All posts by Ed Shutenko

make mac faster
Macbook, Tutorials

Simple Ways to Make your Mac Run Faster

Nothing is more frustrating than turning on your Mac only to discover that it seems to be taking its time doing what you need it to do. Before you chuck it out the window, try a few of these tips to help your Mac run a little faster. They are quick, easy, and free. And they just might work for you if you give them a try.

Try Restarting it

This seems like something that is so simple it can’t possibly work but think about it. When was the last time was that you actually restarted your Mac? If you can’t remember doing it recently, try restarting it. Many people are guilty of just sleeping their Mac or closing the screen on their laptops so they don’t actually have to wait the time it takes to start them all the way up from the beginning. Well, this is not doing your Mac any favors. There’s something called memory leaking that can cause your Mac to be sluggish after a while because it takes up resources. Restarting your Mac can help stop memory leakage.

Clean the Hard Drive

After you’ve tried shutting down your Mac and restarting it, you might want to consider cleaning your hard drive. Put down the soap and cloth. All you have to do is use a tool like Magican to expedite the process of cleaning your Mac’s hard drive. If you make it a habit to clean out your hard drive daily or even weekly, it may make occurrences of sluggishness less frequent.

Perform Updates

You know how your computer lets you know when it’s time for an update? Well, don’t ignore it. Again, we don’t really like to take the time to do the things we should do and that includes updating our computers. It’s actually a fairly easy process on your Mac. Simply go to the Mac App Store and search for the latest OS for your Mac. When you update the operating system, it will give your computer the newest available patches and bug fixes which may be the cause of the sluggishness you’re noticing.

Manage your Mac’s Startup

Remember how this article mentioned how it seems to take forever to boot up your Mac sometimes? Well, if you’re literally waiting for several minutes, you might want to tinker around to figure out why. It may be that you have a lot of apps loading up when you login. Some of the programs that are booting up you probably don’t even know about. Cutting these out can help you to free up memory which will, in turn, help your Mac run a little faster.

To check the status of your startup programs on your Mac, go to System Preferences and then Users & Groups. Once you’re there, click your username. Look at the Login Items tab to see the applications that are clogging up the memory of your Mac when you boot up. Deselect the ones you don’t want or need running at startup.

Get Rid of Spyware and Viruses

If you have Spyware or viruses on your Macbook, that could be the reason it is running slowly. Mac has antivirus software installed when you purchase it, but it’s still a good idea to enable Stealth Mode under System Preferences. This can help prevent that annoying spyware from taking hold of your Mac.

Cool your Mac Down

You know how it becomes difficult for you to work in conditions that are really hot? Your Mac is the same way. Make sure your Mac is on an elevated stand or a cooling pad to help keep the air circulating. Soft surfaces can obstruct the flow of air to your Mac, causing it to work more slowly. While you’re keeping it cool, you should also dust the air vents. If your air vents get clogged, it can cause your Mac to slow down as it begins to heat up more than you’d like because the obstruction isn’t letting air through properly.

These are some tips that might help that slower than you’d like Mac to get back to faster speeds. Implement some or all these tips to see if there’s a noticeable difference in the function of your Mac. It’s cheaper to fix your current Mac than replace it.

macbook-migration
MacBook, Macbook, Tutorials

Moving your Content to your New Mac

So you have a new Mac, and you are totally loving it. But with a new Mac comes a completely clean slate. You will not have any of your old files on your new Mac. What can you do? Well, if you have a new Mac and you still want to keep your files from your old Mac, Apple makes it easy for you. You can move your files to your new Mac with Migration Assistant. And with Migration Assistant, you don’t have to move all your files one by one- which is a major pain and time-waster.
Checking Power, Settings, and Software
To start, you will need to check the software, power, and settings. You need to have the same software updates on both Macs so you can initiate the transfer. You will also need to make sure that your old Macbook is using at least OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.8 or something later. You will want to make sure to install any updates necessary for the third-party apps that you’ll be using as well.
Look at the computer name for your old Mac. To do this, navigate to the Apple menu. Select System Preferences and then click on Sharing where you can check the Computer Name field. The next step you’ll need to do is connect both computers to AC power.
Connecting your Computers
If both computers are using macOS Sierra or anything later, you will want to make sure that they are close to each other and both have their Wi-Fi turned on. If either of your Macs are using OS X El Capitan or anything earlier, you need to connect them to the same network by using either Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Another option is to connect them using target disk mode with the correct cable or an adapter. Then, you can start up your older computer using the target disk mode.
Target disk mode is a great way to move files between your computers. You can even use it if you have a display that isn’t working properly. You just need to connect your two computers using either USB-C, Thunderbolt 2, Thunderbolt 3, or FireWire. You can’t use Apple USB-C Charge Cable, USB-A to USB-A cable, or the Mini DisplayPort cable though. You will need to follow the setup instructions to do this, and each set of instructions is different. So, make sure you look up an appropriate tutorial, so you can use the target disk mode option.
Another option is to connect your new Mac to a Time Machine backup from your old Mac.
How to Use Migration Assistant
This part of the migration will require some going back and forth from your old Mac to your new one. From your new Mac, open Migration Assistant. This is located in the Utilities folder in your Apps folder. Click continue, and once you are asked how you want to transfer your info, choose transfer to Mac, startup disk, or Time Machine backup and click continue.
From your old Mac, open Migration Assistant and click continue. You will be asked how you would like to transfer your information. Choose the option that says transfer to another Mac and click continue.
Go back to the new Mac again. When you are asked to select a Mac, startup disk, or Time Machine backup, choose the one applicable to you. Choose the button that says continue. It might ask you for your security code.
From your old Mac, you are looking for a security code that’s the same as the one on your new Mac. Select continue.
On your new Mac, there should be a list of backups that are organized by the date and time. Simply look for the one that you want to use and select continue.
Now, going back to your new Mac, you will need to select the information you want to transfer. Click Continue to start the transfer process. If you have quite a bit of content to transfer, it might take up to several hours before the transfer process is complete.
When the Migration Assistant is finished, you should be able to login to your new Mac and see the files you transferred. You will now have access to your files that you had created on your old Mac.

How to Use Safari on Mac pt.2
Macbook

How to Use Safari on Mac pt.2

So you have your Mac, but you need help learning how to use it to do some of the things that you want to do on Safari. Well, read on. This article will tell you how to use your Mac to do all kinds of interesting things on your Mac using Safari.

How to enable Private Browsing

When you are using Safari, you might want to use a private browser so it doesn’t keep track of all the websites you visit. This is handy if you are filling out payment information using your credit or debit cards. Or if you just don’t want your websites tracked. No judgement here. Here’s how to do that.

Launch Safari as usual. When it comes up, click file which is located on the menu bar on the top left side of the screen. There will be an option to click New Private Window. A shorter way of doing this is to just click command-N on your keyboard.

How to add extensions to Safari

Browser extensions can now be added to your Safari browser. They are plug-ins that can be used to add new functionality to your personal Safari browser. Some of them are free, and some of them you have to pay for. They serve a variety of purposes including entertainment, security, news, and more. Here are the steps to add extensions to your browser.

Start by opening up your Safari browser. At the top left side of the browser, click on Safari and then Safari Extensions. Look for the extensions you want to install on your Safari browser. When you have selected all the ones you want to try, click Install Now. Many extensions will have buttons beside the address bar so all you have to do is click them to access them.


How to enable/disable installed Safari extensions

Start by opening up your Safari browser and click Safari on the menu bar. Then, click on Preferences. Next, click the Extensions tab. There will be extensions listed, and you can just select the extensions you want to enable or disable. You can also click on Uninstall after you have selected an extension.


How to pin tabs

Pinning tabs is like adding sites to your favorites if you want to access them again. If you pin a tab, you can access a site with just one click. To pin a tab, start by launching your Safari browser and click view. Click on Show Tab and then go to the website that you want to pin. Click and hold the tab and drag it all the way to the left side. It will now show up as a little site logo or it might show the first letter of the title of the site. When you want to get rid of your pinned tabs, all you have to do is drag them to the right.


How to set the homepage

It’s easy to set the homepage to whatever site is your favorite. Just launch Safari and click Safari on the menu bar. Click on Preferences and enter a website next to Homepage. Or, you can click Set to Current Page if you are on a page you want to be your homepage. Click the dropdown menu beside New Windows Open With and select Homepage if you would like your new windows to open to the homepage you’ve selected.


How to share websites

From an opened Safari browser, go to the website you want to share and click the Share Sheet button located on the top right of the window. You can then select the method you would like to use to share.

How to use Reader View

Reader view lets you pull up a web page in a version that makes it possible to read the words and see images without a lot of distractions like images or animations. Not every web page will support Reader View, but if they do, here’s how to access it. From an opened Safari browser at a web page that you want to use the Reader view on, simply click on Reader View. That’s it!

These are just a few of the ways to make Safari easier to use. You will find that Safari will be your favorite browser to use in no time!

Macbook

How to Use Safari on Mac pt.1

Are you looking for a guide on how to get starting using Safari on your Mac? Well, you’ve come to the right place. This article gives you some tips for starting your adventure into the world of the Internet using your Mac’s Safari browser.
How to visit a website
One of the most basic things you will want to know about running Safari is how to visit a website. If you already know a web address you want to go to, simply launch Safari from the Dock or use the Finder. Click on the address bar at the very top of the window and enter the address for the website you want to go to. Click return to go to the website. It’s that simple.

How to search with the address bar
So, we’ve already learned how to visit a website using the address bar, but the address bar can also be used to search Google. To do this, first launch your Safari browser using the Dock or Finder and click on the address bar. You can use any kind of search query you want, and hit return. Safari will pull up all of the results that Google has listed and you can click on the listing you want to navigate to.

How to bookmark a website
You know when you find a website that is one you want to keep track of for future reference and you want to make a bookmark of it? That’s pretty simple to do in the Safari browser. Just go to the webpage you want to bookmark and press Command-D using your keyboard. You can title your bookmark or leave it as it is. You can also choose to enter a description. When you have your bookmark labeled the way you want, click Add or return using your keyboard. Then, click View on the menu bar located at the top left-hand corner of your screen. Click the button that says, Show Favorites Bar. When you’ve done this, you’ll be able to see the pages you have bookmarked added to your Favorites and will be able to access them with just one click.

How to view all of your bookmarks
It’s easy to view bookmarks you’ve created. On your opened Safari browser, click the Show sidebar button that is located next to the address bar at the top of the page. Click on the bookmarks tab which looks like a book and you’ll see all your bookmarks.

How to remove bookmarks
When you are ready to remove bookmarks you no longer use, click Bookmarks located on the menu bar at the top left-hand corner of your screen. Then, click on Edit Bookmarks. Select the arrow that’s next to Favorites because that’s where your bookmarks go by default. You can either right click or select control and click on any bookmarks you want to remove from your list. You have to make sure to then click delete to remove the bookmarks from your favorites list.

How to add a web page to your reading list
Adding a webpage to your reading list lets you save a site that you want to read later. This is a pretty neat feature because you can later read these websites even if you don’t have a connection to the Internet. To access this feature, launch your Safari browser. Go to the website you want to add to your reading list. Press shift-command-D on your keyboard and the website will be added to your reading list.

How to view your reading list
Now that you’ve added a website to your reading list, you will want to access it to read it. Launch your Safari browser and click the Show sidebar button that’s located beside the address bar. Click on the reading list tab that looks like a pair of glasses. There you will see all the websites you’ve added to your reading list.

How to remove items from your reading list
Once you’re done with the items on your reading list, you can simply remove them. You will need to launch the Safari browser and click on Show sidebar. This is located next to the address bar. Click on the reading list tab that looks like a pair of glasses. Right click or control and click the item you want to take off your reading list. Click Remove Item and you’re all done.
These tips should be great to get you going on your journey to explore Safari!

13 Keyboard Shortcuts for Mac Users
Macbook, Tutorials

13 Keyboard Shortcuts for Mac Users

Do you consider yourself to be a Mac enthusiast? If you want to know the great shortcuts out there for your keyboard, then you have come to the right place. Everyone knows about Command-C and Command-V, right? Well, this article is all about those other shortcuts for your iMacs, MacBook laptops, and MacBook Pros. So, you definitely want to keep reading because you’re bound to find a shortcut you don’t know about.

Command-C and Command-V
Starting at the basic level, Command-C is the shortcut for copying. Command-V is the shortcut for paste. These two shortcuts alone can make your time on your Mac easier.

Command- W
Want to quickly close the window you are actively using? Command-W is the shortcut for that. You can use Option-Command-W to close all active app windows at the same time. Make sure you don’t get these shortcuts mixed up or you might really make a mistake that you won’t be happy about.

Command- L
This shortcut is the fastest way to do a search. You can also navigate to the Web using Safari. When you select Command-L, the address bar will come up. You can type your query into the bar and use up and down arrows on the keyboard.

Command- M
Command- M can be used to minimize the window of the front app. You can press Command-Option-M to quickly minimize all the windows that belong to the front app.

Command-Shift-A
This option will allow you to quickly access your Applications folder. Alternately, you can use Command-Shift-U to access your Utilities folder.

Command and left or right arrows
You can hit command and your left arrow key to go back in your browser window. If you hit command and the right arrow key, you’ll go forward again. Go ahead, try it. Well, maybe you should wait until you finish this article first.

Command and Option
When you can’t see all the open applications on your desktop, simply click Command and Option at the same time while clicking anywhere on your Mac’s desktop. You might want to go to all the open windows for a specified app, so you can hold down the same keys and click on any window that’s available for that specific app.

Command-Shift-]
When you want to navigate between your open tabs, click the Command-Shift-] or Command-Shift-[ characters. If you want to see all the tabs that you have open in one Safari window, click Command-Shift-\

Double tap Function Key
When you double tap the function key (fn), it will launch Dictation on your Mac and you can start speaking to control your Mac. Once you’re finished talking, click fn again.

Option-File
To use this function, you must be in Safari. From Safari, press the Option key while you’re also selecting File menu. This will let you access your “Close all other Tabs” command. Try some of the other Safari menu items to find other commands you probably don’t know about.

Option-Shift-Volume
When you want to turn the volume up or down, use the Option-Shift key along with volume up or down to change the volume on your Mac. You can also use the Option-Shift keys to change the display brightness of the screen.

Command-Comma
This command is useful if you want to open an application’s preferences while you’re working in it. Click on Command-, (the comma key), and it will give you access to the preferences in lightning speed.

Command + Shift + T
Command + Shift + T will open the last tab that you closed. This is helpful if you have perhaps closed a tab on accident and want to get it back.

I’m sure you will find some, if not all, of these shortcuts useful when using your Mac. There are other shortcuts out there too, but those are for another article.

How to Optimize your Mac’s Battery Life
Macbook, Tutorials

How to Optimize your Mac’s Battery Life

When you have a MacBook, you want it to be able to last as long as possible on a single charge. No one has time to stop what they’re doing to charge their Mac. And no one wants to be tethered to the wall to make sure their computer keeps a charge for as long as it’s going to be needed. And no one wants their device to simply die in the middle of an important project. It always makes your heart skip a beat wondering if you’ve saved your work or not and no one needs that kind of stress. Let’s look at a few ways you can make your Mac work for you as long as possible without having to charge it.

Adjust your keyboard and display brightness

Adjust your keyboard and display brightness macbook

One simple way to help extend your battery life is to adjust the brightness of your keyboard and screen. Your Mac has some settings already built in to help conserve battery power. To access these settings, go to the Apple menu and click System Preferences. Select Keyboard and then select “Adjust keyboard brightness in low light”. When you do this, your keyboard’s backlight will automatically brighten or dim. You can also choose to allow your keyboard’s backlight to go off completely after a certain amount of inactivity. Once you start using your Mac again, the backlight will come back on but there’s no reason to keep the backlight on if you’re not using it. An alternate way to adjust your keyboard’s brightness is to set it as low as you’d like with the F5 and F6 key.

You should also consider adjusting the brightness of your display, as this has a huge effect on the battery life of your Mac. Adjusting your display to a lower setting can help to conserve the battery life of your MacBook. To access these settings, go to the Apple menu and choose System Preferences. After that, click on Displays. Next, choose “Automatically adjust brightness” to give your display the ability to dim or brighten depending on the level of light in your surroundings.

Another option is to use the battery status menu to reduce the level of brightness to 75%. To access this option, go to the battery status menu. Choose the “Using Significant Energy” section. Select Display Brightness. If you want to manually adjust the brightness of your screen’s display, use the F1 and F2 keys to brighten or dim your screen’s display.

Graphics performance and its impact on battery life

Graphics have a role in the length of battery life for your MacBook. The MacBook Pro 15-inch and 17-inch usually have two graphics processors, also known as GPUs. They are identified as a discrete GPU and an integrated GPU. The discrete GPU is behind the amazing performance of a Mac, but it does drain battery life substantially. The integrated GPU allows your Mac to have optimized battery life, but it won’t have the same performance of the discrete GPU in most cases. You should use the integrated GPU for optimal battery life for your Mac.

To adjust the graphics performance, you can select “Better battery life” or “Higher performance” in the Energy Saver system preference panel. You would likely want to use “Better battery life” when there are not any graphic heavy applications in use. You can select “Higher performance” if you’re playing a game or doing another task that you’d want better graphics for. Note that when you make changes to the graphics preferences, you will have to log out for the new settings to take effect.

Energy Saver System Preferences

energy-saver macbook

You can use the Energy Saver pane in your System Preferences to find options that will help to improve the battery life of your Mac when it’s just sitting idle. For one thing, you can set your display to sleep while your Mac’s not being used. This will turn off the backlight and help to improve the battery life significantly. Another option is to unselect “Enable Power Nap while on battery power”.

 

If you have a 2016 MacBook Pro, you can unplug your computer from the power source. If you have the “Slightly dim the display while on batter power” option enabled, your screen will dim and cause your battery’s power to drain less quickly. Not all features are available on all MacBooks. For example, PowerNap and graphic switching aren’t available on all macOS and notebooks.


Disabling features and technologies that use power

Yet another solution to keeping your battery power in check is to disable features that use a lot of power. Because of the integrated technologies that MacBooks use, there may be times when the battery is drained. There are, however, some features you can turn off to keep your battery power longer.

Are you using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth? If not, you can disable AirPort or Bluetooth from System Preferences. Simply go to the menu bar icons of each item under System Preferences and deactivate them separately. This will help to cut back on power usage.

Another way to save power is to disconnect items that are not in use. External USB, FireWire, and Expresscard devices can drain your battery if left attached to your Mac. Other devices that might drain your MacBook’s power are Thunderbolt and SD cards. For optimal battery performance in your MacBook, disconnect these devices when they are not being used. You can always reconnect them when you need them again, but disconnecting them when they are not being used will save battery power.

If you have anything that you are not using in your SuperDrive, take it out. This includes DVDs that you were watching as well as any CDs you were listening to. If these items are left in SuperDrive while you’re not using it, the drive will spin every now and then which is a waste of energy and battery power.

If you have tried all the above options and still find that your battery power is not lasting as long as it used to, you might consider doing a troubleshoot to find the issues. Your Mac has built-in diagnostics especially for this purpose.

The Must-have Apps You Should Have on Your New MacBook
Macbook, Tutorials

The Must-have Apps You Should Have on Your New MacBook

Everyone knows that the MacBook is an amazing computer to own all on its own, but when it comes to MacBooks, half the fun of owning them is apps. Apps can transform your MacBook from a work machine to one that is purely for fun and entertainment. If you don’t want to miss out on the amazing apps that are out there in Apple Land, read on. I’m about to fill you in on the latest apps you won’t want to miss out on based on customer votes. Here they are in no special order.

Pixelmator

The Pixelmator app is full of great features for editing images for the Mac. You can use it to touch up your images and make your sketches and images even better. It’s full of innovations that make it easy to make your digital images look better than ever before.

Google Chrome

Yes, you need Google Chrome! Google Chrome makes it easy for you to keep up with your web history across all your Apple devices. You can browse on your MacBook and your iPhone and use a shared history, which makes it easy to pick up right where you left off even on a different device.

Adium

Adium is an app that you can use for instant messaging on your MacBook. It is an open source app that can support a variety of different services such as Google Chat, AIM, MSN, and Facebook, just to name a few.

Evernote

Evernote is on handy app for taking all the notes you need. It helps you stay organized in your home and work life and you can download it for FREE in the App store.

Things

Things is an award-winning app that can help you reach your goals all on your MacBook. It has been completely re-thought to offer both power and simplicity. It is one of the top to-do apps for those who benefit from creating to-do lists.

Perian

Perian is an app that you can download from the Apple store for your MacBook that can be used for media. It makes it easier to view your media files and supports a wide variety of different types of media files. The best thing about this app is it is safe and free to download.

Skype

Skype is an app that is used for communication. When you install the Skype app you can make free Skype to Skype calls. Skype allows voice calls, video calls, and messaging. This app makes it easy to stay in touch with your contacts no matter where they are in the world.

iStats Menus

The iStats Menus is designed to make it easy to keep your Mac’s stats inside of the Notification center. This app lets you monitor all the vital processes going on with your MacBook right from the menu bar. You can keep your eye on all the things you want to know about your Mac in one easy place.

1Password

If you are like most people, you have so many passwords to keep up with that it seems almost impossible. Because it’s not secure to use the same password across all of your accounts for obvious reasons, most people have ten or more passwords they have to keep straight. This app makes it easy for you to store your password in a secure place that you can have access to. They are stored safely and securely using a password that only you know.

VLC

Do you play media on your MacBook? If so, you might want to consider downloading the VLC Media Player. It’s a free app that offers a powerful yet efficient way to play different kinds of media.

Transmission

This is an app that might not be one that everyone benefits from, but it is a good BitTorrent client. It uses less resources than other clients.

TextMate for Mac

TextMate is an app that is a super versatile plain text editor. It won an Apple Design Award in August, 2006 by bringing Apple’s approach to its operating systems to the world of text editing.

Growl

The Growl app is one that can be useful for displaying notifications. If you want to know what’s happening with your other apps while you are multitasking, this app has you covered. If applications support Growl, it can send notifications.

OmniGraffle

Do you need an app to make it easy to create beautiful graphics? OmniGraffle might be just what you are looking for. You can try this product for free for two weeks to see if it serves your needs, but Apple fans seem to think it’s pretty great already.

Dropbox

Dropbox is an app you can use to store uploaded files so you don’t have to use up space on your Mac. You can also use Dropbox to share files with other people or to access files on a different device.

Coda

Do you need a web design suite that is not stuffy and full of things you don’t need? Coda might be just what you’re looking for. It is a one-window Web design app with just what you need. It’s a powerful text editor that includes Panic Sync for FREE.

Virtual Machine (VMware Fusion)

You can actually run Windows within OS. With VMware Fusion, you will access a virtual environment to do so. It’s a pretty neat prospect for Mac users who enjoy using Windows.

Quicksilver

This is an app that offers productivity for Mac. You can save yourself some time and be more productive using this app on your MacBook. It allows you to launch applications using keyboard shortcuts. It can study your habits and help you to be more productive and achieve better control.

These are just some of the apps that Apple fans suggest for other Apple users. There are many more that offer helpful tools that may benefit you, so you might consider doing some research to find apps specific to your unique needs.

Macbook, Tutorials

How to Add Files to iCloud Drive

If you have a Mac Desktop, you should upload your documents to iCloud. Why would you want to do this? Well, if something were to happen to your Mac, you would want your files and documents safely uploaded into iCloud so you can continue to have access to them. Read on to find out how easy it is to have peace of mind with your documents and files, because you should never have to worry about your precious files.

Getting Started

Before you start, you want to make sure your Mac is up to date with the latest operating system: macOS Sierra. Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad should be updated to iOS 10. You also need to be signed into iCloud from all your devices. After this is done, simply turn on iCloud Drive.

Turning on Desktop and Documents

The next step is to turn on Desktop and Documents on every Mac that you are going to use the iCloud Drive on. Go to the Apple menu and then click on System Preferences and iCloud. You need to make sure that iCloud is on before you can continue. Once iCloud Drive is on, click on Options. Next, select Desktop & Documents Folders. Finally, click Done.

You will notice that in Finder, the Desktop and Documents folder will move from Favorites and go into the iCloud section of the sidebar. If you add another Mac Desktop you’ll also find those files in the iCloud Drive folder. This folder will have the same name as your second desktop so you can easily access your files without having to search extensively.

Accessing your Desktop and Documents Files on a Different Device

Now that you have your files uploaded to the iCloud, it’s easy to access them from any other Apple device. You simply log into iCloud Drive from your other device to access your files. You’ll have access to all your documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.

Accessing Files on Your Mac

You can easily consolidate folders from several different Macs when you turn on Desktop and Documents. When you turn on Desktop and Documents on your second Mac, you will notice that there are files in folders with the same name as your second Mac. It’s up to you if you want to combine them. Apple doesn’t automatically merge them for you. Any changes you choose to make on those files are stored securely in the iCloud Drive.

Using iCloud.com

You can go to iCloud.com to gain access to your Desktop and Documents folder from any computer browser. The files you have uploaded will be organized and easy to find, so you can choose to download them directly form iCloud Drive if you wish.

Apple makes it so easy for you to store your files and have access to them across devices. While it is an extra step to turn this feature on, once you do you don’t have to worry about anything happening to your files ever again.

setting up new macbook
Macbook

How to Set up a New MacBook

It’s an exciting time when you get a new MacBook. When you turn it on for the first time, you will have to set it up. Here are a few tips to follow when you get a new MacBook.

set up your mac

Get Online
Unless you don’t plan on going on the Internet at all, it’s probably a good idea to set up your WiFi when you get a Mac. Plan on doing this at a place that has Wi-Fi, whether that will be at home, your job, or another place you frequent. Wherever you are, it’s important that you have the Wi-Fi password ready for you as you will be prompted to enter it to get online.

Attach only Necessary Devices
There are many devices you may want to eventually use for your MacBook, but you don’t have to put them all in right away. If you are going to use an external keyboard and trackpad, you can go ahead and plug them in. If you are also using a mouse, you can attach that as well. Lastly, if you have an external display, you can plug it in and turn it on. Then, you can plug in your Mac to the power source.

Power on
After you have your Wi-Fi password ready and you have attached the devices you want to use, it’s time to turn on your Mac. Some Macs will automatically boot up once your computer is connected to power, while others may power up once you open the lid. If neither of these happens with your Mac, click the power button.

Use the Built-in Setup Assistant
One of the best things about Mac is that Apple makes it so easy to get set-up and going. When you power on your MacBook for the first time, you will answer setup questions to help you get started. You will need to know your Apple ID, which is the same ID you already use on your iPhone and/or iPad.
It’s probably a good idea for you to allow the setup assistant to turn on iCloud Keychain, FileVault, and Find My Mac. It can also transfer info from another computer to your new one.
You will also need to create a username and password. This information will be used when logging into your Mac as well as when you make certain changes like installing software or adjusting certain settings.

Check for Updates
Once the setup assistant has completed setting up your new Mac, you will want to look for any updates. To find this feature, go to the App Store, and then select “find and install any software updates.” Once you have updated your software to the latest version, you are free to connect your printer or any other devices you would like.
Apple has made it super easy to get your computer up and working for you just about as soon as you turn it on. If you take a few minutes to follow these steps at the beginning, you won’t need to worry about doing it later. Enjoy using your new MacBook!