Mac Forums Sunday Chat

Join me tonight for the October 8, 2017 edition of the Mac-Forums video chat. As usual we'll have the forum roundup including a few thoughts / experiences our members have about upgrading to High Sierra. I'll have a few more IOS 11 and High Sierra tips as well a few thoughts about using iTunes 12.7 to push media content to your IOS devices. I'll let you know more about the specific tips as we get closer to show time.

See you there

Show Notes

If you have previously removed a recipient’s email address from Mail and it’s still appearing as an option check that contact card in Contacts. If there is an email address there Mail is probably trying to use that address. Either delete the entire contact card or clear all email addresses from the card. See here

There’s an ongoing thread in the forums regarding issues some users are having after upgrading to High Sierra. Member Randy Singer points out that many of the issues reported seem to have come from users who used an upgrade install instead of doing a clean install. Users performing clean installs seem to be having fewer issues.

Randy also reiterates how important it is not to use older disk utilities on a drive that has been converted to the newer APFS format. This has always been good advice since there are often minor changes to the underlying drive format but it vital to heed these words for this update because this is a significant change to the underlying formatting.

Member sandman has discovered that iTunes 12.7 has removed IOS app management. App installs and updates are now handled on the IOS device. Previously downloaded updates are still in your iTunes library but new app downloads / updates are not added to the library.

Users may find that the High Sierra upgrade has defaulted to using iCloud for storing documents. If you find this is the case for you. Member chscag gave member etaf a solution. If you have this problem the procedure is fairly simple:
1. Copy the files from iCloud drive documents onto a new folder on the Mac as suggested. Don’t try copying them to the Documents or Desktop folder on your drive or they will be overwritten in a later step. Choose a location where things will be easy to find.
2. Turn OFF iCloud drive
3. The Mac automatically adds the Desktop and Documents folders back onto the Mac -
4. Copy all the files back into Documents to recover completely.

Under IOS 11 the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth buttons in the Control Center do not turn these functions off/ They simply disconnect you from these services. See here and here.

Welcome to the weekly Mac-Forums video chat. As usual we'll meet at 7:00 p.m US Central time (Midnight GMT). We'll have the forum roundup (including threads on folders opening automatically on login, and the new version of iTunes which returns some of the functions / features removed from iTunes 12.7.

Show Notes

If you’re having issues with certain folders opening upon login this thread may give you some thoughts about possible causes and how to fix it. One possible culprit is the users Sharing settings. This is particularly true if the folders that are opening are on a NAS (network attached storage).

Security / privacy concerns with the iPhone 8 facial recognition feature. Facial recognition data is stored securely on the IOS device and isn’t sent to Apple.

Can you ever have too many wi-fi hotspots? How to tell if you have too many hotspots and how to get rid of a few you don’t need. Forum member MacInWin reports issues streaming music if his IOS device passes too many open wifi access points (hotspots). As the device jumps from one hotspot to another this causes breaks in the music. The solution is to check your wi-fi settings to make sure that there aren’t extraneous networks added there. Delete any that you don’t want to use.

Unusual Dock behavior may be the result of a stuck modifier key. Member Doug Lassiter was experiencing an issue with icons in the Dock. Each time he clicked a Dock icon his Mac would open the Application folder and show the app in question. Doug traced the culprit for this behavior to a stuck modifier key.

Your mac’s modifier keys perform a wide variety of useful, and sometimes not so useful, functions. A quick internet search will lead you to several lists of these functions. Here’s Apple’s current list of keyboard shortcuts.

Apple has released another version of iTunes which can be used instead of the recently-released iTunes 12.7, The iTunes 12.6.3 version puts many features which had been removed back into the program. Kirk McElhearn looks at the pros and cons of using iTunes version 12.6.3.

Rob Griffits, writing in the Robservatory, takes a look at a free utility called Configurator 2 which has some of the IOS device management functions previously included in iTunes. Originally designed to help businesses / other organizations deploy software and configurations to a variety of IOS devices as a group. It can perform a variety of actions and apply the settings to several IOS devices but does not provide access to the iTunes App Store. See here for details.

Ever get too many tabs open in Safari under IOS 11? Quickly close all open tabs in Safari under IOS 11. This is easily done by pressing and holding the tabs button to bring up four choices including close all tabs.

You are One Sly Dude Slydude. I'll do my best to join in later this Evening, if Available!

Glad to have you. Hopefully I won't bork something up when you try to join.

Preplanned Event: Check.

Join me at 7:00 p.m. Central Time (Midnight GMT) for the weekly Mac-Forum Video Chat. We'll have a forum roundup that looks at updating Flash, a few brief thought on two factor authentication, and whatever else comes to mind. The two-factor authentication tip is not the extensive discussion I had planned. I had to put that on the back burner for this week.

I'll also use one of our graphics threads to talk a bit about using apps in ways one might not think of and how this can save new Mac users some cash. In our IOS tip this week I'll link you to 13 IOS settings you might want to check and possibly change.

Show Notes

If you are running macOS 10.13, a.k.a High Sierra, and you have converted your drive to the new Apple File System (APFS) make sure you don’t use a disk utility to modify that drive until you are sure that the utility you want to use has been updated to the changes brought about by APFS. If you are not sure about the drive formatting single click your boot drive and choose Get Info. Click the first disclosure triangle and look to see if Format reads APFS.

Forum member Cr00zng asked about the process of adding trusted devices in Apple’s two factor authentication process. The settings, particularly the opportunity to make changes, are not where one might expect them to appear. Forum member lclev reminds us that under IOS 11 the settings/controls for two factor authentication can be found by doing the following:
1. Go to your iPhone's Settings
2. Tap your name at the top - it says under it: Apple ID, iCloud, iTunes & App store
3. Tap Password & Security
4. Here you can turn on two-factor authentication and add a trusted phone number.

Some of our forum members choose to avoid Adobe Flash entirely, or use it as little as possible due to security and performance concerns. If you are using Flash, make sure you keep it up to date. Member Randy B. Singer has some thoughts on the proper way to update Flash. This is important because there are a number of sites that have potentially dodgy / compromised versions of Flash.

Apple recently changed where you look for recent upgrades when you are ready to upgrade the OS. (bad link removed)

Maybe it’s time to upgrade your Mac. If your Mac’s fans are going berserk and you’ve already tried cleaning your Mac’s air vents it might be time for a new Mac. This thread might present you with some additional ideas. I wrote about this a decade ago for About This Particular Macintosh and I still think that subjective speed is the basis upon which most people make their upgrade decisions.

This thread starts out asking about graphic editing software but member RadDave figured out a way to do the task at hand using the Preview program already on your Mac (post #17). Situations like these get me thinking about the software I use on a daily basis. I often alternate between wanting to use software I already have but also have more than one option available to mr. Sometimes, although not often, one app will not fully handle a file while a second application handles the same file.

The Kirkville site comes through this week with a tip on how to zoom (enlarge) the text on a website by website basis. I used to enlarge all site text using a css stylesheet setting suggested by our own Chscag. I stopped using that method under High Sierra because it conflicted with some forum operations (perhaps this only affected administration/moderation functions). Kirk suggests going to Safari’s preferences an clicking the website tab. From there you can control a wide array of features including text zooming and audio /video autoplay. See here

If you have ever shipped a computer somewhere and needed packing boxes / materials you might find this post hilarious. Not sure but I can almost guarantee Charlie didn’t pay that much for boxes and bubble wrap. lol

IOS settings you might want to change depending upon how you use your phone. All the settings in this video are pretty self-explanatory.

Join me at 7:00 p.m.(1:00 a.m. Monday GMT) for the weekly Mac-Forums Video Chat. I'll have a forum roundup, we'll review some quick tips for those considering their drives to Apple's APFS file system, and some iPone X tips for those lucky enough to have their hands on one. I'll also give you some tips that may improve your search skills on the Internet.

Show Notes

For some reason the video of tonights chat did not upload properly tonight. I tried to edit the backup copy on my Mac and upload that but QuickTime Player is having issues saving the resulting file. Even uploading the unedited video has failed. I'll try to upload a new video later this week. In the meantime here are the links to everything discussed tonight.

Forum users need to be sure they keep the email address that the forum has on file current. This is also important now that the forum asks for passwords to be changed periodically. Changing your email address is simple:
1. Log into the forums
2. At the top right side of the plate click Settings
3. In the new page that appears
4. look on the left side and choose either Edit Profile then choose Email and Password in the next page or scroll down to Edit Email.

If your utilities are identifying S.M.A.R.T errors it’s probably time for a new drive. It’s hard to predict when the drive will fail since different utilities test different aspects of drive functioning. For a general overview of S.M.A.R.T and what it means give this a read. For a comparison of various utilities with some form of S.M.A.R.t status see this chart. The focus of the chart is mainly on other operating systems but there are a few OS X utilities mentioned.

Having trouble creating bookmarks in Safari? Try the steps in this thread

Normally I turn to Kirk McElhearn for iTunes information but this month he has a lot to say about Apple’s switch to the APFS file system. There can be millions of files on your Mac and you never interact with most of these files because the file system handles things for you. As storage capacity, file sizes and types, and the number of files on a typical Mac have increased dramatically, the 30-year-old HFS+ file system has started to show its age. By the time APFS was in made it to your Mac running High Sierra it was already in use on IOS devices running IOS 10. If you haven’t already made the switch here are some things to consider:
1. When you install High Sierra SSDs or typical hard drives are converted to the new file system. Fusion drives are not currently supported under HFS+.
2. No significant advantage to updating hard drives to APFS but the benefits are noticeable with SSDa.
3. Don’t update drives to APFS if you are going to share them with Macs not running Sierra.
4. Macs with APFS drives can read the same drive formats they could read before.
5. Encryption, if enabled, occurs a the system level rather than at disk level which should make it more robust.
6. Data can be copied from APFS drives to other drives.
7. Disk utilities that perform maintenance operations will need to be updated to handle APFS disks. I’ve said it before don’t use your existing disk utilities on APFS drives unless you know they have been updated to work with the new file system.

The release of watchOS 4.1 adds features for streaming music to the watch from Apple Music or your iTunes Library to your watch. Go to the Music app then Library and select an album, artist, or playlist to start the music. Streaming music will affect your battery life and uses some data so keep an eye on that data plan. The article contains battery life estimates.

If you’re among the lucky folks with new iPhone X the Cult Of Mac site has some tips for getting it set up properly.

New gestures introduced with iPhone X.

Using the Notes app in IOS 11 as a document scanner I touched on this in the July 30, 2017 video chat and mentioned using a scanning app. If you don’t need a lot fo fancy features you can use the Notes app in IOS 11 to scan a document as described in the first article.

Sane steps for avoiding malware on your Apple Gear

If you’re just getting into streaming or simply want to stay on top of what’s available you might find this article and the links it contains helpful, When looking for streamed content half the battle is finding content you want to watch. This article’s comments about Reelgood JusrtWatch and Can I Stream It.Check them out to see if any are right for you.

15 useful Google search tips

Bonus: I don’t normally go to the KimKomando site for information but you might find these security tips helpful. I had intended to discuss this during the show but I think I missed it.

No show this week folks. I've got a ton of things going on today. We'll be back on schedule next week with an assortment of tips, tricks, and useful info.

Hey Sly.....

You better keep the little woman happy and catch up on all those "Honey Do's". LOL! Been there, done that.

Much of the Honey Do's can be put off till next Saturday which will be the start of your school's Thanksgiving break. There are a few things that can't be avoided though.

Hey Sly:

If you get a chance during your video chat time, to remind everyone to please keep up with their profile data. Also thank them for their patience during our outage. You might also tell them that Penton has been purchased by a UK firm called "Informa" so we really have no idea of who or what will be running these forums in the future.

Thanks, Charlie

Will do. I'll put those things in the show notes now. Hadn't really noticed that Penton had been purchased by Informa but I will pass that on as we'll.

Join me at 7:00 p.m. tonight (1:00 Monday GMT) for the weekly Mac-Forums video chat. We'll have the usual forum roundup, and an assortment of tips and tricks for macOS and IOS. The forum roundup will lead us to a few basic troubleshooting techniques that are always good to have in your bag of tricks.

Show Notes
Member vermahad want to know where to find any iPhone backups stored on the Mac. The backups are stored in the Library folder that is inside your user folder. The specific path is ~/Library/Application Support/ MobileSync See this thread.

If you are going to use iTunes to restore your IOS device from a backup that is possible. Launch iTunes and go to Preferences. From there click the Devices tab and you will see the backups that iTunes can use as a restore point. iTunes only keeps the most recent backup for each device. If you need something older you’ll have to go to a Time Machine backup, other backup, or third-party software.

If you routinely use GarageBand to monitor things like your guitar playing you may experience some latency from time to time. If you are having this issue using Bluetooth headphones forum member pm-r posted links to some tips that may help resolve this problem Thanks Patrick.

If you have recently deleted a program from your Mac you will find that any Dock icons (area similar to the Windows Taskbar) for the program no longer work. Getting rid of these icons is as simple as clicking on them and dragging the icon out of the Dock. Depending upon your settings you may see a puff of smoke indicating that the icon is ready to disappear. You can find more of Apple’s Dock tips here.

Deleting icons from the LaunchPad area (indicated by the rocket) is a bit different and depends, in part on whether the app was purchased from the Mac App Store. See here for details

Troubleshooting tip: Despite the whole world’s desire to go wireless it’s always good to have a USB keyboard and mouse around.It doesn’t have to be Mac only. A cheap, generic unit will do.

Join me tonight at 7:00 p.m.Central (1:00 a.m. Monday GMT) for the weekly Mac-Forums video chat. Some of the content is still being determined but we'll have the usual forum roundup with a few user questions. We'll look at the root user vulnerability in macOS. answer an IOS security question and perhaps include a few other tips and tricks.

Show Notes

There is a documented security flaw / bug in macOS High Sierra which all users running High Sierra need to take steps to address. The bug, as described by MacRumors, was initially discovered by developer Lemi Ergin. The flaw makes it possible for someone to log into an administrator account using the “root” username and no password. The MacForums thread on this topic has been following this issue closely. As of November 29, 2017 Apple has since released on OS patch that should fix this issue but if for some reason you cannot install the update be sure to take steps to set a strong root password

If you’re interested here’s a bit more details about the security patch Apple has released. The newest version go this patch is 17B1002. The previously released patch fixed the security problem but introduced some issues with file sharing.

MacForums member neigh was wondering if the issues currently being experienced with the Apple Watch are the result of the recently identified macOS bug. See here. I’m not sure what’s causing the Apple Watch issues but they aren’t doe to the macOS security bug. The Apple Watch runs an operating system that it completely different from the OS on your Mac.

If you’re experiencing issues with synching iMessage so that messages are in synch across devices check out this thread. Pay particular attention to post #2 by forum Administrator chscag. His suggestion is to open Settings on your IOS device. Now go to Messages>Text Message Forwarding and make sure other devices that you want to sync are listed there,

Roman Loyola, Senior Editor at Macworld, has an article at techconnect describing how to save some money on Apple gear this holiday season by shopping the Apple Certified Refurbished Store. See his thoughts here.

If you’d like to be able to surf the web using Apple TV you might be surprised by the lack of a web browser on Apple TV. Macworld presents us with three possible options; use of AirPlay to mirror the IOS screen to the Apple TV or using AirBrowser available from the IOS Store. A third option is discussed but it is not for the faint of heart and may not be worth it.

I won't be posting a show tonight due to it being Christmas Eve and I know that may of you are taking this time to celebrate with family and friends. I do want to wish you a Merry Christmas. To those of you who don't celebrate Christmas I wish you the best for the coming year.

As many of you know by now Mac-Forums will be shutting down as of the end of the year. I'll post one final video chat sometime around Friday of the coming week. The old chats should still be available on Youtube. I have enjoyed hosting the chats and going forward I'd like to continue with some form of Mac tip / help video. I'm not sure what form that will take, Whatever gets produced won't be under the Mac-Forums banner obviously.

Slydude said:

.......

As many of you know by now Mac-Forums will be shutting down as of the end of the year. I'll post one final video chat sometime around Friday of the coming week. The old chats should still be available on Youtube. I have enjoyed hosting the chats and going forward I'd like to continue with some form of Mac tip / help video. I'm not sure what form that will take, Whatever gets produced won't be under the Mac-Forums banner obviously.

Click to expand...

Hi Sly - having participated in a number of your 'Sunday Chats' a while back in my earlier days on the forum, I would like to thank you for the excellent job and diligent devotion that you have given to this endeavor - you've been a unique and important member of the Mac-Forums team - so kudos to you and hope that you are able to continue in some fashion. Best regards and good luck! Dave
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