Episode 3000: Top 10 Mac Questions

Hi! This is Gary Rosenzweig with MacMost Now. 

This is Gary with Episode 1000 of MacMost Now. Hi, this is Gary with MacMost episode number 2000. Hi this is Gary from MacMost.com. This is episode number 3000.

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So to celebrate the 3000th episode of MacMost I thought I'd answer some of the questions I get the asked the most frequently.

First, do you need anti-virus on your Mac? I often get asked this and the answer is, well you already have anti-virus on your Mac. Part of macOS is something called XProtect. You could read about it at Apple Support sites if you like. XProtect is the built in anti-malware software on your Mac. It looks for malware and gets rid of it. You already have it installed so if you're asking the question because, say, your company or organization wants you to have anti-virus on your computer you can tell them, yes you've got it. Otherwise you don't need anything extra. I have this video here where you can learn more about how to protect yourself from malware on your Mac without needing to install any kind of third party app.

Next I'm often asked what is taking up so much space on someone's Mac. Usually they will end up going to System Settings here and looking at their storage and then finding all of these different categories here and wondering why one of them is larger than they think it would be. You can also see a list here. The thing to keep in mind when looking at this list is these are categories. They're not folders. So, for instance, documents here isn't your Documents Folder. If you compare this number to the size of your Documents Folder they won't match. This is a category. So it includes documents in your Documents Folder but also documents that maybe stored in other folders as well. Chances are what you really want to know is not what is taking up space on your Mac but how do you free-up more space on your Mac. I've got this video here which will show you twenty different ways to clear off space. If you go through and look at these different areas of your Mac then you'll probably have the free space that is what you're really looking for.

Now next I'm often asked questions about MacBook batteries. Particularly is it okay to have your MacBook plugged in all the time. The answer is YES. It certainly is. Just because your MacBook has a battery doesn't mean you need to use it all the time. As a matter of fact if it is sitting on your desk all the time have it plugged in so you're not actually running through battery cycles. There are a lot of myths about using MacBook batteries and I run through most of them in this video here.

Now next I'm surprised at how often I'm asked whether or not you can use an old iMac as just a display for, say, a new Mac Mini. The answer is basically NO. There used to be something called Target Display Mode. You can do that with an old iMac. But if you look on Apple's site you'll find that there are only very specific iMacs that this works with. In addition to that the new Mac has to be something from 2019 or earlier running Catalina or earlier. So your old iMac has to be something pretty specific. Your new iMac as well. It can't be one of the newer Macs of the last few years. So the answer really is no. In fact it is probably not worth it running these old iMacs as a screen because they are not the standard retina display now. They are the older iMac displays that don't have nearly as many pixels, aren't as bright, and aren't as good a quality as even a cheap HD screen is today. So you're going to want to resell or recycle that old iMac and invest in a new display.

Now next is how to take a screenshot on a Mac. I'm often asked this and it's confusing because there are so many different keyboard shortcuts you can use. But there is only one that you actually need to know. If you go into System Settings and then you go to Keyboard and then Keyboard Shortcuts look for Screenshots here. You'll see all the screenshot settings. I want you to check here because it is easy to change it and then get confused when I tell you that Shift Command 5 is what you want. Check to make sure you haven't customized it to something else and make sure that it is turned on. Once you have that turned on just use Shift Command 5 and it brings up all the screenshot controls here. So if you can't remember what to use just always remember Shift Command 5. It will bring you here. You can choose Capture the Entire Screen, Selected Window, a portion. You can set all the options like where it is saved to and such. If you want to go into more detail I've got this video right here that shows you all of the different options.

Now I'm also often asked about how to find duplicate files or photos on your Mac. Before you go any further with learning how to handle duplicates I encourage you to watch this video because a lot of times people are asking about duplicates and they really don't have them. They are simply looking at the same file but maybe in two different locations. Like the Desktop itself and the Desktop folder, or in the Photos App in one album and then also in another album. There is only ever one item. They are just different ways to view those items. I also have this video about how to find duplicate files on your Mac using a couple of different methods. Of course now in Photos there is a Duplicate Photos Finder inside the Photos App. It's really easy to use. So easy that I never actually did a specific video on it. It is just included as a tip here in this one video that runs down the new features of the Photos App.

I'm often asked about how to maximize a window on your screen. This can mean many different things and there are a lot of different ways to do it. For instance, you can double click the title bar in a lot of apps and it will maximize. But notice how here in Pages it doesn't actually go from end-to-end. It just goes to the largest size needed to display the content. So one way to actually get it to go bigger than that is to Hold the Option Key down and double-click anyone of the four corners, like that, and this will maximize. Of course you can also click the green button to use Full Screen apps. Checkout this video and it will show you the different ways to maximize a window. You could pick the one that you really want.

Now I'm often asked by users who have maybe gotten behind by a few versions of macOS what version of macOS they can upgrade to based on the model that they've got. Of course you can look this up on Apple's site. You could look up the different operating systems and then see the requirements for those systems. To put that all in one place I created this page here and it runs through all of the different operating systems and it shows you which models of Mac are compatible with those systems. So, if for instance you want to upgrade to macOS Monterey on an older Mac you could see if the requirements are met. In addition, I even have links as to where you can go to get that version of the operating system because it is not always obvious where to go to get the older versions.

Now often I'm asked how can you cut and paste files in the Finder. What somebody is really asking is how can you use keyboard shortcuts to move a file. On Windows you can select a file and then cut or Command X and it will disappear and then you can go to a new location and Command V to paste. But you can't do that on a Mac. As a matter of fact if you look under Edit you'll see you can only Copy. Cut is grayed out. But the idea here is Cut and Paste is basically just Move. So what you do is you actually do Command C or Edit Copy and then you go to a new location, like here, and if you want to Paste it in it will make a copy of it. If you hold the Option Key down Paste changes to Move. So on the Mac instead of Cut and Paste you do Copy and then Move. This ensures that there is no time where the file actually doesn't exist somewhere. So you can't cut it and then get interrupted and then forget to paste it.

Now that is not the only way to Move a file. There are a lot of other ways. I run down them all in this video here.

Finally, I'm often asked if it is a good time to buy a Mac or a certain model of a Mac or should you wait because Apple may come out with a new version of that Mac. The answer is complicated. It really depends on your needs and your budget. If you really need a new Mac now and it will help you with your work and it may be months before a new model is released then you should probably get a new one right now. After all there is always going to be a new model on the horizon somewhere. On the other hand if you're just thinking that you might need a new Mac but the one you're using now is perfectly fine, then you may want to take a look at some information to see if it is likely that Apple will come out with a new version of that Mac soon and wait for that. I've got this video here that looks a little deeper into the subject.

So there are some of the questions that people ask me the most. I hope this video and the videos I'm referring to are helpful. I want to end this special episode by once again thanking my Patreon supporters. They are what makes MacMost possible and I'm so grateful for them. Thank you very much.