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How-To - page 27

How to tell if Silver Sparrow malware is hiding on your Mac

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How to tell if Silver Sparrow malware is hiding on your Mac
Silver Sparrow could be in your M-series or Intel Mac. Here’s how to find out.
Graphic: Cult of Mac/Red Canary

Some of the first malware targeting both M-series and Intel Macs has affected thousands of computers. At this point, the malicious code — called “Silver Sparrow” — is not dangerous, and Apple may have pulled its teeth. But users of the latest macOS computers still might want to know if their device has it. And the same goes for owners of Intel-based Macs.

Here’s how to find out if your computer has been hit.

How to attend Apple’s 2021 virtual shareholders meeting

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The Apple 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders will be held February 23.
The Apple 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders is this week. Here’s how you can take part.
Graphic: Cult of Mac

Apple’s annual shareholders meeting won’t take place on the Apple Park campus this year as it ordinarily would. With the COVID-19 pandemic dragging on, it’ll be a virtual-only event in 2021. This is likely to increase participation in the February 23 meeting. And if you own AAPL shares, you can attend.

Here’s what you need to do.

How to turn off Activation Lock when selling your Apple device

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How to turn off Activation Lock when selling your Apple device
Activation Lock prevents anyone else from taking over your Apple device. Here’s how to turn it off.
Graphic: Cult of Mac

When you sell an iPhone, Mac or other Apple computer, it’s critical to turn off Activation Lock or else the buyer won‘t be able to use the device. It’s easy to do when you still have the product, and not that much harder if you’ve already sold it.

Here’s what you need to know to prevent problems.

How to use Mobility Metrics in iOS 14

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New mobility metrics in the iOS Health app provide essential data on how you’re walking.
New mobility metrics in the iOS Health app provide essential data on how you’re walking.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

The new Mobility Metrics feature that Apple added in iOS 14 offers important insights into your health and fitness. Using its built-in sensors and some extremely smart software, the iPhone in your hip pocket captures data and analyzes how you walk at all times. Then, the Health app serves up seven key measurements that provide an overall picture of your strength, coordination and cardiovascular health.

Even if you don’t experience any mobility difficulties, you might still be interested to see what these new stats reveal about the way you walk.

How to pair and customize a PS5, Xbox Series X controller in iOS 14.5

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Pair PS5, Xbox controllers with iPhone and iPad
A better way to play your games on iPhone and iPad.
Photo: Microsoft/Cult of Mac

PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X controllers can finally be used to play games on iPhone and iPad in Apple’s newest iOS and iPadOS 14.5 betas, seeded to developers on Monday.

We’ll show you how to set them up so that you’re ready to go as soon as iOS 14.5 rolls out to everyone.

How to use iCloud Passwords inside Google Chrome on Windows

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How to use iCloud Passwords in Chrome
Grab Apple's new Chrome extension today.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Apple has rolled out a somewhat surprise Google Chrome extension that allows users to access iCloud Passwords on Windows machines.

You can use it to sync all the passwords you’ve created on Mac, iPhone, and iPad to your Windows desktop. And to sync any passwords you create in Chrome to iCloud Keychain for use on Apple devices.

We’ll show you how to get set up.

How to classify Bluetooth devices and accessories in iOS 14.4

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Classify Bluetooth devices in iOS 14
It's worth the effort.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Apple’s new iOS 14.4 update, which rolled out to everyone Tuesday, gives us the ability to classify Bluetooth devices and accessories for the first time. Doing so helps make them work even better with iPhone and iPad.

We’ll explain why, and show you how to classify your connected Bluetooth devices in no time at all.

Automatically make websites faster, easier to read in Safari [Pro tip]

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How to enable Safari's Reader mode automatically
Don't let online bloat weigh you down.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Safari pro tips bugWe want to help you master Safari. Cult of Mac’s Safari Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of Apple’s web browser on iOS and Mac.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could strip out all the unnecessary bloat from your favorite websites so that they’re easier to read and faster to load? Well with Safari’s built-in Reader mode on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, you can.

What’s more, you can have Reader mode load automatically on every website you visit with a simple settings change. We’ll show you how in this Safari pro tip.

Show full URLs in Safari’s address bar on macOS [Pro tip]

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Show full URLs in Safari's address bar
Don't let Safari cut your URLs short.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Safari pro tips bugWe want to help you master Safari. Cult of Mac’s Safari Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of Apple’s web browser on iOS and Mac.

Sometimes it’s handy to see complete URLs in Safari’s address bar, but they get shortened automatically for the sake of cleanliness. The good news is there is a way to prevent that from happening in macOS.

We’ll show you how in today’s Safari pro tip.

How to avoid M1 Mac’s dreaded screensaver bug

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Avoid M1 Mac's screensaver bug
Fast User Switching seems to be the problem.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

A strange bug plaguing a seemingly large number of M1 Mac owners spontaneously displays a screensaver that cannot be dismissed. But there is an easy way to avoid the problem until Apple rolls out a proper fix.

We’ll show you how.

Automatically save your Safari reading list for offline viewing [Pro tip]

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Automatically save your Safari reading list offline
Access your reading list anywhere, anytime.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Safari pro tips bugWe want to help you master Safari. Cult of Mac’s Safari Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of Apple’s web browser on iOS and Mac.

Need something to read on the go when you don’t have great data connectivity? Automatically save your Safari reading list to your iPhone, iPad, or Mac so that you can keep up with your favorite sites anytime, anywhere.

We’ll show you how in this Safari pro tip.

Automatically fetch desktop websites in Safari on iOS [Pro tip]

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How to fetch desktop websites in Safari
Don't settle for mobile sites all the time.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Safari pro tips bugWe want to help you master Safari. Cult of Mac’s Safari Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of Apple’s web browser on iOS and Mac.

If you prefer an entirely unadulterated experience when browsing the web, you probably find yourself frequently loading websites in desktop mode in Safari on iPhone. But rather than having to enable this mode every time you visit a new site, you can have Safari fetch desktop websites automatically.

We’ll show you have to set it up in this Safari pro tip.

Change Safari’s save folder to prevent lost downloads [Pro tip]

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Choose Safari download location
Don't lose your Safari downloads.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Safari pro tips bug We want to help you master Safari. Cult of Mac’s Safari Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of Apple’s web browser on iOS and Mac.

How many times have you downloaded something from the internet and then had to spend way too much time trying to figure out where it was saved? It’s probably a common occurrence — especially on iOS.

But did you know that you can tell Safari exactly where to save your downloads so that you never lose them? We’ll show you how in this Safari pro tip.

Enable automatic Page Zoom for easier reading in Safari [Pro tip]

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How to enable Page Zoom in Safari
Make your favorite websites easier to read.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Safari pro tips bugWe want to help you master Safari. Cult of Mac’s Safari Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of Apple’s web browser on iOS and Mac.

iOS, iPadOS, and macOS allow you to increase font sizes system-wide so that everything you do is easier to see. You can do a similar thing to make your favorite websites easier to read inside Safari.

We’ll show you how to use Page Zoom in this Safari pro tip.

Close old tabs automatically to keep Safari clean [Pro tip]

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Automatically close old tabs in Safari
Let Safari take care of clearing old tabs.
Image: Cult of Mac

Safari pro tips bugWe want to help you master Safari. Cult of Mac’s Safari Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of Apple’s web browser on iOS and Mac.

Are you an unwitting Safari tab hoarder? It’s easy to forget to close old tabs you no longer need — especially on iPhone, where the dozens of open tabs you’ve forgotten about aren’t always visible. But did you know that Safari can clear all your old tabs automatically after a certain period of time?

Find out how to set up automatic tab clearing in this Safari pro tip.

Ditch Google for another search engine inside Safari [Pro tip]

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Change default search engine in Safari
Bing, DuckDuckGo, and others are available.
Image: Cult of Mac

Safari pro tips bug We want to help you master Safari. Cult of Mac’s Safari Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of Apple’s web browser on iOS and Mac.

Google has long been the default search engine inside Safari, but it’s not your only option. With a simple settings change, you can find what you’re looking for with Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo or Ecosia instead.

Find out how in this Safari pro tip.

4 useful things you can do with the Digital Crown on AirPods Max

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How to use the Digital Crown on AirPods Max
That little button does a lot more than you might think.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

AirPods Max are only the second Apple device to adopt Apple Watch’s brilliant Digital Crown. And you might be surprised by just how powerful that little button can be, from adjusting volume to controlling playback.

Here are four useful things you can do with the Digital Crown on AirPods Max.

How to choose which HomePod listens to you when using two or more

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How to choose which HomePod listens to you
It's easier than you think.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Are you constantly being ignored by the HomePod that’s closest to you when asking Siri for assistance? Sadly, Apple doesn’t make it completely obvious how to manually specify which HomePod listens to you when you’re using more than one. But it is possible — and super-simple.

We’ll show you how.