Mac users in higher security risk situations may wish to enable an optional firmware password on their machines,which offers an advanced level of protection. In short, a firmware password is a lower level layer of security that is set on the actual Mac logicboards firmware, rather than at the software layer like FileVault encryption or … Read More

Assistive Devices and Assistive Apps are applications and accessories which can control parts of the Mac and OS X beyond the normal scope of app limits. While it’s primarily thought of as an Accessibility feature, it’s also commonly uses for general apps too, ranging from screen sharing functions, to apps that require microphone access, to … Read More

Having recently went through the process of updating a handful of Macs to OS X Mavericks as part of a gifting tech support campaign, several Macs developed an odd flickering display problem that was only visible when an external monitor was connected to the Mac. On an 11″ MacBook Air, the screen flickers with any … Read More

Nearly all Mac users have a login and password required to access the Mac upon boot (and if you don’t, you should!), which provides a reasonable layer of password protection to keep out most prying eyes. Users with more advanced security needs may need to go further to protect their Mac from unauthorized access though, … Read More

The wide variety of default iApps which come preinstalled on most Macs these days are all great applications, but if you don’t actually use them, they just take up disk space. Case in point are Garageband, iMovie, and iPhoto, three fantastic apps for making music, editing videos, and managing photos, but if you never use … Read More

OS X may come with plenty of great apps and utilities to get you started, but there are a few incredibly helpful utilities that are either missing or could be improved. That’s what we’re focusing on here, with four of the most helpful utilities for OS X that everyone should have on their Mac. Best … Read More

The Mac had a great year in 2013, with powerful new Macs on both the portable and desktop side, and the release of OS X Mavericks, which has been easily one of the best major updates to the Mac operating system in years. Here are thirteen of our favorite tip and tricks articles focusing on … Read More

OS X now has the ability to easily view and manage which applications can access a users location data. This is a new feature with OS X Mavericks, and Mac users who also have iOS devices should find the initial indicator to be a familiar arrow icon that resides alongside other status bar icons and … Read More

Just about every Mac comes with a front-facing camera these days, referred to usually as the FaceTime camera, and on older machines was called iSight. Nearly all of the time, this camera works flawlessly and you’ll never have any problems with it, but a frustrating error can appear from time to time that makes many … Read More

Looking for the best old school gaming emulator for Mac OS X? Look no further, OpenEmu is an awesome emulator for nearly all of the classic retro gaming console, with full support for Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, NeoGeo, NES, Nintendo DS, Sega 32x, Sega Game Gear, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo (SNES), TurboGrafx 16, … Read More

Visiting relatives, or going home for the holidays or a special occasion? Give the gift of free tech support! There’s a good chance that if you’re a regular reader here, you’re also the regular family tech support guy/gal too. Now that you’re visiting the family for the holidays, take some time to get onto their … Read More

You can send digital books as gifts directly from the iTunes app and it’s included iBook Store on any desktop Mac or PC. Having long been able to send apps and movies, music, and movies as gifts, giving books is a recent addition. Just like the other gifting options, you can even order a book … Read More