Finder

A quicker way to toggle hidden files on macOS, no Terminal required

Sometimes you need to edit a system file, or look at a file created by one of your programs. Many of these files are hidden by default, so you'll need to make them visible before you can go about your business. One example I often encounter is hosts files, either for SSH or for your computer's whitelisted and blacklisted domains, though there are many others.

100+ new features in macOS High Sierra

Say hello to macOS High Sierra, Apple's newest operating system update for Macs. Whether you're on an iMac or one of the Touch Bar-outfitted MacBook Pro models, there is a lot to love in this latest release of Apple's desktop operating system.

How to remove the Macintosh HD icon from the desktop on Mac

Remove the Macintosh HD and other hard disk icons from Mac desktop

Neat freaks like me like to keep the desktop of their computers free of any clutter. That includes files, folders, and of course, the Macintosh HD icon. As a matter of fact, removing the Macintosh HD icon from the desktop is one of the first few things I do when setting up a new Mac.

Although pretty simple to do, hiding that icon is not very obvious to less tech-savvy people. So in this post, I will describe how to remove the Macintosh HD or the hard disk/SSD icon from the desktop on your Mac.

macOS 10.12.4 properly displays icons for Windows executable files in Finder

Yesterday's beta release of what would become the fourth major software update to macOS Sierra doesn't just bring iOS's Night Shift mode to your Mac. Aside from that feature and things like an updated PDF API, expanded Dictation support or the ability for Siri to look up cricket scores and rosters, macOS Sierra 10.12.4 includes better handling of Windows executable files in the Finder.

As discovered by Microsoft's Mac product designer Vaclav Vancura, rather than use a generic icon to represent Windows executables like before, macOS Sierra 10.12.4 now actually parses .EXE files for native Windows resources such as icons.

How to hide specific mounted volumes from your Mac’s desktop

We've already covered how to completely prevent partitions from mounting under macOS, but sometimes you want a partition mounted and ready to use but still want the benefit of it not cluttering up your desktop. For example, many people want their Time Machine partition constantly mounted and backing up throughout the day but don't need it to be visible at all.

Finder's preferences allow for hiding all volumes from the desktop but offer no control on a volume-by-volume basis. Therefore, we'll show you how to use the Terminal to hide mounted volumes on a case-by-case basis.