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Safari downloads pane

Posted in Safari Tips & Tricks

Did you know that Safari downloads pane (which opens when you click on the button in the upper right corner) offers some interesting features?

• Double-click a file's icon open it
• Select a file and press Command+C to copy a file's URL
• Select a downloaded file and drag it to a folder, to your Desktop, or even to a Dock icon to launch it with that application

 

Apple Hardware Test

Apple Hardware Test (AHT) contains a suite of diagnostics that will test the hardware of your computer. It's a great way to rule out a hardware issue when troubleshooting your computer.

To start up your computer in AHT:

• Shut down your computer
• Press and hold the D key
• Press the power button to turn on your computer

Computers that shipped with OS X Mountain Lion (or later versions of OS X/macOS) support the use of AHT over the Internet. These computers will start up to an Internet-based version of AHT if the hard drive does not contain AHT. An Internet-enabled connection via Ethernet or Wi-Fi is required to use this feature. To start up to an Internet-based version of AHT:

• Shut down your computer
• Press and hold Option (Alt) and D
• Press the power button to turn on your computer

If the Apple Hardware Test indicates that the RAM memory is faulty you should be able to find instructions on how to replace it in your computer’s manual without voiding the warranty. However, if the problem is related to any other component the only option is usually to hand over the computer to Apple.

 

 

Set iCloud to save emails on your Mac

Posted in Mail Tips & Tricks

It’s certainly not unusual to want to store your data only on locations over which you have full control and not some company’s cloud, even if that’s Apple.

Apple’s Mail and most email clients on every platform and from every third party optimize their defaults settings around leaving mail on a server. That’s the modern way, where we can reach the same mail storage on any device, as well as through web mail.

However, it’s possible to avoid all this. You just have to change a view settings and rethink how you file mail once you’ve dealt with it. You can archive messages on a single Mac and store them there without leaving a copy on the server but you’d better be making backups, Time Machine or otherwise, or you’ll be sunk if your drive fails.

Your Inbox will always remain on the server. The Inbox is essentially a window into messages that have arrived and you haven’t processed. You make one change in settings and one change in behavior for everything else.

In Mail in macOS, follow these steps:

• Select Mail > Preferences and click Accounts.
• Select iCloud in the list at left.
• In the Account Information tab, set Download Attachments to All (the only reason to avoid this if you get frequent large attachments in messages you delete without needing those attachments).
• In the Mailbox Behaviors tab, for each mailbox popup menu, select a mailbox listed under On My Mac (if no mailbox exists, you need to create it from the Mailboxes sidebar).

Now all the standard Mail behavior will result in messages being downloaded or stored on your Mac.

On the behavior side, create all the mailboxes you need under the On My Mac section of the Mailboxes list, and then as you receive email in your Inbox, file those locally into those folders. That removes the messages from the mail server, leaving it stored only on your Mac.

Securely dispose old storage media

If you’ve been using FileVault from the time you set up your Mac, that encryption is extremely strong, and erasing the drive deletes the passphrase-protected encryption key. That makes the contents effectively irretrievable, and no additional erasure is needed for an SSD or HDD. If you didn’t use FileVault, here are your options.

HDDs

Unless you’re dealing with secrets that would lead to the overthrow of governments, using Disk Utility’s secure erase feature meets the mark. HDDs can also be physically destroyed with a drill equipped with a bit suitable for puncturing the metal casing. A hammer and chisel could work, too. If you have a dead HDD and if you think anyone with motivation might pay to have the data recovered, physical destruction is the only way to ensure data isn’t readable.

SSDs

Data is written in an unpredictable fashion on SSDs to distribute the wear across all the memory cells in the solid-state device. As a result, a secure erase feature doesn’t work at all, as it may not overwrite all the data. Physical destruction is really the only course of action, which is an unfortunate waste of technology. And if you have a Mac in which the SSD isn’t removable, but part of the computer, that’s even worse.

RAM

Fortunately, the various kinds of RAMs used by generations of Macs are all volatile memory: the contents disappear instantly or shortly after a device is powered down. So far, there’s no way to recover any traces of data from RAM chips.

Use natural language expressions to create alerts with Reminders

One of the good things about Reminders app is that it allows you to set due dates and times with each task you enter. You can set these times and dates manually, or you can use natural language expressions with the app to set up your time-sensitive tasks a lot more quickly. Here’s how to do it.

Launch Reminders and select a list of reminders you want to add tasks to, or create an entirely new list. Then, click on the little Plus icon in the upper right; this should create a spot for you to make a new reminder. Now, type in your natural language request, like "Meeting with John tomorrow at 11:30".

Reminders will create the actual task, but will also set up a notification to let you know when the event is about. You don't have to create the reminder, select the info button, and put in the details one at a time.