You may have noticed that if you take a screenshot on Mac a little screenshot thumbnail preview pops up in the bottom right corner of the display and floats there for a few seconds. You can interact with that little thumbnail to quickly markup a screenshot, but showing those screenshot thumbnails also appears too slow down how long it takes for the actual screen shot file to generate and be available to the file system.
If you want to disable the screenshot thumbnail preview in macOS:
• Go to the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and open the "Screenshot" application
• Click on the "Options" menu in the screenshot toolbar
• Uncheck the option for "Show Floating Thumbnail" to disable the screenshot preview
• Exit out of the Screenshot application
With "Show Floating Thumbnail" disabled, the screenshot previews will no longer appear, and the screenshot that has been snapped will be created and appear almost instantly in the Finder, much like in earlier macOS versions.
Need to reset the Chrome browser to default settings? If Chrome is acting up and you want to troubleshoot the browser, or you just want to start fresh, you can easily reset Chrome settings to the original defaults.
Resetting Chrome can be a helpful troubleshooting technique if you find that the Chrome browser experience is not performing well, if something is wrong, or if the browser has been hijacked by junkware pages, pop-ups, and other rubbish.
Resetting Chrome settings will reset everything about the browser to its default state settings, as if it were freshly installed and not configured. This means any startup home page customizations, tab settings, search engine, pinned tabs, etc will all be reset. Additionally, any and all Chrome browser extensions will be disabled, and all temporary data like caches and cookies will be cleared.
Resetting Chrome does not clear out bookmarks, history, auto-fill suggestions, or saved passwords.
• Open the Chrome browser to a new browser window
• Click on the dots icon button in the upper right corner, then choose “Settings”
• Scroll to the bottom of the Settings and click on “Advanced” to show more
• Scroll down to find “Reset Settings” and click on “Restore settings to their original defaults”
• Confirm that you want to reset Chrome settings by clicking “Reset settings”
Resetting Chrome can take a moment or two depending on how you have Chrome configured, if you have any (or many) Chrome extensions installed, and other factors including the speed of the computer you’re resetting the Chrome browser on.
Once Chrome has been reset, it’s probably a good idea to update the browser too, then quit, and then relaunch the app. You might also want to manually update extensions you plan on using. Doing this insures that Chrome web browser and its extensions are up to date with the latest version and with the latest features and security updates.
Do Not Disturb mode is one of the best features you can use if you want to focus on a task, and not be distracted by the myriad endless notifications and alerts that pop up on the Mac. Enabling and disabling the feature with a keyboard shortcut offers a quick way to toggle the feature off or on as quick as possible and at any time.
To be able to toggle Do Not Disturb off or on by keyboard shortcut, you’ll need to enable a keyboard shortcut for it first. Here’s how to do that:
• Go to the Apple menu and select “System Preferences”
• Go to “Keyboard” and then choose the “Shortcuts” tab
• Select “Mission Control” from the Shortcuts options
• Locate “Turn Do Not Disturb On/Off” and make sure that is checked to be enabled
• Click directly to the right of “Turn Do Not Disturb On/Off” and then press a keyboard shortcut combination to set as the Do Not Disturb keyboard shortcut
In the example (see screenshot), the keystroke combination "Shift F6" was set as the keyboard shortcut for enabling and disabling Do Not Disturb mode. You can set any keyboard shortcut you want for this purpose, just make sure it’s unique and does not overlap with another keystroke combination or feature. Once the keyboard shortcut for toggling Do Not Disturb mode is enabled, you can use it at anytime by pressing the keystroke combination you set in the above steps.
When Do Not Disturb mode is on (the Notification Center icon in the menu bar is dimmed), all notifications and alerts will not show up, but they will still be contained within the Notification Center.
When Do not Disturb mode is off, all alerts and notifications will come through to the Mac as usual, showing up as pop-up alerts in the upper right corner of the screen.
macOS Mojave includes a shortcut for ending a sentence with a full stop by just pressing the space bar twice. This means that hitting the spacebar twice will insert a period and a space automatically at the end of a sentence (or a word).
Automatically typing periods comes to the Mac from the iPhone and iPad world. To enable this feature:
• Go to the Apple menu and choose "System Preferences"
• Select the “Keyboard” preference panel, then choose the “Text” tab
• Locate the setting for “Add full stop with double-space” and toggle the checkbox to the "On" position
• Exit System Preferences
Now when you hit the space bar twice, a period and a space will be inserted automatically.
Wireless interference can cause Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices to disconnect or perform poorly. Bluetooth enabled keyboards and mice may not pair or connect consistently, or audio from Bluetooth enabled earphones or speakers may be choppy, but you can take steps to reduce or overcome it.
Any of these symptoms could be caused by interference affecting the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth signal:
• Device doesn't connect or stay connected
• Connection is slow and signal strength is low
• Bluetooth audio skips, stutters, cuts off, or has static or buzzing
• Pointer movement is erratic or jumpy
These general steps can help achieve a cleaner, stronger wireless signal:
• Bring your Wi-Fi device and Wi-Fi router closer together. Bring the Bluetooth devices that are connecting to each other closer together.
• Avoid using your wireless devices near common sources of interference, such as power cables, microwave ovens, fluorescent lights, wireless video cameras, and cordless phones.
• Reduce the number of active devices that use the same wireless frequency band. Both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices use the 2.4 GHz band, but many Wi-Fi devices can use the 5 GHz band instead. If your Wi-Fi router supports both bands, it might help to connect more of your Wi-Fi devices to the 5GHz band. Some dual-band routers manage this for you automatically.
• Configure your Wi-Fi router to use a different Wi-Fi channel, or have it scan for the channel with the least interference. Most routers perform this scan automatically on startup or when reset.
If you're using USB 3 devices with your computer, you can limit their potential to interfere with nearby wireless devices:
• Use a high-quality, shielded USB cable with each USB 3 device.
• Move your USB 3 devices—including any USB hubs—farther away from your wireless devices.
• Connect USB 3 devices to the ports farthest from your computer's Wi-Fi antenna. For example, if your computer has ports on the back, prefer the USB ports closest to the middle. If your computer has ports on the side, prefer the USB ports closest to the front.
• Turn off any USB 3 devices that aren't in use.
Avoid physical obstructions in the path of your wireless signal. For example, a metal surface between your Bluetooth mouse and computer could cause the mouse to perform poorly, and a metal-reinforced concrete floor between your Wi-Fi router and Wi-Fi device could cause poor Wi-Fi performance.
• Low interference potential: wood, glass, and many synthetic materials
• Medium interference potential: water, bricks, marble
• High interference potential: plaster, concrete, bulletproof glass
• Very high interference potential: metal