Troubleshooting

Some Mac users may occasionally experience a peculiar error when attempting to perform a system software update on their Mac, with the error message stating that the “available software updates have changed” and to try again or contact Apple.

Some Mac users have noticed that after updating to macOS Sonoma, or various macOS Sonoma updates, their function keys are reversed. A common example of this is that when you tap on the F1 or F2 key to adjust the display brightness, nothing happens. Or you may press F10, F11, or F12 to adjust audio … Read More

Some iPhone users may discover their iPhone is randomly playing music, sometimes from within a pocket, or a purse, from a lap, or when being held in a hand but otherwise not in use. An iPhone may begin to randomly play music even when the iPhone is locked, making this a frustrating and potentially embarrassing … Read More

A fair number of Mac users are experiencing some irregular click issues when using an external mouse with macOS Sonoma, and sometimes even the internal trackpad on various Mac laptops running Sonoma. For example, mouse clicks may randomly not register as clicks, or all clicks may be registered as right-click, or the trackpad or mouse … Read More

It’s not unusual for those of us who are the “family geek” to spend time with less tech savvy people during the holidays, so why not use Thanksgiving as an opportunity to assist or improve the tech lives of loved ones? Express your thankfulness and gratitude with some helpful tech tips!

Some Gmail web client users may occasionally see a red error message at the top of their Gmail inbox that says “Gmail is having authentication problems. Some features may not work. Try logging in to fix the problem.” The error can persist sometimes even on a logged in account, and if you have logged back … Read More

The Disk Utility application on MacOS has a command line counterpart, that allows Mac users to run disk maintenance and disk administration tasks, including verifying and repairing disks. There are obvious advantages and benefits to using the command line for tasks like this, particularly for troubleshooting scenarios, and remote management, but some advanced users may … Read More

If your Mac feels excessively slow at random, or unreasonably slow for seemingly no apparent reason, you may want to check to see if the Messages app is open, as the Messages app for Mac has been known to use heavy amounts of processor and system resources. Next, you can investigate Activity Monitor for CPU … Read More

If you’re trying to use a Mac to update iOS on iPhone or iPadOS on iPad, you may see an error message that says something along the lines of “Updating to iOS 17.1 requires at least 975.2 MB of free space on your iPad. Please change your media sync options to make more storage available.” … Read More

A ton of open source software is available on Github, and many Mac applications are often available to download for free through the Github service as well. And if you read websites like this one and many others in the Apple and tech world, you’ll often find links to neat software projects on Github. One … Read More

We’ve all been there; you’re working away on your iPad with Magic Keyboard, and you knock over a cup of coffee, or a drink gets spilled, and the Magic Keyboard gets splashed or soaked in liquid. Uh oh! Now what? This recently happened to me, and I saved my iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard using … Read More

Forgetting or losing a password is a hassle, but assuming you save your logins and passwords with iCloud Keychain, that happens less and less. But you can still delete a password or login, whether intentionally or accidentally, and then end up needing access to that login information or password later. Fortunately the Mac offers a … Read More

Some Mac users may discover a process called AKAuthorization, AKAuthorizationRemoteView, “AKAuthorizationRemoteViewService”, and/or akd, running on macOS. Sometimes these process may be taking up inordinate amounts of CPU, which can add to the confusion, or concern. And, it’s not unusual for Mac users to find the “AKAuthorization remote view” name to sound a little suspicious, which … Read More

Some iPhone users are experiencing an error message that says “This iPhone is open in another window” when attempting to sync music between their Mac and iPhone. Users may see the error message even when there is no other window open in the Music app on Mac, making this a peculiar error message that doesn’t … Read More

Has your iPhone or iPad been feeling a bit sluggish since updating to iOS 17 or iPadOS 17? You’re not alone, this happens to many users after major system software updates. Normally, updating should make your device faster, but not right away, especially if you have an older device, or you have tons of stuff … Read More

Now that iOS 17 is here, you may have updated your iPhone to iOS 17, but now feel that your battery is draining faster than usual, or that iOS 17 has made your iPhone battery life worse. iOS updates causing battery drain is a familiar story that happens every year when a major new iOS … Read More

Have you ever wondered if your iPhone battery needs to be replaced? Maybe you are experiencing rapid battery drain, or other battery health issues like sluggish performance, random shutdowns, or the dreaded swollen battery issue with your iPhone. Read on and we’ll review five common signs that it’s time to replace the battery on your … Read More

As a Mac user, you’re likely already familiar with how to install macOS system software updates, which tend to be a simple process. But sometimes you get weird errors when loading the Software Update control panel, and those errors can lead to failures when attempting to install or even load available system software updates on … Read More