Helping you and your small business succeed with technology
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No More Ransom Website Offers Ransomware Decryption Tools
We’ve written in the past about how Apple-only companies can protect themselves from ransomware (strong security, isolated backups, monitoring software), but realistically, it’s primarily a threat to computers running Windows and Linux. If you, or anyone you know, is targeted by ransomware, look to the No More Ransom website, developed by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre…
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NPD Breach Reveals Data on Hundreds of Millions, Here’s How to Respond
A few months ago, news broke about the latest massive data breach, this time from a company called National Public Data, a company that collects vast amounts of personal data about individuals from public data sources, including addresses, employment history, criminal records, and Social Security numbers. NPD then sells access to that data to employers…
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Set macOS to Require a Password after Screen Saver Start or Display Sleep
Although paying attention to online security is of primary importance, don’t forget local security. You don’t want to go out for lunch and let someone wandering by your office poke through your email, messages, photos, and private files. To ensure this doesn’t happen, set your Mac to start the screen saver or sleep the display…
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What You Need to Know Before Switching to a New iPhone
Are you planning to upgrade to a new iPhone 16? It’s exciting, we know, but it’s best to proceed deliberately when setting up your new iPhone to avoid causing yourself headaches. Follow these instructions when you’re ready to transfer your data—and, for many people, much of your digital life—to the new iPhone. Apple also has…
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Five Quick Tips to Ease iPhone and iPad Text Editing and Amaze Your Friends
A friend recently expressed astonishment when she saw us using trackpad mode while editing text on an iPhone. (It works on the iPad, too!) So, even if you already know these tips, do your friends a favor and show them: Tap once to position the insertion point at the start or end of a word.…
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Apple Announces iPhone 16 Lineup, Apple Watch Series 10, and AirPods 4
It’s September, which brings the annual Apple crops: new iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods. At its recent Glowtime event, Apple unveiled the new iPhone 16 lineup, Apple Watch Series 10, and AirPods 4, alongside smaller announcements about existing products. As always, the enhancements in the new products are evolutionary, making them attractive to anyone already…
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Energy Saver Can Shut Down Your UPS-Equipped Mac in a Power Outage
An uninterruptible power supply, or UPS, provides essential protection from power surges, spikes, brownouts, and outages. But if you’re not at your Mac when the power goes out, the UPS may run out of battery before you (or the power) return. Happily, if you connect your Mac to your UPS with a USB cable, macOS…
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When Should You Should Upgrade to macOS 15 Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, tvOS 18, and visionOS 2?
The calendar has flipped over to September, so Apple will soon release major upgrades for all its operating systems. iOS 18 and watchOS 11 will undoubtedly ship alongside new iPhone and Apple Watch models mid-month. iPadOS 18 is likely to accompany iOS 18, as are tvOS 18 and visionOS 2. Although Apple has sometimes delayed…
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Missed an Alert? Check Notification Center
iOS, iPadOS, and macOS all let you specify whether any given app should show no notifications, temporary banners, or persistent alerts: look in Settings > Notifications and System Settings > Notifications. Temporary banners appear briefly and then automatically disappear, which is appropriate for notifications requiring no acknowledgment. But what if you see a temporary banner…
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Make the Most of the Mac’s Videoconferencing Capabilities
A side effect of the pandemic is that online videoconferencing improved drastically. Video calls happened before 2020, but videoconferencing wasn’t an everyday activity for most people. Now, with many people working remotely or in a hybrid model, it’s a fact of business life. To support videoconferencing tools, Apple has extended macOS’s basic webcam and microphone…
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