One of the more notable user interface differences between Macs and PCs is the location of the menu bar. On Macs, one menu bar is located at the top of the primary display. On Windows, every application gets its own menu bar. The advantage of the Mac approach is that it saves screen real…
For most of the history of personal computing, large companies shunned Macs because there were few tools available to manage hundreds or thousands of computers. Large companies have scalability needs that small offices do not. Apple has addressed some of these issues with OS X Server and Apple Remote Desktop. These tools are adequate…
I came across the advice of a Mac consultant who wrote that you should restart your Mac once or twice daily to prevent your Mac from slowing down. This seems like a rather dubious way to fix a problem. Your Mac should not be slowing down as you use it. There are a variety…
Have you ever used the Find command in an OS X application and found that the word you want to search for has already been entered into the search field? Pretty cool, huh? You might think that the folks at Apple are psychic, but there’s a more mundane explanation than that. Here’s how to reproduce…
Under Mountain Lion, Apple removed the ability to sync notes between your Mac and iOS devices without iCloud. This option used to be available on the iTunes “info” panel for your iOS device. The option is no longer present. This was not a welcome move for anyone who values information security because, as mentioned in…
I’ve encountered the following bugs on my Mac Pro running 10.8. Feel free to comment on the bugs you’re experiencing. Incoming mail.app notification sound does not always play. Spontaneous wake-ups from sleep mode, fan runs at full speed. (I’ve turned off “wake for ethernet.” We’ll see if this resolves the issue.) Weather widget does not…
Assuming your software and hardware are compatible with Mountain Lion, it’s a no-brainer upgrade. For $20, you’ll get a nice set of new features. Before you upgrade, check the following for compatibility: Supported Macs and other requirements: http://www.apple.com/osx/specs/ Application compatibility: http://roaringapps.com/apps:table Also, check with your printer manufacturer to see if your printer driver is compatible with Mountain…
Many of you have probably experienced glacial Safari performance right after booting your Mac. This is due to a flurry of hard drive activity. A simple solution to this problem is to clear Safari’s cache on a regular basis. This can be done via the Safari->Empty Cache menu. Since installing a solid state drive in my…
There are two annoyances with Apple IDs that Apple hasn’t addressed. 1. Many users have two distinct Apple IDs – one for iCloud and the other for iTunes purchases. While Apple’s software supports the use of two accounts, this isn’t desirable. It would be simpler and cleaner to have one Apple identity. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t…