What’s That Little Orange Dot by Control Center in macOS 12 Monterey?

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Have you noticed a little orange dot next to the icon for Control Center on the menu bar in macOS 12 Monterey? (And if not, you can’t miss it now.) Apple added that dot to alert you that something is using the Mac’s microphone to listen to the room. Click the Control Center icon to see which apps are using the mic. In nearly all situations, it will be entirely innocuous: Siri needs to listen for the “Hey, Siri” trigger, as in the screenshot below, and the Zoom app needs microphone access to provide audio in a video call. But if you don’t recognize the app that’s listening, you’ll want to look into it to make sure there’s nothing creepy going on.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Mihajlo Maricic)

What Should I Do If I Get an “AirTag Found Moving With You” Message?

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First, don’t panic. Most likely, you’re borrowing something with an Apple AirTag location tracker attached to it, or someone left something with an attached AirTag in your car. Second, tap the alert to open the Find My app, which displays a map showing where the AirTag has been with you, which might shed some light on where it started traveling with you. Third, in the Find My app, tap Play Sound to try to locate the AirTag by its audible alert. Fourth, if you find the AirTag, hold it near your iPhone until a notification appears, and tap that for more information, including the last four digits of the owner’s phone number (search for it in the Contacts app to see if it’s anyone you know). We’re being intentionally brief here—for significantly more detail, including advice on contacting local law enforcement—read Apple’s support article.

(Featured image by iStock.com/BackyardProduction)

Go Beyond Get Info with the Finder’s Inspector Window

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You probably know that selecting a file in the Finder and choosing File > Get Info (Command-I) brings up the Get Info window. This window provides information about the file, including its name, kind, size, creation and modification dates, and much more. You can also use Get Info to hide or show filename extensions, lock and unlock files, and change permissions. But what if you want to do those things to multiple files or figure out how large a set of files is? Turn to the Finder’s Inspector window instead. Select multiple files, hold down the Option key, and choose File > Show Inspector (Command-Option-I). The Inspector window looks and works almost exactly like the Get Info window. As a bonus, if you leave the Inspector window open, it updates to reflect whatever you select in the Finder—that’s faster than opening Get Info repeatedly for different items.

(Featured image by iStock.com/ipuwadol)

Choosing the Best Mac for a College-Bound Student in 2022

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Do you have a child starting college soon? It’s likely that your kid has been relying heavily on a computer throughout high school, but if it was a school-provided laptop or shared family computer, now’s the time to get them something of their own. And even if they had their own laptop throughout high school, if it’s old or unreliable, college is a good excuse to bring them up to date. If you haven’t been paying close attention to Apple’s Mac lineup, you might wonder which model makes the most sense.

We recommend that you check with the college. Many college departments have specific requirements based on the software students use in their classes. Generally, these revolve around processor type, amount of RAM, and storage space. Luckily, current Macs should meet the requirements.

Colleges often specify—and students usually prefer—laptops instead of desktop machines. Although the 24-inch iMac is an excellent machine with a gorgeous screen, it’s too big and unwieldy for the transient lifestyle of the typical college student. The same applies to a Mac mini or Mac Studio with an external display. A laptop is much easier to pack during moves, and it can travel to class every day. A student who’s accustomed to taking notes on an iPad with a Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil might be able to use that along with a desktop Mac, but most students should focus on Apple’s laptops.

In the past, it was harder to decide which model was best for a given student, but with Apple’s move to the M1 and M2 chips, which significantly outperform the Intel processors used in previous models, the decision is easier. We see three primary scenarios:

  • Most students: Buy the MacBook Air. It’s Apple’s smallest, lightest, and least expensive laptop, but thanks to its M1 or M2 processor, it has fabulous performance for everyday tasks. The M1 MacBook Air from 2020 is still in the lineup, and it remains the best value for those who need the most cost-effective option (starting at $999).
  • Better specs: If performance is more important than cost—particularly if your student will be working with processor-intensive tasks like video editing—look to the 14-inch MacBook Pro. It features an M1 Pro chip that’s more powerful than the MacBook Air and is configurable with an even faster M1 Max chip. Its screen is bigger, and it can take up to 32 GB of memory. Its price starts at $1999.
  • Windows compatibility: The only downside of the transition to Apple silicon is that it’s no longer easy to run Windows using virtualization software like VMware Fusion (free for students) or Parallels Desktop. On M1 and M2 Macs, it is possible to run Parallels Desktop and Windows for ARM Insider Preview, but we can’t recommend that anyone rely on that combination yet. If Windows compatibility is paramount, your choices are a used Intel-based MacBook Pro or—much as we hate to say it—a PC laptop that runs Windows natively.

Regardless of which laptop you decide on, you’ll have to pick a processor, an amount of RAM, and storage capacity:

  • Processor: With the M1 MacBook Air, you’re get Apple’s incredible M1 chip with an 8-core CPU and 7-core GPU. There is also the new M2-powered MacBook Air, but that is $200 more expensive and offers little advantage for most students. The 14-inch MacBook Pro offers multiple processor options, and choosing among them is probably best done by weighing likely performance needs against the increased cost.
  • Memory: The M1 MacBook Air offers the choice of 8 GB or 16 GB. 8 GB is acceptable for most college students. The M2 MacBook Air lets you choose from 8 GB, 16 GB, or 24 GB. With the 14-inch MacBook Pro, 16 GB is standard, and while Apple offers a 32GB upgrade, this will not be necessary for college students.
  • Storage: For both MacBook Air models, 256 GB is the lowest storage level, and you can upgrade to 512GB, 1TB, or 2 TB. The 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at 512 GB and offers upgrades up to a whopping 8 TB. Choose the amount of storage based on budget—it gets expensive fast—and anticipated usage—audio and especially video can consume a lot of space, as can large numbers of photos, but most other uses don’t. Remember that it’s easy to connect an external SSD or hard drive to offload large files that don’t have to be kept available at all times.

In our experience, the most obvious choice for a Mac that will last through four years of college (and longer) would be the M1 MacBook Air with 8 GB of memory, and 256 GB of storage ($999). Be sure to budget for AppleCare+, too ($199 for M1 MacBook Air); it’s almost guaranteed that some mishap will befall a student laptop, and AppleCare+ covers up to two incidents of accidental damage every 12 months.

You’ll need to have some conversations with your child to find out what they think they’ll need—and be sure to double-check that against the college’s recommendations—but if you have any questions after that, don’t hesitate to contact us at 208-343-4631, or visit the store at 10523 Overland Road in Boise.

(Featured image by Apple)

Follow These Steps before Bringing Your Mac in for Repair

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It has finally happened. A repair is in your future, which entails bringing the Mac to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider such as MacLife, or shipping it back to Apple.

  • You need to protect yourself from data loss. The Mac could be lost or damaged while it’s out of your control, or the repairs might require replacing the Mac’s internal drive or logic board (or even the entire computer), even if you don’t anticipate that as a fix.
  • We need to be able to use the Mac sufficiently to determine that it works.

Here’s what we recommend you should do, if possible. Depending on what’s wrong with your Mac, you may not be able to perform all—or any—of these tasks. If that’s the case, complete as many as you can.

Back Up Your Mac

The one thing you should do is make a backup of your data, or preferably two. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get the same Mac back with the same internal storage. This should mostly be a matter of updating your backups.

We recommend using Time Machine with an external drive to make a current backup of your Mac.

If your Mac laptop boots but can’t be used due to a broken keyboard or trackpad, remember that you can attach an external keyboard and mouse. Also, if a broken screen prevents you from using it, try using Target Disk Mode to make your backup to another Mac. Or, if all else fails, bring in your backup drive with your computer and we can help.

Turn Off Find My Mac

It’s easy to turn off. Open System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud and deselect the checkbox next to Find My Mac. Make sure to turn it back on when you get your Mac back.

Turn Off Your Firmware Password

Few people have enabled a firmware password, and Macs with Apple silicon don’t support them, but if you have an older Intel-based Mac with a firmware password enabled, you’ll need to turn it off before the Mac can be repaired. If you’re not certain you use a firmware password, you probably don’t.

To do this, start up in macOS Recovery, choose Utilities > Startup Security Utility or Firmware Password Utility, click Turn Off Firmware Password, and enter the firmware password when prompted. Quit the utility and then restart the Mac.

Deauthorize Your Computer for iTunes Store Purchases

You don’t have to deauthorize your Mac before sending it in for repair, but it could save some headaches later on. Certain types of repairs might change the identity of the Mac in such a way that it’s no longer authorized but takes up one of your five authorizations. Authorizing another Mac could require that you first deauthorize all your computers, which you can do only once per year. Luckily, deauthorizing a Mac is easy to do.

In either the Music app or the TV app, choose Account > Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer. Sign in with your Apple ID, and click Deauthorize when prompted. The same submenu lets you authorize the Mac again when you get it back.

If you need help with these actions, or you don’t have a backup drive with Time Machine working, don’t panic. MacLife can help you with. Just bring your computer to the shop Monday – Saturday, 10-6 and we’ll get you set up.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Rawf8)