If you're going to college soon and need a new MacBook, choose carefully between the Pro and the Air. The new 16-inch MacBook Pro is a great choice if your student workload will involve some intensive operations like video-editing, gaming, rendering, etc. But for the majority of majors, the new 2020 MacBook Air will get the job done at a more affordable price. Plus, on the recent models, the keyboards have been fixed!
In these tough times, everyone is using the internet to watch videos online since there is often nothing better to do. However, if you do not need to watch a video in the highest resolution available, try to tolerate a slightly lower clarity in order to save some bandwidth for others. Videos like podcast discussions, news shows, and vlogs can arguably be viewed just fine in 480p or 720p.
Apple's iPhone photos are currently in the HEIC (high-efficiency image coding) format, an unusual file type that not every app/software support at the moment. If you do not want to use this standard, such as when editing images, you can change the format in Camera settings. Just open "Settings", find "Camera", and then tap "formats". Finally, select "most compatible". This will also allow your videos to come out as H.264 instead of HEVC.
If you're wondering if TVs are secure, they are! Just don't connect them to the internet! It sounds simple, but the temptation can be real for those who want to use apps to go online. If you keep the television offline, it can't secretly watch you (assuming the company behind it is shady). Get an Apple TV or Roku device, which are kept up to date. If your TV gets infected, the issue can even bleed into your network...which would be a huge problem.
If you need more storage for your Google account, such as archiving your emails, try "Google One" for peace of mind. It's a subscription plan with more benefits than Google Drive. The storage includes Drive, Gmail, and uncompressed images in Photos. Plus, it backs up important data from your Android Phone. You can share the plan with up to five family members, while also being able to hide personal files from them.
If you upgraded to macOS Catalina and wanted to continue using an old copy of Adobe Photoshop CS5 normally, you're probably out of luck. 32-bit software, like Adobe CS5 products, is not compatible with the newest Apple Mac operating system. Unfortunately, nowadays Adobe wants customers to subscribe to their Creative Cloud (CC) service to continue using their latest and greatest products. Alternatives to common Adobe-related tasks include Affinity Photo and Smile's PDFpenPro.
Most of the malware and ransomware that comes through the internet and onto our systems is thanks to email attachments. If you see an "invoice" with an artificially rushed, demanding tone from a powerful figure (such as your work boss) and they've attached a "PDF", be very skeptical and do not open it. The same goes for links, since they can take you to a very shady site. Make sure to update your computer with security patches to prevent infection from background exploit kits across the web.
Clean up or edit the accounts on your iPhone (iOS 13) by looking under Settings > Passwords & Accounts. This allows you to see what accounts reside on your iPhone, such as iCloud and Gmail. You can add new ones or delete accounts that you don't need anymore. If you have a malfunctioning auto-login process, such as one your workplace set up for you, you may want to delete the account and re-add it after consulting your IT coworkers. Random pop-up error messages can get quite annoying, after all.
Sometimes you may notice your Windows personal computer freezing or in stubborn hibernation. Windows has a hidden keyboard shortcut that can help restart video drivers in case of such an occurrence. You might need four fingers though!
Win+Ctrl+Shift+B
To manage music on your iPod, you will need to use iTunes (even on a Windows PC). Use the "sync" feature to only sync "checked" songs, as unchecked songs in the music library can be removed. Make sure there are copies of each of your music files on your computer. In the library. you can sort tracks by artist, album, and custom playlists. If you uncheck all, then you can basically clear your iPod of space and then pick what you want to add anew.
