macOS

 ____________________ Of course, all this information is available via the GUI: Apple > About This Mac > System Report… But the fun part here is to do it on the command line and even save selected data to text files. (The OS X terminal app is in /Applications/Utilities.) The terminal command I'll discuss is: system_profiler …

Let’s say that I’ve decided that I need to crop this image in pretty closely. If I select the photo, click on “Edit” in iPhoto’s lower-right corner, and use the crop tool to make that change… …I can then compare my edits to the original with the Shift key. If I hold down Shift, I’ll…

In the early years of OS X, the Mac operating system was sold on a DVD. If a user forgot the administrator password, perhaps the simplest way (of several) would be to use that disc to set a new administrator password and regain control of the Mac. Nowadays, there is no install disc provided with…

______________________ 1. Built-in Calendars. Apple's OS X Calendar app (formerly iCal) has two built-in calendar subscriptions: Holidays and Birthdays. These are found in Calendar > Preferences > General. Figure 1. OS X Calendar Preferences If you deselect the checkbox for one of these calendar subscription, it will no longer appear in the sidebar of the…

First, launch Spotlight. For most people this is Command-Spacebar, but you may have set it to something else, I'm not the boss of you. In any case, when you get to Spotlight, start typing the name of the app you want to launch. If it appears at the top, like my example, just hit return…

If you already have 1Password, though, there are a few neat tricks to be aware of to get the most out of its awesomeness. My favorite tip is that in Safari, Chrome, or Firefox, the keyboard shortcut Command-\ will either automagically fill in the login for a page you’re on, or if you have multiple…

Tad's tip is to invert colors on your display. It might look like a photo negative at first, but if you are dealing with a lot of black text on white backgrounds, this can make it easier to see. It also helps if you're working on a plane or in some other public place; it…

To see all of the photos and attachments in a Messages conversation, just click Details. It's in the upper right corner in every conversation. You can click and drag anything from the Details view to your Desktop or folder, and double-clicking an image opens it in Preview. OS X Yosemite's Messages app shows all chat…

OS X Yosemite includes a file batch rename tool To batch rename files in OS X Yosemite, do this: Open a Finder window and select the documents you want to rename as a group. Control-click or right-click one of the selected files, then choose Rename from the contextual menu. Enter the common text you want…

The first, most obvious way you could call someone is to click the “Audio” button under the person’s number in Contacts. That’ll give you the choice of calling someone via FaceTime Audio or using your iPhone as the conduit. Secondly—and this is my favorite method—you can use Spotlight to search for a contact’s name, and…

Spotlight is a fantastic tool. But sometimes it needs a little maintenance to keep it in shape. Here's an option in Yosemite that might help keep Spotlight humming along as a perky little helpful utility. As we saw earlier this year at WWDC, Yosemite has a wider variety of sources from which to gather search…

Search criteria is an option that's available whenever you look for files and folders through the search field in the upper right corner in Finder windows. You used to be able to click the little Plus button next to the Save button that appears once you start your search, but in OS X Yosemite, it's…

Go to System Preferences > Accessibility, and click on Display in the options on the left hand side: System Preferences – Accessibility There is a checkbox for “Reduce transparency” which gives you full-on opaque menus in Yosemite, not as seen in the Keynote, but certainly better than feeling like suddenly your Mac has gone out…

So for example, if you resized Mail to be teeny-tiny by dragging the edge of its window, clicking the green button once would maximize it; clicking it again would return it to its tiny self. In Yosemite, however, that behavior is different in some programs (but not all of them—some, like Contacts, TextEdit, and Reminders,…

So when you’re composing a message in Mail and you attach an image or a PDF, hovering over the file with your cursor will reveal a small drop-down arrow at the upper-right corner. Click that and choose “Markup,” and you’re on your way. When the markup window appears, you’ll see a series of useful tools…

Safari's Advanced Preferences. That's it! Now you'll get the entire URL in all its glory, as God intended.

You’ll get three options in the upper-left of the window that’ll appear—“Replace Text,” “Add Text,” and “Format.” If you pick that first option, you can search for a common element in your selected files and replace that with different text. Choosing the “Add Text” option means that you can insert text either before or after…

So kids, in the olden days you had to make a “phone call” from a device like this. No it didn't have Facebook. There are a number of easier ways to make phone calls on your Mac, one of which is a utility called Continuity Keypad. There's also just opening Contacts and clicking on the…

There isn't much on the site itself besides a link to download the beta. You can find out more on the Continuity Keypad Twitter account, including plans for the Mac App Store and updates to the beta. Right now those plans include ending up in the Mac App Store at 99 cents, and a steady…

On October 16, Apple released OS X Yosemite which is version 10.10. I have been beta testing since the first developer release and also testing with iOS 8. Here is everything that I learned and how I've sized up this stellar OS X release. Introduction OS X Yosemite 10.10 is the latest version of Apple's…

iWorm botnet has hit 18,000 Macs so far Once installed, iWorm searches Reddit for specific posts that include IP address for servers that can issue it commands. The server then sends its instructions back to the victim's computer, which could also include another malware payload. Reddit has since shut down the forum where the posts…

Behind that simple interface, though, there’s a lot of fun and useful stuff you can do, like syncing your reminders between all of your devices with iCloud, using location-based reminders, or creating a shared family grocery list. Here, though, is one of my favorite little tricks—reusing existing reminders so that you don’t have to keep…

All through Steve’s presentation I kept admiring his slide show presentation. Actually, drooling is a better descriptor. At the end, he announced that the software was called Keynote and everyone in the audience was getting a free copy. Keynote I was stoked. I went back to my hotel room, installed the software and immediately converted…

If you do that, whatever you clicked on will be set as your wallpaper. Oh, sweet Moses. That’s it! That’s the tip! No, wait—I’m not done. Say that you keep that wallpaper for 87 years, and then you can’t find it on the Web anymore. Where the heck did Safari put it?! Well, it’s hidden,…