Tutorial Time: 1 minute.

Tutorial Requirements:

• An Apple computer running Mac OS-X.

Tutorial Overview:

This tutorial illustrates how to change the default web page that Safari loads upon launching. This is useful if the default has changed unexpectedly, or if you’re unhappy with the current default. Here are the steps to do this:

Tutorial Time: 2 minutes.

Tutorial Requirements:

• An Apple computer running Mac OS-X.

Tutorial Overview:

This tutorial covers a the ability to change the aesthetics of your Mac; specifically, changing the desktop wallpaper. The wallpaper is an image, (usually a .JPEG, or .PNG) located somewhere on your computer (depending on default settings or prior customization.) We can easily change the look of your Mac experience by following these steps:

1. Click anywhere on your desktop to ensure that Finder is the current active application:
    
2. To interact with the desktop options, either right click, control click, or two-finger click with the Magic Trackpad on the desktop. Select “Change Desktop Background“:
   
   System Preferences will load, and display the Desktop & Screen Saver preferences pane:
   
3. On the left column, you can browse Apple-provided wallpapers via the default categories:
   
4. Alternatively, you can add a folder (as a source of wallpapers,) by locating one on your Mac. Click the “+” (plus) button near the lower left to browse for a folder.
5. Navigate to a folder containing images you’d like to use as wallpapers:
   
6. When found, click Choose.
   Note: Now the folder will appear in the left column of the wallpaper preferences, for easy recall in future.
7. Select one of the pictures in the folder for use as a wallpaper:
   

Adjusting How A Wallpaper is Displayed:

• Fill Screen: Zooms the image in or out, until it fills the entire contents of the desktop (preserves perspective, at the loss of cropping.)
• Fit to Screen: Zooms the image out until the entire image is displayed (albeit usually smaller.) Option for changing surrounding solid desktop colour.
• Stretch to Fill Screen: Stretches the image vertically and horizontally, so you can see the whole image (but often with distorted perspective.)
• Center: Zooms image to represent 1:1 pixel ratio, i.e. small images will simply appear in the middle of the desktop. Option for changing surrounding solid desktop colour.
• Tile: Fills the desktop beginning in the top-left corner, and repeats horizontally and vertically (great for use with patterns.)

Optional: Automatically change Wallpaper at Regular Interval or Event:

• Optionally, your Mac wallpaper can change on an interval or special events, such as every 5 minutes up to every 24 hours, and when logging in, opening the lid of your portable Mac, or logging in to your user account.

Conclusion:

Your desktop should now be refreshed and updated with your choice of image! When you’re satisfied with the desktop, close System Preferences.

As always, please post your feedback, questions, suggestions, etc in the comments section at the bottom of this blog post! Thanks.

Tutorial Time: 10 minutes.

Tutorial Requirements:

• An Apple computer running Mac OS-X with Mail app available, OR:
• An iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch (all models) running iOS version 4.3 or newer.

Tutorial Overview:

In this tutorial, we’ll look at the best ways to ensure your email attachments get to their intended recipients, on both Mac and iOS devices (meaning, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch.)

Example: Mac OS-X Mail App

Key ideas:

• Attachments can be added to mail messages at any time.
• Attachments will appear in-line as an icon within the message body.
• There are multiple ways to attach files to messages, but two of the most popular methods are:
  • Dragging the file icon from Finder into the message, or by,
  • Clicking the Attach button at the top of the message header.
• This tutorial will cover the latter procedure.
• When the recipient views the message, they’ll see the attachment in it’s entirety. Depending on the email client they’re using (i.e. Mail on another Mac, or Windows Live Mail on a PC, etc.) the attachment might appear in the same place in the document, or sometimes in the menu bar of their software, or occasionally at the end of the email.

Sending a PDF as an attachment:

1. Open Mail:
   
2. Create a new message:
   
3. Fill in the recipient, message body etc, and when ready, click the Attach button in the message window header:
   
4. Browse for and select the file you want to attach:
   
5. When found, click Choose File to insert it as an attachment into the message.
6. When you insert an attachment, it will usually be shown in full preview mode:
   
7. To turn the attached file (ie. PDF document seen here) into an icon, for easier navigation and viewing the message body, simply right click on the file (or Control + click with a single-button mouse, or two-finger click with the Magic Trackpad) and select “View as Icon“:
   
8. Once the attachment is seen as an icon, you can continue with the email body right after it:
   

Example: iOS Mail App

Key ideas:

• On your iOS device, email attachments can only be created from within Apps (but not from within Mail.)
• Some out-of-the-box apps support email attachments, such as Contacts, Photos, Youtube, and so on.
• Countless apps (available on the App Store) offer email attachment support (often found under a button labeled Share .)
• Attachments will appear in-line as an icon within the message body.
• You can always save a Draft of the message, from within the host app, so you can finish writing it later and send it from the Mail app.

Note: This tutorial is demonstrated with iPad, however the tutorial steps are the same on iPhone and iPod Touch, albeit with an interface designed for smaller screens.

Sending contact information as an attachment:

1. Launch Contacts:
   
2. Search for and select to the contact you want to send:
   
   (Click/tap image above for more detail.)
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the contact information, and tap Share Contact.
   
4. When you tap Share Contact, a new email message appears, with the contact information already prepared in a .vcard attachment. Simply fill out the recipient details and body of the message, and tap Send:
   
5. If you’d like to save the message as a Draft, to finish and send later from Mail, tap Cancel, then Save Draft:
   

Conclusion:

You should now be well-versed in creating attachments for your email! If the email recipient repeatedly has trouble finding or opening the attachments you’re trying to send, please review the message you’re sending, and ensure that you see the attachment icon corresponding to the files you want to send. If the recipient is still having trouble, ask them to check their email client to see if the attachments arrived at all. If you need more help, please contact us for assistance.

As always, please post your feedback, questions, suggestions, etc regarding this article in the comments section at the bottom of this blog post. Thanks!

Tutorial Time: 5 minutes.

Tutorial Requirements:

• An Apple computer running Mac OS X.
• An available wireless network, with a known network name and password.

Tutorial Overview:

In this tutorial, we’ll cover an important feature of wireless network connection management in OS X, known as Preferred Networks.

This tutorial follows on the heels of a previous post, covering the basics of connecting to wireless networks. If you’re not familiar with these steps, please review them before continuing. When you’re ready, here are the steps to follow:

1. From the far-left side of the Menu Bar, click the Apple icon, and select System Preferences:
   
   (System preferences will appear.)
2. Under the “Internet & Wireless” section, click Network:
   
3. The preferences for network connections is displayed. On the left pane, click on your Airport connection:
   
4. Now, we need to authenticate with an Administrator-level Mac user account to make changes to the network settings. Click the Lock icon at the bottom left of the window:
   
5. Enter your Administrator user name and password, and click OK to continue:
   
6. Once we’re authenticated, the Lock will unlock. Click the “Advanced…” button near the lower right of the window:
   
7. The Advanced network settings pane will appear, and under the Airport tab, a list of preferred networks is displayed:
   
8. When you click on a preferred (remembered) network in the list, you have a few options as to what to do with it:
   
   1. If you click the “–” (minus) icon, you can remove it from the list.
   2. If you click the pencil icon, you can edit the existing network name, security (encryption protocol,) and password:
      
9. If you want to add a new preferred network to the list manually, you can click the “+” (plus) icon. You’ll be presented with a network name entry form:
   
10. If you click “Show Networks” your Mac will scan for available wireless networks, and allow you to select and configure one as a preferred network:
    
    …and click “Add” or “Save” when you’re done entering the details.
11. Click “OK” at the bottom of the Airport preferences window, and close System Preferences to finish up.

Conclusion:

Your preferred network list should now be up to date, with settings saved for your usual wireless network connections!

As always, please post your feedback, questions, suggestions, etc in the comments section at the bottom of this blog post! Thanks.

Tutorial Time: 3 minutes.

Tutorial Requirements:

• An Apple computer running Mac OS-X.
• An available wireless network, with a known network name and password.

Tutorial Shortlink: http://myv.ms/mTu32c

Tutorial Overview:

In this tutorial, we cover one of the most essential skills required to take advantage of Internet connectivity on your Mac; learning how to connect to local wireless networks (also known as WiFi.)

Here’s how we get connected:

1. From the far-right side of the Menu Bar, click on the Wireless indicator icon:
   
2. If your Airport is not yet turned on, click “Turn AirPort On“.
   
3. Click on the indicator icon again, and a wireless network survey menu will appear:
   
4. Click on the wireless network you want to connect to.
5. When prompted, enter the password for the network, and click OK:
   
   (Connection will be established.)
6. The wireless indicator icon will turn from “searching” to “connected”, and show the wireless signal strength:
   
7. You’re now connected to the network! Assuming your wireless network is connected to the Internet, you should now be online.

Conclusion:

You should now be able to connect your Mac to any locally-available wireless network, at home, in coffee shops, hotels, and even on commercial airline flights!

As always, please post your feedback, questions, suggestions, etc in the comments section at the bottom of this blog post! Thanks.