Many people equate productivity with screen size and assume it's difficult to get much work done on a small screen. Here are four ways to maximize productivity on small Mac laptop screens.
Hide inactive apps. Use Command+Option+H to hide all applications and windows except for the active app, also you can Option+Click out of a specific app to hide it as you begin working elsewhere. Hidden apps are easy to identify if you use Cocktail to enable transparent icons for hidden applications in the Dock (Interface > Dock).
Auto-hide the Dock. Hit Command+Option+D to enable auto-hiding of the Dock, summon it when needed by swiping to the bottom of the screen with the cursor. Dock is a great app launcher but keep it hidden when not in use.
Use full screen apps. Full screen apps help you stay focused and make the most of small screens. This feature was designed with Mac laptops in mind, so don’t forget to use it.
Use virtual desktops. Create new desktops through Mission Control by hovering over the right corner and clicking the + button. Use this with full screen apps to create a great desktop workflow that can be quickly swiped between.
In the old days you could reset a login password via a Mac's OS X installer disc. But with no such discs, what to do?
To reset a login password in OS X Mountain Lion or later, restart the Mac and hold down Command-R to boot into the Recovery HD partition. From the Utilities menu, choose Terminal to open it. In Terminal type:
resetpassword
and press Return.
In macOS Sierra and macOS High Sierra, an Reset Password assistant will launch. Choose the user account or admin account you want to reset the password for. Enter a new password, confirm the new password, set (if you like) a password hint and then click on "Next" to set the new password for the account in question. Choose to "Restart" the Mac and when the Mac boots up, use the newly reset password to login to the computer.
In OS X Mountain Lion, OS X Mavericks, OS X Yosemite and OS X El Capitan, a Reset Password window will appear that will list all the bootable volumes attached to your Mac. Select the volume that contains the account you want to reset and choose the user name that needs its password reset. Enter and verify a new passwords in the appropriate fields and, if you like, enter a password hint. Click Save and the new password is applied to the account.
macOS High Sierra is easy to install. However, we recommend a full back up before you install it.
Apple makes it very easy to back up your Mac using Time Machine, so there is no excuse not to create a Time Machine backup before installing macOS High Sierra.
Follow these steps to back up your Mac using Time Machine.
• Connect an external hard drive to your Mac. Choose a new hard drive, or one that you don't mind erasing.
• An alert may appear asking if you want to use the drive to backup your Mac. If so, Use as Backup Disk.
• If not, open System Preferences > Time Machine and click Select Backup Disk. Choose the external drive.
• Switch Time Machine to On.
• A progress bar will appear in the Time Machine system preference pane. Wait for the Time Machine backup to complete before continuing with the macOS High Sierra installation.
Follow these instructions to install the macOS High Sierra update on your Mac.
• Once you've backed up your Mac, launch the App Store (located in /Applications) and search for macOS High Sierra.
• Click Download to initiate the download, and fill out your Apple ID information if prompted. Download progress will appear in your Purchases tab.
• Once the download has finished, you'll see a macOS High Sierra installer launch. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish installing the software update, which should take around half an hour depending on the spec of your Mac.
Wondering whether you need antivirus software to protect your Mac? macOS is more secure than Windows, but you'd be wise to look carefully at your security options.
The Mac is generally considered to be safe and secure, and there are a number of reasons why Macs are considered more secure than PCs. Malware writers are less likely to target Mac users because of the perception that it has a far smaller market share than Windows. There is also the fact that the Mac operating system is Unix-based, and Unix offers a number of security features built in.
Apple goes to great lengths to protect you from malware by making it impossible for you to download it in the first place. The company has built-in antimalware protection in macOS. The Mac's malware scanning tool, Xprotect, works invisibly and automatically in the background and requires no user configuration. Apple has a list of malicious applications that it checks against when you open downloaded applications. Updates happen invisibly too. This is similar to having antivirus software from another software developer running on your Mac, with the bonus of being written into the operating system and therefore it doesn't hamper the speed of your Mac. If you download and try to open files contaminated with malware, you may see an explicit warning that the files will "damage your computer", along with a reference to type of malware. You should delete the file immediately.
In addition, macOS blocks downloaded software that hasn't been digitally signed - a process in which Apple approves the developer. This leads to the familiar error message when you try to use or install unsigned software: "[this app] can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.". The system at work here is called Gatekeeper and can be controlled via the Security & Privacy section of System Preferences. In addition to Gatekeeper, which should keep malware off you Mac, FileVault 2 makes sure your data is safe and secure by encrypting it.
It's certainly not an essential requirement to install antivirus software on your Mac. Apple does a pretty good job of keeping on top of vulnerabilities and exploits and the updates to the MacOS that will protect your Mac will be pushed out over auto-update very quickly. However, sometimes Apple doesn't respond as quickly as Mac users might hope. In that case there are some free anti-virus apps (such as Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition or ClamXav) that might give you some peace of mind.
Windows has a program manager in the Control Panel that lets you uninstall applications, but you will not find a similar function on your Mac. So what's the best way to uninstall macOS apps?
In general, applications in macOS are packaged into a ".app" bundle that appears to be a single file but is actually a self-contained folder. Unlike Windows, in which an application usually installs a folder that contains the executable and supporting files, most of what an macOS app needs to run is stored within the .app bundle. Deleting an application bundle will remove that application's binary and all the supporting files contained within. Many apps, however, also install additional files in the user's Library folder, such as application preferences and caches.
To manually remove an macOS app, make sure the app is closed and head to the user's Library folder (in OS X Lion and above, hold down the Option key while selecting the Go menu from the Finder's menu bar and select Library). Here, you'll want to check for references to the application in the Application Support, Caches, LaunchAgents, and Preferences folders. Remove any files or folders that you are certain belong to the application you're trying to uninstall. You may also want to check the main Library folder by navigating to the top level of your hard drive and opening the /Library folder, although most applications will confine their files to the user-specific Library. Due to sandboxing requirements imposed by Apple, apps obtained from the Mac App Store are even easier to remove. Simply delete two items: the application file itself from the Applications folder and the application-specific folder in ~/Library/Containers (user's Library folder).
Another way to remove macOS apps is to use third-party tools. Take note, however, that automated tools can sometimes miss certain files or folders, and users employing these tools should always perform a manual check to ensure that all remnants of the application have indeed been removed. Finally, some applications (such as Cocktail) have their own uninstaller. Wherever possible, use the application-specific uninstaller for these applications.
Regardless of which method you choose, remember that leaving behind the occasional abandoned preference file is not likely to cause harm or performance issues. In general, removing the app bundle from the Applications folder and a file or two from the user's Library folder is enough to remove the application from the drive and free up disk space.