Mac Geek Gab — Apple Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting

The OS X 10.11.4 update breaks some things for folks, Photos storage is a concern to more than a few listeners, and a little more about wireless networks to round out last week's discussion. All that plus tips about making sure your Finder windows are where you think they are and learning how to use Activity Monitor to see what your apps are doing right now. Download and enjoy!

2016 is the Year of the Router (as crowned by John and Dave), and this week's episode includes some discussion about exactly how to choose the best router for your setup... especially if you're a geek. Bluetooth devices, too, are ubiquitous among us, and a few listeners are having trouble with theirs so John and Dave take to the mailbag to answer those questions, too. Plus, the entire episode begi...

Some great tips to start off here, including learning that cut and paste is possible in Finder. We also learn what Time Machine excludes natively, and what the most and least popular 4-digit PINs are. Plus, Apple had an event earlier today ... Dave and John had an event right after it, Mac Geek Gab 597. Hear what they have to say about Apple's day, too!

What is it you've been saving your fourth finger for? John and Dave share a tip with the answer. Lots of tips today, in fact, including more about pasting plain text, finding SSD firmware updates, a NEW tip for deleting pesky files and much, much more. Download and enjoy!

The apps you choose to run on your MacBook can have a significant impact on your battery life; learn which ones pass John and Dave's muster. Then learn what they have to say about listeners' questions about a dirty Mail sandbox, router recommendations, firewalls and more. Cool Stuff Found starts the episode, too, folks!

Granular volume adjustmets, recovering deleted files from the cloud and advanced dragging from your menu bar are just the three Quick Tips that start this episode! Then it's on to a few Geek Challenges (do YOU know how to strip formatting from text on iOS?) and a few regular questions. MGG always promises to entertain and inform. Do you like either of those things? If so, download and press play!

Unresponsive apps explained, Favorites returned to the sidebar, unrelated startup issues that might just be indicative of a larger problem and, yes folks, migrating and sharing your photos on your Mac. Those are just a taste of the topics touched upon in today's episode, and a few Cool Stuff Found entries are there, too.

iTunes spring cleaning, solving Error -43, revisiting Wi-Fi extensions and monitoring .plist files live as they're being written by apps are just a few of the topics that John and Dave discuss and demystify for you today. Join your two favorite geeks as they wrap up the week with this special Friday episode!

JBOD, Airtime Fairness, Quality of Service (QoS), and RAID are just a few of the mysteries your two favorite geeks help you unravel this week. Add to that some answers about resetting pesky OS X passwords and photo storage plus a few Geek Challenges and a cornucopia of Cool Stuff Found and you've got Mac Geek Gab 591. Enjoy!

QuickTips, including offline dictation on iOS, audio sync with AirPlay and 25 hidden iPhone features. Then your questions are answered, including moving backups from one drive to another, a strangely-starting MacBook, what the best small desktop speakers and what to do with lost+found items. All this and more, just for you!

Cool Stuff Found dominates the start here, including some travel tips, some iOS support tips, sorting out how iOS chooses its WiFi network, headphones for your eyes and one of your geeks' favorite utilities that is now available for El Capitan. Then it's onto diagnosing Safari CPU usage, Mail inconsistencies and more. Don't worry, Dave's headcold only makes him loopy in a good way for this episode...

Dave's back from Mexico and he and John are back at it. Some fantastic quick tips today, including some that your two favorite geeks didn't know about both the Mac and the iPhone. New Mac buying advice is on your minds this week, so that topic is covered too, plus some travel tips from Dave round out the show!

Fresh back from CES, John and Dave share their thoughts and trends about the show. Then it's on to answering your questions with topics including sharing Contacts with iCloud, solving erroneous Safari suggestions, the efficacy of smart chargers, the future of AirPlay and more! Download today, press play and enjoy (all while learning!).

John and Dave are in Las Vegas together for CES and ... for the first time in a long time ... recorded Mac Geek Gab together in the same room. See just how well that works while they answer your questions, share advice and share some fantastic quick tips. Definitely one for the record books, folks. See what happens in Vegas!

A failed hard drive can teach us some lessons and listener Jon helps us with a few of those. Some tips about printer drivers and the iOS-related lockdown folder follow and then it's time to talk TiVo BOLT. Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun have been long-time TiVo users and TiVo's latest offerings add some new features as well as some confusion your two favorite geeks talk through. Then it's onto Co...

Today's show includes a new segment: Quick Tips! Those simple things that we all do without thinking about it can really help others do the same, so we've started sharing. In addition to that, today's discussion includes Keychain First Aid in 10.11.2, a fix for Office365 locking up Mail.app, upgrade advice, backup solutions and some geeky tips. Definitely enough here to get you through the holiday...

Searching in iPhone Mail, managing Gmail's unable-to-connect errors, DNS configuration, setting up a computer to ignore the Internet (it happens!), virtualization software and audio discussions (including Bluetooth headphone lag on the Mac). Download today and enjoy!

Some notes from Apple techs about iPhone Flat Rate repair and Finder default window positions are shared, then it's on to a quick discussion about why it's good El Capitan doesn't allow you to repair permissions... and when you would need to anyway! Thunderbolt, USB3, Network troubleshooting, external drive backups and Cool Stuff Found round out this week's show!

Restoring lost contacts, signing onto websites with Facebook, cloning drives, troubleshooting external enclosures and learning about the behind-the-scenes of junk mail filtering are just some of the topics discussed by your two favorite geeks today. Download and enjoy!

John and Dave take you through managing your media perfectly for your new - and old - Apple TV, including using a NAS to store it all if you like. Then it's some tips about speeding up Time Machine, speeding up App Store downloads, converting movies and sound issues. Pepper in some additional questions and listener Cool Stuff Found and you've got a full show!

Junk mail management, Bluetooth audio mysteries, calendar searching, portable speaker solutions and some page-in/page-out clarity are just a scant few of the issues discussed by your two favorite geeks today. That, plus some geek-fueled Cool Stuff Found rounds out the episode (next week is your turn, send 'em in!).

Making your new Apple TV work for you, Migrating iPhoto and Photos libraries, crashing Finders, Terminal tips and making sense of your swap space are the questions your two favorite geeks address and answer for you today. On top of that, some listener-submitted Cool Stuff Found rounds out the show!

Surviving Halloween yet again, your two favorite chocolate-fueled geeks set off on yet another episode of helping you solve your problems and learn new stuff! Deleting El Capitan's SystemMigration folder is covered, as is fixing its Wi-Fi. Mystery disk usage is solved, duplicate apps are crushed and Dave is finally able to share his full thoughts on the brand new Sonos PLAY:5. All of this and more...

Is Photos showing you your phone when you don't want it to? How about when Photos doesn't show you your pictures? IMAP Mail giving you trouble? Mailboxes appearing underneath your inbox? It's these questions - and others like them from listeners like you - that John and Dave answer today, helping you understand your Mac and iPhone even better! Plus, they dig into great package managers for OS X, t...

Today your two favorite geeks share their own, personal Cool Stuff Found plus answer your questions about syncing contacts locally vs. iCloud, how to restore preview in Mission Control, software vs. hardware RAID, Nuking and paving your Fonts (without disrupting the rest of your system!) and much, much more!