Mac OS

The Mac Mail app has added inbox swiping gestures to OS X that allow you to quickly delete or archive an email message with a simple left swipe. While this helps to sort through tons of emails rather quickly, it can also lead to some unintentional removal of emails that you may want to keep, … Read More

Microsoft Edge is the latest web browser from Microsoft, which aims to replace Internet Explorer in the latest versions of Windows for desktop PC, Surface, and Windows Phone. While most Mac users may not need to access or use the Microsoft Edge web browser, others in Mac OS X may require using Edge to access … Read More

Using AirDrop is one of the easier ways to share files between Macs since its debut some time ago in OS X, but many Mac users have discovered that new Macs can’t seem to find old Macs with AirDrop, and older Macs with older versions of OS X can’t seem to locate new Macs with … Read More

Apple has released the fifth beta version of OS X El Capitan 10.11.2 to Mac users in the beta testing programs. The new beta arrives as build 15C48a and continues to focus on improving reliability and compatibility of OS X El Capitan, with a particular emphasis on networking, wi-fi, Mail, Calendar, Graphics, Notes, USB, Photos … Read More

New versions of Mac OS allow Mac users to hide and show the menu bar at the top of the screen automatically, much like the Dock can be hidden and shown with a mouse over. Auto-hiding the menu bar is a nice feature for Mac users who are fans of minimalist desktop appearances, as it … Read More

Enabling Dark menu and Dock mode on the Mac is a subtle user interface change to make which allows both the menu bar and the Mac OS X Dock to appear as black backgrounds with white text or icons overlaid on top. The result is a higher contrast menu bar and Dock, which is also … Read More

Users who have enabled the firewall in Mac OS X may find it useful to be view, read, and monitor the associated logs with the system firewall. As you’d expect, the app firewall logs show you what applications and processes have attempted to connect to the Mac, including accepted and refused connections. There are several … Read More

The latest versions of Mac OS X include a new ability to immediately delete a file or folder from the Mac, bypassing the Trash can. Essentially how the “Delete Immediately” feature works is by circumventing the Trash and rather than waiting for user action to remove the files, it just deletes the file(s) instantaneously from … Read More

Apple removed the ability to burn disc images from Disk Utility from MacOS High Sierra, Sierra, OS X 10.11 El Capitan, and newer, and while that makes sense for many Macs that no longer have SuperDrives, CDRW, and DVD burners, for those who use an external burner, use disc drive sharing, or who do have … Read More

You can add a nice vignette effect to any picture, image, or photo kept in the Photos app on the Mac. The vignette tool allows for adjustments and customizations for the strength of the pictures vignetting effect, which is basically a dark soft border along the edges of a picture intended to draw the viewers … Read More

Mac users who want a bit more network security can turn on an optional firewall feature in Mac OS X called Stealth Mode. With Stealth Mode enabled, the Mac will not acknowledge or respond to typical network discovery attempts with ICMP ping requests, and will not answer connections attempts made from closed TCP and UDP … Read More

The latest versions of Safari Mac OS X include a pinned tab feature, which allow you to maintain a particular web sites browser tab consistently across Safari relaunching and rebooting of the Mac. Pinned Tabs kind of work like bookmarks in this sense, except that rather than having to show a bookmarks bar, you can … Read More

Apple has released the fourth beta version of OS X El Capitan 10.11.2 for users participating in the beta testing programs. The new version build arrives as 15C47a and is available now both as a public beta and as a developer beta build.

If you adjust DNS settings on a Mac and the changes seemingly haven’t taken effect, or perhaps you discover that a given name server address is not resolving as intended, flushing the DNS cache is often a quick resolution. Flushing DNS cache in OS X El Capitan (10.11 or later) is easily possible with a … Read More

If you juggle multiple email addresses for various purposes on iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you may find it useful to add additional email addresses for FaceTime. This allows you to both call out from another email address, and perhaps more importantly, you can also receive inbound FaceTime calls for the newly added email address too.

Some Mac users have discovered they are unable to open some applications downloaded from the Mac App Store. When attempting to open an impacted app in Mac OS, a message stating “Name.app is damaged and can’t be opened. Delete Name.app and download it again from the App Store.” Another variation is a pop-up window appearing … Read More

Taking screen shots of the login screen on a Mac is possible, and you can do so at either the OS X system boot, any login window, or at a locked user authentication screen. How a screenshot of the Mac login screen is accomplished will depend on what version of OS X the Mac is … Read More

Apple Pay is undeniably convenient, allowing you to make quick and secure purchases right from your iOS devices. So, you setup Apple Pay on your iPhone and on the Apple Watch and now you want to put it to use, right? While many popular stores are known to support Apple Pay, there is no reason … Read More