Monthly Mini-Bytes - August 2021

 

Two Apple Events Slated for September Apple is planning not one, but two events for September this year. From the iPhone 13, to new AirPods, and the long anticipated Apple Silica refresh of the MacBook Pros, it all shall be revealed next month. For more info and insights visit: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/08/20/digitmes-mulitple-apple-events-for-september/

Cox Mail Users: Time to Think About Change Cox and other internet service providers are moving to get out of the email hosting business. If you have had a Cox email address for an eternity like many of us, changing our accounts and usernames to a new iCloud, Gmail, or Outlook address can seem daunting. Well, it is. It's a lot of work, but now is the time to get started. We have also noticed a slew of Cox email accounts that have been compromised. If you have not logged into your Cox webmail account in a while, it's a good idea to do so, update your password, turn on two factor authentication, and check your settings. You can get to your Cox webmail via: https://webmail.cox.net

Clean Out Messages Automatically

Did you know that your Messages app is set to keep all messages forever? Yes, this is the default, and over the years your texts can take up a massive amount of space not only on your Mac, but also your iPhone, and iPad. You can have Messages delete any texts that are more than 30 days or over one year old automatically. On the iPhone and iPad you can go into Settings -> Messages and scroll down to Message History. Here you can choose to keep messages Forever, One Year, or 30 days. On the Mac in the Messages app select the Messages drop-down menu and Preferences. Choose the General tab and in the middle of the page will be the option to choose how long you want to retain your messages. One thing to note: If you add a new device to iCloud Messages, it will toggle back to Keep Forever. This is annoying, but really, would we expect anything different from technology? And to keep that technology happy, it's best to make sure that whatever retention frequency you choose, you do the same across all of your devices.