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How to Make FaceTime Audio Calls from Mac to Mac or iOS

Mar 11, 2014 - 5 Comments
FaceTime icon

The Mac can now make outbound voice calls to other Apple users that have an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or another Mac, using nothing but the native FaceTime Audio service. Built into Mac OS X, FaceTime Audio can be used to call any other FaceTime user, free, anywhere in the world, and it provides excellent … Read More

Tag Files in Mac OS X with a Keyboard Shortcut

Mar 10, 2014 - 47 Comments
Tag files in OS X with a keyboard shortcut

Have you ever wished you could tag files on the Mac with a simple keystroke? You’re almost certainly not alone. Tagging files and folders in Mac OS X can be a handy way to help manage and organize the contents of the Finder, even if only used on a limited basis for specific projects. To … Read More

How to Forget a Wi-Fi Network in Mac OS X

Mar 9, 2014 - 37 Comments
Forget a Wi-Fi Network in Mac OS X

Once a wi-fi network has been joined in Mac OS, the Mac will default to joining that network if it’s within range and available again. This is undeniably convenient for joining our home, work, and regular wireless networks, but it can be a nuisance when the Mac rejoins a network that you no longer want … Read More

How to Set a Screen Saver to Run at the Login Window of Mac OS X

Mar 7, 2014 - 10 Comments
Set a login window screen saver in Mac OS X

The Macs default boot login screen is fairly boring by default, and though it can be spruced up with custom wallpaper, another option is to set a screen saver to run at the login window of OS X. This requires using a defaults command string entered at the command line, which then makes the screen … Read More

Place the Cursor at the Mouse Position in Terminal with an Option+Click

Mar 6, 2014 - 6 Comments
Place a cursor anywhere in the Terminal by using Option+Click

Most command line users rely heavily on Terminal keyboard navigation to move about within text files and get around within the Terminal, but Mac OS X has a super simple trick up its sleeve that lets you instantly position the mouse cursor anywhere in the Terminal. This means no more tabbing around or repeatedly tapping … Read More

Watch File Download Progress Easily in Mac OS X from Dock or Finder Windows

Mar 5, 2014 - 8 Comments
Watch file download progress in Mac OS X

Mac OS includes many smaller details that can make digital life much easier, but because they’re fairly minor features, they can often go overlooked by Mac users. An excellent example of such a feature are the transfer progress indicators that are native throughout Mac OS, these make it extremely easy to keep an eye on … Read More

How to Show Holidays in the Calendar App for Mac OS X

Mar 4, 2014 - 20 Comments
Calendar holidays in Mac OS X

With so many holidays scattered throughout the year, it’s easy to lose track of when is what, and on which day the next falls. Fortunately, the Mac Calendar app makes it simple to toggle the display of all holidays directly in the Calendar app, so you’ll never lose track over what date Palm Sunday, Earth … Read More

2 Critically Important Things Every Apple User Must Do This Weekend

Mar 1, 2014 - 18 Comments

Two hugely important software security updates have been released for many Apple devices recently, and if you haven’t updated your software to the latest versions yet, you really should do it while you have some free time this weekend. Do this for all of your own Apple hardware, do this for your parents Macs, grandparents … Read More

Resolving systemstats CPU Usage Issues Causing Sluggishness in OS X

Feb 27, 2014 - 4 Comments
systemstats process going wild on a Mac

The systemstats process is used to retrieve information about system statistics and power usage, and though it usually runs unnoticed in the background, the systemstatsd and systemstats processes have been known to randomly go haywire in OS X, eating up 100%-300% or more CPU while slowing down a Mac.

How to Block iMessage Senders in Messages for Mac

Feb 26, 2014 - 9 Comments
Block iMessages on the Mac

The Messages app is the native instant messaging client for Mac OS X which supports everything from iMessage, Facebook chat, to other instant messaging services. You can block specific contacts from sending your Mac any iMessages too, though you’d be forgiven for missing the addition of the feature or for simply overlooking it when scouring … Read More

OS X 10.9.2 Update: Fix for Mail Problems, SSL Security Flaw, & More

Feb 25, 2014 - 42 Comments
OS X 10.9.2 Update

Apple has released OS X 10.9.2, a fairly major update to OS X Mavericks that includes resolutions to many problems and bugs encountered by Mac users. Critically, the OS X 10.9.2 update patches the SSL / TSL vulnerability for Macs that was fixed earlier for mobile devices with the iOS 7.0.6 update. The SSL fix … Read More

How to Re-Download OS X Mountain Lion Installer from OS X Mavericks

Feb 24, 2014 - 16 Comments
Downloading older version of OS X from the Mac App Store

Though it is generally recommended for users to keep their Macs up to date with the latest system software, not everyone wants to run OS X Mavericks on all of their Macs, and in some situations older Macs may not support the latest version of OS X anyway. Additionally, there are circumstances where users looking … Read More

Improve Activity Monitor Reporting Speed in Mac OS X with Update Frequency

Feb 24, 2014 - 3 Comments
Activity Monitor icon in Mac OS X

Many advanced Mac users have noticed that Activity Monitor appears slower these days when the app is updating CPU, Memory, Disk, Energy, and Network data, with the monitoring app apparently no longer offering real-time system resource statistics. Instead, Activity Monitor now defaults to offering a general aggregate of system use that feels relatively delayed. Well … Read More

Help Protect a Mac from the SSL / TLS Security Bug

Feb 22, 2014 - 18 Comments
Wi-Fi security

Apple recently released iOS 7.0.6 with an important security update for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch users – if you have an iOS device, you should install that update right away. Though the 7.0.6 bug fix description was initially vague, further information we’ll detail below points to just how potentially serious the security issue is (or … Read More

How to Batch Convert DOCX Files to TXT Format with textutil in Mac OS X

Feb 20, 2014 - 5 Comments
DOCX files

The Mac includes a fantastic command line tool called textutil which allows for quick text file format conversions, translating almost any text or word document type into another. We’ve discussed textutil for a variety of uses, but typically it has been for one-off conversions of a specific file into a new file type. This time … Read More

Find What App(s) Are Using & Draining Battery on MacBook

Feb 19, 2014 - Leave a Comment

Batteries on the MacBook Pro, MacBook, and MacBook Air are made to offer many hours of work on a single charge. Unfortunately, sometimes apps get in the way of our wonderful Mac battery life, often without a user even noticing until suddenly their battery life has been drained dramatically. The good news is it doesn’t … Read More

Is Your Mac Still Running OS X Lion? Why? You Should Upgrade to OS X Mavericks

Feb 18, 2014 - 166 Comments
Running old version of OS X? You should upgrade to Mavericks

It’s fairly common for computer users to delay updating to major operating system releases, and though Mac owners tend to be a bit better at upgrading than Windows users, many are still running old versions of OS X. For some users there are good reasons for this, maybe lingering on outdated OS X versions like … Read More

Fixing a “Bluetooth Not Available” Error on a Mac

Feb 17, 2014 - 130 Comments
Fix Bluetooth not available and not working on a Mac

Some Mac users may encounter an apparently random disappearance of Bluetooth functionality, often after rebooting or updating Mac OS X. The first obvious indicator is that no Bluetooth hardware works, be it a keyboard, mouse, headset, or otherwise, and when attempting to visit the Bluetooth menu of Mac OS X a “Bluetooth: Not Available” error … Read More

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