os x

Matrox has announced the release of its DS1 docking solution for Thunderbolt-equipped Mac systems, which comes in either a DVI or an HDMI option, and otherwise provides Ethernet, USB 2.0, and USB 3.0, as well as additional audio ports to Macs.

Thunderbolt is Apple's next-generation I/O technology that is built to be a long-lasting, multi-purpose port for its Mac lineup. The port offers a massive 10Gbps throughput and combines the protocols for both Displayport and PCI-express, allowing for not only external monitors but also a vast number of expansion possibilities, far beyond the capability of USB … Read more

The Russian security firm Dr. Web has uncovered another malware attempt on OS X systems that tries to exploit users with SMS fraud.

The new malware is a Trojan horse, dubbed "Trojan.SMSSend.3666," and is part of a family of Trojan malware for Windows and other platforms that have affected Windows users for years.

As with all Trojans, these pose as legitimate programs that are made available for download from a number of underground Web sites, with this current one for OS X appearing to be an installer for a program called VKMusic 4, a utility whose … Read more

One feature in Apple's iCloud service for OS X is its lock option, which allows you to remotely set a PIN for your Mac through iCloud's Find My iPhone service, and require that it be entered to boot the system.

This lock is similar to a firmware password for securing Mac systems. Not only does it prevent booting to alternative boot modes such as Safe Mode or Single User Mode, but it prevents loading in special hardware modes like Target Disk and Internet Recovery so the hard disk cannot be wiped or otherwise accessed.

Unlike the firmware password, … Read more

As with most e-mail clients, Apple's Mail program supports multiple accounts so you can access all of your e-mail from one program, and as such it is not uncommon for people to have different accounts configured for work, home, and other activities that they would like to keep separate. While convenient in some respects, there are times when composing messages using multiple accounts can have you redundantly selecting the account to send from.

By default Mail should use the current selected account as the "From" account when replying to a message, so managing replies or forwarding messages … Read more

Apple has released a firmware update that addresses a problem in which displays would flicker to black when used with the 2012 Mac Mini.

The problem, which we reported on in late November, was assumed to be related to one outlined by Intel involving its integrated HD 4000 graphics and a rumor arising from statements made by Intel representatives (which were later changed) that this was a driver-based issue that had been fixed and it would only be a matter of time for manufacturers like Apple to test and release updated drivers.

Rather than drivers, however, yesterday Apple issued an … Read more

A new report is out that suggests a fault may exist in Apple's Time Machine service, causing internal drives to be automatically and silently added to Time Machine's exclusion list, resulting in the service not backing up the data on these drives and not notifying the user of the change.

As outlined on Diglloyd's Mac Performance Guide blog, this problem appears to be situational to setups where many internal drives are being managed. To see this happen, be sure one of your internal drives is mounted and available, and then add it to the Time Machine exclusion … Read more

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

This week, readers wrote in with questions about the cabling requirements for using Target Display mode in new iMac systems, maintaining Snow Leopard after having upgraded to newer versions of OS X, RAM purchasing recommendations for Mac systems, and having a used Mac checked out by Apple or other technicians before purchasing. I welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: Using Target Display mode in new iMac systems MacFixIt … Read more

When you connect your Mac to a network, if you receive a proper configuration such as an IP address and DNS servers from your router then you should be able to use Mail, Safari, and other networking client programs to access various services either on the local network or through the Internet. However, sometimes it can happen that despite a seemingly healthy connection you aren't able to access Web pages and e-mail.

Recently MacFixIt reader Tom ran into such a situation with a university network:

In the past, classic search routines in the Mac OS scoured the directory tree of the file system to locate files, but with ever-increasing numbers of files on computers, these searches became slower and slower. To tackle this in OS X, Apple introduced an indexing solution called Spotlight as a replacement for the classic search, which actively indexes files as they are created or edited. When you perform a search, the system accesses this index to almost instantaneously bring up search results not only for file names, but also for relevancy since the indexing includes the content of the files … Read more