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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

Bad Battery Life & a Warm iPhone After iOS 7.0.6 Update? That’s Easy to Fix

Feb 26, 2014 - 41 Comments

Some iPhone and iPad users, myself included, have experienced an unusual level of battery drain after updating devices to iOS 7.0.6. This is typically accompanied by an iPhone (or other device) feeling abnormally warm to the touch.

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

How to Jailbreak iOS 7.0.6 with Evasi0n

Feb 23, 2014 - 21 Comments
Evasi0n jailbreak for iOS 7.0.6

The popular Evasi0n utility has been updated to support jailbreaking iOS 7.0.6. Though iOS 7.0.6 is a minor version change to iOS, it includes an important security fix that prevents potential man-in-the-middle attacks and/or data interception from occurring, thus it is highly recommended for all users to install as soon as possible, including those who … 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

How to Preview a Link URL in Safari for iPhone & iPad Before Opening It

Feb 20, 2014 - 4 Comments
Preview a URL in Safari for iOS before clicking it

How many times have you been reading an article on the web when you tapped on a link that sent you somewhere you weren’t expecting? Maybe it was to an article that wasn’t anticipated, or maybe it was to another website entirely. Sometimes we just want to know where we’ll be going before going there, … 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

How to Remotely Install Apps to iPhone / iPad from iTunes on a Mac or PC

Feb 16, 2014 - 12 Comments
Remotely install apps from a computer to iOS devices

Every modern iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch has access to a feature called Automatic Downloads, which can be used a bit differently than intended as a means to remotely install apps onto iOS devices from a computer. All you need is iTunes on OS X or Windows logged into the same Apple ID as what’s … Read More

How to Convert an Audio File to iPhone Ringtone from Mac Command Line

Feb 14, 2014 - 5 Comments
Convert a ringtone from the command line

Ever wanted to create an iPhone or Android ringtone from an existing audio file, but wanted to complete the process entirely from the command line? You’re in luck, because Mac OS X has a little audio conversion tool that can turn any existing audio track into an Android or iPhone compatible ringtone in seconds. We’ll … Read More

Scrub Through Music & Podcasts Tracks from Control Center in iOS

Feb 14, 2014 - 8 Comments
Scrubbing music and podcast tracks from the iOS Control Center

Scrubbing audio is probably the fastest way to skip through and navigate within a playing audio track, and iOS allows you to scrub active tracks directly from the Control Center. There’s not much to it and scrubbing is done through a fairly simple gesture, but because the tap touch target is quite small it can … Read More

How to Forget Wi-Fi Networks on iPhone / iPad to Stop from Re-Joining Unwanted Routers

Feb 13, 2014 - 24 Comments
Get more info about the wi-fi network

iOS is usually smart enough to join the last functioning wireless network used within range, but if you’re in an area with many wi-fi networks available sometimes you’ll find an iPhone or iPad is persistently joining and re-joining a network that you don’t want it to, even if you consistently toggle over to join a … Read More

Using cURL to Download Remote Files from the Command Line

Feb 13, 2014 - 9 Comments
Download with curl

The powerful curl command line tool can be used to download files from just about any remote server. Longtime command line users know this can be useful for a wide variety of situations, but to keep things simple, many will find that downloading a file with curl can often be a quicker alternative to using … Read More

How to Install Command Line Tools in Mac OS X (Without Xcode)

Feb 12, 2014 - 39 Comments
terminal

Mac users who prefer to have a more traditional Unix toolkit accessible to them through the Terminal may wish to install the optional Command Line Tools subsection of the Xcode IDE. From MacOS Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, OS X El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks onward, this is now easily possible directly and … Read More

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