If you don't plan on installing macOS High Sierra for whatever reason, your Mac will still inform you of the software update every now and then via persisting system notifications.
How to stop “Upgrade to macOS High Sierra” notifications
Tutorial
How to use parental controls on your Mac
The parental controls on Mac allow you to have more control over your child's access, and they're an invaluable tool to make sure that they're only doing what they're supposed to be doing instead of everything they shouldn't.
Because many parents allow their children to use their Macs, it's a good idea to set parental control restrictions on their user account. We'll show you how this is done in this tutorial.
How to customize system app icons on Mac
My colleague Timothy Reavis shared just a couple of years ago how you can customize the icons of apps on your Mac. On the other hand, it would seem the process to do this has changed slightly since OS X El Capitan.
In this tutorial, we'll be showing you a method that works on Apple's latest operating system releases for Mac.
Ensuring your Mac is receiving updates about new malware and compromised web plug-ins
Among the plethora of built-in OS X features that help keep your Mac secure is something called File Quarantine, a download validation technology that checks any downloads for known malware when you try to open them.
File Quarantine is also available in compatible applications like Safari, Messages, iChat and Mail that download files from the Internet or receive files from external sources, such as email attachments.
Additionally, OS X blocks compromised versions of web plug-ins from functioning, including Java web apps and Adobe Flash content, to further limit your Mac's exposure to potential zero day exploits.
In this tutorial, we'll discuss how you can make sure that File Quarantine updates are turned on, which will allow your Mac to receive latest malware definitions and information about compromised web plug-ins from Apple.
How to create blank disk images with Disk Utility
Should you ever find yourself in the need to create blank disk images, OS X's built-in Disk Utility is your friend. A disk image usually has a .dmg extension and appears, looks and behaves like any ordinary file, with one key exception: launching it prompts OS X to mount the volume on the desktop.
These mountable disk images can be useful in a number of situations. For example, you may want to create blank disk images for storage.
Furthermore, disk images can be used as a virtual disk for software distribution, to burn CDs or DVDs and so forth. In this step-by-step tutorial, you'll learn how to create blank disk images in Disk Utility, at any size, with optional password protection, formatting options and more.
Tip: quickly turn off your Mac’s screen with this handy keyboard shortcut
If you don't want a bystander to read what's on your Mac's screen or just want to temporarily shut off the display—for instance, to save battery—you can take advantage of several built-in macOS features.
For that purpose, I'd typically define hot corners in Mission Control settings so that moving the mouse pointer to the upper left corner would instantly start my screen saver. The problem is, even a blank screen saver won't completely shut off the display.
As it turns out, macOS makes your life even easier by providing a dedicated keyboard shortcut to quickly turn off a Mac's display without having to define a screen saver or use dedicated third-party applications.
The ultimate guide to protecting your private information in Notes from the prying eyes
According to Apple, Notes is one of the most popular and most-frequently used stock applications on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
People use Notes for everything from memorizing recipes to keeping track of errands, creating shopping lists, storing inspirational quotes and even passwords, codes and medical data.
Not all notes contain sensitive information, but many do. Beginning with iOS 9.3 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.4, you can protect your notes with a password or Touch ID.
In this tutorial, you'll learn how to set up Notes protection, secure items on a note-by-note basis so no one can view their contents and more.
How to hide Favorites in Safari
Safari for iOS and macOS lets you mark websites you fancy as your Favorites, so they're easy to access when you select Safari's Smart Search field at the top. Your Favorites also appear on new tabs and windows, are listed in your bookmarks, appear on a dedicated Favorites page and can be added as a bar below Safari's toolbar.
It's a convenient feature which enables a more productive browsing for those who remember to file websites they frequent as their Favorites.
On the downside, people staring at your iPhone, iPad and Mac will get to see your Favorites every time you open a new tab, type a URL or search. In this tutorial, we'll guide you step-by-step through the process of removing your Favorites in Safari views on your iPhone, iPad and Mac.
How to disable suggested search terms in Safari
Safari's Smart Search Field is tremendously useful. This unified search and address field performs functions of the separate address and search fields found in older editions of the browser.
The Smart Search Field lets you type in either an URL to visit or a search query to send to the default search engine. It's also a place where search suggestions automagically pop up as you type. Suggested search terms are supplied by the search engine selected in Settings → Safari → Search Engine.
With this cool feature, you can type just the first few letters of a query and rely on the search engine to help you complete the search term without needing to type out the rest of your query. Bt certain users may not be fond of this feature for privacy reasons.
If you're among them, use step-by-step instructions provided in this tutorial to turn suggested search terms off in Safari for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Mac.
How to move Photos library to an external drive
In addition to moving your multi-gigabyte iTunes library to an external drive, a significant amount of Mac storage space can be freed up by moving your photo libraries onto a separate drive.
If you take a lot of pictures with a DSLR camera or your iOS devices and import them in Photos, you'll fairly quickly run out of free space on most Macs.
This tutorial will guide you through the process of moving an entire library of photos to an external drive, preferably to a much larger external hard drive, in a way that won't disrupt your photography workflow.
How to disable transparency effects on your Mac
The release of OS X Yosemite in 2014 gave the Mac's user interface a fresh coat of paint in part through adopting much of the transparency effects that Apple added to iOS 7 in prior year.
Transparency is used throughout macOS and can be observed on the desktop and seen in drop-down menus, title bars, sidebars and toolbars.
This post will teach you how to disable transparency for all user interface elements that have a translucent appearance on your Mac.
About OS X System Integrity Protection aka ‘Rootless’ and how to disable it
All Macs with OS X El Capitan installed on them have a new layer of security known as System Integrity Protection, which has been given the nickname 'Rootless' because it closes off a lot of system files to user access to prevent malicious programs and code from causing harmful changes to the core of OS X.
For some, the added security feels like a must for protection of your personal information, but for more advanced users who poke their noses into system files quite often, the feature can get in the way and prevent user modifications to the operating system. In this tutorial, we'll give you an overview of System Integrity Protection and show you a way to disable it.
