How-To Archives - The Mac Observer

macOS: Don't Forget to Uninstall CrashPlan Home

1:35 PM EDT, Aug 13th, 2018 · Andrew Orr · How-To

August 22, 2017 was the last day that new CrashPlan for Home subscriptions were sold, and October 23, 2018 is the last day it is usable at all (even for peer-to-peer backups).

How to Choose the Best Mesh Wireless System For Your Home

2:56 PM EDT, Aug 11th, 2018 · Dave Hamilton · How-To

Sorting through the mesh wireless systems available today can be tricky. Read on, and we’ll teach you how to decide which one is best for you. [Update: Added new Plume SuperPods and Deco M9 Plus hardware to the list, and started tracking Plume overall (and I’m impressed!). Updated a note in the buying advice section comparing the robustness of eero, Plume, Velop, and Orbi. – Dave]

How to Control Which Apps Can Access Your Google Account

5:50 PM EDT, Jul 5th, 2018 · Jeff Gamet · How-To

Google Apps with account access settings

If you’re concerned about, or just aren’t sure, which apps and services have access to your Google account there’s an easy way see and even revoke access. Read on to learn how.

How to Download Apple TV 4K Video Purchases to Your Mac

5:55 PM EDT, Jul 3rd, 2018 · John Martellaro · How-To

Movies and TV shows purchased on an Apple TV (4K) remain available for streaming, but are not actually stored there. Here’s how to download the actual video file to a Mac.

macOS: How to Use Apple Mail Connection Doctor

2:57 PM EDT, Jun 12th, 2018 · Andrew Orr · How-To

It gives you a bit more information on issues, and it checks the status of each mail server you’re using.

How to Set a Room for Your Apple TV and HomePod for AirPlay 2

11:24 AM EDT, Jun 1st, 2018 · Jeff Gamet · How-To

You updated to iOS 11.4 on your iPhone or iPad, tvOS 11.4 on your Apple TV, and HomePod 11.4 on your HomePod so you have AirPlay 2 support. Now you need to assign rooms to your speakers so you can control where you’re playing music. Here’s how.

1Password 7 Launches Today, and Here's How to Download It

2:46 PM EDT, May 22nd, 2018 · Andrew Orr · How-To

Here are the new features available as well as instructions on upgrading.

How to See Where Apple Tracks You on Your iPhone and iPad

11:59 AM EDT, May 18th, 2018 · Jeff Gamet · How-To

Your iPhone and iPad use Location Services to track places you go that it deems important to you. That’s either really cool, or super creepy, depending on your point of view. Here’s how to see the significant locations where your iPhone and iPad have tracked you.

How to Use Parallels Desktop to Run macOS High Sierra as a Virtual Machine

6:16 PM EDT, May 17th, 2018 · John Martellaro · How-To

A virtual machine environment on the Mac allows one to run a licensed copy of Windows or some popular distributions of Linux. John shows us how to also run macOS as a virtual machine guest OS inside macOS as a host.

macOS: How to Access iCloud Drive in Terminal

2:14 PM EDT, May 16th, 2018 · Andrew Orr · How-To

If you prefer the Terminal over the GUI, or just want a different way to create and move files and folders, this is the tip for you.

Cracking the Code: How to Improve Apple Music Recommendations

2:16 PM EDT, May 15th, 2018 · Andrew Orr · How-To

Every Friday the For You section is updated with what the algorithms think you’ll like. For a while Andrew Orr didn’t like his recommendations. But he thinks he discovered a way to improve Apple Music.

How to Protect Yourself from the Efail Encrypted Email Security Flaw

12:04 PM EDT, May 14th, 2018 · Jeff Gamet · How-To

If you’re using S/MIME, PGP, or GPG encryption for messages in Apple’s Mail app or other email client apps, you could be susceptible to what’s being called Efail. You can protect your messages until app updates addressing the flaw are released, and it’s easy to do.