Mac Geek Gab — Apple Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting

Have a webpage you use all the time? Why not make that its own, separate app? Need to create Symbolic Links (symlinks) but don’t want to use the Terminal? How about if you want to get an equipment warranty for that new Synology NAS you just bought? That’s just a sampling of the things you’ll learn in the first segment of this week’s episode. There’s more, folks. Lots more! Press play and enjoy!

Manage your 3rd-party external “Retina” display, use custom icons for each mounted volume, use private browsing to keep your various Google accounts from conflicting, and move your Dock to make better use of your screen real estate. Folks, that’s just the tips section of this week’s episode. Listen for much, much more!

Ever get the spinning beach ball at the top of your screen? John and Dave can help with that. After all, they come together each week to solve your Mac questions and problems. Other topics include selecting your sending address from Mail, controlling when iCloud Photos get sent to the cloud, deleting stubborn files, and more!

Spring is almost here for the northern hemisphere, and that means it’s almost lightning season. It’s time to talk UPSs and battery backups. Listen as John and Dave talk through all the permutations you’ll need to know to choose the right UPS for your setup. On top of that, a few things in Cool Stuff Found, solving mailbox syncing problems, and a deep discussion about how to rip movies and then to...

Inexpensive quasi-mesh Wi-Fi, cloud management for your videos, changing your Finder icons and upgrading your Mac’s Wi-Fi to the latest standards are just how this show starts out! From there it’s on to answering your questions about monitoring iOS data usage, looking at PDF data – all of it! – and then your geeks dive into the Wi-Fi danger conspiracy! We promise you’ll learn at least four new thi...

A little iOS Geek Gab segment starts the show, discussing batteries – both internal and out – as well as screen protection. Your geeks share their picks and, more importantly, how they pick. Then it’s on to some great tips from both your two favorite geeks and you, including managing RAM, converting Numbers to Excel (without Numbers!), upgrading your Mac mini and more. Press play and enjoy!

Cool Stuff Found kicks off this week’s show, with email clients, Wi-Fi Widget(s), combo iPhone/Watch chargers, disk utilities and much, much more. Then, after a few additional tips from you, dear listeners, it’s time for your questions. Topics this week include comparing local vs. Cloud storage for things like your music, videos and documents; memory interleaving and when to use it; solving corrup...

Have a website with multiple passwords and Safari always chooses the wrong one? Want a shopping list app to manage as a family? Photos showing greyed-out people? That’s just how this week’s Mac Geek Gab starts, folks. Then it’s on to Dave’s review of the new Synology RT2600ac standalone router, plus some related router questions for good measure. That’s not where it ends, though, because there are...

Cool Stuff Found today contains lots of things you suggested after listening to recent shows, including tools to help your Mac sleep, help you manage your keyboard shortcuts and macros, privately sync your notes, auto-file your Mail, and free backup storage! Then its on to sharing your tips and answering your questions. Want to learn how to factory reset your AirPods, enable band-steering on your...

Migrating Photos to a new Mac, managing and syncing your family’s photos, speeding up iOS Spotlight searches, fixing an unresponsive Digital Crown on your Apple Watch and resolving website loading delays are just some of the things you’ll learn from your two favorite geeks in this week’s show! Listen as Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun answer your questions and solve your problems.

Back from CES, your two favorite geeks have some fun stuff to report about and all of your questions to answer. The latter include things like fixing Mail.app’s CPU-hogging, which hibernatemode to use for your MacBook, and much, much more. Press play and enjoy!

Need to use Mini DisplayPort monitor with your USB-C Mac? Need to make screen recordings? Need a Dropbox replacement? Your two favorite geeks have you covered with these questions and others. Cool Stuff Found segment includes a way to control your reboot sounds, your clipboard, and your unwanted robocalls. Plus, another AirPods alternative. Download and enjoy!

Everyone got AirPods except you? No worries, Dave and John have you covered with some AirPods alternatives. Otherwise it’s listener questions dominate the show, as usual, with topics ranging from where to store your iTunes Media, network topology, replacements for Dropbox’s missing Public folder and much more. Download today and enjoy!

It’s true, John and Dave – and you, fellow listeners – have gone acronym crazy! BYOD is discussed, as is TOR browser on iOS and elsewhere. RAM performance under Sierra makes an appearance as do a TON of tips, especially one for speeding up Safari on slower Macs. VPN makes an appearance in this acronym show (as it should!), and then we have some gift guide suggestions from your fellow listeners. Pr...

Filing Mail, RAM suggestions, DOCSIS 3.1 and accessing your data from The Dark Side are just some of the topics of questions answered by John and Dave this week. Then it’s on to a follow-up from the router show with a sandwich of geeky holiday gift suggestions from your two favorite geeks!

Quick tips to start: copying mail (instead of moving it), editing your default Touch Bar, a new way to create pinned tabs in Safari, ejecting an external Blu-ray, and disabling notifications. After that it’s time to answer your questions about secure email, SSD upgrades, keychain errors, portable audio recording setups and much more. Press play and enjoy!

This week we answer all your questions and queries about which router you should buy and how to go about deciding this for yourself. Standalone vs. mesh, eero vs. Orbi, 2×2 vs 4×4, we cover it all. After listening to this episode you’ll have both the information and even some deals to be able to make your choice and know you’ve got the right Wi-Fi for your home.

Your questions answered, including those about Sierra’s keyboard viewer, recommended OS and RAM configurations for older (and newer!) Macs, Stopping apps from launching on login, finding photos on your iPhone, Bluetooth interference and more. Then it’s Cool Stuff Found and some tips. How can you go wrong? By NOT downloading this episode.

We asked, you shared your top Mac apps, we share them back! Some great additions in the list here, too. Some mutual favorites and some surprises. Listen to hear if yours made the list! Then it’s on to discussion about trackpad scrolling, iOS Mail swiping, ripping movies (with subtitles!) and more. Download, listen and… enjoy!

This episode is all about geeks helping other geeks. First it’s tips from you helping us and other listeners, including a way to bypass macOS Sierra’s network-mounting password dialog! Then we help you with importing just your Health data, musicians using an iPad at gigs, migrating data from one iPhone to another with an older Mac, managing different photo clouds and much more. Join us by download...

Considering migrating to a new Mac? How about thinking of a new Cable Modem? What about managing Wi-Fi speeds with lots of Apple devices which share their Wi-Fi networks via iCloud? Your fellow MGG listeners had those questions until they asked here and your two favorite geeks answered! Listen to John and Dave discuss all of this and more, including sharing some tips from you, too!

Cool Stuff Found includes how to keep Safari from opening iTunes automatically, a new USB circuit tester, bluetooth stereo speaker, a better way to backup your iPhone and more. Then it’s on to your questions, including a segment on managing your iPhone from the new Console app in macOS Sierra. Plus, your two favorite geeks talk through this week’s DNS outage and how they got around it. Download to...

Did you know that Safari can auto-close a newly-launched tab when you’re finished reading it? That’s just one of the things you’ll learn in today’s MGG. Dropbox’s accessibility hacks, editing EXIF on iOS, the security of hidden Wi-Fi networks, enabling Universal Clipboard, and managing macOS Sierra’s multiple monitors are more. Plus, have you ever wanted to know the origins of the word, ‘kludge”?...

Quick Tips start this episode, including topics like macOS Sierra’s picture-in-picture videos, auto-logout, Sierra upgrade hints, macerror, cleaning up your Keychain, printing to PDF on any iOS 10 device, Apple Watch battery life and more. Then it’s on to questions about macOS Sierra’s network login changes, running a mixed macOS and OS X household and, finally, a discussion about lightning strike...

Faster chargers, ODB2 dongles, Mac vs. Windows File Paths, MacBook Pro specs, Dropbox, macOS Sierra and the Spotlight Clone Wars are all topics discussed in today’s Mac Geek Gab. In fact, they’re not just topics, they’re your questions answered! Plus, Dave and John go on a good photoanalysisd rant for good measure!