Lion

How to control which apps can access your contacts on OS X

When Apple released OS X Mountain Lion, it included some extra controls to help you keep personal information private. One area of personal information you now have control over is your Contact list. Prior to OS X 10.8, apps could access your Address Book (the name changed to Contacts with Mountain Lion) without alerting you, or requesting your permission.

When you run an app on OS X Mountain Lion for the first time, and it tries to access your Contacts, you'll see an alert similar to that above. Clicking OK will allow the app to access your Contacts, … Read more

Twitter said to be tossing 'Twitter for Mac' app

The rumor mill is heated up with chatter that Twitter is throwing the Twitter for Mac app under the bus. Apparently the social network is planning to stop all development and future updates on the app, according to TechCrunch.

Tech reporter MG Siegler announced earlier today, via Twitter no less, that, "Word is that Twitter made the call today: Twitter for Mac is done. They won't kill it outright, but no further updates. Goodbye, old friend."

There actually hasn't been much done to the app for some time now -- the last update was in June … Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week readers wrote in with questions regarding an odd apsd-related firewall error in OS X, the utility and risks of having Java Runtimes installed, options for maintaining Mountain Lion on corporate networks, and running MacBooks on a dead battery that will not charge. We welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: apsd firewall error in OS X MacFixIt reader Clem asks:

When I log into my system I … Read more

Proxy ports showing formatted text in Mountain Lion

In OS X, Apple supports the configuration of various network proxy servers for individual ports in its Network system preferences. In some instances users have been reporting odd formatting issues in which entered proxy port settings either adopt commas or decimal points, though the proxy settings still work just fine.

As with most network services, proxy settings require a specific communications port to be set so network traffic can be directed to the appropriate background tasks that require it. In many cases such as Web browsing (port 80) or FTP access (port 21) these ports are fairly well established and … Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week readers wrote in with questions about Mac Pro compatibility with the Thunderbolt Display and other Thunderbolt devices, whether or not Apple's Mountain Lion system requirements are a sales ploy, and options for avoiding Snow Leopard when upgrading to Mountain Lion. We welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, post them in the comments!

Question: Mac Pro compatibility with Apple's Thunderbolt Display MacFixIt reader Bahri asks:

I ordered a MacPro 3.2GHz Xeon … Read more

Apple keeps Mountain Lion up-to-date in the Mac App store

Starting with OS X Lion, Apple's Mac App Store became the primary means for distributing OS X, but the version of OS X in the store would sometimes lag behind the latest release. With Mountain Lion, the App Store is now being used to distribute system updates in addition to the full OS installer, and along with this development Apple appears to be updating the full OS download version concurrently with the release of the latest patch.

This means that if for some reason you are looking for an older release of OS X than the most current version, … Read more

Can Windows 8 win over CNET's Mac reviewer?

Apple's Mountain Lion and Microsoft's Windows 8 are now out in the real world. And this time more than ever, the two companies are taking the computer into two distinct directions.

After using both of the new operating systems, it's easy to see that each is more solid, more stable, and filled with more-compelling features than ever before. It's also true that Microsoft's radical new operating system is gorgeous, but this is not a beauty contest. Like I pointed out in my review for Mountain Lion, I still think Apple made the better choice in … Read more

OS X 10.8.1 update fixes Thunderbolt audio issues and more

Generally when Apple releases a major upgrade to OS X, it quickly follows with an update to tackle some of the immediate and outstanding bugs with the software. The time frame for this update has been between 13 days (for Snow Leopard) to 26 days (for Lion), and while Mountain Lion has gone for about a month so far in its initial release, the first update is now available and addresses pertinent problems with Thunderbolt audio noise and Mail accounts not working, among other issues.

One problem that people have reported with OS X 10.8 is an audio noise issue … Read more

How to use multiple disks with Time Machine in Mountain Lion

Having a full system backup solution for any PC is a highly recommended setup, but a preferred setup is to have redundant backups either in the same location or better yet, in multiple locations. While Apple has offered its Time Machine service as a fairly robust backup solution for OS X users, the service has been limited to a single backup drive and did not support any redundancy options. In Mountain Lion this has changed and you can now use multiple drives with Time Machine for the same system.

In prior versions of OS X, users had to either use … Read more