Mac tips, tricks, & How-To's

Latest Help & Tips

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  Bugs & Fixes: When email duplication gets unruly

  Ted Landau was plagued with duplicate messages in his Outlook Inbox. With a little sleuthing he discovered that the culprit, as so often happens, was sitting in front of the keyboard.
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  Mac Basics: How to set up Time Machine

  Have a new Mac and want to back up your files? Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting up your external drive with Time Machine.
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  Creating freeze frames in iMovie '11

  Freeze frames are helpful for letting a viewer take a longer gander at your subject or for extending a scene to accommodate a too-long audio track. Here's how to create them in iMovie '11.
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  Five keyboard shortcuts you should set up now

  Why are you opening the same menus and submenus, looking for the same commands again and again? Access menu commands across apps with these time-saving tips.
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  Remove unnecessary System Preferences icons

  If your System Preferences window feels cluttered, you can remove icons that you no longer need.
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  Cure for a nagging AirPort Utility

  So, AirPort Utility pops up on its own to bug you about an unwanted firmware update? Chris Breen explains how to nix the nag.
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  Your complete guide to Facebook Timeline

  Facebook's Timeline feature will soon be mandatory for all users. Here's how to make the switch to Timeline, with tips on adjusting your privacy settings.
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  Automator workflow of the month: Clear the iPod photo cache

  If your Mac's storage space is dwindling for no apparent reason, a hidden iPod Photo cache folder may be the culprit. Use Automator to keep it trim.
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  Bugs & Fixes: Short URLs render Safari’s history useless

  Ted Landau understand the convenience of shortened URLs used by services such as Twitter, but it can play merry heck with your Safari history. In this edition of Bugs & Fixes, Ted looks at a workaround.
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  Four Facebook tips to cut News Feed noise

  CIO's Kristin Burnham offers four ways you can tweak your Facebook settings to cut down on News Feed junk and make that feature more productive for you.
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  The mystery of Safari's disappearing video

  You say YouTube videos play in Safari but not those from mlb.com? Check your plug-ins says Chris Breen
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  Quickly create new Sticky notes

  Here are two ways to quickly create new notes from selected text or images in the Mac's venerable Stickies app.
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  Deleting files within Lion's Applications folder

  If you've tried to delete any of Apple's applications bundled with OS X Lion you know it can be difficult to do. But with Terminal in hand, you're just a short command away from a Chess-free Mac.
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  Bugs & Fixes: Re-running on empty

  Like a bacterial infection that an antibiotic doesn’t entirely kill, a computer issue can come back to bite you despite you applying what seemed to be a successful solution. Ted Landau revisits just such an issue.
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  Mac Basics: How to adjust OS X’s Software Update

  Apple distributes updates to Mac OS X and some of its applications through a feature in the operating system called Software Update. Here’s how to customize Software Update to your liking.
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  Keeping Mac OS and data on separate drives

  At one time keeping your home folder on a drive other than the one used to start up your Mac was something of a black art. It needn't be. Chris Breen explains.
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  Establish a photo editing process that works for you

  Digital workflow is a fancy term that describes the sequence of things you do between the time you take a photo and when you share it with others.
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  iOS 5 Basics: Using Reminders on your iOS device

  Here's a primer for using the Reminders app built into iOS 5.
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  When new apps and old iOS devices don't mix

  Problem: A mix of new and old iPod touches and new apps that replace old ones leading to incompatibilities. Chris Breen suggests it's time to cut the cord.
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  Creative audio workarounds in iMovie for iOS

  These techniques go a long way toward making the process of working with audio easier in iMovie's mobile app.