Hot Mac Tips Posts
How To: Create a Bootable Install DVD or USB Drive of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
If you have a Mac, you've probably been anticipating the release of OS X Mountain Lion. If you have multiple Macs, you've probably been dreading the long process of downloading and installing it on all of them. Here's how to create a bootable backup disk and save yourself some time. Before You Start
How To: Use Split View Mode in Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan
Catching up with Windows 8, Apple has finally included a way in Mac OS X to use two apps side by side in full screen view. In the 10.11 El Capitan update, it's called Split View, and it works fairly well for the most part. It's not quite as intuitive as it should be, but easy enough once you get the hang of it.
How To: Create a Bootable Install USB Drive of Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite
Apple released the new Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite in the Mac App Store for everyone to download and install for free on October 16th, 2014, but downloading a 5+ GB file for each of your computers will take some serious time. The best thing to do is download it once and create a bootable install USB drive from the file for all of your Macs.
How To: Reformat Mac OS X Without a Recovery Disc or Drive
As I've said before, slowing down is not an option for me. At one point, I realized that there were plenty of files on my Mac that I didn't need any more, but too many to delete individually. In other cases, your Mac can be experiencing some major malfunctions: constant crashing, locked controls, slow boot times, missing files, etc.
How To: How an External Hard Drive Can Help Make Your Mac Fast Again
I dabble in video editing, and when working on even the shortest of motion graphics clips, the exported files take up quite a bit of space. For all of you heavy Mac users out there, I'm sure you know my pain.
How To: Know When Apple Batteries Need to Be Serviced or Replaced
Not all batteries are created equal, but one thing's for sure—they all lose capacity over time. Thankfully, the advanced lithium-ion batteries in your MacBook and iPhone are meant to last for several years before they begin to lose their overall charge capacity.
How To: Install the Command Line Developer Tools Without Xcode
OS X is built upon a UNIX foundation, which grants you access to the benefits that UNIX offers, including the standard toolkit (make, gcc, clang, git, perl, svn, size, strings, id, and a lot more) via the command line developer tools, which are an essential if you're a developer. Aside from developers, the command line tools can offer benefits to normal users as well, like the ability to purge RAM for better performance.
How To: Hide All Desktop Icons with One Click on Your Mac
Cleaning the clutter off of your desktop every so often is a great idea. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that you're actually going to do it. Whatever the reason, you may not have time to get everything organized, but luckily there is a way to temporarily "clean" your desktop in a hurry.
How To: You're Uninstalling Mac Apps Wrong: Here's How to Remove Them Completely
Uninstalling an app on your Mac isn't as straightforward as you would think. When you drag and drop an app into the Trash, then empty it, the main app itself may be gone, but many associated files and folders are left behind. So how do you get rid of them? There are a couple of ways.
How To: Increase the Sound & Quality of Your Mac's Speakers
During a power outage at my apartment this year, I watched movies on my MacBook Pro instead of on my television. While I had no complaints about the screen size, I did have an issue with how low the audio coming from my speakers was. External speakers would help, but I don't want to buy them or lug them around every time I want to watch a movie.
How To: Lower Screen Brightness on Your Mac Below the Default
You can use the F1 key to notably dim your Mac's display, but sometimes that just isn't dark enough. If you're working in pitch black conditions, have a migraine or tired eyes, or just want a more comfortable environment, you might want your screen even darker—without making it pitch black.
How To: Change the Default Save Location of Screenshots in Mac OS X for a Cleaner Desktop
While my desktop is usually neat and organized, it quickly fills up with screenshots each and every day. Usually, I end up putting them in a folder or just trash them, but why not make the entire process of taking and organizing screenshots easier by changing their default save location? With the help of Terminal, I'm going to show you how to change the default save location of screenshots to anywhere you want in Mac OS X.
How To: Dual Boot Windows 10 & Mac OS X on Your Mac
While Windows 10 is still a few weeks away from a public release, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy its brand new features right now. Anyone with an Insider Preview account can install Windows 10 on their computer. And that doesn't just go for those that own a Windows PC—Mac users can get their hands on Windows 10 as well.
How To: Connect an External Display to Your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro
If you have no desire to get a separate Mac desktop computer, but want to either supersize your laptop's screen for gaming or need to get additional screen real estate while you work, then connecting your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro to an external display is the right call.
How To: Keep Your MacBook Awake with the Display Closed
It's pretty logical for your MacBook to sleep when you close its lid, but under certain circumstances, you may not necessarily want this feature to kick in.
Mac Troubleshooting: How to Find Your Restart, Shutdown & Uptime History
When was the last time you restarted or shutdown your Mac? In the post-iPhone era, most devices are now powered on almost constantly. For better or for worse, the computing landscape has accommodated this "always on" trend, but you still need to periodically restart your devices—especially your Mac.
How To: Close All Open Apps on Your Mac with a Single Click
Normally, if you want to close all of the open apps on your Mac, you'd have to either quit them all one by one or restart, shut down, or log out while making sure to deselect “Reopen windows when logging back in." The latter option is great, but it doesn't always work in Mac OS X, and what if you don't want to restart, shut down, or log out?
How To: Remove Duplicates & Customize the “Open With” Menu in Mac OS X
As a regular Mac OS X user, I have a love/hate relationship with the "Open With" contextual menu. Sometimes, it has just what I need. Other times, it's often packed with unnecessary or duplicate items, or missing the app I want to open the file up with the most.
How To: Disable Annoying Software Update Notifications on Your Mac
Software update notifications are meant to be a reminder to keep your operating system and apps up to date, but that doesn't mean that they never get annoying.
How To: Cast Music (Or Any Audio) From Your Mac to Chromecast
Although I know it will never happen due to Apple and Google's tempestuous relationship, I sometimes wish I could cast iTunes or Apple Music from my Mac to Google's Chromecast. When you don't have speakers to blast your music, the television is a great alternative to amplify your music.
How To: Install the Classic Windows 3D Pipes Screensaver on Your Mac
Back when CRT and plasma monitors were still a thing, screensavers served a purpose beyond just aesthetics: the moving images and patterns prevented static images from being burned into the display.
How To: Use WhatsApp on Your Mac (A Guide for Both Android & iPhone Users)
Boasting over 800 million users a month, WhatsApp has quickly become one of the most popular messaging services available today. Thanks to its low price, ease of use, lack of ads, cross-platform functionality, and great features, its popularity is well-deserved.
How To: Create a Bootable Install USB Drive of macOS 10.12 Sierra
While it hasn't gotten as much attention as iOS 10, Apple's big 10.12 update to their Mac operating system is finally out for all to enjoy—and you can download it for free from the Mac App Store right now.
How To: Turn Off MacBook Pro Screen with the Lid Open and Using an External Monitor
This is a working solution for those using an external monitor on their MacBook Pro's running Yosemite. The previous terminal commands for Mavericks no longer works on Yosemite, so this how to do it.
How To: Record Your Mac's Screen for Free Using QuickTime
When a friend asks me what screen recording software is best to use, I always say the same thing—you don't need any! Even though it's been around since 2009, many Mac owners do not realize that they have a powerful screen recording software built right into OS X.
How To: Make Your Screen Automatically Adjust to Eye-Friendly Color Tones
If you're like me, you spend a lot of time on your computer, which can be damaging to your eyes in the long run. Studies have shown that staring at a computer screen or television up close for extended periods of time can have harmful effects on your vision.
How To: 9 Ways to Get by Without Photoshop on Your Mac
In 1987, two brothers, Thomas and John Kroll, began work on an image editing software, which was eventually acquired in 1988 and released to the world in 1990 by Adobe. That software was Photoshop 1.0, initially exclusive for the Macintosh platform. Over the years, Photoshop became a great wizard of image editing and gained application rockstar status.
How To: Speed Up Your Mac in 2 Minutes Flat
If you've been around computers long enough, you've probably heard the phrase "have you tried turning it off and on again?" This trick usually works because it forces your computer to empty out the contents of its RAM and disk caches when you restart.
How To: Take Control Over Your MacBook's Fans for a Cooler, Smoother-Running Laptop
MacBooks are built for creation and creativity. They're built to withstand our careers, our hobbies, and our everyday use. I use mine every day, and there's nothing I'd recommend more for computing needs.
How To: Take Control of Your Mac's Sleep Functions with These Commands
Macs are generally highly power efficient due to, in part, the optimized sleeping schedule with OS X. Yet in certain scenarios, you might not want your Mac to go to sleep: downloading a huge file, reading a book, reviewing a spreadsheet, analyzing some content on the screen... the list goes on. To resolve this, you can go to System Preferences and mess with the settings, but this can be an annoying process if you need to do it often.
How To: Prank Your Apple Friends with 1,000s of iMessages in Just One Click
Apple scrubbed the floor clean of all existing text-bombing apps in the iOS App Store, and even though there were once a ton of these apps in Cydia, the go-to store for jailbroken devices, there few and far between these days. If they do exist, they either cost money or don't work as advertised.
How To: Adjust Your Mac's Volume in Quarter Increments (And Silence the Sound Effect)
Sometimes, the volume buttons on a MacBook can be pretty annoying. It's too loud, so you turn it down one notch, and now you can't hear your movie at all. It's too low, so you turn it up one notch, and now you can't even hear yourself think.
How To: Open Third-Party Apps from Unidentified Developers in macOS
Apple has a built-in way to protect you from opening up potentially malicious apps on your computer in Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, and macOS Sierra. This setting, named Gatekeeper, will never stop you from installing apps from the Mac App Store, but it could from anywhere else. If it's an app you're sure you want to install on your system, here's how to do it.
How To: 13 Terminal Commands Every Mac User Should Know
When you think of Terminal, you probably imagine some hacker sitting in front of their computer in a dimly lit room trying to break into an FBI database. In reality, it's just a simple tool that can make using your Mac much easier.
How To: Monitor System Usage Stats in Your Mac OS X Menu Bar
Like a car, your Mac needs to be monitored and cared for to keep it running as smoothly as possible. While your vehicle comes with a ton of gauges to keep track of your oil, temperature, and in some cases, even tire pressure, your Mac has no easy way to watch for low memory or high disk usage. Normally you would have to open up Activity Monitor to take a look at your usage stats, but now there is something better.
How To: The Ultimate Guide to Password-Protecting Files & Folders in Mac OS X Yosemite
While you may not have loads of secret files hiding on your computer, there might be one or two items that need a little extra security, like a file of website logins or a folder of risqué photos.
How To: 10 Reasons Why You'll Want to Use Screen Savers Again on Your Mac
Yes, screen savers are fun to look at for a few seconds, but those animations actually used to serve a purpose beyond simple entertainment.
How To: These 9 Tips Make Gaming on Your Mac Not Suck
When most people think of "gaming computers," they're probably thinking of Windows-based PCs. They offer a huge variety of devices with better equipped software and hardware for a cheaper price, and there are more available games than there are for OS X-based systems.
How To: Create a Bootable Install USB Drive of Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan
Apple's latest update to Mac OS X, 10.11 El Capitan, is currently available in the Mac App Store for everyone to download and install at no cost. The new OS features Split View mode for better multitasking, a cleaner Mission Control, smarter Spotlight, a way to mute Safari tabs playing audio, enhanced Mail and Notes apps, and more.
How To: Watch Videos While You Work with This Floating Translucent Window for Mac
Like most people who spend a good deal of time in front of their computer—whether for work, school, or play—I jump back and forth from window to window, working and playing with different things at the same time to get my work done faster or procrastinate harder.
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