Mac
How to Access Hidden Mac Networking Tools
Matt Cone November 28, 2021
Your Mac contains some of the best networking hardware in the industry, but things can still go wrong. If you find that your wireless network connection is on the fritz, you may need to perform some troubleshooting. We talked previously about the networkquality command line tool, and that’s great for what it does, but you may need something else if you need to investigate problems with your wireless network. That’s where your Mac’s hidden network tools come in!
How to Check Your Mac's Network Quality
Matt Cone November 24, 2021
You’ve probably heard of Speedtest and Fast.com, two free tools you can use to check your network connection. But did you know that your Mac comes with a command line utility that allows you to check your Mac’s network quality, right from the Terminal application? The networkquality tool is included with every Mac running macOS 12 and later. This tool provides a variety of stats about your network connection and can help you benchmark your network throughout the day.
How to Page Up and Page Down on Your Mac
Matt Cone November 15, 2021
One of the staples of PC keyboards is the Page Up and Page Down keys. Pressing these keys will make the focus of the screen quickly jump a full page up or down — it’s a quick way to scroll through a document or a website. Your Mac doesn’t have a dedicated keys for page up or page down, but there is a keyboard shortcut equivalent you can use. To page up on your Mac, press the fn and up arrow keys, as shown below.
How to Show Hidden Files on Your Mac
Matt Cone November 11, 2021
You wouldn’t know it by using the Finder, but your Mac has thousands of hidden files that can’t be found or accessed using conventional methods, like opening a folder or searching with Spotlight. Most of these secret files are hidden from view to protect you. Apple doesn’t want new users poking around in, say, the /sbin directory, because there’s no real reason why they would need to access it. But power users may want to see all of the files on their Mac, for whatever reason.
How to Automatically Delete Old Messages on Your Mac
Matt Cone November 10, 2021
iMessage allows you to send and receive free SMS and text messages to your friends and family. But those old text messages can start piling up! After a while, all of the old text messages can start cluttering the Messages application on your Mac, making it difficult to find the text message threads you’re really interested in. Thankfully, your Mac contains a feature that can automatically delete old text messages after a certain period of time.
How to Set Default Apps on Your Mac
Matt Cone November 8, 2021
Your Mac has a default application that it uses to open all files of a certain type (like images and Markdown files), and it remembers to use that application every time you open one of those files. For example, your Mac uses the Preview application to open files with the .png extension. If you’d like to change the default application for a file type, you’re in luck — your Mac provides a quick and easy way to change the default application for a file type.
Tell Your Mac to Forget a Wireless Network
Matt Cone October 29, 2021
When you connect a Mac to a wi-fi network, the Mac remembers that network and will automatically attempt to connect to it in the future. This is a great feature for wi-fi networks you trust and use frequently. But mistakes happen. If you connect to the wrong network at a coffee shop, your Mac will automatically attempt to join that network every time you visit the coffee shop in the future.
How to Change the Siri Voice on Your Mac
Matt Cone October 20, 2021
Siri is Apple’s virtual voice assistant that you can verbally communicate with. Freely available on all of Apple’s devices, including the Mac, Siri can help you do things like find information, add calendar events, and send email. Siri comes with a default voice, but if you don’t like that voice, you can select one of the other voices for Siri that are available on your Mac. Here’s how to change the Siri voice on your Mac:
How to Enable and Activate Siri on Your Mac
Matt Cone October 17, 2021
Siri is Apple’s virtual voice assistant. Freely available on all of Apple’s devices, including Macs, Siri can help you find information, add calendar events, and send email. Enabling Siri is a breeze, as is activating it to listen to your voice commands. Enabling Siri on Your Mac Here’s how to enable Siri on your Mac: From the Apple menu, select System Preferences. Click Siri. Select the Enable Ask Siri setting.
How to Use Tor Browser on a Mac
Matt Cone September 18, 2021
Practically everything you do online with your Mac is logged and traceable back to your computer. Law enforcement officials, internet service providers, and even website administrators can find out what internet services and resources you accessed, when you accessed them, and what computer you used to access them with. If this lack of privacy sends shivers down your spine, you’ll be happy to hear that there is a way to preserve your anonymity on the internet while using your Mac.