macOS

Upgrading If you had been using AU 5.5.3 on Lion, the update will replace it with version 6. Because version 6 isn’t as full-featured as the previous version, Apple has made an upgrade to the original app available, AU 5.6.If you’re still using Snow Leopard, you should continue to use Airport Utility 5.5.3, It requires…

Editor’s note: This is not intended to be a detailed, technical article. Instead, it’ll be restricted to the essentials, general simplifications, and some links for more details. Also, this first article on the subject focuses on Comcast and its IPv6 efforts. I asked Century Link about their plans, but they weren’t forthcoming about their IPv6…

So to help me keep that promise, open Safari and click on the button to see your list of previously downloaded items (or hit Option-Command-L to bring it up). If you’ve cleared the list or haven’t ever downloaded anything in Safari, you won’t see that button at all (and the keyboard shortcut’ll give you a big…

Once all messages are selected, go to File > Save As and save the document as the default rich text format to the desired location on your hard drive.Finally, find the file you just created and open it to reveal a rich text file with all of your emails listed one after the other. This…

NetSpot allows you to do a site survey for your home or building. A site survey is a diagram that shows various Wi-Fi parameters for a floor or section of your house or building. The first step is to create a map, first by giving the maximum dimensions (in feet or meters) and then using…

So first, figure out if you have automatic login on. If you do, you’ll never see your login screen at all, so go to System Preferences > Users & Groups to check. Choose Login Options from there, and if “Automatic login” is on, click on the padlock in the lower-left corner of the window to unlock the…

But did you know that similar rules apply to text selection? In Pages, for example, you can use Command, Option, and Shift to do some pretty funky things with your text, which can make formatting documents much simpler. How, you ask? Well, I’m not going to tell you! It’s my secret! Oh, all right, I’ll…

So ask your relative first if you can mess around with her machine. You’ll need her admin password to gain access to all of her other passwords, so I hope you’re a trustworthy individual. Start your sleuthing on that computer by opening Keychain Access, a program that lives in the Applications > Utilities folder. If…

So first, type whatever you want to look for in Safari’s search bar. (I’m resisting the urge here to call it “Safari’s Google search bar” mainly out of respect for the seven of you who are using Bing as your default instead.)Then click on a link from your search results to bring up a page.…

With Christmas just around the corner, you may be adding some new Ethernet devices to your home network. These days, keeping track of them, their IP addresses, their services, and even how close you may be to exceeding the DHCP license limit on your router is essential. iNet from BananaGlue will help you do that…

You may know that when you click on iPhoto’s “Share” button in the lower-right corner of its window and choose “Email” (or when you select Share > Email from the menu bar), your selected images will be put into iPhoto’s stationery interface. You’ll have a bunch of choices on how you’d like the message to look,…

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…