1
Can you slim macOS down?
In a quest to reduce the number of processes running in macOS Tahoe, consider the example of Time Machine backups, which can easily be replaced by 3rd party alternatives.
Howard Oakley
Macs & painting – 🦉 No AI content
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2
What is triald and why is it taking so much disk space?
Is a process named triald stealing lots of CPU? Or maybe ~/Library/Trial is huge, or filling your backups? Maybe it’s all just one of Apple’s Experiments.
3
Console, the vital tool that Apple abandoned
Console is the epitome of Apple’s problem with tools and support for its users, and is exactly what it needs to fix.
4
How to estimate an SSD’s working life
The life of an SSD should be more predictable than a hard disk. All you need is its TBW, and the total amount of data written to it so far.
5
Time Machine in macOS 10.15.3 is very slow on first full backup
When making a first full backup of less than 2 GB takes 86 minutes, and you then can’t restore from it anyway.
6
System settings that aren’t in System Settings
Where would you set the default call handler for macOS? And where in System Settings do you set the default web browser?
7
The number given as % CPU in Activity Monitor
One of the most common reasons for opening Activity Monitor is to check the % CPU of processes that might be running out of control. How accurate are those figures, though, and should you believe t…
8
Run a macOS VM on Apple Silicon from a double-click with Vimy
Making it quicker and simpler to run a macOS VM: with Vimy all you need do is double-click its bundle, and the VM runs using its previous settings.
9
Explainer: .DS_Store Files
Many folders have them. They’re so invisible that you can’t even see them when you show hidden files. And the only way you know they’re there is when they cause problems.
10
Mac: Keyboard Shortcuts Killed by Bug
Want to use App Shortcuts in Mojave? You’re out of luck because its broken, and Apple can’t be bothered to fix it.
11
Don’t Trust Activity Monitor on M1 Macs
Using CPU % or Energy values in Activity Monitor appears to show that running code on E cores is less efficient than on P cores. Don’t believe a word of it.
12
Can You Disable Spotlight and Siri in macOS Tahoe?
If you don’t want any of their services, you can turn Siri off in its settings, and disable indexing and search in Spotlight settings. Or you can use mdutil, if you know its limitations.