Modern MacBooks can last 18 hours or more on a single battery charge, but like all rechargeable batteries, the one in your Mac has a finite lifespan. Over time, its capacity to hold a charge gradually diminishes, potentially leaving you tethered to a power outlet more often than you'd like. This is where understanding your Mac's battery cycle count can be important.

Checking your Mac's battery cycle count provides valuable insight into its overall health and remaining lifespan. A cycle count represents the number of times your battery has gone through a full charge cycle, which occurs when you use 100% of its capacity – whether in one sitting or spread across multiple partial charges. By monitoring this number, you can gauge how much life your battery has left and plan accordingly, whether that means adjusting your usage habits or preparing for a potential battery replacement down the line.

Here's how to check it your Mac's battery cycle count:

• Click the Apple symbol () in the menu bar while holding the Option key
• Select System Information from the dropdown menu
• In the new window, click the Hardware list in the left sidebar if its contents aren't showing
• Click Power in the expanded Hardware list
• Look for Cycle Count under "Health Information" in the Battery Information section of the main window

This number represents how many times your battery has been fully discharged and recharged.

Apple designs MacBook batteries to maintain up to 80% of their original capacity at their maximum cycle count, which varies by model. Recent MacBooks typically have a maximum cycle count of 1,000, while older models range from 300 to 500. You can find your specific model's maximum on Apple's support website. Remember, reaching the maximum cycle count doesn't mean your battery stops working. It simply indicates when you might notice a decrease in battery life.

Every new Mac bought from Apple comes with a one-year warranty that includes service coverage for a defective battery. If your Mac is out of warranty and the battery hasn't aged well, Apple offers battery service for a charge.

When using macOS, you certainly know if you’ve opened a Pages file or are editing an email. But, below the surface are files that macOS uses that you don’t see all the activity required for background processes, Time Machine backups, Spotlight indexing, and other system needs. When you want to eject a mounted volume, like a volume on an external SSD or hard drive, you can run afoul of macOS’s hidden needs.

You can try to eject a volume normally in these ways:

• Select it in the Finder and press Command-E
• Select it in the Finder and choose File > Eject
• Control-click/right-click the volume in the Finder and choose Eject

If you’re lucky, when you try to eject a volume, you will see a message with specific details, such as: The disk "My Photos" couldn't be ejected because "Adobe Photoshop 2024" is using it. Quitting Adobe Photoshop will let you eject “My Photos”, but if there’s something happening at a system level, you will see a message worded like this: The disk "My Photos" wasn’t ejected because one or more programs may be using it. You can try to eject the disk again or click Force Eject to eject it immediately. Cancel and Force Eject buttons are part of the dialog, and a progress spinner appears next to the phrase “Trying to eject.”. That does not help resolve the situation. Here’s what you can do to narrow down the problem:

Close Finder windows. As odd as it seems, sometimes merely having a window open in the Finder that shows the contents of the volume or a folder on it may make the Finder believe that a “program” is using that mounted item. Close the Finder window and try again.

Remove the volume from Spotlight. I’ve found that Spotlight can sometimes seize hold of a volume and mark it as unejectable even when indexing isn’t actively in process on that volume. You can check if that’s the problem by going to Apple menu  > System Settings... > Siri & Spotlight, scrolling down to the bottom of the view, and clicking Spotlight Privacy. Drag the volume into the window (or click + and navigate to it, then add it), and click Done. This immediately removes the volume from indexing. Try to eject now. If it works, that was the problem. However, if you want to search items on that volume, you will need to remove it from Spotlight Privacy later.

Check if Time Machine is backing up. If Time Machine is actively backing up the volume, you may be unable to eject it. Check the status of Time Machine either through its system menu or by going to Apple menu  > System Settings... > General > Time Machine. If it’s underway, you can choose Skip This Backup from the Time Machine system menu or click the “x” box next to the active session in the System Settings view and wait for Time Machine to wind down. You can exclude the volume from Time Machine by using the settings view: click Options, click the + (plus) sign at the bottom of Exclude from Backups, and add the volume while mounted. Click Done.

Shut down. For a physically connected external volume, choose Apple menu  > Shut Down. When your Mac is completely shut down, unplug the SSD or HDD. Press the power button on your Mac to start up. For a “logically” mounted volume, such as a disk image or networked volume, choose Apple menu  > Restart. On restart, the volume should be unmounted by default. If not, immediately select it and use an eject option listed above, which should now work.

If you’re experiencing problems with file sharing not working in macOS Ventura or Sonoma, there is a fix to resolve the issue. This solution applies to SMB file sharing with macOS Ventura or Sonoma and devices connecting to or from the Mac, whether you’re experiencing connectivity failures, time outs, server unavailable, server may not exist, or other similar error messages.

• Open the "System Settings" on Mac from the  Apple menu
• Go to "General" and then to "Sharing"
• Find the switch for "File Sharing" and toggle it Off
• Restart the Mac by going to the  Apple menu and choosing Restart
• Upon reboot, return to the Sharing system settings panel and turn "File Sharing" back to the On position
• Resume file sharing as usual, it should work as expected

You may need to repeat this process after a few days, or at random, if file sharing suddenly stops working again between the macOS Ventura or Sonoma Mac and another Mac or device. Why you need to disable file sharing, reboot, then re-enable file sharing, is a bit of a mystery. Simply toggling file sharing off and on does not do the trick.

What causes the "macOS could not be installed on your computer" error? Several issues could cause the problem. However, the error screen should give you some idea of what's gone amiss. Here are some messages you might see underneath the warning:

• The path /System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg appears to be missing or damaged
• An error occurred installing macOS
• Unable to unmount volume for repair
• Storage system verify or repair failed
• An error occurred while verifying firmware

Some of these offer more information than others, but they point to different stages of the installation that failed. The following steps and fixes should sort out any of the problems mentioned above.

Fixing this error may require some patience. It's best to start with the simple fixes, which often solve the problem, but if they don't, you have other options. Here are the approaches to try.

1. Restart and try the installation again. This may seem counterintuitive to redo the thing that didn't work, but sometimes a restart is all your Mac needs to sort itself out.

2. Check the Date & Time setting. If the displayed date and time don't match reality, this could be the problem. Restart your Mac again if necessary, then go to System Settings > Date & Time and enable "Set time and date automatically" setting. After this, try the installation again to see if it works.

3. Free up space. In some cases, macOS fails to install because there isn't enough room on the hard drive. To see how much is available, click the Apple logo and select About This Mac, click More Info, scroll down and click Storage Settings. You'll see a breakdown of what's living on your computer. If the available space seems low, move some nonessential files off temporarily to see if that lets the installation proceed.

4. Reset the NVRAM (https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204063). This tiny chunk of memory stores basic information such as the time, monitor resolution, and which disk to start up from. You may need to go back into System Settings to switch any settings this changed, but you can try the installation again before that to make sure the problem is resolved.

5. Restore from a backup. If you use Time Machine to regularly back up your Mac, you can go back to an earlier state using Recovery Mode to see if it's more compatible with the installer.

6. Run Disk First Aid (launch Disk Utility located in /Applications/Utilities). This may help if you're getting the "Unable to mount volume" error. First Aid checks the internal hard drive and makes any fixes it can. It may even be able to mount the volume after it's done. Then you can retry the installation.

If none of the above worked, it may be time to turn your computer over to the professionals.

Apple has increasingly made it hard to mess with macOS system files. That’s true whether you intentionally want to extend macOS’s functionality or if a malicious party is trying to install and activate a virus.

However, many system components and all Apple and third-party apps rely on preferences and other files to store your custom settings, caches for work in progress, and other data. If those files corrupt, macOS may be perfectly fine, but you can’t get anything done in an app or your account.

Once you’ve gone through troubleshooting your Mac within your account that doesn’t seem to improve matters, the next big leap before reinstalling macOS is to set up a fresh macOS user account. From this account, you can test hardware, like your Wi-Fi or ethernet adapter; add printers and scanners; or run third-party software that keeps crashing on launch.

Because a fresh account typically contains nothing that would already be corrupted, you can isolate whether a problem is in your everyday user account or a system-wide issue–maybe even hardware related.

Here’s how to set up a fresh, new user account in macOS Ventura:

• Go to System Settings > Users & Groups.

• Click the Add Account button.

• Enter your password if prompted.

Here’s how to set up a fresh, new user account in macOS Monterey and earlier versions of macOS:

• Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups.

• Click the lock icon and enter your administrator password.

• Click the + sign at the bottom-left corner of the user list.

Then, after those first three steps in any version of macOS:

• Choose whether to create a Standard or Administrator account. Give it a name, password, and hint, and click Create. When making the account, what kind should it be?

Create a Standard account if you want to test a problem from the perspective of a user without any extra privileges.

Create an Administrator if that’s your normal account type–that’s typical–and you’re trying to perform an apples-to-apples comparison.

• Choose  > Log Out [name].

• At the login screen, select the new account, enter the password, and click the arrow to log in.

Now you can check if your problem persists. For instance, if you can’t get a Wi-Fi adapter to show up in your regular account, this new one should have a fresh set of adapters that represent all the hardware your Mac recognizes. It should pull those into the System Preferences > Network pane (macOS Monterey or earlier) or System Settings > Network view (macOS Ventura). If Wi-Fi doesn’t show up as an adapter in the list, it’s likely a hardware problem, though reinstalling macOS is the next step before a repair shop just in case.

When you’ve debugged your problem, you can get rid of the account. You must be logged in using an Administrator account to do this. (Warning! These steps are irreversible. Choose “Don’t change the home folder” to retain it.)

In Ventura, go to System Settings > Users & Groups, click the i info button next to the account, click Delete Account, enter your administrator password, and click Unlock. Now select “Delete the home folder,” click Delete Account, and confirm.

In Monterey, go to System Preferences > Users & Groups, click the Lock icon to authenticate, select the account you create to debug macOS, click the – sign at the bottom-left corner, choose “Delete the home folder,” click Delete User, and confirm.