December 2017 - Monthly Mini-Bytes

Updating to High Sierra Have Patience and a Backup You've probably seen the persistent alert to update your Mac to macOS High Sierra. Wendy and I have been on this version of macOS for a while now and it is a very good update, but it is a big one. It lays down an entirely new file system structure, which means under the hood there is a lot that's going on during the update process. Here are our tips for updating to macOS High Sierra. Have a Current Time Machine Backup Do not go into this update without having a Time Machine backup of your computer. It would be like hiking Camelback in the summer with no water. Make sure you are backing up, and if you don't use Time Machine, now is the time to start.  Check your Applications If you have applications that your rely upon daily, check to see if they are supported in macOS High Sierra. Some older versions of QuickBooks are guaranteed not to open and Microsoft does not support Office 2011 for Mac in High Sierra. This means you will need to spring for a new version of Office... or use Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Be Patient Do not rush the update. We have been recommending that folks start it in the evening and let it run overnight. Do not interrupt the process. Once the machine comes back up, give it a few hours to reindex before diving back into your 4K video editing. To learn more about macOS High Sierra visit: https://www.apple.com/macos/high-sierra/

QuickBooks for Mac is No More Intuit Ending Support Intuit is ending support for QuickBooks for Mac Desktop. The current 2016 version will be supported through May 2019. Intuit is encouraging users to move to QuickBooks Online. I know this is a bummer for some, but personally I think it is just the direction that software is moving. By being web-based QuickBooks Online is not dependent on whether the user is on a Mac or a PC. For more info from Intuit visit: https://community.intuit.com/articles/1615867-discontinuation-of-quickbooks-mac-desktop

Holiday Tip: Guest Access Keep Your Stuff from the Crowd The Holidays are a time when family and friends stop by your home. It's also the time they ask to check their email on your computer, play games, or print out boarding passes. Well, there are ways to keep your network and your computer segmented from their prying eyes. Guest Access on the Mac You can set up a Guest user on your Mac. It allows your guests to log in, without a password, to a fenced off area. They can't see your stuff; can't make any changes to the Mac; but can surf the internet, check webmail, and even print boarding passes. When they log out, all their activity (their footprint) is then deleted from your computer... like they were never there. To enable Guest, go to System Preferences -> Users & Groups. You will see Guest User in the left hand column. If it is On you are set. If it is Off, click the lock and go ahead and turn it on. Then just log out of your account. You will see the Guest user. Your guests just need to click on it -- no password required! Guest Wifi Network This is for the advanced users: Most wifi routers allow you to setup a Guest network with a separate password. This is a segmented network that allows you to give your guests access to your wifi, but on a separate network that keeps all of your other stuff away. Each router is different on how this is done, but it is great when you have parties and people want to jump on your wifi.

November 2017 - Monthly Mini-Bytes

Knock Out Those Holiday Cards with Photos A Time Saver on your Mac It's that time of year again, and if you are prepping to get a holiday card in the mail then now is the time to act. The good news is that you can create your card and order it right from Apple's Photos by starting a Project. It is easy and fun! In Photos go up to the File menu and select Create. You will see everything from cards to books to calendars. When you are done with your project you can order prints directly from Apple.  To learn more about creating holiday cards in Photos check out this article from MacWorld:   https://www.macworld.com/article/3147006/software-graphics/how-to-create-custom-greeting-cards-in-photos-for-mac.html

The Safe Way to Update Adobe Flash Don't Be a Victim of the Pop-Up Scam It's so easy to be tricked into downloading malware onto the Mac, and the Flash Pop-Up Scam is one of the most prevalent. While surfing the internet you will get a pop-up saying that you need to download Flash and to click a link. Don't ever click on the link. Here is the safe way to check if you need to update Flash. Go to System Preferences -> Flash Player. Click on the Updates tab and hit Check Now. If you need to update it will walk you through. You can also toggle auto-updates on or off here, so Adobe can handle all the updating for you.

Change Update for Server, etc. iOS 11, High Sierra, and Server 5.4 Apple made a lot of changes with their latest rollout. Many of you are already familiar, but macOS Server has had some even more dramatic changes. Check out Apple's "Prepare your institution...' article for all of the details. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207828