If you’re getting sick of watching programs bounce in your Dock just because you plugged your iPhone into your Mac to charge it, then boy, have we got a Quick Tip for you! Melissa Holt’s going to tell us how to stop Photos and iTunes from opening automatically.
macOS
PSA: Video Converter Handbrake Was Compromised by Malware
While reading through forum posts, Jeff Butts came across some troubling news. It turns out that the popular video conversion app HandBrake has been compromised by malware.
macOS: Finding the Hidden Advanced Display Preferences
When you look at Display Preferences in macOS and remember what choices you used to have, you may wonder what happened to things like Detect Displays. Jeff Butts has found that a simple keypress is all it takes to get that option, and more, for advanced tweaking of your Mac’s display.
Podcasts
Microsoft Surface in Schools Aims at Google in Education with Apple Caught in the Crossfire
Microsoft has made a number of product announcements that trouble Jeff Butts. The products look great, and it’s certain to give Google’s Chromebooks a run for their money. However, Apple is caught squarely in the crossfire of this battle, and needs to act soon to improve its placing in the education market.
Blasts from the Past: Classic Mac Apps
Dr. Mac says today’s column is a blast from the past dedicated to Mac users who still remember Macintosh System 6, MacPaint, Crystal Quest, and other golden age Mac apps—whether fondly or not. He adds that even shorter-time Mac users will find it interesting and amusing. So you have no excuse not to read it!
macOS: Make Your Spotlight Searches Better with the Kind Operator
When you are looking for something specific on your Mac with Spotlight, you might get overwhelmed with the search results. Jeff Butts has become a Spotlight search pro thanks to a simple operator. Read along as he shows you how it works and some of what you can do with it.
macOS: Automatically Format Reminders With Date And Time
This tip comes from Reddit, where user pralux found a handy shortcut. If you use the Reminders app on macOS, there is a way to automatically format reminders with the date and time. This saves you several clicks by doing it manually. Here’s how to do it.
Evade the macOS 'Too Many Open Files' Error by Pushing the Limits
Here at Mac Observer, we’re penultimate geeks. We push our Macs to the limits, and then find ways to surpass those limits. macOS has limits put in place that result in occasional error messages about “too many open files,” which one of the team ran afoul of. Jeff Butts dove deep into the core of macOS and found out how to increase the limits Apple has imposed upon us.
macOS: How to Copy Files as Pathnames
If you need to reference a file or a folder with a really long pathname, then don’t waste your time typing out the whole thing when there’s a shortcut to help you! Today’s Quick Tip is about a better, faster way to point people toward items on their Macs, and Melissa Holt’s got the scoop.
macOS: How to Roll Back the Firmware on Your AirPort
If you update your Time Capsule or AirPort Extreme and your network starts having issues, then just go and roll back the version you installed! This little-known feature will let you revert the firmware on your Apple network devices in case you run into trouble, and Melissa Holt’s gonna tell us how in today’s Quick Tip.
The 5 Best Terminal Commands for Your Mac
As powerful as the graphical user interface is on macOS, there’s still a lot more you can do from the Terminal. Whether it’s turning on repeating keys or hiding a folder from prying eyes, the Terminal holds a lot of potential. Jeff Butts walks us through his favorite five tips and tricks for using the Terminal to unleash more of the power of your Mac.
Podcasts
Word for Mac: Viewing Nonprinting Characters
For today’s Quick Tip, let’s talk about Word! Microsoft’s document-creation program has a way to show and hide nonprinting characters, so if you’re having issues with text reflowing or with images moving around, this may just help you figure out why.
8 Ways to See the Charge Level of Your AirPods
If you’ve got a pair of Apple’s bluetooth headphones, dubbed “AirPods,” then it’s good to know that there are tons of ways to check their battery levels. Considering that the AirPods don’t have a physical indicator of how much charge they’ve got, that’s a good thing! In today’s Quick Tip, Melissa Holt’s gonna go over a number of methods for finding out how much more listenin’ you can do.
NVIDIA's Pascal Drivers for macOS Available, but Still Beta
NVIDIA made Mac users happy on Tuesday when it released a macOS-compatible version of its Pascal graphics processors. The company promised they were coming, and while still in beta, they let Mac owners get a taste of the company’s more powerful GPU offering.
macOS Sierra: How to Disable the Dashboard
You probably don’t use the Dashboard in macOS, except by accident. Ever wondered how you could disable it altogether? Jeff Butts did, and has found a way to do just that.
macOS: Reduce PDF File Size in Preview
This Quick Tip is about a little-known feature of Preview that’ll let you shrink the file size of large PDFs, so you could use this when you’re bumping up against uploading limitations, for example. Come read about how to do it (and why you should pay attention to how your file looks afterward!).
Cool Stuff Found
macOS: Putting a Recovery Partition on Your Mac (Without Reinstalling macOS)
When Jeff Butts was mucking about with his trusty Mac Mini, he managed to mangle his recovery partition. Normally, this would mean a complete reinstall of the operating system, but Jeff found another way. Read on to learn how to get your recovery partition back without resorting to a complete reinstall.