Mac OS

It’s now easier than ever to quickly encrypt external disks and hard drives from Mac OS X, whether they are USB drives, Firewire, flash drives, or even SD cards. While you can still use the traditional route to encrypt disks through Disk Utility, from modern versions of MacOS and Mac OS X the process is … Read More

Want to initiate Text to Speech with a keyboard shortcut on the Mac? The excellent Mac OS text to speech function can be activated with a simple keystroke, but first you have to enable the feature. This is a great trick because it allows you to quickly speak what is in on the Mac screen … Read More

AutoFill is a great feature that saves credentials to Safari to prevent you from having to enter a bunch of login details every time you browse around the web on your favorite sites. If you ever decide you don’t want to have an autofill password saved however, you’ll find that Safari for Mac OS X … Read More

Did you know you can instantly open any file into Quick Look with just a simple gesture? From the Finder in Mac OS (from OS X Mountain Lion onward), all you need to do is hover the cursor over the file in question, then do a three-fingered single tap on the file to immediately launch … Read More

Using the command line softwareupdate tool you can update Mac OS X system software without using the App Store. This is particularly useful for Mac users running later versions of Mac OS X where the software update system is primarily handled through the Mac App Store, but can occasionally either go awry or be inaccessible … Read More

OS X Mavericks comes with PHP 5.4.30, and OS X Mountain Lion ships with PHP 5.3.13 preinstalled, though if you start the built-in Apache server, you will find PHP isn’t enabled by default. Changing this is easy, and if you’re a web developer and want PHP running on your local Mac with OS X 10.8 … Read More

Inverting the colors of a Mac display is a fairly common accessibility feature, and it’s also pretty handy for when you’re reading at night because it puts most screen text into a white on black mode like iOS.

There are a variety of different ways to transfer or share files between Macs, and we’ll cover the three easiest methods that are applicable for just about movement of files. AirDrop is unique to newer versions of Mac OS but is by far the simplest, iMessages lets you send files to another Mac over the … Read More

Quick Look is one of the most handy features in Mac OS X to quickly get a preview of files, but you can also use it as an application launcher of sorts to quickly send a file to the file types default app, or even launch the file into another compatible Mac app. Used this … Read More

If you are tired of keeping up with all the Java security updates and potential vulnerabilities, you can avoid a potential problem completely just by disabling Java. For the average user, we’ve recommended keeping Java disabled as one of the primary means of protecting a Mac against potential malware, viruses, and trojans. In fact, the … Read More

Want to add more wallpapers to the Desktops preference panel in macOS or Mac OS X? Perhaps you have a folder of your own pictures you want to use? No problem, it’s as easy as drag and drop.

Did you know OS X Mountain Lion includes 44 ridiculously beautiful high resolution wallpapers? They’re hidden inside the four equally attractive new screen savers and feature some truly stunning scenery from National Geographic, the Hubble Space telescope, and some amazing photographers. Each image is a whopping 3200×2000 resolution, here’s how to access these on your … Read More

Many people have noticed the simple web sharing option was pulled from System Preferences in OS X Mavericks and Mountain Lion. The server software still exists and you can start Apache server on your Mac yourself within a minute or two of mucking about in the Terminal, but for some people the command line is … Read More

Did you know the Finder in Mac OS X has a built-in instant image slide-show feature? It’s part of Quick Look, and though it’s been around a while, it’s a little known feature that is really great when you want to quickly show off a group of pictures, or even if you just want to … Read More

Rebooting a Mac from the command line is fairly simple, though it should be pointed out that most Mac OS X users are best served just using the standard  Apple menu method to issue a system restart. Nonetheless, for advanced Mac users, using the terminal reboot command can be an invaluable trick for troubleshooting … Read More

Apple has released an update to Java aimed at addressing the recently discovered security issue that could impact some Mac users. The update, dubbed “Java for OS X 2012-005”, is available for users of Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8. All Mac users eligible for the update are recommended to install it. You can … Read More

Want to quickly dismiss a desktop notification without opening Notification Center in Mac OS X? It’s easy, just hover over the notification with the cursor and use a two-fingered swipe gesture from left to right, swiping the alert to where Notification Center appears, and the alert will quickly zip away and off your Mac desktop … Read More

Event Invitations are one of the best features of Calendars in iOS and OS X, and if you aren’t using them yet to confirm the time and dates of meetings and events with people you should start now. Once an invitation is sent, it comes through as an alert to the recipient, and they can … Read More