Self Service
fix it yourself
Some sneaky tricks and fixes that we’ve stumbled across this month. If you find one yourself, send it in!
1 Spotlight normally closes as soon as you click the search window. If you are using it as a calculator, it can be annoying to have to remember the result when you switch back to the email you were writing. Right-clicking the magnifying glass icon on Yosemite’s menu bar will make Spotlight stay on top.
2 If another application is using the microphone then FaceTime won’t be able to open the device and won’t transmit audio (or warn you that it failed to open the mic). This happens even if the other app is running on another user account. 3 If you close the lid on a MacBook Air without shutting down and the battery runs flat, it can sometimes mistakenly think it’s plugged into an external display and the screen won’t turn on again. Fix this by pressing ç+ P+R+ power button.
4 Find empty folders on your Mac by creating a smart folder in Finder that matches ‘Kind is Folder’ and ‘Number of items equals 0’.
5 If iTunes seems to start itself spontaneously, check that no one in your household is using Bluetooth headphones that have previously been paired with the Mac. iTunes will start every time the headphones are turned on, if the Mac has Bluetooth on.