Hi! This is Gary Rosenzweig with MacMost Now.
This is Gary with Episode 1000 of MacMost Now. Hi, this is Gary with
MacMost episode number 2000. Hi this is Gary from MacMost.com. This is episode number 3000.
MacMost is brought to you thanks to a great group of more than 1000 supporters. Go to
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So to celebrate the 3000th episode of MacMost I thought I'd answer some of the
questions I get the asked the most frequently. First, do you need anti-virus on your Mac? I
often get asked this and the answer is, well you already have anti-virus on your Mac. Part of macOS
is something called XProtect. You could read about it at Apple Support sites if you like. XProtect is
the built in anti-malware software on your Mac. It looks for malware and gets rid of it. You already
have it installed so if you're asking the question because, say, your company or organization wants
you to have anti-virus on your computer you can tell them, yes you've got it. Otherwise you don't
need anything extra. I have this video here where you can learn more about how to protect yourself
from malware on your Mac without needing to install any kind of third party app.
Next I'm often asked what is taking up so much space on someone's Mac. Usually they will end
up going to System Settings here and looking at their storage and then finding all of these
different categories here and wondering why one of them is larger than they think it would be.
You can also see a list here. The thing to keep in mind when looking at this list is these are
categories. They're not folders. So, for instance, documents here isn't your Documents Folder. If you
compare this number to the size of your Documents Folder they won't match. This is a category. So
it includes documents in your Documents Folder but also documents that maybe stored in other
folders as well. Chances are what you really want to know is not what is taking up space on your
Mac but how do you free-up more space on your Mac. I've got this video here which will show
you twenty different ways to clear off space. If you go through and look at these different areas
of your Mac then you'll probably have the free space that is what you're really looking for.
Now next I'm often asked questions about MacBook batteries. Particularly is it okay
to have your MacBook plugged in all the time. The answer is YES. It certainly is.
Just because your MacBook has a battery doesn't mean you need to use it all the
time. As a matter of fact if it is sitting on your desk all the time have it plugged
in so you're not actually running through battery cycles. There are a lot of myths
about using MacBook batteries and I run through most of them in this video here.
Now next I'm surprised at how often I'm asked whether or not you can use an old iMac as just
a display for, say, a new Mac Mini. The answer is basically NO. There used to be something called
Target Display Mode. You can do that with an old iMac. But if you look on Apple's site you'll find
that there are only very specific iMacs that this works with. In addition to that the new Mac has to
be something from 2019 or earlier running Catalina or earlier. So your old iMac has to be something
pretty specific. Your new iMac as well. It can't be one of the newer Macs of the last few years.
So the answer really is no. In fact it is probably not worth it running these old iMacs as a screen
because they are not the standard retina display now. They are the older iMac displays that don't
have nearly as many pixels, aren't as bright, and aren't as good a quality as even a cheap HD screen
is today. So you're going to want to resell or recycle that old iMac and invest in a new display.
Now next is how to take a screenshot on a Mac. I'm often asked this and it's confusing because
there are so many different keyboard shortcuts you can use. But there is only one that you
actually need to know. If you go into System Settings and then you go to Keyboard and then
Keyboard Shortcuts look for Screenshots here. You'll see all the screenshot settings. I want
you to check here because it is easy to change it and then get confused when I tell you that Shift
Command 5 is what you want. Check to make sure you haven't customized it to something else and
make sure that it is turned on. Once you have that turned on just use Shift Command 5 and it brings
up all the screenshot controls here. So if you can't remember what to use just always remember
Shift Command 5. It will bring you here. You can choose Capture the Entire Screen, Selected Window,
a portion. You can set all the options like where it is saved to and such. If you want
to go into more detail I've got this video right here that shows you all of the different options.
Now I'm also often asked about how to find duplicate files or photos on your Mac. Before
you go any further with learning how to handle duplicates I encourage you to watch this video
because a lot of times people are asking about duplicates and they really don't have them. They
are simply looking at the same file but maybe in two different locations. Like the Desktop itself
and the Desktop folder, or in the Photos App in one album and then also in another album.
There is only ever one item. They are just different ways to view those items. I also
have this video about how to find duplicate files on your Mac using a couple of different
methods. Of course now in Photos there is a Duplicate Photos Finder inside the Photos App.
It's really easy to use. So easy that I never actually did a specific video on it. It is just
included as a tip here in this one video that runs down the new features of the Photos App.
I'm often asked about how to maximize a window on your screen. This can mean
many different things and there are a lot of different ways to do it. For instance,
you can double click the title bar in a lot of apps and it will maximize. But notice how here
in Pages it doesn't actually go from end-to-end. It just goes to the largest size needed to display
the content. So one way to actually get it to go bigger than that is to Hold the Option Key down
and double-click anyone of the four corners, like that, and this will maximize. Of course
you can also click the green button to use Full Screen apps. Checkout this video and it will show
you the different ways to maximize a window. You could pick the one that you really want.
Now I'm often asked by users who have maybe gotten behind by a few versions of macOS what version
of macOS they can upgrade to based on the model that they've got. Of course you can look this up
on Apple's site. You could look up the different operating systems and then see the requirements
for those systems. To put that all in one place I created this page here and it runs through all
of the different operating systems and it shows you which models of Mac are compatible with those
systems. So, if for instance you want to upgrade to macOS Monterey on an older Mac you could see if
the requirements are met. In addition, I even have links as to where you can go to get that version
of the operating system because it is not always obvious where to go to get the older versions.
Now often I'm asked how can you cut and paste files in the Finder. What somebody is really
asking is how can you use keyboard shortcuts to move a file. On Windows you can select a file and
then cut or Command X and it will disappear and then you can go to a new location and Command V
to paste. But you can't do that on a Mac. As a matter of fact if you look under Edit you'll see
you can only Copy. Cut is grayed out. But the idea here is Cut and Paste is basically just
Move. So what you do is you actually do Command C or Edit Copy and then you go to a new location,
like here, and if you want to Paste it in it will make a copy of it. If you hold the
Option Key down Paste changes to Move. So on the Mac instead of Cut and Paste you do
Copy and then Move. This ensures that there is no time where the file actually doesn't
exist somewhere. So you can't cut it and then get interrupted and then forget to paste it.
Now that is not the only way to Move a file. There
are a lot of other ways. I run down them all in this video here.
Finally, I'm often asked if it is a good time to buy a Mac or a certain model of a Mac or
should you wait because Apple may come out with a new version of that Mac. The answer
is complicated. It really depends on your needs and your budget. If you really need a new Mac now
and it will help you with your work and it may be months before a new model is released then
you should probably get a new one right now. After all there is always going to be a new
model on the horizon somewhere. On the other hand if you're just thinking that you might
need a new Mac but the one you're using now is perfectly fine, then you may want to take a look
at some information to see if it is likely that Apple will come out with a new version of that
Mac soon and wait for that. I've got this video here that looks a little deeper into the subject.
So there are some of the questions that people ask me the most. I hope this video and the videos
I'm referring to are helpful. I want to end this special episode by once again thanking my Patreon
supporters. They are what makes MacMost possible and I'm so grateful for them. Thank you very much.