If you haven’t yet used Smart Folders in OS X, then you may be missing out on a critical time-saving feature of the OS X Finder. Smart Folders are essentially canned searches, where you can save custom search queries and quickly restore them. They are relatively simple concept, so the real question of how to use smart folders really boils down to: How do you search your Mac? Continue reading
While for the most part performing regular maintenance on your computing devices is not needed, periodically you might want to check a few settings out and ensure your device and the programs on it are in optimal working order. For some platforms there are third-party tools you can use (though these are not necessarily required) for these purposes, but no such tools exist for iOS. However, there are only a few practices and settings you can tweak in iOS, that will give you the most out of your device. Continue reading
Apple has released a Flash Storage firmware update for its latest mid-2015 MacBook Pro systems, which addresses a rare bug with the hard drives on these systems that could lead to data corruption.
The update should be available through Apple’s Software Update service on relevant systems, so if you have one of these models then be sure to Continue reading
If you are still using your old Apple IIgs, then you may be relieved to know that after about 22 years, a much needed software update is available for it. The Apple IIgs was released in 1986, and ran as part of Apple’s lineup until 1992, during which it ran a version of Apple’s GS/OS operating system, a precursor to the Mac OS that was developed for a while alongside Apple’s flagship operating system. The development of GS/OS officially ended with version 6.0.1, but enthusiast groups have been keeping the system alive and have just released version 6.0.2. Continue reading
Identifying files by their icon is perhaps more important than being able to locate the programs you use, since for the most part you will likely be browsing your files when using the Finder on your Mac. However, there are some instances where the icons for your files will just appear as generic white documents, leaving you unable to distinguish them and less likely to identify them. This may happen for a number of reasons, including using incompatible third-party cleaner tools for your Mac, or problems with restoring from backups. If you are finding yourself in this situation, then there are several things you can do to restore your icons. Continue reading
Often when you need to look up some details about a topic at hand, you open a Web browser and search for it using your preferred search engine; however, there are a few services in OS X that give you quick access to information about words you might be thinking about, or words that you might be reading. For instance, if a friend sends you an iMessage about watching a specific movie, then you might find that you can look up information about the movie, without needing to switch to any browser. Continue reading
As programs run on your Mac, they will output their activity either to the system log or to specific log files, both of which can be viewed using OS X’s Console utility, so if some aspect of your Mac appears to not be working correctly, often the system console is a great tool to use for narrowing down the problem. However, when you open the console you will by default be hit with a barrage of information that can be tough to narrow down, especially if you want to follow the activity of one or more processes. Continue reading