macOS

Unfortunately, the one area where HDDs beat SSDs is price. SSDs cost many times per gigabyte of storage what HDDs cost, so it is unlikely that many users will be able to store all their data on an SSD alone.  The answer to this problem is to use two drives, an SSD and an HDD,…

One of the most important steps any user can take to secure the information on their Mac is to set up a secure and robust password. In OS X, a user’s password is required (when properly configured) to wake the system from sleep, to install software, and to access critical areas of the operating system.…

TextExpander is a system utility for Mac OS X that monitors your keyboard input and automatically inserts words or phrases, called “snippets,” based upon abbreviated keyboard input. For example, it can be programmed to replace any instance of “hhome” with your home address, or “ttime” with the current time. It also comes with some useful…

Unfortunately, by default the App Store prevents users from downloading software that is already installed on the Mac. The “Install” button in the store is replaced by a grayed-out “Installed,” which the user can’t select. Thankfully, there is a workaround to this limitation that will allow users to re-download the Lion installer if they so…

Launch Keychain Access and go to Preferences. In the General tab, check the box for “Show keychain status in menu bar.” This will add a padlock icon to your system’s menu bar.Select this icon and you’ll see several options, the first of which is “Lock Screen.” The second option is even faster: a keyboard shortcut.…

FreeSpace is a small application with a small price, US$0.99, that does just one thing. It monitors, in real time, the space used and available on the all the drives connected to your Mac.  This includes your computer hard drive with or without partitions, thumb drives, public folders, even DVD/CDs. Drives are grouped and displayed…

Apple, in its OS design, is constantly balancing ease of use and simplicity against disclosure and control. For example, in OS X Lion, Apple has hidden the user’s Library folder. Lion Tweaks allows the user to quickly bring it back to visibility along with a many other useful changes to Lion’s default preferences. Lion Tweaks,…

So let’s go to iCal and check it out. First, you’ll notice that there’s a new plus button near the upper-left of the window. Click it, and you’ll get a nifty box for typing a short description of your event. (You can also hit Command-N to summon that box if that’s more your style. It’s…

When you hit Command-W to close an unsaved document’s window (or click on the red “stoplight” button at the upper-left of the window), you’ll of course be asked if you’d like to save.In Snow Leopard, you could choose “Don’t Save” from the keyboard by hitting Command-D. For Lion, the shortcut is now Command-Delete. You’re done.…

About three years ago, a Mac-based fork of the venerable open-source XBOX Media Center (XMBC) hit the web.  Initially called “OSXBMC,” the project promised a customizable interface, limited hardware requirements, and massive format support.  The program shortly afterward changed its name to “Plex,” and began to evolve into truly Mac-inspired application, eventually bringing support to…

TMO’s OS X Safe Definitions Versions checker/updater OS X Safe Download Version Checker is utility we put together that allows you to check the version number of your OS X Safe Download Definitions from Apple. Safe Download Definitions is a list used by your Mac to check downloads for malicious software such as MacDefender and…

I think it was 2004 when I was on the Apple campus for a meeting. Dr. Kim Silverman and I had bumped into each other in the lobby of 1 Infinite Loop, and he wanted to show me the latest in voice recognition technology at Apple. I had some time, so I accompanied him to…

So first, let’s do an overview of Mission Control. It’s essentially a way of organizing your workflow with what Apple calls desktop spaces. Doing so can be very helpful, especially if you’re a person who tends to use many applications at once and needs to access them all frequently. Putting your work applications in one…

Before: The User Library folder is nowhere to be found inside the user’s home folder. In Apple’s defense, it’s likely that 90%+ of Mac users will never have to go into their Library folder and, if they do, they may end up causing more harm than good. But for the remaining 10%, Mac Geek Gab…

Press your boot modifier keys after the chime, but before the spinning gear appears.One problem is that these boot modifiers seem not to work with Bluetooth keyboards, as many users who hold down the modifier keys immediately at startup find that the Mac boots up normally, ignoring the modifiers.  The solution is simple: wait to…

Let’s check out what I think is the most useful new feature first. For document-creation programs like Pages and TextEdit, right-clicking on their Dock icons shows that application’s recent files within the contextual menu that appears. Don’t ask me about these file names, ‘kay? That’s neat and all, but at this point, you may be asking yourself…

OmniDiskSweeper run from the Applications folder.  It shows that the user’s Documents folder is the largest folder on the drive.  Note also the size of the Spotlight Database as 0 bytes.When run normally, as above, Joe noted that OmniDiskSweeper only shows files that are visible to the user that ran it. Since few people ever…

Set Your Portable Mac to Stay Asleep When the Lid is Opened By default, Mac laptops will wake up if a sleeping machine’s lid is opened.  You can prevent this behavior and choose to wake the Mac on your own terms by entering the following terminal command: sudo pmset lidwake 0 Conversely, add the following…

So in Mail’s toolbar, you should see an icon that looks like, well…a flag. If you have a message selected, you can click on that icon to automatically flag that e-mail with your currently selected color, or if you prefer, you can choose the drop-down arrow next to the flag to use a different color. (If…

AirDrop, as an alternative, uses something called Wi-Fi Direct. It’s a fairly new protocol that allows to modern Macs, both with Wi-Fi, to see each other more visibly, connect more easily, and transfer files (or an entire folder) with just a drag-and-drop. They don’t even have to be formally connected to a Wi-Fi network —…

Substitutions (TextEdit and Other Software) Auto-dashes. If you write in TextEdit a lot, there’s an easy way to automatically turn a double hyphen (—) into a nice, neat long em dash (—), choose Edit from the Menu Bar, then Substitutions, and then just click on Smart Dashes so that a check mark appears next to it.…