Mac

Stay up-to-date on the latest Mac news, and tutorials. Get expert tips and tricks to optimize your Mac’s performance and learn about the latest Apple products and software updates. Discover the best Mac apps and accessories to enhance your user experience.

How to quickly locate a specific setting on your Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 10, 2024

Just like the familiar Settings application on an iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, the macOS System Preferences is probably the most frequently used application on your Mac.

If you're new to the Mac, System Preferences—much like the Control Panel on Windows—is a one-stop shop for adjusting various settings on your computer. Various settings are categorized into logical sections and laid out as a grid of  preference pane icons.

In this post, we're going to outline five different time-saving ways to jump quickly into any specific setting nested within System Preferences.

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How to use your iPhone EarPods like a pro

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 18, 2023

Those funky headphones that came with your iPhone—EarPods with Remote and Mic they're called—only have 3 buttons but boy do they perform a surprising number of functions beyond volume control. And with built-in mic, your EarPods can make and receive phone calls and control media playback.

Moreover, you can use them for recording voice memos, interacting with Siri hands-free, VoIP calling in apps like Skype and more, all with a pinch of the cord. Wait, I need this article to tell me how to plug my EarPods and listen to music?

We're not saying you're not familiar with your EarPods. But as with other things in life, there are always new tricks to be learned. This post will hopefully help you master your EarPods like a pro.

In this article, we'll tell you all the cool things your EarPods can do, from rich playback control and controlling Siri to switching calls on the fly, using VoiceOver and so forth. We'll also discuss EarPods compatibility, talk about keeping your headset in pristine condition and lay out sound advice for using your headset responsibly.

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How to find your Mac’s Bluetooth version

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated June 12, 2018

With the recent release of Apple's new "Magic" devices—the Magic Trackpad 2, Magic Mouse 2, and the Magic Keyboard—some of you may be wondering if your Mac can support these new peripherals. Since all of the new Magic devices are wireless and work with the latest Bluetooth versions, it's important to know if your Mac will support them before making a purchase.

Apple doesn't exactly make it easy and straightforward to find what version of Bluetooth your Mac sports, but it can be done. In this post, we'll show you a simple method for quickly deriving your Mac's Bluetooth version in just a few steps.

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How to reopen windows and tabs from your last browsing session in Safari for Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 1, 2023

If you've ever accidentally closed a Safari window loaded with dozens of tabs, you know how daunting a task recreating them from your browsing history can be. Like many people, I used to be a huge fan of Google's Chrome before I eventually made a switch to Safari.

One of Chrome's simple yet tremendously useful features that I've always valued is a switch in settings telling the app to open with all the windows from your last browsing session.

Apple's desktop Safari, too, has had that feature for a while now but did you know of a hidden option for reopening all windows from the last session?

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How to send video wirelessly from your Mac to TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 30, 2017

Since OS X 10.9 Mavericks owners of the Apple TV have been able to wirelessly mirror their Mac screen to the big screen TV with an AirPlay feature called AirDisplay. There was just one slight problem: you couldn't stream individual videos without mirroring the whole screen.

Apple has solved this annoyance with OS X 10.11 El Capitan, which introduced richer AirPlay support permitting you to send video from Safari and other apps to the Apple TV.

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How to start up your Mac from a bootable CD/DVD, USB thumb drive or external storage device

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 14, 2023

macOS can start up your Mac in a myriad of ways. We've already covered some of them in detail, such as using built-in Startup Manager to pick a disk to startup your Mac from and booting into Safe, Verbose and Target Disk modes.

In this article, we get to talk about starting your Mac up from external storage like optical media or an external USB-based hard drive or flash storage. Booting from an external storage allows you to start up your Mac in another version or copy of macOS, Additionally, it can help you troubleshoot certain issues, and more.

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How to repair disk permissions on Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 14, 2023

Some Mac hiccups and startup issues can be resolved by repairing disk permissions in macOS. Disk permissions allow your Mac to control what users have access to files and folders on your Mac.

Unfortunately, it's quite easy to unintentionally mess up disk permissions. In fact, the very act of installing and uninstalling apps on your Mac can over time result in broken permissions.

And when file permissions break, your apps might be allowed to alter each other's files or even modify read-only system files, which in turn can lead to various permission errors and erroneous behavior in macOS. It is therefore essential that disk permission in macOS are as they are supposed to be.

In this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to verify and fix disk permissions in macOS, which is typically a basic troubleshooting step to fix any software issues your Mac might be plagued with.

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How to boot your Mac in Target Disk Mode

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 14, 2023

Our tutorial series dealing with the many ways you can start up your Mac continues with Target Disk Mode, a feature Apple conceived to allow your Mac to act as an external disk for another Mac.

It's not surprising that the vast majority of average Mac owners are totally oblivious to the existence of Target Disk Mode, and who could blame them? After all, Target Disk Mode isn't exactly front and center on macOS.

In this tutorial, you're going to be taught how to activate Target Disk Mode through the System Preferences application, or enter it directly at boot time with a simple keystroke. I'm also going to explain in layman's terms why, when and how Target Disk Mode should be used.

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How to use Time Machine on your Mac – the full roundup

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Over the last several months, we've revisited Time Machine, the backup utility present in OS X. We've showed you everything from performing an initial Time Machine setup, to encrypting Time Machine backups, to restoring specific files from those backups.

Time Machine is a great tool that every OS X user should become intimately familiar with, and in this roundup, we'll revisit each of the topics covered over the last couple of months.

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