Some Mac users have discovered a “Confirm Mac Password” message in System Settings or System Preferences on their Mac, and while it can appear at random, it often shows up soon after installing a system software update. For example, perhaps you recently installed macOS Ventura 13.1 onto a Mac and now you see the “Confirm … Read More
System Preferences has been replaced by System Settings in MacOS Sonoma & MacOS Ventura, and it’s quite a change not only in name but in how the system control panels are navigated, and also where many preferences, settings, and toggles are located. You can access the new System Settings from the Apple menu just … Read More
If you’re using a desktop Mac, like an iMac or Mac Pro, you’re probably less concerned about power management than someone using something like a MacBook. But there are still chances to reduce your home electricity bill, too. You’d be surprised the difference tweaking a few macOS settings can make, especially if you’re someone who … Read More
You can control which apps have access to files and folders on the Mac. This article will walk you through how to manage what apps can access files and folders in macOS.
System Preferences in MacOS shows a red badge circle icon when there is an available software update for the Mac. This can be helpful for users who want to be notified of software updates, but it can be annoying to other Mac users who are specifically avoiding a particular software update. For example, many Mac … Read More
Wondering how to access your Apple ID and iCloud settings in the latest MacOS releases? Your Apple ID is the key to all of your data and it’s where all of the iCloud syncing magic starts. Without your Apple ID you can’t access iCloud data including your email, contacts, calendar, and more. You’ll also need … Read More
Though many preferences and settings in Mac OS are easy to find, some aren’t always located in the most obvious locations within System Preferences, and it’s also just easy to forget which panel is going to adjust what you’re looking for on the Mac. Fortunately, the Mac System Preference control panel has a universal search … Read More
Whether you’re new to the Mac or just can’t figure out where a specific preference option is buried, you’ll love the convenience of the built-in search function in OS X System Preferences. This is an often overlooked feature that can prevent a lot of frustration when looking for some less-than-obvious settings panels, and it’s very … Read More
The hosts file maps hostnames to IP addresses, it’s present in virtually every OS in some form or another and in Mac OS X it’s stored at /etc/hosts, which requires administrative privileges to modify and generally a jump to the command line. Editing the hosts file allows you to do a variety of things like … Read More
If you find yourself adjusting things in System Preferences often enough, it’s helpful to create a universal keyboard shortcut to quickly launch into the control panels on the Mac. Here is how to do that in Mac OS X:
Can’t decide which wallpaper to use as your desktop background? Me neither. Fortunately there’s a setting in Mac OS X that causes the desktop picture to change itself automatically at a user selected time interval, ranging from every 5 seconds to once a day or upon system wake. Essentially this means your wallpaper will change … Read More
You can hide unwanted System Preferences from appearing in the control panel without actually removing them. This is a helpful distinction for setting up other user accounts or just for hiding System Prefs you never access and no longer need:
Rather than rearranging all of the System Preferences to be sorted alphabetically, you can access a quick pull-down menu of all the panels that is sorted by name. Try it yourself, access System Preferences from the Apple menu, then click and hold on “Show All” to see the full list of preference panes available sorted by … Read More
Mac System Preferences are grouped by categories by default, basically into Personal / iCloud, Software, and Hardware. For most of us this is intuitive and easy enough to navigate, but with modern versions of macOS they’ve been condensed down from more category separation, from Personal, Hardware, Internet & Wireless, System, and Other, to just the … Read More
Want to tile a wallpaper on the Mac? A tiling wallpaper will repeat all over the desktop background, just like a tile is repeated in flooring or a wall. Well, you’re in luck because modern Mac OS X versions can do tile a wallpaper image, just like you could do way back in ancient Mac … Read More
Remote Login is a feature in Mac OS X’s Sharing preferences that allow remote users to connect to a Mac in a secure fashion by using the OpenSSH protocols. Essentially, Remote Login starts an SSH server on a Mac, which includes the ability to accept incoming SSH connections, and is the secure replacement for telnet. … Read More
If you want to quickly access the Mac OS X System Preferences, you can do so with an indirect keyboard shortcut trick by holding down the Option key and then hitting various function keys. This jumps directly to the System Preference panel corresponding to the function key. For example, Option+Brightness pulls up the Display preference … Read More
You can fine tune how Mac OS X handles archives with a secret preference pane. There’s quite a few features tucked away in the Archives preference pane, including the ability to delete the archive after it’s expanded, reveal the expanded items in the Finder, and of course the same features for compressing files too. These … Read More
