Tag Archives: macbook

unlock mac
Macbook, Tutorials

Unlocking your Mac with your iPhone or Apple Watch

Apple is very safety and security conscious. That’s why you have to use a login password to unlock your Mac before you can use it. That’s a great feature because it means random people can’t access your stuff. However, it can sometimes be a minor annoyance to put in the password. Isn’t there another way? I’m glad you asked. Because we are going to look at how you can use your Apple Watch or your iPhone to unlock your Mac.

Everyone knows all the neat things you can do with Apple Watch that make it useful. You can use your Apple Watch to keep track of your vital signs and alert you to changes. It can be a high-priced pedometer and heart rate monitor. It can be used for checking and responding to messages. And, of course, it tells time. A feature that might be especially useful for those of us who like using as little energy as possible, is for logging in to your Mac with a single touch.

It’s so simple to login to your Mac with your Apple Watch. All you have to do is tap unlock on your Apple Watch, and your Mac is ready to go. You do have to be within range to do this. And you do have to wake up your Mac if it’s fully asleep. If you are out of range, you won’t be able to send unlock your Mac and you will either need to get closer to it or get up and walk over to it and type in your password like you’d normally have to do.

Steps to unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch

To unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch, you need the MacID app for iOS and the counterpart to that app for your Mac. You can use this on multiple Macs that you own. Here’s the rundown on how to unlock your Mac.

The first step to unlocking your Mac with your iPhone is to download and install MacID on your Macs. Once you have downloaded this program and have installed it and opened it, you simply launch it and follow the instructions you’re given. You will have to enter your password when you set your Mac up initially, but you won’t have to do this again unless you change your Mac’s password.

To use your iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock your Mac, wake your Mac. When you do this, your Apple Watch or iPhone will ask if you want to unlock the Mac using a tapping feeling on your wrist.

You can also lock your Mac remotely. You simply launch the MacID app using your iPhone or Apple Watch. Choose the Mac and the option you want. One really neat thing is that you can wake your Mac and unlock it as long as it’s not fully asleep and it’s not closed.

What are some reasons you might want to unlock your Mac remotely? Well, one reason is that you might want to play your iTunes from your Apple Watch. Another reason is so you can ping clipboard contents and move them from one of your devices to another.

Other uses for MacID

Since you have MacID anyway, you might as well use it to support URL schemes. Use it with Launch Center Pro to create some quick actions (shortcuts) like using it to unlock or wake your Mac right away.

Launch Center pro is an app used to help support productivity. You would use it to make some quick shortcuts in your iPhone. You can quickly and easily setup this app and use it to send emails, send a tweet, go to your favorite website, and much more.

If you don’t use Mac ID, there are other options for unlocking a Mac with an iPhone or Apple Watch. MacID is arguably the most reliable and versatile. And it’s so easy that nearly anyone can use it.

 

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.