The Mac received a great many changes with OS X Yosemite along with a notable visual redesign, but some of those changes and various transparent effects may be taking a toll on some users Mac performance with errant WindowServer behavior. This is typically demonstrated with the WindowServer process spiking into heavy CPU use for seemingly no reason, often with an accompanying inordinate usage of memory, leading to very sluggish and choppy behavior during general usage of Mac OS X and MacOS on some computers.

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Stacks offer a method of displaying folders or collections of multiple items in the Dock of the Mac. When clicked, the “Stack” will pop open and show the contents sprawling out of the Dock.

Dock Stacks always display on the right-side of the Mac OS X Dock and they default to contain things like the Applications folder, Downloads folder, but many users add a Documents folder or even a Recent Items Dock menu stack.

The default for most stack items is set to Automatic, which means it will change as the folder (or stack) item changes to accommodate the contents. But you can also just choose to set the style of the Dock Stack yourself with a simple right-click on the stack item you wish to change in MacOS or Mac OS X.

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Newer iPhones have the ability to track fitness activity and motion and displaying that data in Health app and other applications. Fitness tracking is done by using a low-power motion coprocessor that determines steps, altitude gain and lost, and distance traveled, and many users like this feature as it represents an easy way to keep an eye on their activity levels, and perhaps work towards that goal of an active 10,000+ steps per day.

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There’s something about good wallpaper that makes using a Mac, iPhone, iPad, ok, even a Windows PC or Android device, just even better. We’re bringing you four gorgeous high resolution wallpapers that are basically hidden in plain sight from two sources, a recent Wired article about Apple Watch, and Apple.com product pages. All it took to uncover these amazing wallpaper shots was a little digging around with the web inspector tool, and we’re going to share the source links with you.

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Those interested in purchasing an Apple Watch early will be able to pre-order the device just after midnight at 12:01 AM PST (3:01 AM EST) on April 10, according to the Apple website. The pre-ordered devices will be shipped to an address or available for pickup at an Apple Store on April 24.

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Whether testing performance of an application, Mac OS X animations, or just out of general curiosity, you can measure the refresh rate in Frames Per Second of onscreen actions and animations on the Mac by using a free developer tool from Apple called Quartz Debug.

Part of the Graphics Tools package of Xcode, Quartz Debug can also be downloaded separately if you have a developer login, and a simple action will enable the live FPS monitor, providing frame rate data in real-time.

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Apple has released a seventh beta version of OS X Yosemite 10.10.3, just a few days after releasing the sixth beta.

The rapid beta testing release schedule either suggests the final public version of OS X 10.10.3 is approaching quickly, or perhaps that an important fix is included in the seventh beta version, though the former is probably more likely.

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It’s April Fools, so why not have a little fun and play a prank or two on some iPhone (or iPad) users? We’ve got two super simple tricks that are completely harmless yet amusing enough to be worth while. Have fun out there.

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If you ever need to set custom DNS or change the DNS settings on iOS devices for using an alternate domain name server or a faster one, you’ll probably want the DNS changes to take effect immediately, which requires the flushing of DNS caches on the iPhone or iPad. There are actually several ways to perform a DNS flush on an iOS device, we’ll cover the two fastest methods below, the first is preferential because it has the least amount of impact overall to other activity on the device as it does not require a reboot.

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With Messages app on the Mac now able to send and receive SMS texts messages alongside iMessages from the iPhone, amongst other configured chat protocols, it’s easy to stay in touch, but it’s also easy get overwhelmed or annoyed by the sound of incoming messages while you’re trying to do other work on the computer. While you can mute Notification Center alert sounds, or toggle Do Not Disturb mode on for a universal relief from all alerts on the Mac, a more appropriate solution is to disable the sounds that Messages for Mac OS makes.

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Apple has released the sixth beta version of OS X Yosemite 10.10.3. The new build arrives as 14D127a and is available for those participating in the Public Beta test program and users who are registered as a Mac Developer.

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A fair amount of wireless routers choose not to broadcast their identity (called an SSID) as a simple security precaution, thus knowing how to join an invisible network from a Mac is important.

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Sometimes you need to prop up your iPhone, sometimes you need an iPhone stand, but who carries a stand around with them? Probably not many of us, but if you do wear sunglasses (and maybe reading glasses too, let us know), then you already have an instant iPhone stand just waiting to be put to use.

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Now that the Mac windows green maximize button defaults to sending apps and windows into Full Screen Mode, a notably sized cohort of MacOS and Mac OS X users who perhaps didn’t know this behavior changed until accidentally finding out, are left confused with the following question; “how do I get out of full screen mode in Mac OS X?” or even “how do I get into full screen mode on the Mac?”

The good news is that both entering and exiting out of Full Screen Mode in any Mac app in macOS High Sierra, MacOS Sierra, Mac OS X El Capitan or Yosemite is really easy, and if you do find yourself in this situation don’t feel dumb, because some very techy folks have stumbled into the same situation.

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If you find yourself adding up many numbers or just performing a continuous string of math that is critical to keep track of, you should know that the Mac Calculator app includes a paper tape feature. For those who aren’t familiar, a paper tape keeps a running trail of each item entered into a calculator, making it easy to follow and audit anything in the calculation. Obviously useful for many occasions, the deceptively simple Calculator app in OS X includes this ability, and you can also save and print the generated number tape if desired.

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You may know that you can quickly jump to websites by typing a domain name into a Spotlight search and choosing the ‘Suggested Website’ option, but did you know you can get a live preview of a webpage from Spotlight on the Mac? This is a fairly simple trick that’s pretty useful, and yes it actually fetches a live copy of the webpage in question, rendering it within the Spotlight preview panel using Safari.

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With the Mac Messages app able to send and receive text messages along with iMessages, you’ll be in greater contact with friends, family, and anyone else who sends you a message. This is usually a good thing, but sometimes you’ll find yourself as a recipient to a conversation that just isn’t necessary to follow. For example, maybe you’re an unintentional third party on a multi-person conversation, and frankly you have nothing to add to the conversation. In situations like these, you could always enable system-wide Do Not Disturb mode with a schedule or quick-click, but perhaps a more appropriate option is to selectively mute the conversation in question.

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The next time you’re listening to iTunes Radio and you find yourself wondering which wonderful decade a particular song came from, wonder no more, because iTunes Radio can tell you when a song was released.

You can even see the date of a songs release with songs listed in iTunes Radio history, here’s all you need to do from the Music app on your iPhone or iPad:

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