Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks 002873 http://cdn.softpedia.com/_img/spdfavicon.svg http://cdn.softpedia.com/_img/spdlogo.svg https://news.softpedia.com/ Softpedia en-us 2001-2026 Softpedia. All rights reserved. Tue, 05 May 2026 10:57:41 +0000 Tue, 05 May 2026 10:57:41 +0000 News http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 10 https://cdnssl.softpedia.com/_img/softpedia_logo_rss.png https://news.softpedia.com/ noSoftpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-install-tvos-12-public-beta-on-your-apple-tv-4k-apple-tv-4th-generation-521690.shtml Apple's upcoming tvOS 12 operating system for Apple TV devices is available for public beta testing, so we thought it would be a good idea to show our readers how to install it the right way.

We showed you how to install the iOS 12 public beta and the macOS Mojave 10.14 public beta on your devices, so now it's time to learn how to download and install the first public beta of Apple's upcoming tvOS 12 operating system on your 4th generation Apple TV or Apple TV 4K, which Apple released earlier today.

Unveiled during the WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) 2018 event earlier this month, the read more)]]> Mon, 25 Jun 2018 21:44:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-install-tvos-12-public-beta-on-your-apple-tv-4k-apple-tv-4th-generation-521690.shtml Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-macos-mojave-10-14-public-beta-on-your-mac-521689.shtml Apple released today the first public beta of its upcoming macOS Mojave 10.14 computer operating system, allowing users without a developer account to install the OS on their Macs.

Now that you know how to install the iOS 12 public beta on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices, it's time to learn how to run the macOS Mojave 10.14 operating system on your Mac by installing the first public beta release, which Apple made available earlier via its Apple Beta Software Program.

Unveiled on June 4, 2018, during the WWDC 2018 keynote presentation, macOS Mojave 10.14 promises a set of cool new features for all Mac users. Among these, we can mention a new Dark Mode, dynamic deskt... (read more)]]> Mon, 25 Jun 2018 21:33:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-macos-mojave-10-14-public-beta-on-your-mac-521689.shtml Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-ios-12-public-beta-on-your-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch-521688.shtml Apple released earlier the first public beta of iOS 12, as well as macOS Mojave 10.14 and tvOS 12, as part of its Apple Beta Software Program to let users without a developer account to try the new software versions.

iOS 12 is the next major release of Apple's mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. It was unveiled earlier this month during the WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) 2018 event, it's supported on all devices that are capable of running iOS 11, and promises to offer a faster and more responsive experience.

There are numerous other new features coming to iOS 12 this fall, including support for contactless student ID cards in the Wallet app, extended battery information, support for third-party navigation apps in the CarPlay app, automatic strong passwords in Safari, new Apple Books app, as well as redesigned Stocks and Apple News a... (read more)]]> Mon, 25 Jun 2018 21:22:46 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-ios-12-public-beta-on-your-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch-521688.shtml Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/battery-drain-fix-for-watch-os-4-517738.shtml The "Detect Gym Equipment" option for Watch OS 4 GM (gold master) is no longer available as a toggle, which was the main fix for the battery drain issues in the previous Betas. Here are some simple tips to improve the battery performance for your watch.

I use iOS 11 GM on my iPhone 7 Plus, and I'm not very happy about the upgrade, but I was curious to see what Watch OS 4 will bring to my Apple Watch (2) Nike Edition. I upgraded my watch and my wife's watch. The process of installing Watch OS 4 GM was smooth, with just the usual one-hour mysterious crunching.

Each day I try each day to complete my "Workout circles," and I strive for at least 45 minutes of exercises. When I go to sleep, my watch with Watch OS 3 usually has about 60% battery left. With Watch OS 4 I only get 50% in the middle of the day, and it's going down each minute. My wife's watch was in "Power Reserve mode" before going to bed.

I tried to close all the opened apps and restarted the Watch, to no ... (read more)]]> Fri, 15 Sep 2017 08:31:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/battery-drain-fix-for-watch-os-4-517738.shtml Softpedia News (Bogdan Dumitru) https://news.softpedia.com/news/updating-macos-from-the-command-line-is-much-faster-than-using-the-app-store-517098.shtml Just like it happens on Windows 10, updating macOS is often a pretty painful experience, mostly because it takes way too long to download and install updates from the App Store.

But as it turns out, the whole process can be performed substantially faster if it’s performed from the command line tool, with users on reddit discovering that the typical software update commands can be further tweaked for extra options.

What’s probably the most important is that should you turn to the softwareupdate utility in the Terminal, you are allowed to continue using the device while updates download and install, with only a few minutes of downtime caused by the reboot when the update is complete.

Available commands

Specifically, you can launch the Terminal app and type the following commands, first to check for updates and the second to install them if any ... (read more)]]> Fri, 21 Jul 2017 09:32:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/updating-macos-from-the-command-line-is-much-faster-than-using-the-app-store-517098.shtml Softpedia News (Bogdan Popa, Microsoft News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-tvos-11-public-beta-on-your-apple-tv-516930.shtml Now that the first Public Beta version of Apple's upcoming tvOS 11 operating system is ready to conquer your Apple TV devices, we thought it would be a good idea to teach you guys how to do it right.

We've already taught you how to install the iOS 11 Public Beta or the macOS 10.13 High Sierra Public Beta releases of your eligible devices, and now the time has come to learn how to update the tvOS operating system on your 4th generation Apple TV to the latest available tvOS 11 Public Beta release.

It should be noted that this is the first time Apple releases Public Beta builds for its tvOS operating system, finally allowing other users than app developers to get an early tas... (read more)]]> Tue, 11 Jul 2017 23:45:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-tvos-11-public-beta-on-your-apple-tv-516930.shtml Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-macos-high-sierra-10-13-public-beta-on-your-mac-516677.shtml After seeding the first Public Beta of iOS 11 to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners around the globe, Apple now releases the first Public Beta builds of its upcoming macOS High Sierra 10.13 operating system.

We've already taught you guys how to install the iOS 11 Public Beta release of your eligible iPhone, iPad or iPod touch devices, and the time has come for you to learn how to update your Mac's operating system to the macOS High Sierra 10.13 Public Beta release, that if you want to install a Beta software on your computer, of course.

Apple has just released the first Public Beta of the macOS High Sierra 10.13 to public beta testers, which means that anyone can install and test drive the upcoming operating system without an Apple Developer account. So if you want to jump on the Public Beta testing bandwagon, follo... (read more)]]> Thu, 29 Jun 2017 20:15:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-macos-high-sierra-10-13-public-beta-on-your-mac-516677.shtml Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-ios-11-public-beta-on-your-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch-516676.shtml A few moments ago, Apple finally released the first Public Beta builds of its upcoming iOS 11, macOS High Sierra 10.13, and tvOS 11 operating systems to public testers.

Earlier this month, during the WWDC 2017 event, Apple unveiled many of the features of the iOS 11, macOS High Sierra 10.13, tvOS 11, and watchOS 4 operating systems for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch respectively, releasing the first Beta builds to registered developers. Apple promised that Public Beta would be available to anyone this week, and it looks like they kept their promise.

After seeding the third Beta developer builds to registered developers, Apple immediately updated its Apple Beta Software Program has just released the first iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra Public Betas, along with the first ever tv... (read more)]]> Mon, 26 Jun 2017 21:08:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-ios-11-public-beta-on-your-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch-516676.shtml Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-opt-out-of-ios-beta-updates-and-reinstall-ios-10-2-1-on-your-iphone-ipad-512137.shtml Apple released earlier a new stable iOS update for all supported iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices, versioned 10.2.1, but you won't receive this version on your device if you're using the last Beta or Public Beta build.

iOS 10.2.1 is the first point release to the iOS 10.2 series. It received a total of four Beta/Public Beta versions during its entire development cycle since mid-December last year. The last one was seeded only ten days ago.

Like many of us running the iOS 10.2.1 Public Beta 4 release, it turns out you'll not receive the final version of iOS 10.2.1, which some will say it's identical with the last Beta, but what if your device is not working properly and you are still experiencing bugs.

For example, we found out that, since we've installed the last Public Beta versions of iOS 10.2.1 on our iPho... (read more)]]> Tue, 24 Jan 2017 02:22:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-opt-out-of-ios-beta-updates-and-reinstall-ios-10-2-1-on-your-iphone-ipad-512137.shtml Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/install-macos-sierra-on-older-now-unsupported-macs-508570.shtml With each new OS version, Apple eliminates support for older hardware, even if it's still capable of running the new OS.

Planned obsolescence or just a push for you to make an upgrade? It doesn't matter, actually, as there are still ways to use the newest OS on older Apple computers, such as:

Early-2008 (or newer) Mac Pro, iMac, or MacBook Pro
Late-2009 (or newer) MacBook Air or unibody MacBook
Early-2009 (or newer) Mac Mini or white MacBook

What do you need?

1. An 8Gb or bigger USB memory stick
2. MacOS Sierra Patcher for Mac - it will create a custom USB installation
3. MacOS Sierra installation App
4. AUSEnabler - it will help you get future software updates on your installation.

For known issues, read here.

Steps:read more)]]> Fri, 23 Sep 2016 19:01:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/install-macos-sierra-on-older-now-unsupported-macs-508570.shtml Softpedia News (Bogdan Dumitru) https://news.softpedia.com/news/quick-mac-os-x-optimization-guide-507751.shtml Gone are the times when you needed to perform cleaning tasks on a regular basis. Nowadays, the hardware is very powerful, and the OS is considerably better optimized.

To be fair, OS X has always been a clean system compared to Windows. There was almost no need for HDD defragmentation under OS X. Now, with the SSD becoming standard, you probably know that you should not worry about defragmenting an SSD drive (in fact, it should be avoided at all costs since it can affect drive lifetime if you overdo it).

But let's take one thing at a time. In order to tweak and clean an OS X installation, you require some tools, and the good news is that the best are free.

Onyx

Onyx is the oldest tweaking utility for Mac, and it has always been free. There's a different version for each OS X, from Jaguar (10.2) to El Capitan (10.11), with a version for Sierra (10.12) being in t... (read more)]]> Tue, 30 Aug 2016 12:26:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/quick-mac-os-x-optimization-guide-507751.shtml Softpedia News (Bogdan Dumitru) https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-make-iphone-faster-by-disabling-springboard-animations-501588.shtml UPDATE: The new iOS 9.3.2 released on May 16 fixes this bug, so you can no longer disable animations to make the iPhone faster. Original story below. 

Apple doesn’t provide an option to disable iOS animations, so if you come from Android, you might feel the iPhone slower than a high-end Samsung phone or a Nexus powered by stock Android.

But it’s only the fault of animations that are being implemented in iOS, so if you’re not a fan of visual effects, it might be a challenge to disable them. Jailbreak users can easily turn off animations with third-party apps, but for those who don’t want to turn to such solutions, it's been a real challenge.

Until now, that is, as a simple trick that involves the Assistive Touch switch allows you to turn off Springboard animation... (read more)]]> Mon, 16 May 2016 20:15:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-make-iphone-faster-by-disabling-springboard-animations-501588.shtml Softpedia News (Bogdan Popa, Microsoft News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/change-your-samsung-galaxy-rom-on-mac-via-jodin-502788.shtml If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone and a Windows PC, you probably know by now that you need Samsung USB Drivers and Odin3 in order to mess with your device's software. You can use the software if you want to change the ROM, Modem, boot, root, etc, on your phone. So there is always room to tweak something in the Android ecosystem if you have the will to try.

Still, don't forget that doing so comes with repercussions: there are 99 percent chances that you'll trip KNOX, and you will probably lose warranty on your phone.

On the other hand, when you want to try the same thing on your Mac, you are faced with a big problem.

While we would normally use Bootcamp or a Virtual Machine Windows installation, now we have at hand another, more direct option.... (read more)]]> Mon, 11 Apr 2016 07:34:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/change-your-samsung-galaxy-rom-on-mac-via-jodin-502788.shtml Softpedia News (Bogdan Dumitru) https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-make-your-mac-faster-501844.shtml If you want to make your Mac run faster, there are two solutions that you could consider: a hardware upgrade and software optimizations.

First, you need to know exactly what Mac model you use. For this, open the System Information app, and in the Hardware section, check the Model Identifier[/IMG] (in my case, it’s iMac11,3).

Optionally, you can use this information to check out the complete hardware specifications of your Apple computer.

Hardware Upgrade

SSD: Depending on your Mac model, you may have the possibility of replacing the HDD with an SSD. It's pretty cheap and will breathe new life into your old machine. I did this with a 2008 and a 2010 Macbook, and the results were incredible. The only dilemma revolves around finding a balance between budget and storage size.

Depending on your machine, it can ... (read more)]]> Thu, 17 Mar 2016 11:50:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-make-your-mac-faster-501844.shtml Softpedia News (Bogdan Dumitru) https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-remove-keranger-ransomware-from-your-mac-501431.shtml Yesterday, the first ever fully functional ransomware family targeting Mac computers has come to light, managing to infect users via a tainted version of the Transmission BitTorrent client for Mac.

The infection was possible because the crooks behind this ransomware managed to hack the Transmission project's website and replaced the legitimate Mac client with one that also contained the KeRanger ransomware.

The crooks did try to hide their tracks and configured the ransomware to start its encryption process three days after the Transmission client was installed.

Palo Alto Networks, the security vendor that discovered the ransomware, says the Transmission website delivered a malicious Transmission client between 11:00 AM PST, March 4, 2016 and before 7:00 PM PST, March 5, 2016.

This means that mo... (read more)]]> Mon, 07 Mar 2016 09:37:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-remove-keranger-ransomware-from-your-mac-501431.shtml Softpedia News (Catalin Cimpanu, Web News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-install-pspp-on-your-mac-499276.shtml PSPP is an open source program, the free alternative for IBM SPSS Statistics program. Both versions are very powerful tools for a statistician and can be used via graphical interface or via the command line, using almost the same syntax.

The problem is that IBM SPSS Statistics costs more than $1,000 (approximately €923). It has a lot of pricing models.

So, if you want to try out the free version, PSPP, you have a problem: there is no binary, there’s only the program source code. You could try to compile the program, but it might turn out to be an impossible task, with an infinity of dependencies that have to be installed, each requiring another dependency.

The goo... (read more)]]> Fri, 22 Jan 2016 10:02:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-install-pspp-on-your-mac-499276.shtml Softpedia News (Bogdan Dumitru) https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-mac-os-x-10-11-4-el-capitan-public-beta-right-now-498949.shtml Just a few days ago, Apple started seeding the first Beta build of the upcoming OS X 10.11.4 maintenance release in the El Capitan series of operating systems for Macs to developers who had a registered Apple Developer account.

We've already told you how to install the Public Beta release of the upcoming iOS 9.3 mobile operating system on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch devices, but the time has come for you to learn how to update your Mac's OS X 10.11 El Capitan installation to the Mac OS X 10.11.4 Pubic Beta builds.

Yes, you've read that right, Apple has just released earlier the first Beta build of the upcoming Mac OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan operating system to ... (read more)]]> Fri, 15 Jan 2016 01:00:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-mac-os-x-10-11-4-el-capitan-public-beta-right-now-498949.shtml Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-ios-9-3-public-beta-on-your-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch-498943.shtml Two days ago, Apple has started seeding the second Beta builds of the upcoming iOS 10, macOS Sierra 10.12, tvOS 10, and watchOS 3 operating systems to registered developers.

The future of the iOS 10, macOS Sierra, watchOS 3 and tvOS 10 was revealed by Apple during its keynote address at the WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) that took place last month between June 13 and June 17, and Apple promised that a public beta will be available to anyone in July.

Well, today is that day, as Apple has just released the first iOS 10 and macOS Sierra Betas to the world, which means that anyone who dares to plunge into the buggy world of Beta testing can now install the iOS 10 and macOS Sierra 10.12 operating systems on their supported iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices, and, of course, Macs.

Installing the iOS 10 Public Betaread more)]]> Thu, 14 Jan 2016 23:00:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-how-to-install-ios-9-3-public-beta-on-your-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch-498943.shtml Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/make-and-receive-phone-calls-using-your-mac-496754.shtml After releasing iOS 8 on September 17, 2014, Apple made it possible to use your Mac as a full-fledged phone, thus allowing you to answer your phone calls while still working on the task at hand and not having to pick up your iPhone to do it.

Moreover, if you have to call someone, and you have their phone number in your contacts, you find it in the Maps app or Safari, or you got it via e-mail in the past, you can quickly call them by clicking the phone number.

Requirements

Calling phone numbers or answering phone calls from a Mac is possible as long as you already own an iPhone running iOS 8 or later and you have them both connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

To make calls and respond to the calls you receive on your iPhone from your Mac, you also have to sign into iCloud and Facetime using the same Ap... (read more)]]> Thu, 26 Nov 2015 11:16:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/make-and-receive-phone-calls-using-your-mac-496754.shtml Softpedia News (Sergiu Gatlan, Apple News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Run-Internet-Explorer-on-Mac-OS-X-391323.shtml The last official Internet Explorer for Mac is no longer functional since the release of OS X 10.7 (Lion) and is discontinued since 2005, but we have a fix!

Now you can run the latest version of Internet Explorer on Macs using virtualization. For those of you requiring Internet Explorer to run ActiveX Controls on the Mac, this is the perfect solution.

To do this, you'll need VirtualBox, the free-to-download and free-to-use virtualization software which allows you to run Windows and other “guest” operating systems on a Mac “host.”

VirtualBox makes it possible to run Windows applications on a Mac, which means Internet Explorer can become a Mac application if you take the necessary steps. Just follow our step by step tutorial.

How to run Internet Explorer on a Mac

Step 1... (read more)]]> Tue, 24 Nov 2015 14:36:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Run-Internet-Explorer-on-Mac-OS-X-391323.shtml Softpedia News (Filip Truta, Apple News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-speed-up-your-iphone-495737.shtml If your iPhone seems to get more sluggish as days go by, there are some things you can do to get it back in tip-top shape. Improving your iPhone's performance is a matter of tweaking its operating system's settings or, in the worst-case scenario, an iOS reinstall.

An intervention might prove to be necessary if you find that your iPhone's apps are very slow to launch or become unresponsive after a while.

Following the procedures described below is a simple task that does not take you very long even if you decide to reinstall the operating system.

To put it simply, once you get through some or all of the steps detailed in this article, you will notice a drastic performance improvement, even though you have not taken the iOS reinstall path.

Step 1 - Check your device's free disk space

A possible reason for a drop in performance might be the lack of free space needed by iOS to function properly.

Although Apple has... (read more)]]> Wed, 04 Nov 2015 16:05:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-speed-up-your-iphone-495737.shtml Softpedia News (Sergiu Gatlan, Apple News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-burn-dvds-and-cds-in-os-x-495624.shtml If you need to burn a DVD or a CD on OS X, you should know that there are three different methods to do it, and none of them requires any extra software besides the tools that come with Apple's operating system.

Burning data onto an optical disc, with CDs and DVDs being the most common ones, is quite an easy procedure if you are using OS X.

More often than not, you have to burn either a collection of files onto a disc or, if in some cases, disk images containing anything from a drive backup to a sector-by-sector copy of a given file system.

This being said, the three methods of burning a CD or a DVD described below should be able to help you quickly write any data to an optical disc of your choice in no time.

Method 1 - Using the Finder

The easiest way to burn a disc on a Mac is to insert a blank disc in the Mac's optical drive, choose "Open Finder" and then click the OK button.

Next, the blank disc will be mo... (read more)]]> Mon, 02 Nov 2015 12:17:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-burn-dvds-and-cds-in-os-x-495624.shtml Softpedia News (Sergiu Gatlan, Apple News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/using-apple-pay-with-the-apple-watch-495107.shtml Since Apple announced their Apple Pay contactless payment service on October 20, 2014, users have been using their iPhones to pay while shopping without having to reveal any personal information to the merchant.

After Apple Watch's release on April 24, 2015, the Apple Pay service can now be used without having to get your iPhone out of the pocket.

Moreover, if your iPhone does not come with the NFC (near-field communication) capabilities needed for contactless payment (i.e. all iPhones up to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus), the Apple Watch enables you to use the Apple Pay service by setting it up on the Watch.

To be more exact, the Apple Watch allows you to use the Apple Pay service if you pair it with an iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, or iPhone 5s, running iOS 8.2 or later in the US and iOS 8.3 or later in the UK.

As a bonus to using Apple Pay on Apple Watch instead of your credit cards to make payments while utilizing your Apple Watch to pay in stores, no one will be able to ti... (read more)]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2015 18:22:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/using-apple-pay-with-the-apple-watch-495107.shtml Softpedia News (Sergiu Gatlan, Apple News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-disable-os-x-s-system-integrity-protection-494953.shtml With the release of OS X El Capitan, Apple has bundled with their operating system a new security feature named System Integrity Protection (also known as SIP and Rootless) and designed to block access to a number of system locations, as well as to restrict access to system processes as a measure against the core of OS X being tampered with.

The System Integrity Protection feature does not allow the /bin, /sbin, /usr and /System folders on your Mac to be modified, with the /usr/local, /Applications, /Library and ~/Library folders being accessible by developers.

Moreover, no application can perform any runtime attachment and code injection tasks because these types of tasks can only be performed by the Apple Installer and the Software Update utility from Apple-provided packages.

Furthermore, if you have been using custom kernel extensions, you will no longer be able to do so unless they are signed using a Developer ID for Signing Kexts certificate. Also, from now o... (read more)]]> Tue, 20 Oct 2015 22:16:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-disable-os-x-s-system-integrity-protection-494953.shtml Softpedia News (Sergiu Gatlan, Apple News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-clear-all-personal-data-from-a-mac-494854.shtml If you plan to sell your Mac to get a brand-new one or to give it away because you've already bought a newer model, you must first erase all your personal files to avoid unpleasant surprises afterwards.

There is a very simple procedure that you should follow if you need to remove all your personal data from your Mac, and it will require you to securely format your computer's hard drive or hard drives if it has more than one (as is the case of Mac Pros).

Apple also describes on their support website what one has to do before selling a Mac, and even though their procedure is quite simple to follow, it doesn't take into account the fact that a formatted hard drive will not prevent the buyer to recover files that you thought are lost forever.

This happens because even though you tell OS X to delete a file from the hard drive, the file will not be completely deleted since the operati... (read more)]]> Mon, 19 Oct 2015 20:40:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-clear-all-personal-data-from-a-mac-494854.shtml Softpedia News (Sergiu Gatlan, Apple News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/five-steps-to-speed-up-os-x-494714.shtml Even though the latest OS X release is usually faster than the one before, some users might feel that their Mac is unusually sluggish.

If you are one of them, I have a number of steps that you could go through to make sure that OS X is as fast as possible on your Mac.

Once you go through all of the five steps described below, your Mac will feel nimbler, and your apps will launch faster and feel a lot snappier than before.

Step 1 - Reduce transparency

A proven way to speed up a Mac is by decreasing the transparency effects within the operating system itself. By doing this, the operating system will put a little less stress on your Mac's processor and graphics card, and will, therefore, be faster.

To reduce the OS X transparency, you have to launch the System Preferences app by hitting the ⌘ + SPACE hotkey to open Spotlight, writing "system" and hitting ENTER (RETURN) on the keyboard.

After System Preferences opens, you have to go to the Accessib... (read more)]]> Fri, 16 Oct 2015 22:27:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/five-steps-to-speed-up-os-x-494714.shtml Softpedia News (Sergiu Gatlan, Apple News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/what-to-do-if-os-x-does-not-boot-on-your-mac-anymore-494626.shtml Macs are known as computers that work out of the box, and the problems their users face are usually something along the lines of what font they should choose to write an e-mail or if they want the dock auto-hiding or not.

However, there are also times when things go wrong and, as it happens with all operating systems, Apple's OS X might break and fail to start even though the Mac itself has no sign of hardware problems.

I hope it never happens to you, but if OS X no longer boots on your Mac, you should be prepared to solve this predicament on your own.

Although OS X not booting is not something that a lot of Mac users have faced, Apple does provide a number of solutions in the event of such a crisis on their support website.

If OS X no longer boots, you will not be able to fix it without restoring a Time Machine backup or reinstalling the system.

As a Mac user that has faced his share of boot problems, I can tell that if OS X doesn't load on your Mac, the shorte... (read more)]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2015 22:45:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/what-to-do-if-os-x-does-not-boot-on-your-mac-anymore-494626.shtml Softpedia News (Sergiu Gatlan, Apple News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-avoid-huge-phone-bills-when-wi-fi-assist-activates-on-your-ios-device-494556.shtml With the iOS 9 release, Apple has introduced a new feature named Wi-Fi Assist and designed to keep iOS devices with a constant cellular connection to the Internet at all times when the device experiences a poor Wi-Fi connection due to loss of wireless signal or router problems by automatically switching from Wi-Fi to cellular data.

Wi-Fi Assist will work on all iOS devices capable of running iOS 9 or later, with the exception of the iPhone 4s, the iPad (3rd generation) Wi-Fi+Cellular, the iPad 2 Wi-Fi+Cellular, and the iPad mini (1st generation) Wi-Fi+Cellular.

iOS 9 will enable it by default, and if you have upgraded your iOS device to Apple's latest mobile operating system, you're already using it.

There is good news and there is bad news if you haven't already disabled it. Let's start with the good news: your iOS device will always be connected to the Internet without you having to constantly switch between cellular data and Wi-Fi networks.

The bad news? When ... (read more)]]> Wed, 14 Oct 2015 22:42:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-avoid-huge-phone-bills-when-wi-fi-assist-activates-on-your-ios-device-494556.shtml Softpedia News (Sergiu Gatlan, Apple News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-use-a-mac-and-feel-secure-even-if-you-don-t-install-an-anti-malware-solution-494480.shtml Since you've bought your Mac, you must have wondered if an anti-malware solution should be one of the apps running on your computer. There are a lot of different opinions on this matter, but fortunately, Apple made sure that they at least offer basic protection to all of their Mac customers.

Apple did this by introducing XProtect with the release of OS X 10.6.7 and Gatekeeper in OS X 10.7.5, which come with two different ways to protect the end-user from malicious software.

XProtect detects and blocks malware using a database of signatures updated periodically whenever new malware is detected for the OS X platform. The problem it has though is the same for all anti-malware solutions out there: it will not det... (read more)]]> Tue, 13 Oct 2015 22:26:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-use-a-mac-and-feel-secure-even-if-you-don-t-install-an-anti-malware-solution-494480.shtml Softpedia News (Sergiu Gatlan, Apple News Editor) https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-erase-all-data-from-an-iphone-494409.shtml If you have just bought yourself a new iPhone, and you want to sell the older one or you just want to give it to a friend, chances are that you also need to erase all your private information from it.

Even though Apple also made a tutorial about what one has to do before giving away or selling an iOS device and made it available on their support website, it is not really complete since it actually skips a number of steps.

First of all, if you've ever asked yourself "How do I wipe my iPhone?" you must make sure that you do not erase any of your personal files or data from the iPhone manually.

This is not advised because, if you have signed in into iCloud using your Apple ID, all that data will also be deleted from your iCloud account, as well as from all your other devices signed in into iCloud using your account.

In order to completely erase all your data from an iPhone that yo... (read more)]]> Mon, 12 Oct 2015 22:26:00 +0000 Softpedia News / Apple / Tips & Tricks https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-erase-all-data-from-an-iphone-494409.shtml Softpedia News (Sergiu Gatlan, Apple News Editor)