OS X Basics

Source: www.lewebinformatique.fr

I am sometimes asked to give some basic help with Mac computers and I've come up with this short list of items that may help some be a little more familiar with their computer.  This is by no means a know all, tell all post or comprehensive list of all features or even highly detailed explanation of the topics covered but will provided a little "oh ok" moments.


System Preferences

System Preferences is where you go to adjust user and system settings, it is somewhat similar to the Windows control panel.  System Preferences is divided into four or five separate rows, each row is a different category.

Source: www.macworld.co.uk

The first row are preferences that usually affect settings for the active user signed in.  Here you can adjust settings for the screensaver, language, security, notifications, etc.

The second row are hardware settings.  Here you can adjust display settings, energy settings, install or remove a printer, etc.  Since these settings affect every user it requires an administrator password to make changes.

On the third row are preferences used to configure various network and internet services and settings.  The settings here affect either just the active user such as iCloud and Internet Accounts or all users such as network and sharing which require ad administrator password to make changes.

The fourth row settings are system wide settings and will require an administrator password, here you can add or delete other users for the computer, change the date/time settings and enable or disable accessibility options.

On a few occasions there may be a fifth row of settings.  These are preferences provided by third-party developers for their specific apps, such as Flip4Mac or Adobe Flash.

If you need help trying to figure where something might by, there is a search bar in the upper right corner of the System Preferences box where you can type a basic idea of what you want and by entering text in this field will automatically highlight possible preferences you are looking for.

On some screens you will notice a pad lock in the lower left.  When it is 'locked' it means no changes can be made.  To 'unlock' it and make changes, click on it and enter the administrator password when prompted.  Some settings remain locked even when signed into the computer with an administrator account.  It helps prevent accidental modifications to the computer or program(s).


System Information

Source: support.apple.com

If you need to know some information about you computer, the system information box will show you.  Click the Apple logo in the upper left corner of your screen, and then select About This Mac.  The version number, processor information, and amount of memory is shown on this screen.  You can click on the version number multiple times to view the system build number and the hardware serial number.  Clicking on the More Info button, reveals even more info!

On this screen, you can see four tabs at the top of the dialog box: overview, display, storage, and memory.  Each of these tabs shows some more detailed information just on that selection.  Clicking the System Report button, produces a report of critical system details.  You can export this information for printing or later viewing by choosing File from the top menu bar then Export As Text from the menu bar.


User Accounts

There are a few different user accounts in OS X: standard, administrative, guest, sharing-only, and the root account.  The standard account is what Apple suggests most people should use for the daily use of their computer because this account is not allowed to make changes to system-wide preferences, system files, or anything which might affect another user's account.  OS X Mavericks brought an exception to the rule of allowing installing and updating items from the Mac App Store and for doing system updates.  As a parent with children, you can enable Parental Controls to restrict usage the Mac App Store and updates.

Administrative accounts are similar to the standard user, only they are part of the admin group and are allowed full access to almost all applications, preferences and system files.  Administrative accounts can install and run any program as long as they authenticate when the installer asks for authorization.

Guest accounts are disabled by default but can be enabled to allow non-authenticated file sharing access or local login access.  Anyone with access to the computer can use it to log in.  When the user logs out, the home folder is removed including any web browsing history.  Each time the guest user is logged in, a whole new home folder is created.  If you use the Find My Mac feature, it will enable the guest account since OS X uses login accounts it will allow the would-be thief to access the computer and get it online with the hopes that the owner will be able to access Find My Mac to locate it.

Sharing-Only account is a special user account which has access only to shared files and folder, there is no home folder and it cannot log into the computer. And finally, the root account has unlimited access to everything on the computer, it can read, write, delete, modify any setting and install any software.  The default settings for OS X do not allow any user to login as root.


Keychain Access

Keychain Access is where OS X keeps all your passwords, certificates, keys, website forms and secure notes in encrypted storage.  Every time you allow the system to remember a password or any other sensitive item, it saves it to the keychain system.  Only your account password is kept separate from the keychain..


Target Disk Mode

Macs have a unique ability of being able to share its internal disks without having the computer actually signed in.  Because this is something built-in the computers hardware, you can perform this on a Mac with a corrupt OS which won't boot as a means to retrieve data.  You can do this using a thunderbolt or firewire cable, depending on what your computer is equipped with.

To setup Target Disk Mode, connect the cable to the two computer and the Mac you want to copy files to (Mac A) powered on and logged in, press and hold the T key on the other Mac (Mac B) until the screen turns gray with a floating "symbol."  Open Finder on Mac A and under the devices section Mac B should appear as an external drive.  Copy what you need and be sure to eject the Mac B when finished.


Keyboard Shortcuts

One of the many questions I am often asked about are what are the keyboard shortcuts on a Mac.  A few of the most used shortcuts for the Windows user trying to use a Mac are, and as with Windows they work on supported programs:

• Command + X to cut the selected item(s) on screen to the clipboard
• Command + C to copy the selected item(s) on screen to the clipboard
• Command + V to paste the previously selected items from the clipboard to the current application
• Shift + Command + Z is the undo previous action
• Command + A selects all items on screen

There are a couple ways of taking screenshots on a Mac that, in my opinion, is better than Windows.  In Windows to get a screenshot, you basically have to tap the "prt sc" button on your keyboard to take a screenshot and then you have to paste it into another program, like Paint, to save it as a file. OS X steps up a bit and saves the screenshot directly to your desktop as a PNG file!

• Press Command + Shift + 3 to take a screenshot of your entire desktop.  If you have more than one monitor, it will take a screenshot of both monitor displays and saves each monitor display as its own PNG file.
• Command + Shift + 4 + Mouse Selection will take a screenshot of only what you have selected with the mouse.
• Command + Shift + 4 + Spacebar will take a screenshot of just the active window or program you are in.  Hover your mouse over the program windows to highlight it and then click the mouse button.

For a more detailed list of keyboard shortcuts, check out Apple support's list by clicking this link.

How to Lock Down Your Childs Android Tablet

Android's version of Single-App Mode, known as Screen Pinning
(Android 5.0 Lollipop)

By using Screen Pinning, you can lock an app open so your child or any other person cannot exit or change without knowing a PIN number, which you set. 

To enable this feature:

• Open Settings on your tablet
• Open the Security options
• Scroll to the Advanced section and depending on your device choose "Pin windows" or "Screen pinning."
• Tap on the slider in the upper right of the screen to enable the feature.
• Open the app you want to "lock" open for your child to use.
• Tap on the designated button on your tablet that shows all the running/open apps, then slide the current app up until you see the "push pin" icon in the lower left of the screen.
• Tap on the push pin icon.
• A dialog box asking if you want to turn on Pin windows and how to disable it will appear. 
• Choose "No, thanks" to cancel or "Start" to use.

I would recommend enabling a PIN or use Fingerprint access for the ability to disable screen pinning, otherwise it will display on the screen how to get out of it.  If you don't have this option, it is most likely because you don't have a passcode of some sort which unlocks the device when the tablet is powered on or awaken from sleep.


Enable the Guest Account
(Android 5.0 Lollipop)
The guest account is an account that has very limited access and is completely disposable.  Unlike actually setting up another user for the tablet and restricting those settings, the guest account will

• Open Settings on the tablet
• Open the Users option
• Tap on Guest
• The tablet will immediately switch users, your work in progress and activities are not altered by this, process the mini-setup functions, 
• you can either sign-in a Google account when prompted or click Skip.
• type in a user name if you want
• Once the mini-setup is completed, the tablet will load to the home screen.

When you no longer need the Guest account, go back to the Users options in Settings and tap on "Delete guest profile."  This will delete the profile, along with all downloaded applications and data.  Once deleted, the data from the guest profile cannot be recovered.  The tablet will return control back to the primary user account.

Greetings to my blog friends!

Greetings to my blog friends!

As this blog was created to be a part of my renewal process for my CompTIA A+ce certification, I would like to hear from you on some ideas or questions that you have and I'll gather your comments as future blog entries!

Leave your idea or ideas in the comments below or fill out the contact me section on the right! 

Thank you ALL for your support!!
Jim

Need more memory!!!

Adding memory to your computer is one of the easiest things you can do to your computer or laptop that can improve performance.  Some computers (such as netbooks) have integrated memory or built-in memory.  Most of the following describes the steps to take with a Windows-based computer.  iMacs and MacBooks can be upgraded as well following some of the steps below.  Be advised that not all computers have replaceable memory and some computers can only use a certain amount of memory - determining that amount is beyond the scope of this blog due to the wide variety of computers and laptops on the market. 

 First thing you will need to do is find out how much memory is currently in your computer.  Easiest way to find this out is to open the Control Panel and navigate to System.  Once in the System panel, you'll be shown some basic information regarding your computer.  As the example to the right shows, this computer has 6 GB of memory.

Next you need to find out if there are any empty memory slots inside the computer to add more memory to.  If there isn't an empty slot, not too much of a problem you can replace the existing memory with new modules.  This involves opening the case of your computer or a panel on a laptop, a phillips screwdriver is most likely all you need to complete this task.


Look at the existing memory and normally the memory will have a label on it that describes how much memory the module contains and what the speed and type of memory it is.  You can also go to some websites that can help you determine the type of memory is in your computer, one such website is Crucial.com. (You may or may not need to remove one module.)


Once you have identified how much and the type of memory your computer has, you can decide if you are going to add memory to the computer or replace the existing memory.  If your computer has 4GB of memory as one module, then buying another module of the same kind will double your memory!  Or you can replace both modules - really the choice is yours!

Where to buy your memory?  You can purchase the memory at your local computer/electronic store, such as Best Buy or online at Amazon, Newegg, etc.  Do your homework first on prices before purchasing, as you often can find the pricing varies!

HELP! I'm out of storage on my iPad!!

Image source: http://cdn9.howtogeek.com

I am often asked, "my iPad is telling me I am out of free space, what can I do to get more?"  Unlike most Android tablets which have an SD card slot for expanding storage, the iPad does not have one.  Sure you can buy the 5-in-1 camera connection kit but really who wants have a gadget sticking out the bottom of their device?

So what can you do?  To start off, delete apps you no longer use or need.  This is as simple as browsing your home screens, tap and hold on an app until it begins to wiggle and then tap on the x in the corner of the app to remove. 

If, after removing unwanted apps, you still do not have enough free space.  Open SETTINGS > GENERAL > USAGE > MANAGE STORAGE.  This will show a list of items from the largest storage hog to the smallest.  Often I see, as in this example, "Photos & Camera" taking up the most space.  Often several gigs of data is used.

You have a couple options for fixing this!  The first, delete some pictures and videos.  I'd start with videos first, they generally take up more space than pictures do. 

Another option, the solution I use and recommend, is to create a  Dropbox account, download and install the app from either the Google Play store or Apple App store, then enable automatic Camera Uploads in the Dropbox app settings.  I do this on my cell phone and my tablet.  Soon as I take a picture or record a video, it gets uploaded to a "Camera Uploads" folder in Dropbox automatically. 

Image source: Dropbox.com

Don't be too concerned that you start with 2GB of data.  They offer many ways to obtain FREE storage increases and sometimes run 'special' promotions.  For example, in 2012, they would increase your storage by having camera uploads turned on and at the time the more pictures you uploaded within the designated timeframe you would get more storage.  The promotion had a limit of 4.5 GB of storage, which is still a lot of pictures!  By the time the promotion was done, I had increased my storage space to 6.5 GB.  You can also refer friends and when they sign up you earn a bonus 125 MB per friend.  Sometimes the device you use to sync to Dropbox can give you an unexpected bonus.  My Galaxy S Tab when I activated Dropbox on it, gave me a whopping 50 GB of additional storage space!  I currently have 56.5 GB of cloud storage to use in any way I want and didn't have to spend a penny for a premium account.  Of course, you can upgrade to a paid plan and get a whole lot more storage - at the time of this post, you can get 1 TB of storage for under $100 a year.  Another nice benefit of this is you can browse your cloud storage, not just from your phone or tablet but also from any internet connected computer!  This is the solution I suggest and recommend and have been using it since 2011.  As another nice feature, you can also manually move many documents on your device to Dropbox.  Look for the "Open In..." icon to see if your app gives the option to save to another location other than the device.  In cases where there is not, you can always email the file to yourself.  This could be a long process if you have a lot of data to save.  You can even try connecting your iPad to iTunes and see if you can transfer files using it.

Image source: http://travelinlibrarian.info

Google Drive is another cloud storage solution that would also allow you to access your pictures and files from any internet connected computer.  With it, you would enable Backup & Sync from within Google Photos.  I am quite happy with Dropbox, and therefore I have not investigated Google's option thoroughly to be able to praise it enough to truly recommend.  Google Apps, might be a future post one day.

Now for more drastic measures!  If after you have done everything above to free up space and still need more, you could wipe the iPad and start it from fresh!  iOS 9 uses less space than previous versions did, which is good.  So going this direction, delete as many apps as it takes to get enough free space to upgrade.  Then update the iPad by going to SETTINGS > GENERAL > SOFTWARE UPDATE.  Go through the process by following on screen directions, it'll take a little while to download and install so be patient.  Once the iPad has finished the upgrade process, go back to SETTINGS > GENERAL and scroll the right side of the screen down to the bottom and tap on RESET and then select Erase All Content and Settings.  This will erase everything and the iPad will be back at factory settings.  Complete the initial setup of the iPad and sign into the Apple App store and reinstall the apps you want by tapping on the Purchased tab at the bottom and tap on the cloud icon next to the apps.  Don't forget to setup your Dropbox or Google Drive apps from the start so it will backup your data from the beginning!