Apple Disk Utility helps ensure things are running smoothly
Q: Is there a utility for Apple computers that is like the defrag or chkdsk utilities on Windows?
A: The tool Apple has for this is called Disk Utility, and you can find it in the Utilities folder under the Applications folder in Finder.
You can also use the Spotlight Search to find it by name.
When you open this utility, it will show you all of your physical drives, along with the partitions, which are also referred to as Volumes.
When you are looking at this utility, the physical hard drive is at the top and the volume or volumes are nested below.
The most commonly used feature of this utility is First Aid.
You can select your drive or the volume and then click on the First Aid button, and it will check the drive or volume for errors and repair them if it is able to do so.
I recommend running the utility on both the physical drive and the nested Volume.
I use this tool about once a month just to make sure everything is in good working order, and I will use it if I am noticing that the computer is not performing well.
To learn more about how Apple defines its drive and file systems, have a look at the Lifewire article at www.lifewire.com/volume-vs-partition-2260237.
Q: I bought one of the new MacBook Pros, and I really like it. The problem I am having is that I would like to connect my external monitor, mouse and keyboard so I can use it at my desk, and I am not seeing a way to do this. What are my options?
A: The new Macs, as well as many new PCs, are moving away from familiar input ports like VGA, DVI, HDMI and even USB, making it a challenge to connect external devices.
The new input for these newer computers is known as USB-C.
The good news is that USB-C will allow you to connect just about any external peripheral you can think of. The bad news is that you will need an adapter to connect anything that is not also USB-C.
There are any number of adapters that will provide a one-to-one conversion, but a better option would be a USB-C hub, which would provide the ability to connect multiple devices to a single USB-C port.
Wirecutter has a good review of these types of adapters at tinyurl.com/helplinehubs.
I use one of these for my MacBook and it lives on my desk, acting like a docking station for when I need to connect to my external monitor and Time Machine drive.