something else, and we cover everything up. When we need something from The Desktop, Step One (and Step Two, and Step 3) is “move all those windows out of the way... Continue Reading →
ESPN's College Football Scoreboard ESPN’s College Football Scoreboard - Get all of the college football scores, in real time, plus statistics, betting odds, videos, team info, and more on ESPN's site.
Tip of the Day, August 25th 2008 - Here are two ways to create emails with attachments and they're probably both faster and easier than what you're doing now.
Tip of the Day, August 24th, 2008 - Did You Know– ? The Preview program that comes with OS X 10.5 can do some pretty spiffy things. In fact, it can do some of the things Photoshop can do, and some of the stuff that Acrobat can do, and a whole bunch of stuff that neither can do. And it’s free. In Part... Continue Reading →
Tip of the Day, August 21st 2008 - Ever get a weird error message on your Mac and then try to tell someone (me) about it? The conversation goes like this: You: “I got a weird error message on my Mac.”Me: “Oh really. What did it say?”You: “Something about an error.”Me: “Right. Can you tell me a little more?”You: “No, it just said... Continue Reading →
Tip of the Day, August 20th 2008 - Updated December 13th, 2015.Assuming you’re using Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5): One of the very handy features introduced in 10.5 is “QuickLook.” With it, you can VERY quickly pop open a document and see what’s in it, without the delay of launching a program such as Preview or Word. Here’s how you use it. 1.... Continue Reading →
Tip of the Day, August 3rd, 2008 - Command-Spacebar. That’s it. See you tomorrow. OK, here’s a little more info. When you press Command-Spacebar, you get a little search box at the top right of your screen. Looks like this: Type something in, and as you type, Spotlight searches your hard disk(s) for matches. Big deal? Well, yeah, because it searches INSIDE documents... Continue Reading →
Tip of the Day, July 30th, 2008 - Updated December 13th, 2015.See that row of keys across the top of your keyboard? The row you never use? How about making those keys do something useful, like opening your mail program, or Safari, or (yuck) Microsoft Word? Here’s how you do it using a FREE program called “Spark.” Step One: go to versiontracker.com and... Continue Reading →
Tip of the Day, July 29th, 2008 - Supposing you wanted to put your Mac to sleep. Or to shut it down. Or maybe restart it. Do it the way the cool kids do: press the Eject button (top row of keys, a triangle with a line under it) while also holding pressing Control (either one of the Control keys). You get a... Continue Reading →
Tip of the Day, July 26th, 2008 - I would imagine that you have a few icons on your desktop. Maybe more than a few. Maybe a lot. Turns out that “a lot” is bad. The problem is that the Finder (which displays the icons) is not very good at dealing with a large number of icons at once. The effect is your... Continue Reading →
Hickory Dickory Dock - Updated December 12th, 2015.Apple loves the Dock. Actually, I think Steve Jobs loves the Dock. That’s one way that you can tell us apart: Steve loves the Dock, and I don’t. Plus, he’s a billionaire, and I don’t love the Dock. Love it or not, we’re stuck with the Dock. So here’s how to make... Continue Reading →
Shortcut of the day, July 16th, 2008 - Updated December 12th, 2015.You can do a Google search without going to Google first. In Safari, look for the search area at the top right of the screen. Type in what you’re looking for, hit Enter (or Return) on the keyboard, and there you are, a page full of search results. Sure, you can go... Continue Reading →
If I were you - I would never let my Mac sleep. Let the screen go black but keep the machine up and alive. Waking up from sleep has been a problem for Apple over the years– sometimes machines won’t wake up at all, sometimes their keyboards/mice/printers won’t work, sometimes other problems. If you are connected to another machine (file... Continue Reading →
Shortcut of the day, July 10th, 2008 - Press the space bar to scroll down in Safari. Hold Shift and press the space bar to scroll up. This also works in Firefox. Copyright 2008-2023 Christian Boyce. All rights reserved.
Football picture NFL Prime-Time calendar - NFL Prime Time Calendar for iPhone and Mac is now avaialble via the link at the top of this blog post.
Shortcut of the day, July 6th, 2008 - Hit the Escape key (esc, at top left of keyboard) instead of mousing to and clicking on the “Cancel” button in any dialog box. Bonus Shortcut: Enter (or Return) almost always clicks the default button (the one with the heavier border) in a dialog box. Double-Bonus Shortcut: Command-D almost always clicks the “Don’t Save” button.... Continue Reading →
Shortcut of the day, July 4th 2008 - Command-click links in Safari to open them in new tabs. Here’s a link to practice with. Command-click it, and look near the top of your Safari window. You’ll see two “tabs” and you can click back and forth between them. Neater and cleaner than opening separate windows. Copyright 2008-2023 Christian Boyce. All rights reserved.

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