Mac users who are running the newest version of iTunes in OS X Yosemite can choose to enable an optional iTunes widget in Notification Center. Despite being the primary change to iTunes 12.1, the widget is not enabled or shown by default on any of the Macs I’ve updated, which is likely to be the case for many other OS X users as well.

If you’d like to see and use the iTunes Notification Center widget in OS X, you can enable it manually in just a moment.

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Mac users can find iTunes 12.1 available if they are running OS X Yosemite or OS X Mavericks. The update is said to include some performance improvements for syncing an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to iTunes, and may include bug fixes as well. Perhaps the most notable change to iTunes 12.1 is the addition of an optional widget for Notification Center in OS X Yosemite, though prior versions of OS X will not include the widget feature.

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Adware is generally something most Mac users won’t have to worry about, but that doesn’t mean that OS X is entirely immune to the potential nuisance, and nobody likes it when their browser has been hijacked by that type of junk. If you’re at all concerned about adware impacting your Mac and web browsing, you can easily scan, detect, and remove some of the most frequently encountered (although still rare) adware found in OS X using an excellent free utility called AdwareMedic.

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Users who require higher than usual security measures often set a firmware password on a Mac, which requires that a password be entered before the typical OS X boot sequence begins. While these low level passwords are quite secure, but that higher security also means a forgotten firmware password can be a significant problem. Nonetheless, if you wind up in a situation where you or another user has forgotten a low level firmware password on a Mac, don’t panic, because you may be able to recover the password or bypass it using one of the methods outlined below. If all else fails, Apple can possibly help you too.

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The Apple Watch will start shipping to customers in April, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Though Apple Watch has always been said to launch sometime in “early 2015”, this is the first mention of a specific release month when the device will become available.

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Apple has released important security updates for Mac users who are continuing to run OS X Mavericks (10.9.5) and OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5). The updates are versioned as “Security Update 2015-001” for both system software versions and are recommended for all Mac users running prior releases of OS X. Additionally, new versions of Safari are available versioned as Safari 7.1.3, which includes bug resolutions, stability improvements, and security fixes, the Safari updates are also available for both OS X Mavericks and Mountain Lion.

These software updates arrive separately from OS X 10.10.2 update for Mac Yosemite users but do include some of the same security updates.

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Apple has released iOS 8.1.3 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The minor point release primarily focuses on bug fixes, but is also said to increase general stability of iOS as well. All eligible devices running prior versions of iOS 8 are recommended to install iOS 8.1.3.

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Apple has released the OS X 10.10.2 software update to all Mac users running OS X Yosemite. The OS X 10.10.2 update focuses on bug fixes and security updates, and is said to help resolve some of the persistent wi-fi problems that have negatively impacted some Mac users running the newest versions of OS X Yosemite.

Apple recommends that all Mac users actively running OS X Yosemite install the update to improve the stability and security of OS X.

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Many Mac users rely on the Messages app to converse back and forth with other Mac and iPhone owners, but unlike saving a picture or image from a message in the iOS side of things, Mac OS X Messages app does not offer a share sheet download option or menu for saving specific photos and media sent back and forth. That’s because the Messages app in Mac OS X offers perhaps an even easier and faster way to save images from your message conversations, using a simple drag and drop trick.

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Mac users who have older hardware laying around which are unable to run modern versions of Mac OS X may be relieved to discover that Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) and Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) are available to download directly from Apple. These versions of Mac OS X are over half a decade outdated and are now unsupported, making them appropriate for advanced users and those who require specific legacy software support within a virtual environment or on appropriately aged Mac hardware.

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Mac Safari users in the latest versions of OS X have discovered that when the URL bar is clicked in Safari, a panel of bookmark icons and Favorites appears. This is a lot like how Safari iOS works, and these icons can be clicked to visit sites quickly, or moved, removed, and rearranged as desired. But some Mac users may wish to not see the bookmark favorites icon drop down menu thing at all, and would rather just be able to click into the URL bar of Safari and enter a site address or search term without the popup.

If the bookmarks dropdown menu bothers you, you can quickly turn it off in Safari settings, though the preference isn’t necessarily named something you would expect:

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It’s time for another featured Mac setup! We’re going to share the great personal studio workstation of Nick J., a professional Audio Designer.

Let’s dive right in and learn more about the hardware and software used with this setup:

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Local networking usually works flawlessly on Macs, which is why some of the most aggravating issues that a select group of users may experience with Mac OS with OS X Yosemite (and sometimes with later releases) pertain to network connections. Some of these may relate to broader connection and wi-fi functionality problems, and others which can effect general LAN networking functions and the ability to discover and connect to another local Mac, or transfer files on a local network of other AFP Macs or even broader SMB machines. The latter LAN discovery and connectivity issues are what we’re going to focus on addressing here.

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Losing an iPhone is a terrible feeling, so if you ever happen to be in the position of finding a random iPhone somewhere, maybe in a coffee shop or on the street, you should always do the right thing and try to return it to the proper owner. Of course that’s sometimes easier said than done, but everyones favorite virtual assistant Siri can make the job significantly easier by helping to locate the devices owner.

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When you click into the URL bar of Safari in MacOS and Mac OS X, a panel menu of website bookmark icons appears directly under the address bar. This can offer a quick way to access web bookmarks in Safari from a Mac, but it’s fairly likely you’ll discover a few bookmarks in the icon view that you don’t really want showing in the bookmark list.

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Have you ever needed to mark an email as unread after opening it on your iOS device? Of course you have, whether to serve as a reminder to yourself later, or to undo an accidental mark as read. Typically on the iPhone and iPad iOS Mail apps, most people use the Flag menu method to manually select “Mark as Unread” on a message, but the newest versions of Mail app support an ultra-fast gesture that will quickly mark any email as unread without having to even open the mail message. This works remarkably well on the iPhone Mail app in particular.

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The Google Chrome web browser has updated with a multiple-user profile menu visible in the window titlebar, a feature that makes juggling multiple Google and Gmail accounts extremely easy. It’s also helpful for computers with multiple people using them without multiple accounts too, since anyone can switch logins through the menu. Of course, the user menu switching option is not necessarily useful if you don’t have or regularly use multiple Google profiles, so changing the user menu from enabled by default to being hidden by default is a desirable choice for some users.

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Apple has released a sixth beta version of OS X 10.10.2 to those registered with the Mac Developer program. The new build arrives as 14C106a and continues to emphasize a focus on resolving wi-fi problems, Mail, and VoiceOver.

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