Tips

Even with robust security software installed on a Mac system and Apple's efforts to prevent unwanted tampering, someone with brief physical access to your Mac can bypass security measures by booting to alternative volumes or loading in Single User mode. If this concerns you, you might consider locking the system's firmware.

Locking the firmware prevents the system from accepting boot arguments and loading in modes that might allow access to sensitive data. These include Single User mode, in which the system drops you to a command line with root privileges, and Safe mode, in which nonessential and third-party … Read more

How can you tweet in iOS 6? Let us count the ways.

The latest version of Apple's mobile OS offers eager tweeters a variety of ways to get their message out. Here's a look at a few different ways to tweet.

The old standby, of course, is to just fire up the official Twitter mobile app or a third-party Twitter client for iOS. From your favorite Twitter app, you can either type your tweet or use your iPhone's built-in voice dictation to speak your tweet.

You can tweet directly from the Notification Center without having to call … Read more

When you open a Web page in Safari, either by clicking a link, opening a bookmark, or performing a Web search, by default the results appear in the current browser window. Also, like most browsers, if you right-click on a link Safari provides a contextual menu where you can choose to open the link in a new tab or window. However, beyond these familiar options, Safari includes others that can be useful on occasion.

Like many programs in OS X, Safari has a number of hidden behaviors that can be invoked by using modifier keys, and a few of these … Read more

While large storage capacities from e-mail providers make the need to manage storage less of an issue these days, there are times when people may still run into storage limits or need to clear out thousands of messages that are cluttering their inboxes. This may be especially true if one's storage plan changes to a smaller level, as is the case with Apple's basic iCloud storage plan for people who transitioned from MobileMe.

If you need to clear out e-mail messages to free up space in your inbox, you can do so manually by first clicking on the … Read more

Judging by the number of e-mails I get on this subject, a lot of folks don't understand the difference between computer and hi-fi speakers. For example, how is an Audioengine A5+ ($399 a pair) functionally different from a PSB Alpha B1 speaker ($300 a pair)?… Read more

Records, aka LPs, have been around since the 1950s, so there are lots of them out there. I've bought great records for a buck or two at thrift shops and yard sales, and found them on the street for free, but records aren't yesterday's news; lots of young bands are releasing LPs. The way things are going, the LP will probably outlast the CD as a mainstream format.

Speaking of yard sales and thrift shops, you can probably find dirt cheap turntables in those places, but the chances of finding a turntable in good working condition there … Read more

All the hullabaloo over the iPhone 5's new dock connector reminds me of a problem I had long before Apple's Lightning struck.

See, my iPhone 4S lives inside a case just bulky enough that it won't fit in most docks. Consequently, I can't easily charge my phone or listen to music via one of the many speaker docks scattered around my house. I'd have to take the iPhone out of the case every time, and that's way too big a hassle.

So, what, am I supposed to switch to a smaller case? Or go … Read more

Apple's Software Update is a convenient and easy way to keep your Mac up-to-date with the latest security fixes and feature enhancements. To make the service user-friendly, it's been available as a simple graphic-based tool in the Apple menu, but in recent versions of OS X Apple has integrated this service with its Mac App Store. Though it's convenient for most people, if you do not wish to open the Mac App Store for managing updates, there's a way you can avoid it.

Unfortunately there is no known way to revert the Software Update service from … Read more

To make sending multiple files by e-mail or other means easier, Apple includes a quick Finder contextual menu option to zip a selection of files and folders into an archive, which not only will ensure that the files stay together, but can also greatly reduce their size for the file transfer. While convenient, Apple does not provide a means to encrypt or secure the contents of the ZIP archive with a password; however, there is a way to do this if needed.

To place a file or folder into a ZIP file that is encrypted, you will need to use … Read more