Tips and Guides

I explain what matters in plain English, with practical steps you can use and recommendations based on my experience helping clients.

Showing 523–538 of 538 articles

Kill the duplicates in your Mac's "Open With" menu

Kill the duplicates in your Mac's "Open With" menu

Kill the duplicates in your Mac's "Open With" menu. Make sure your computer has a current Time Machine backup. Using Terminal can be dangerous if you mistype something. Launch Terminal from your Applications/Utilities folder. Copy and paste this command into Terminal and press retur

Prevent your little ones from racking up an App Store bill

Prevent your little ones from racking up an App Store bill

If children use your iOS devices then set the App Store to require a password "immediately"! If you don't, your device gives you a 15 minute window where you don't need to type your password again for purchases. Many parents have racked up bills in the thousands of dollars.Settings app &am

Turn your MacBook into an external iPhone battery

Turn your MacBook into an external iPhone battery

Use your MacBook as an external battery for your iPhone. Open your computer, plug in your iPhone, close the lid, and your iPhone will continue charging while your computer is asleep.This helped me get through PEPCO's infamous power outages.

Quick screen capture

Quick screen capture

Quickly insert a screen capture into Mail, Messages, Notes, and many other programs on OS X. Put the cursor where you want the screen capture inserted, go to the application menu (Mail, in the case of my example picture) > Services > then choose one of the three available capture modes

Formatting text in iOS Mail

Formatting text in iOS Mail

Get the formatting menu in iOS Mail. Simply select some text as if you were going to copy it (double tap a word then drag the edges to highlight the entire selection you want if needed). Then tap the right arrow in the popup menu. From there you'll see basic formatting such as bold, italics, and und

iTunes Status Bar

iTunes Status Bar

Turn on the iTunes status bar to see information about your currently selected media or about your current view. View menu > Show Status Bar .

Use Quicklook in unexpected places

Use Quicklook in unexpected places

Quick Look has some really handy hidden uses. In addition to getting a preview of files in Finder you can use it to take a quick look at: files in Trash items in your print queue attachments in Mail documents in open/save dialog boxes spotlight search results (hover the mouse over the ite

Attach a photo or video in iOS Mail

Attach a photo or video in iOS Mail

Attach a photo or video to an email message that has already been started by using a hidden menu in iOS Mail. Double tap the white space where you want to insert, tap the right arrow on the popup menu, choose "Insert Photo or Video".

OS X Gestures and trackpad hints

OS X Gestures and trackpad hints

In the excitement of the iOS 6 release, I feel like I've kind of neglected the Mac. So today I want to talk about gestures. Gestures, which is Apple's name for the fancy fingerwork you can do on a trackpad as a shortcut for all kinds of cool features, has been introduced slowly over the past half a

iOS 6 "Do Not Disturb" mode

iOS 6 "Do Not Disturb" mode

UPDATE : In iOS 15, Apple changed Do Not Disturb into Focus , which is far more powerful. iOS 6 introduced "Do Not Disturb" mode, which allows you to decide when you receive notifications. You can either enable it manually or on a schedule. This can be useful if you are a light slee

Multiple signatures on iOS 6 Mail

Multiple signatures on iOS 6 Mail

Update : As of iOS 18 this is still accurate, except you will now find this setting in the Settings app > Apps > Mail > Signature For those of us whose Apple products cross back and forth between our work and personal lives, we've long enjoyed the option of using diffe

Using your phone number for iMessages & FaceTime on Mountain Lion & iPad

Using your phone number for iMessages & FaceTime on Mountain Lion & iPad

Update 4 Jan 2025 : Almost 13 years later, this article is almost entirely still accurate. The big exception is that on iPhone iPad you will find this in the Settings app > Apps > Messages. And it's now called an "Apple Account" instead of "Apple ID". Also, many of these se

iOS Tip: Quitting apps - don't do it

iOS Tip: Quitting apps - don't do it

I want to clear up some misconceptions about your apps running in the background. I even know several people who have gotten very bad information from Apple Store employees about this. If you "terminate" your apps when you are done with them you are wasting your time, and very possibly slo

OS X Tip: Send screenshots by email

OS X Tip: Send screenshots by email

Ever wanted a super-easy way to send screenshots by email? Using Apple's Mail app it's easy but strangely unintuitive. Simply begin your email and make sure your cursor is in the body of the email where you want it to go. Then go to the Mail menu and hover over Services . In the new sub-menu ther

The wonders of Apple TV

The wonders of Apple TV

I've been a user of Apple TV for some time now, and despite some shortcomings, it is a simply amazing device that is especially powerful for people who have recent models of iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches. And with Mountain Lion coming out soon it's about to get even more amazing. Apple today annou

Mac Tip: International Characters

Mac Tip: International Characters

There is a big difference between "resume" and "resumé". Hold a key for one second and a menu pops up providing several accented and character options. In the example picture above I'm holding the "s" key. Click the one you want or press the corresponding number key. Vo

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