Category: OS X
Automatically log in when your computer starts up
When you login OS X asks you for a password. This is a great security feature, especially if you have a laptop and you are taking it places. If you have a computer at home or in your study and you are the only one that has physical access to your computer you may want…
Login to your mac automatically without having to type a password
By default OS X requires you to type in a password and login each time you restart your computer. If your computer is in a secure location, for example your office, you may want to set up OS X to log in automatically for you. Here is how to do this.
How to make a bootable Thumbdrive of OS X
It’s very handy to have a bootable version of OS X on a thumb drive. I have written how to do this using a program called DiskMaker X, and I have written about how to do it from the command line here, but after doing this a few times I find the most reliable method is the…
Upgrading OSX to the latest version
Since OS-X Mavericks (10.9) Apple have been releasing their OS X upgrades for free. This means if you have any version of OS X newer than 10.9 then you can upgrade it to the latest version for free. There are three ways you can upgrade. Download the Installer from Apple directly to the computer that…
How to make a bootable OS X El Capitan Installer on a USB drive
Here’s how to make a bootable installer of El Capitan on a USB Thumbdrive. It is the quickest way but it uses the terminal so it is for advanced users. If you want a way that is slightly longer but easier for beginners download and run Diskmaker which does the steps below for you automatically!
What to do when Mac OS X Yosemite won’t boot
Repairing a broken OSX. There have been reports of OS X Yosemite freezing after a software update. This can happen to any version of OS X. If your Macintosh won’t boot up firstly I’d leave it a few hours, maybe even overnight, and see if it comes good. If not, you should ring Apple as they will…
How to do a clean install of OS X Yosemite.
Apple don’t have instructions for how to do a clean installation of OS X Yosemite, but it is exactly the same as the previous version of OS X – Mavericks. So if you want a clean fresh installation of Yosemite, just follow Apple’s instructions here of Mavericks” https://support.apple.com/kb/PH14243?locale=en_US
7 ways to make your Mac boot faster.
When your computer first turns on it needs to load the system software (OS-X) and some settings from the hard drive. This is called ‘booting’. Boot time can slow down over time as you accumulate more software and hardware connected to your computer. Here are some tips to make your Mac boot faster.
Should I upgrade to Yosemite?
Yosemite has just been released. Like any new OSX, it has various problems with the first release, so unless you really need it, I’d wait for the first minor update to come out to fix some of the buys. If you decide to install Yosemite, here are a few things to be aware of before you upgrade.…
How to take a screenshot on your mac
If you hold down the SHIFT and COMMAND key and then at the same time press the number 3, your mac will take a screenshot of your entire screen and save it as a .png (picture) file onto your desktop. Try it right now! Press SHIFT-COMMAND-3, you will hear a camera shutter style sound, and…
How to find things with Spotlight
Spotlight has been round for years but if you’re like me you may not be using it as well as you can. Here’s an example of a recent search I did that might help you learn some features of spotlight.
Upgrading to Mavericks
A few important tips before you install Mavericks that could say you a lot of time and agony…
Enable FTP Server in Mavericks
Here’s how to get the FTP server running in OSX 10.9 Mavericks. This is advanced and not everyone will need the FTP server. The only thing I was use it for is to receive incoming scans from my Fuji/Xerox network scanner.
How to install Lion from scratch if you don’t have Snow Leopard.
If you have a Lion installer on a USB thumbdrive, you can use it to upgrade your Mac from Snow Leopard to Lion, but if you have an older OS you can’t upgrade. You need to fist upgrade to Snow Leopard OR erase everything and do a completely fresh install of Lion. Here’s how.
How to make an OS X Lion USB thumb drive
Here are three different ways to put Lion on a USB thumb drive.
How to install OSX Lion on multiple computers
Installing Lion across multiple computers.
How to take a picture of part of your screen.
Did you know that if you hold down SHIFT-COMMAND-4 you can take a picture of any part of your screen?
Switching to OS X
Switching to OS X from a PC is a big change. Here are a some of my random thoughts on the transition.
How to reset the OS X Installer
In Snow Leopard if you try to install a program while another is installing you get an error message saying “Waiting for other installations to complete.” But what do you do if the message stays there after the program has finished installing?
How to get the Best Free OS X software
Here’s a list of some programs that you can download for free from versiontracker.com or find via a google search to supplement the software that comes with your mac.