• January 11, 2024

    Time Machine Now Offers Daily and Weekly Frequencies

    Since its inception, Time Machine has backed up on an hourly schedule. It then keeps hourly backups for the previous 24 hours, daily backups for the last month, and weekly backups back to the start of the backup. Once free space on the backup drive gets low, Time Machine deletes older backups to make room for new ones, always maintaining at least one copy of every backed-up file. The traditiona... Read more
  • January 9, 2024

    Turn Your Most-Used Sites into Safari Web Apps in macOS 14 Sonoma

    The concept of site-specific browsers has been around for a long time, but in the version of Safari that comes with macOS 14 Sonoma, Apple brought it to the big time by making setup easier than ever. Put simply, a site-specific browser is a Mac app that encapsulates a single Web app or site. The goal is to break a website out of a Web browser and turn it into what looks and works like... Read more
  • January 4, 2024

    Everything You Need to Know about Taking Screenshots on the Mac

    Many people use screenshots to clip portions of their Mac screen for later reference. For example, you could save a screenshot of an error dialog to show tech support, store a confirmation number from a Web page, or keep a chat from social media. You can even record screen movies to show a developer how their app is misbehaving. Years ago, Apple introduced a floating control bar that makes a... Read more
  • January 2, 2024

    Improve Your Digital Security in 2024 with These New Year’s Resolutions

    Happy New Year, and welcome to 2024! For many of us, starting a new year means reflecting on fresh habits we’d like to adopt. Although we support any resolutions you may have made to get enough sleep, eat better, exercise more, and reduce social media usage, allow us suggest a few more that will improve your digital security and reduce the chances that bad things will happen to you online. Read more
  • December 28, 2023

    If Mail Fails to Send, Try, Try Again (Instead of Changing Servers)

    Sometimes, something goes wrong, causing Mail on the Mac to have trouble sending a message. When it does, you may see an error like the one below, encouraging you with a default button to try another configured server. Don’t do it! Always click Try Later. If that still doesn’t work, contact your favorite tech support professional to troubleshoot the problem with the SMTP server associated with ... Read more
  • December 26, 2023

    Lift Objects from Photos on the iPhone

    Have you ever wanted to extract an object from a photo for use in another context? Starting with iOS 16 on a relatively recent iPhone, you can do that with many photos. In the Photos app, touch and hold the object, and if Photos can extract it, you’ll see a highlight run around its edges. Raise your finger, and a popover lets you copy the object, look up information about it, turn it into a sti... Read more
  • December 21, 2023

    Use This Hidden Setting to Stop Triggering Caps Lock Accidentally

    There’s little more annoying than accidentally touching the Caps Lock key while typing and having your text suddenly TURN INTO CAPITAL LETTERS, which we all know is seen as shouting. Unless you have some reason to type in capital letters regularly, you can prevent this mistake by disabling the Caps Lock key or remapping it to another modifier key. In macOS 13 Ventura and later, choose System Se... Read more
  • December 19, 2023

    Locate a Featured Lock Screen Image in Photos

    iOS’s Photo Shuffle wallpaper does a great job of identifying attractive photos for your Lock Screen. However, if you’re like us, you’ll sometimes wonder when or where you took a Lock Screen photo. Here’s how to figure that out. Touch and hold the Lock Screen when it’s displaying the photo in question, tap Customize, tap the Lock Screen wallpaper, tap the ••• button in the lower-right corner, a... Read more
  • December 14, 2023

    Feel Free to Upgrade to macOS 14 Sonoma When You’re Ready

    Although we’re cautious about recommending that people upgrade to the latest major release of macOS, we think Apple has done a good enough job with macOS 14 Sonoma that anyone who wants to upgrade can do so now. That doesn’t mean you have to upgrade immediately, but there’s no major reason most people need to delay... Read more
  • December 12, 2023

    Nine Ways of Moving Data from One Mac to Another

    You have a file on one Mac and want to copy it to another Mac, either yours or someone else’s. Sounds easy, and it is, but the best way to go about it varies widely depending on circumstances, and your go-to method may not be the best choice, depending on the size of the file and the locations of the Macs. Here are some possibilities:
    • Email: It’s easy to attach a file to an ... Read more