This was an incredibly fun project that turned out better than I expected.
Deep Dive
Here's Why You Still Need to Force Quit Some iPhone Apps
John Gruber penned a piece at Daring Fireball with this premise: iOS is so good at managing background apps that you never need to force quit them. He is 100% correct that this is true about iOS and most apps. Unfortunately, as with most general advice, there are exceptions. We’ll show you how to find them.
Install a macOS High Sierra Public Beta Hackintosh
Take a deep breath, cross your fingers, and take the plunge into the Hackintosh world.
Revive a PowerPC Mac Running Linux
Just because it can’t run the latest and greatest version of macOS doesn’t necessarily mean it’s time to put it out to pasture.
Get Started With a Prebuilt Hackintosh Computer
Check out these options if you want to make a hackintosh from a pre-built PC instead of starting from scratch.
How to Get Hackintosh Messages to Work Consistently
Here’s what it takes to be able to send iMessages and use SMS text forwarding on your Hackintosh.
Making Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Scan Automatically on Your Mac
You won’t have to worry anymore about forgetting to scan your Mac for malware periodically.
The 5 Best Hackintosh Graphics Cards
Any of these graphics cards will work well with your Hackintosh build.
The 5 Best PC Motherboards for Creating a Hackintosh
These substitutes for the Mac’s logic board will help you get your Hackintosh started.
Comprehensive Guide to Mac Trackpad Gestures and Force Touch
Jeff Butts examines the Mac trackpad gestures available within macOS Sierra, explaining how to enable and use them.
Evade the macOS 'Too Many Open Files' Error by Pushing the Limits
Here at Mac Observer, we’re penultimate geeks. We push our Macs to the limits, and then find ways to surpass those limits. macOS has limits put in place that result in occasional error messages about “too many open files,” which one of the team ran afoul of. Jeff Butts dove deep into the core of macOS and found out how to increase the limits Apple has imposed upon us.
Set Up Your Own VPN Server in the Cloud for Free or Cheap
When it comes to choosing VPN servers, Jeff Butts just isn’t happy with the commercial choices. Rather than leave his Internet privacy up to someone else, Jeff built his own VPN server. You can, too, without much (if any) cost and just a little bit of time.
macOS: Putting a Recovery Partition on Your Mac (Without Reinstalling macOS)
When Jeff Butts was mucking about with his trusty Mac Mini, he managed to mangle his recovery partition. Normally, this would mean a complete reinstall of the operating system, but Jeff found another way. Read on to learn how to get your recovery partition back without resorting to a complete reinstall.
macOS Sierra: Delete Your APFS Partition the Right Way
If you’ve been experimenting with APFS, perhaps you’ve already tried to delete your APFS partition. You probably found out that it’s not easy. Jeff Butts went through several methods, and has landed on what seems to be the cleanest way to delete your APFS partition when you’re done with it.
5 Things to Consider when Evaluating a VPN for Privacy
Yesterday we explained what a VPN is and covered the benefits of using one. Today we’re examining how to figure out if you have a trustworthy VPN provider. In place of your ISP, your VPN provider receives your browsing data, and it’s good to shop around and compare privacy policies. Andrew Orr tells us what to look out for.
What Is A VPN, And How Can It Help You?
Now that Congress have chosen to allow ISPs to sell your data, many people are turning to VPNs to help. But you may not know how VPNs work, or how a VPN can help you browse the web safely. In this article Andrew Orr explores the technical details and gives you our VPN recommendations.
iOS 10.3: Your iCloud Settings Just Got Easier to Manage
Hidden in the release notes of iOS 10.3 was a listing about a “New Settings unified view for your Apple ID account information, settings and devices.” That’s actually a pretty big deal, because it consolidates a number of iCloud settings while also bringing some new functionality to your iOS device. Jeff Butts walks you through these changes.
Ditch Redmond With These Microsoft Office Alternatives for Mac
When many folks switch to Mac, they bring Microsoft with them, begrudgingly. They don’t realize the wealth of Microsoft Office alternatives out there, so they stick with what they know. Jeff Butts felt that pain, did the research, and has come up with some great choices for ditching Redmond altogether.
Wi-Fi Mesh Systems Compared: eero, Orbi, AmpliFi
The future of home Wi-Fi is mesh networking, a new approach to consumer wireless networks that includes smart management and multiple radios designed to handle the load of today’s gadgets. If you’ve been fighting with range extenders and other solutions to broaden your Wi-Fi coverage and keep your streams alive, you can now stop all that silliness and blanket your home with Wi-Fi. The future is here, and that future is mesh networking.