I’m starting a series on organizing files, beginning with the place many folks pile the most stuff: the Desktop. Mac Performance A messy desktop, especially on an older Mac, can have a detrimental effect on the computer’s performance. Why? Think about the complex visual makeup of all those files you've strewn across the screen. [...]

Learn to view and manage the Previous Recipients list and make your email sending more efficient. Window Menu Have you noticed in most applications there is a menu called Window that appears to the left of Help? In multi-window apps, this is one way to access other open windows. Some applications also have additional commands [...]

What path do you see for your technology experience this year? Have you set a goal to boost your confidence and productivity? Mac Deals With holiday sales over the past couple months, a lot of folks got some sweet deals on new Macs. I regularly refer clients to Apple for certified refurbished Macs and [...]

Learn the simple keyboard shortcuts that engage the screenshot abilities of your Mac so you can give context to your issue in our existing correspondence. Whole Screen The most basic screenshot is the whole screen. Press Shift+Command+3. You’ll get a picture of the screen saved on the Desktop as a PNG image file with [...]

Apple makes a secure connection between the company’s servers and a customer’s devices to ensure an experience of privacy. It’s important to distinguish between the password used with the Apple ID account and the one used locally on the computer so you know which one to use in a given prompt. Computer Password [...]

Google has a special series of screens to authenticate you as an account holder and these screens are not always very well designed in the context of the Mac interface. Account Recovery If your Mac prompts you to reenter your password for a Google account due to a recent change and you indicate [...]

While it’s long been possible to send and receive both SMS and iMesssages on a Mac, it’s a hassle when they’re not all in sync, especially with attachments. Learn how… Messages on the Mac Messages started on iPhone only for SMS text messages. Apple’s iMessage service launched in 2011 and Messages came to [...]

Mail is an excellent application for sending, receiving, and organizing email, whether you have just one address or several. It’s easy to make mailboxes for archiving email in categories, but at some point it gets a little out of hand. Mailbox Menu All of the commands to manage mailbox folders for viewing and organizing email [...]

Phishing is the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication (Wikipedia). In Avoiding Scams, I offered some insight on recognizing web-based advertisements with similar intents. It’s important to know how to also catch fraudulent emails that may [...]

Compared to mobile, touchscreen devices like iPhone and iPad, the Mac is a lot more flexible with regard to selecting multiple items. The utility of the mouse enables clicking and dragging over a group of files to select many at once. In contrast, iOS provides limited means to multi-select. Additionally, the Shift and Command [...]