High Sierra & Server 5.4 Part 2: Time Machine New Location

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In this screencast tutorial I cover the first of many changes to High Sierra and Server 5.4. This week I take a look at a change that moves the Remote Time Machine backups out of the Server App and into system preferences on every macOS High Sierra System. I walk through how to set up the service and how to connect your Macs to the service to allow for wireless back ups.

The benefits of having Server for doing network Time Machine back ups has now moved out of the server and into the Mac itself. This solves a problem created Apple getting out of the router business which means that Time Capsules will not be developed anymore which leaves network back ups from Apple in the cold as far as Time Machine goes. By moving the service to system preferences so every Mac gets access to it, allows them to keep that part of the service and move out of the router business.



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High Sierra Server Part 1: Server Upgrade

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In this screencast tutorial I walk thru the upgrade process of moving from Sierra Server to High Sierra Server which is a point release to Server 5.4. If you haven’t upgraded to High Sierra yet, you may want to view my upgrade walk thru video first so you are up and running with High Sierra.

A word of caution! There are some significant changes to the server app with previous features being moved out of the server app to other places which means we don’t know how they function yet and how smooth a transition it will be during the upgrade. I would hold off on upgrading until I have had a chance to walk thru those features so you have a choice as to how you want to proceed with your own server.



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macOS High Sierra Part 2: Upgrad Prep & Walk Thru

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In this screencast tutorial I cover the upgrade to macOS High Sierra. I cover things to do to prepare for the upgrade and walk you through the steps so you know what to expect with your own upgrade.

This upgrade does add the Apple APFS File system which is automatically upgraded on all SSD only Macs but is not added to Fusion drive or regular Hard Drive set ups.

Also if you are running macOS Server you will want to hold off on the upgrade until you see the upgrade screencast I will do showing you the changes so you can decide if the upgrade is for you.





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iOS 11 Part 1: Upgrade & Set Up

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In this screencast tutorial I cover the upgrade and set up of iOS 11. Today is launch day and as a result I thought I would dive right in and walk you through the upgrade process. The upgrade went very smoothly and only took about 15 minutes total! This is probably the shortest and smoothest upgrade I have done on my iPad!

I walk through each of the segments of the upgrade process and show you what I see on my screen. So far I am very impressed with the results and love what Apple has done to make the iPad more like a desktop in terms of multitasking and interactions between applications like drag and drop. I use my iPad Pro far more than any of my other Apple devices on a day to day basis save my iPhone. It is the most portable option and now is slowly taking care of the things that bothered me about it in comparison to my Mac!




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macOS High Sierra Part 1: Safari, Notes, & Mail

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In this screencast tutorial I take a look at some of the changes to the upcoming macOS High Sierra. With the release just around the corner, I thought I would take a look at some of the refinements made to macOS in the upcoming version.

In this screencast I look specifically at Safari, Notes, and Mail and some of the changes you can expect in each. Each of these applications have little touches done to them that remove some of the friction experienced in previous versions. Because it is a refinement, those features are not always obvious so I hope to show you what those changes look like so you can start using them right away on launch day.




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File Manager Showdown Part 3: Pathfinder 7

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In this screencast tutorial I continue my look at file managers and this week take a look at Pathfinder 7 by Cocoatech (https://cocoatech.com). In my previous two screencasts I looked at Transmit 5 (https://youtu.be/gxTKReHdaAM) and Forklift 3 (https://youtu.be/t17qNc3BfcY) so you can check out those videos in the links provided. The previous two File Managers are pure ftp and file transfer applications that also happen to do a good job of viewing and managing your files on your Mac as a possible Finder replacement. This week we will look at an application that is built as a Finder replacement that happens to also do ftp and other file transfer protocols.

Pathfinder 7 includes so many features that I tried to give as much of an overview as I could but I know there are still features I didn’t have time to cover. The screencast gives you a great idea if Pathfinder is for you and covers the major features that make it unique in this space.



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Launchbar 6 vs. Alfred 2

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I have always had a weakness for launcher applications since I started using a Mac. I started out with Quicksilver and loved the big graphical interface and the way I could perform multiple actions quickly without ever having my hands leave the clipboard. When Quicksilver was not longer going to be developed (something that has changed a bit since then) I started using Launchbar. While Launchbar did not have the larger graphical interface I came to love with Quicksilver, it was very fast and I got used to using it for just about everything. I got to the point where I was lost on a Mac that did not have Launchbar installed! From there I moved to Alfred because it seemed to offer the best mix of a larger graphical interface and the power of customizing and adding actions to make me more productive. I have been happy with Alfred ever since and put it on all of my Macs.

Well just a couple of weeks ago the guys over at Objective Development decided to release an update to Launchbar and introduced Launchbar 6. From the looks of it I could see that it had gotten a make over and added the larger interface I had wanted and a few new changes and tweaks to the services it could perform. So being the launcher addict that I am, I had to take a look at it. I was happy with Alfred but I couldn’t leave enough alone and now I am trying to decide which one I like best. In my quest to decide which one to go with, I made a list of features and compared them side by side. In doing this I determined that they are both very similar and capable applications. They really do overlap in a lot of ways in terms of their features but they differ when it comes to how they chose to implement some of those features.

Now I am still confused on what to do and I am still playing with both to figure out which one I will land on long term. So I decided to do a screencast to show you what I found and in the hopes that maybe it will help you decide which one is for you, or at least let you see what has changed with Launchbar 6. Really they are both very similar, with a few nuances which really means you can't make a bad decision either way. Both can be customized to almost match each other's features so it really comes down to what you want built in and what you want to customize (I'm still trying to decide myself they are so close!).

I would love to know your thoughts and which launcher you landed on. Let me know what you think by leaving any questions or comments below or on my
Youtube Channel.




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Guest Spot on ScreenCastsOnline

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This week I had the privilege of having one of my screencasts on MoneyWell shown on my favorite Mac tutorial site ScreenCastsOnline. Don McAllister who is the Host and Founder of the weekly screencasts was really one of the people who inspired me to do screencasts as a great way to educate people on how to use Apple Software. I started with my own YouTube Channel and started with screencasts for my family and friends and found others were interested in viewing the screencasts as well, especially the ones I have recently been doing on Lion Server. You can see my other screencasts at my YouTube Channel below or here on my site by clicking HERE.

YouTube Channel Videos


If you haven’t checked out ScreenCastsOnline and you are an Apple Computer user I highly recommend checking Don’s tutorials out as they are very well done and a great way to learn new ways to use your Mac. Click the screenshot below to check out my guest spot and to get a feel for the great service Don has to offer. Thanks for using my screencast Don and making it look even better to boot!

ScreenCastsOnline Guest Spot

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