So you’ve just purchased a new Mac computer, be it a laptop or a desktop, and you can’t wait to dive in and start moving all of your files and data over to the new machine. Before you do any of that, though, there are…
December 28, 2015 • 6 min read
For the 2021 version of this guide, covering both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, click here. So you’ve decided to sell your old Mac, give it away to a friend or relative, or donate it to a school or nonprofit. Regardless of what you are…
December 16, 2015 • 5 min read
If you are using a Mac (or any computer, for that matter), it’s a concrete fact that you are eventually going to download something from the Internet. Whether it’s a new app from the App Store, a piece of free software from a third-party source,…
December 7, 2015 • 5 min read
If you by chance haven’t updated to Mac OS X 10.10 just yet (e.g., the Yosemite operating system update that first became available in October 2014), then you may want to hold off. According to a recent blog post by cyber security researcher Stefan Esser,…
November 30, 2015 • 5 min readModern parents face at least one challenge that their parents probably never had to deal with: the Internet. Kids these days spend a lot of their time online—whether researching for school assignments, playing games, or chatting with friends on social media—and all of this time…
November 25, 2015 • 5 min readLet’s just call a spade a spade: passwords are among the most irritating things about living in the digital age. Trying to remember even one or two passwords—let alone a different password for every device, site, and service that you use, as is usually recommended—can…
November 20, 2015 • 6 min readApple’s latest mobile and desktop operating systems, iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan, launched in the second half of September. As of October 22nd, Apple has released updates for both operating systems to patch notable security flaws. The updates, iOS 9.1 and OS X…
November 17, 2015 • 3 min readCreating a disk image is a method often used for system backup, and can essentially clone your hard drive by copying the contents and structure of the disk and saving them exactly as they are on your computer. Using Mac’s Disk Utility, you can create…
November 13, 2015 • 4 min readMacs are sleek and slick computers that can run well for years after you take them out of the box. Like all other computers, though, your Mac is not immune to slowdowns, bugs, and other problems, and it’s up to you to keep your machine…
November 6, 2015 • 7 min readNote: This page refers to older versions of Keychain. We have an updated (2021) article about iCloud Keychain features. Even if you don’t use it, you probably already know that the basic purpose of your Mac’s Keychain software is password management. iCloud Keychain is meant…
October 27, 2015 • 5 min readUnlike the firewall settings in Windows, the built-in firewall for Mac OS X is not enabled by default. If you’ve recently purchased a new Mac computer, then you will have to go in and turn on the firewall manually if you want that protection. The…
August 15, 2015 • 5 min read
It goes without saying that the sleek, lightweight, and attractive design of the iPhones makes it an ideal smartphone choice for many. Unfortunately, those characteristics also make Apple’s flagship device both easy to lose and a target for theft. The small, light, and slippery design…
August 13, 2015 • 5 min read