I've mentioned this previously, but the website 'AboutTech" is an excellent source for help with OS X (soon to be macOS) and general Mac questions. Here and here are just two examples. Once on the website, there are more links on the right side one can click for more help. Here's one on Mac Troubleshooting tips. I think the articles are well-written and can be a big help with your Mac questions.
Jim Hamm
I recommend that you download the free app “Disk Inventory X” and run it. This app will show you in graphical format what is taking up space in your computer in places you don’t even know about. It looks like this when you run it:
Each block on the right is an individual item or folder. The larger the block, the more disk space that item uses. Notice that when you click on a square on the right it shows you what that item is on the left. And if you click on an entry on the left, it highlights a square on the right.
And there’s a sidebar on the far right that lists all the items by size, largest first:
When I ran this on my computer, it showed a huge block in a place on my computer that is for system files. That huge block was nothing more than a folder full of temporary files. Any file ending in .tmp can be deleted (some won’t delete because they are in use by an app at the time), so I deleted the contents of that folder (may require administrator privileges), and I recovered over 100GB of space on my computer.
John Carter
John Carter sent this posting: A message from Adam Engst of TakeControlBooks.com:
Good day, MUG friends!
I presume I don’t have to explain why PDF is useful or wax poetic about how you can’t turn around on the Internet these days without running into one. But if you want a PDF editing and manipulation tool that sits between Apple’s free Preview and Adobe’s $450 Acrobat Pro DC, look no further than Smile’s $74.95 PDFpen and $124.95 PDFpenPro. There’s even an $19.99 iOS companion in PDFpen for iPad & iPhone.
To help PDFpen users make the most of their apps, we’ve just released Michael Cohen’s Take Control of PDFpen 8, with 188 pages of comprehensive documentation. Get the full information about the ebook here.
If getting good wifi reception throughout your house is a problem, you may be interested in this article. It discusses one person's use of a new router system: Eero. I had previously read of this wifi system becoming available, but this is the first comprehensive review I've read. And here are further comments on Eero. Eero is perhaps a bit pricey compared to other routers, but if you have a wifi problem and this solves it, perhaps it's worth the extra cost.
Jim Hamm
For just a few days MacNN (which is shutting down) has eBooks on sale for just 99 cents. If you might have an interest in seeing which books are available, click the following link. Here
Jim Hamm
Starting in 2017 Apple products will ship with a new file system: APFS. It will be available on every device that Apple offers. If you're the 'geeky' type and would like to learn more about APFS, here is a video that you can watch (note that it will only run on the Safari browser), and here is an article that explains, in more understandable terms, what the video shows. Realistically, unless you're a developer of apps for an Apple device, you probably won't care about this new file system. But, if you're somewhat 'geeky', and would like to lift the kimono a bit to take a peek at what Apple is up to in their new file system, the video and article will give you a good overview -- that's assuming, of course, that you're able to stay awake.
Jim Hamm
Should you have an interest in taking a peek at the Mac's new OS coming this fall -- macOS Sierra -- here is an article from a writer who has spent a week with the preliminary design. Overall, I'd say he's impressed. Jim Hamm
You are probably aware by now that Apple is making a change in its operating system, and its name, as well as adding some new features. Here is an article that provides a summary of the changes. One item that caught my attention was that Apple Pay is coming to macOS. If retailers, such as Amazon, adopt this, it could be a mixed blessing. On the one hand, you wouldn't have to fill out a form and enter credit card info in order to make a purchase. It would be quick and easy to spend money. On the other hand, if, say, your iPhone is lost or stolen you better have a good password on it. Otherwise, someone may use your phone to go shopping. Another interesting feature is that your iPhone can unlock your Mac. Not a big deal, certainly, but kind of neat.
Jim Hamm
The latest version of iOS -- which will be iOS 10 -- will be released this fall. Will your device support this version? The following link will let you know. Jim Hamm
For your possible interest, here is an article with some tips for the iPhone you might find helpful. Jim Hamm
If you enjoy listening to music while you're on your computer, tablet or smartphone, you might give TuneIn Radio a try. Here is a TidBits article that provides a nice description of the features of TuneIn Radio. As an example, in my browser I opened the TuneIn website, did a search for Celtic music, was given a list of stations to choose from, I picked one from Ireland, and, Voila!, I'm listening away. There are many other music options one can consider. I listen frequently to Pandora and AccuRadio, as an example. TuneIn Radio just gives me another option.
Jim Hamm
There are different ways to take a full or partial screenshot on a Mac. Here is a helpful article describing several different ways. I use the Cmd+Shift+4 method frequently, and save the .png image to my desktop. Then I'll either use the image or save it to my Pictures folder as a .jpg file.
Jim Hamm
How about a new 512GB SSD that's smaller than a penny, and weighs less than half as much? Samsung soon will be releasing one. Read about it here. Now that is impressive. Jim Hamm
If an occasion should ever arise on how you could possibly get a refund on a purchase from Apple, you will want to read this article. Jim Hamm
Here is a link to show how to set up 2-factor authentication on Apple ID for additional security. Good process for those that want a little more security. Dave Rothgery
Here is a tip for possible consideration and FYI. As I've mentioned previously, I use the app, mSecure (https://www.msecure.com/), to securely store my passwords. Whenever I add or make three changes to mSecure it asks if I'd like to send an encrypted email to myself of all my passwords so I'd have another record of these changes. Of course I do this.
What I didn't think about doing previously was saving this encrypted password file to my Dropbox account, and I just did it. Now, I've saved my passwords to the 'cloud' as well as storing them in my mSecure app -- which is on my iPhone, iPad and Mac. If my Dropbox account should ever get hacked, no one could get into my password file as it is securely encrypted, and would self-destruct after three failed password tries.
Yes, I realize this is really a "belt and suspenders" approach to password security. But it's free and easy to do, so why not do it?
Jim Hamm
I have commented previously about how much I use and appreciate the convenience of using Dropbox to store documents and easily sync between devices. And I've also mentioned that I don't store any sensitive data there, such as passwords. But this brings up the question: how secure is Dropbox? Read the following two articles and a short video: http://tiptopsecurity.com/is-dropbox-safe-to-use-how-dropbox-works-to-secure-your-files-online/
http://www.howtogeek.com/129393/6-ways-to-secure-your-dropbox-account/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5dQ-NCQtdY
The video discusses using an encryption app -- such as BoxCryptor (https://www.boxcryptor.com/en/boxcryptor) -- to encrypt one's passwords or sensitive data before sending it to the 'cloud'. Here's another approach I'm going to use: I already have an encrypted file of my passwords from my mSecure app. I'll just send a copy of this file to my Dropbox account for storage. Let's say, as an example, that my Dropbox account gets hacked, or Dropbox gets a court order to open my account. This they would do, but Dropbox doesn't have access to my mSecure file so it couldn't be opened by Dropbox or the hacker or the government.
If you should have an encrypted file from another Password Managers, I should think this would work, also. Easy to do, and yet another way to use the 'cloud' securely.
Jim Hamm
It is inevitable that someday the internal hard drive will develop an anomaly and fail to boot up. This happened to me yesterday. The internal drive on my MacBook Pro is a Solid State Drive - the original from Apple. The first line of defense is to hold down the Command and R keys together when powering up the computer. This boots the computer into the Recovery mode.
Once in Recovery mode, click on Disk Utility in the window that shows up on the display. In Disk Utility, select the internal hard drive in the left column and then click on First Aid in the Tool bar. Then reboot.
Well, this didn’t fix my problem. And if it doesn’t fix yours, then the next step is to re-install the OS. This is done without losing any of your data. And again you have to boot up into the Recovery mode.
After I re-installed the OS, my computer still would not boot up. And if a re-install doesn’t fix your problem, the next step is to wipe the internal hard drive clean and re-install the OS from scratch.
To wipe the computer clean, boot up into the Recovery mode and again select Disk Utility. In Disk Utility, select your internal drive and then click on Erase in the Tool bar. There goes all your data and applications!
After erasing the internal drive, you now select to re-install the OS.
After the OS has been installed you need to reboot your computer. Thankfully, this time my computer did boot up. But now I was faced with a decision. Do I just pretend I have a new computer and start everything from scratch or do I attempt to recover everything from the Time Machine backup that I had been meticulously keeping? I decided to recover from the Time Machine backup. If you have not been keeping an up-to-date Time Machine backup, your only option is to start from scratch. Sorry.
Following the instructions given me on the screen after booting up my computer, I selected to restore from a Time Machine backup. The good news is that the computer was restored and it now reboots normally - and nothing was lost! Even better news is that an annoying problem I had with Mail is now gone.
So now I have to consider that there just might be something lurking in my internal drive that will someday again cause the computer to misbehave. I’m prepared to replace the 500GB SSD with a 1TB SSD should that happen again.
John R Carter Sr
If you're just browsing the net, and have the time and interest in reading another article comparing browsers, read here. I read the article, but it didn't give me any reason to switch from my favorite browser -- Chrome. I really appreciate and like the many features and extensions available on Chrome (running Flash in a Sandbox is a good one), but I suspect it may use the most memory when it's running. The article didn't discuss that aspect of browsers.
One browser that I'll keep my eye on is Opera, when it is available with a built-in VPN. This could be handy to use when one is traveling and using public wifi. Right now it is still being tested in developer mode. Article here.
Jim Hamm
David Passell offers this amusing bit of information about the Apple EULA: The user agreement for iTunes includes a clause promising not to use Apple products to build nuclear weapons. Admit it: you never read the fine print when installing software. That became amusingly evident back in 2008 when an astute user discovered that in the End-User License Agreement (known as the EULA) for iTunes, Apple prohibits the use of its products in “the development, design, manufacture or production” of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.