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25/8/2017 0 Comments Answering a parent question: Is there a way kids can 'hide' apps on their iPad, iPhone or iPod touch? iTandCoffee ran another two 'Keeping Kids Safe on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch' sessions at local primary schools this week, at St Rochs in Glen Iris and at Ashburton Primary. A question asked at one of these session was about whether there is an app that allows kids to hide apps that they don't want parents to see. One of the parents had heard about an app that looks like a calculator, but that actually hides things the child doesn't want parents to see. Apps that can hide photos and videos There are apps available in the App Store that do allow for the hiding of photos and videos that the device owner doesn't want others to see. Here is an article about such apps: Method for hiding Apps However, these apps do not allow for hiding of other apps - and there is no such app available in the App Store. (On Android, it is possible to get an app that locks other apps - but this is not possible on Apple devices.) Instead, anyone wanting to 'hide' apps on an Apple i-Device can use 'app groups'. By getting apps into the 'wiggle' mode (holding your finger on an app until it wiggles), one app can be dragged on top of another app to create an app group. Apps within that group can then be 'hidden' on second and third screens of that app group, so that the App does not appear as a little icon in the group that is on the Home Screen. Need further information on this? For those who need to understand this area better - just how one would achieve this 'hiding' in groups, we have recorded a short tutorial and made it available to iTandCoffee Club members, and added it to our library of iPad and iPhone Handy Hints. Not yet a member of our iTandCoffee Club? Find out more here » Related Handy Hints and Articles
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 A client who visited iTandCoffee last week was concerned that her Mac may have 'caught a virus'.
She had been browsing flights, going between web pages, when a nasty message popped up in her Safari session, saying that she had a virus and that she had limited time (a count-down clock was shown) to contact a provided phone number to resolve the issue - otherwise her files would be wiped. In this case, the pop-up that she saw in Safari was a scam, designed to make her think she had a problem when she didn't. We have covered the topic of fake Safari 'virus', 'malware' and 'ransomware' messages in previous articles:
While it is rare for a Mac to catch a virus, it is not so hard to pick up 'adware' and 'malware' - especially if you have teenagers who visits torrenting and gaming sites using your Mac. Such adware and malware can slow down your computer dramatically, and cause unexpected behaviour. If you want to protect your Mac from real threats, there are some excellent free products available. Here is a very recent article that provides details of some recommended products.  Have you lost your Downloads 'stack' from the right-hand end of the Dock on your Mac? Or is it perhaps displaying in a 'grid' format instead of as a 'fan' (as shown above)? Your Downloads 'stack' is normally found just to the left of the bin on your Mac, but can be inadvertently removed by dragging it out of the Dock. Getting it back is easy. Find out how in this week's members-only Handy Hint for Mac users. (Not yet a member of The iTandCoffee Club? Find out more here ») Related Handy Hints and ArticlesHandy Hints
 If you have one of the newer iPhones - the iPhone 6S or 7 (including the Plus versions), then you have a great feature that makes editing text so much easier. You can use your iPhone's keyboard as a trackpad, to move the cursor position more easily than the using the usual 'insertion point' method (touching the screen until you see the 'magnifying glass' and then moving your finger over text). Watch a demonstration of this handy feature in this week's Handy Hint for iPad and iPhone users. Members of The iTandCoffee Club can view this tip any time. Not yet a member? Find out more about the iTandCoffee Club here » Related Handy Hints and Articles
Handy Hints (for iTandCoffee Club Members only - find out more here »)
If you have an iPhone 6S, 6S Plus or 7 or 7 Plus, you may find that your phone sometimes shows something like the below screens - where the top half of the screen appears at the bottom.
This may leave you wondering what you did to cause your screen to change in this way.
The feature you have activated is called Reachability. It is designed to allow you to use your iPhone one-handed, and to access parts of the screen you can't otherwise access when using it one-handed. Reachability is activated by double-tapping on the Home Button. It is deactivated by double-tapping the Home Button again. If you are never going to use this feature, you can turn if off - to avoid it happening when you don't mean it to. Just go to Settings -> General -> Accessibility, and turn off the Reachability setting (which can be found in the 'Interaction' set of options). 
Many Mac users that we see at iTandCoffee have a Dock that is full of apps that they don't use.
The Dock is supposed to just show your 'favourite' apps - those that you will be using on a regular basis. It is easy to customise your Dock to include the apps that you want to see, and exclude those that you don't. Excluded Apps are not removed from your Dock. They are still accessible from your Launchpad (or from the Applications folder in Finder). Here's a quick video showing how easy it is to put new apps in your Mac Dock, and how to take out any that you don't want to keep there. Learn more about your Mac at home
iTandCoffee has a great set of user guides that will help you to get to know, and to get more from your Mac. They are available as PDF downloads, or in hardcopy. Find out more about these guides here »
Also available on the iTandCoffee website are videos of out 'Getting to know your Mac' classes and the 'Photos on the Mac' classes - for those who want to learn more about their Mac, but can't get to us in Glen Iris (or prefer to learn from home). Find out more about these videos here » Or come along to our classes In the last couple of days, iTandCoffee has received two queries from clients who are frustrated by the huge amount of SPAM that they are suddenly receiving to their Bigpond email accounts - up to 60 per day. One client mentioned that she had tried 'unsubscribing' from these emails, to no avail. Unfortunately, if you ‘unsubscribe’ from any such emails, it only serves to escalate the Junk. Only ever ‘unsubscribe’ from emails that you know are from legitimate businesses. (Here is a previous article on this topic: Why you should think twice before unsubscribing from Junk emails.) For anyone interested, here is an article about dealing with SPAM, on the ACMA website (Australian Communications and Media Authority): Dealing with Spam How can you stop all that Bigpond SPAM? SPAM is very difficult to stop. You may find that you get a flood of SPAM for a while, and then it seems to stop - especially if you just ignore it. If you find that the SPAM is too much to deal with, you do have the option to set up some ‘rules’ that automatically send these emails to your Junk mailbox, before they ever get to your computer or iPad/iPhone (or any other device). If some of the emails are from the same sender, you can also 'block' that sender. These methods of dealing with SPAm can usually be set up in your computers email app (eg. Outlook, Mac Mail), so that any mail that 'hits' your computer is checked and filtered before it goes to your Inbox. Unfortunately, if your computer is not turned on, this does not stop the SPAM from getting to your mobile device first. It is better to set up any 'rules' and blocks' in the Webmail version of any mail account. For your Bigpond mail, rules and 'blocks' can be set up by logging in to your account's ‘Webmail’ at email.telstra.com. Here are some instructions that Bigpond Support provides in a Telstra CrowdSupport post: There are two methods that you may want to employ to block those emails. The first is using key words and the other is by blocking the domain of the sending email. Another optionUnfortunately, Telstra's mail accounts are quite limited in the features that they provide when compared with other mail accounts like Gmail, Outlook, and iCloud. The option I have preferred is to forward all my Bigpond mail to an alternative mail account (in my case, my iCloud email account - but I could have used my Gmail or Outlook account), and manage it there. The other benefit of having done this a few years ago is that there is now very little mail that actually goes to my Bigpond account, which removes my reliance on having a Telstra email - in case I ever want to change my internet and mobile phone provider. Forwarding your Telstra mail can be easily set up from your account's Webmail. If you would like to learn more about using your web browser to manage your Bigpond mail, including how to forward your Bigpond mail to another email account, here is the applicable Telstra web page. Need more help?If you need help with blocking all that SPAM/Junk email, iTandCoffee can assist.
Appointments can be booked online at itandcoffee.com.au/appointments, or by calling 1300 885 420. 9/8/2017 0 Comments Have you done a 'health check' on your Mac lately? Thank goodness I did one today!
If you have been having trouble with your Mac - perhaps finding it is slow, or getting the 'spinning beachball of death' far too often, it may be that you have problem with your Mac's hard drive. Or there may be a simpler fix for your problem.
I was asked this week if it is worth downloading a product like 'Clean My Mac' or MacKeeper' to do a cleanup of a mis-behaving Mac. My answer is a big NO, that I would not download any such app. I would instead use some build-in utilities provided by Apple on your Mac, as well as performing some basic checks and tasks. A checklist for improving your Mac's performance Before you go looking for other potential causes of problems with your Mac, go through the list below. (iTandCoffee Club members can get the detailed instructions for how to do each of the below in the Handy Hint: A checklist for fixing a slow or misbehaving Mac.)
If you are not yet a member of The iTandCoffee Club, you can find out more about The Club here ». Club membership gives you access to a huge library of great tips like this, as well as free sessions, discounts, great online content and more.
We even have a great competition running - join the club before December 2017, and you go into the draw to win an iPad*.
What of the none of the above helps?
I should say here that if you haven't done a backup lately, then it is probably time to do one NOW, to avoid losing your precious files, especially your photos, should you be unable to 'recover' from the problems that are occurring on your Mac. If none of the above suggestions seem to resolve your Mac issues, it's time to look at whether there are problems with your Mac's hard drive, RAM, and maybe hardware. In fact, it is worth checking your hard drive's health on a regular basis. In writing this article and recording the Handy Hint to demonstrate how to check your hard drive, I actually found that my own Mac had an issue that needed to be fixed! Thank goodness I checked! Checking for problems with your Mac's hard drive is quite easy, using a utility that is provided on every Mac. iTandCoffee Club members can learn about how to find and use this utility in the below members-only tip.
What to do if a problem is found and you are told to use 'Recovery' mode to attempt a repair
When you perform this check of your Mac hard drive, you may find that a problem is detected that can't be resolved immediately (as happened to me today!), and that you are told to attempt a further repair from a mode called 'Recovery'. Learn about how to access and use Recovery Mode in the below Handy Hint for iTandCoffee Club members.
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Join the iTandCoffee Club today to go in the draw to win a new iPad!*
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More tips for troubleshooting Mac problems
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