Mac
How to Remove an App From Your Mac's Dock
Matt Cone April 7, 2021
Your Mac’s Dock is an application launcher that lets you quickly open applications and see at a glance which applications are already open. Your Mac automatically displays the icons of open applications on the Dock, and it also displays the icons applications that were put there by you (or Apple). All of the application icons (except the Finder and the Trash) can be removed from the Dock. Here’s how to remove an app from your Mac’s Dock:
How to Disable Automatic Updates on Your Mac
Matt Cone March 29, 2021
Your Mac is designed to keep itself up-to-date. It automatically checks Apple’s servers for new software updates, and it tries to automatically install new updates when they become available. But sometimes you don’t want your Mac to automatically install new software. If that’s the case, you should disable automatic updates on your Mac. Here’s how to disable automatic updates on your Mac: From the Apple menu, select System Preferences. Click Software Update.
How to Reduce Mac Menu Bar Transparency
Matt Cone March 26, 2021
By default, your Mac’s menu bar is transparent, which means the menu bar background color automatically changes depending on whatever application you’re using. You can disable this transparency feature to keep the background color of your menu bar consistent no matter what application you’re using. Here’s how to reduce your Mac’s menu bar transparency: From the Apple menu, select System Preferences. Click Accessability. From the sidebar, select Display. Select the Reduce Transparency checkbox.
How to Change the Name of Your Mac
Matt Cone March 23, 2021
Your Mac has a name that is visible to other devices on the network it’s connected to. This hostname can be important when trying to share files or otherwise communicate with another device. You can change the name of your Mac to give it a personal, memorable name that is easy to remember and recognize. Here’s how to change the name of your Mac: From the Apple menu, select System Preferences.
Set Scroll Bars to Always Display on Your Mac
Matt Cone March 22, 2021
Operating systems like macOS and Windows are constantly being updated with new features, but for the longest time, you could always count on seeing scroll bars in windows, no matter what operating system you used. But then multi-touch gestures hit the scene and the scroll bars were gone. Poof! Just like that. Actually, that’s not entirely true. By default, the scroll bars in macOS are designed to be displayed automatically when input from a mouse or trackpad is detected.
How to Use Emoji on Your Mac
Matt Cone March 13, 2021
Emoji is everywhere, in everything. 😎 Your Mac has built-in features you can use to add emoji in email, webpages, documents, and more. We’ll show you how to use emoji on your Mac to quickly and easily insert emoji in any text. 🚀 Here’s how to use emoji on your Mac: In an application, click where you want to insert the emoji. From the Edit menu, select Emoji & Symbols.
How to Find Your Mac's MAC Address
Matt Cone March 10, 2021
Each of your Mac’s network interfaces — such as the ethernet and Wi-Fi cards — have a permanent, unique serial number called a media access control (MAC) address. Some universities and employers may request your Mac’s MAC addresses to monitor or limit your access to certain networks. MAC addresses can also be used for less nefarious purposes. For example, if your computer is stolen on a university’s campus, the IT department may be able to use its MAC address to trigger an alert when the criminal connects your computer to a university network.
How to Use Dark Mode on Your Mac
Matt Cone March 7, 2021
Your Mac provides a dark mode feature that turns the background of most applications black to make viewing your Mac’s applications at night easier. You can enable dark mode manually or set it to turn on automatically at night. Dark mode isn’t to everyone’s tastes — for example, not everyone likes reading white text on black backgrounds — but generally speaking, this is a feature that most people seem appreciate using a night.
Starting Applications Automatically at Login
Matt Cone March 2, 2021
Do you use the same applications, documents, AppleScripts, and Automator actions every day? Consider adding them as login items to start them automatically when you log in or turn on your Mac. It’s a great timesaver. Follow these instructions and kiss manually opening applications goodbye! Common examples of login items include utilities such as Alfred, LaunchBar, and Dropbox. Other popular login items include applications that need to be made available as soon as possible, such as email clients, web browsers, RSS readers, and even Twitter.
How to Rebuild Spotlight's Index
Matt Cone February 26, 2021
Spotlight is the revolutionary search technology built into macOS that creates an index of practically everything on your hard drive — including email messages, contacts, and even calendar events — and then uses this index to search your hard drive. Your Mac is supposed to update this index in real time when you create or modify files or folders, but problems occasionally crop up. Spotlight won’t work correctly if this index is incomplete or corrupted.