Glenn Fleishman

1 week ago | sixcolors.com | Glenn Fleishman

iCloud Photos requires mysterious files and processes and often consumes huge amounts of storage space. Six Colors subscriber John writes in with a question about one aspect of this: I have photos set to optimize storage, and it’s currently (according to DaisyDisk) using 60GB of my 500GB MacBook Air.…But mediaanalysisd is also using 60GB – I understand that’s one of the processes that run when idle, but should it be using that much space, and can I restrict it?

2 weeks ago | sixcolors.com | Glenn Fleishman

Six Colors subscriber Lindsay writes: I use Dropbox for storing all my work and personal files and syncing between my three Macs. The plan was to move my Dropbox folder and my Apple Photo Library to the external SSD, leaving the internal SSD mainly for Applications. The issue I am having is that Dropbox re-indexes every time I restart the Mac, taking about 6–7 hours, then syncs for another 4–5 hours.

2 weeks ago | sixcolors.com | Glenn Fleishman

A couple of questions related to syncing your TV app usage across devices have come across the transom. Six Colors subscriber Jason owns two Apple TVs of different vintages, both updated to the latest tvOS production release. He notes: The older [HD] 4th generation device always seems to lose the ability to update the TV app for the Continue Watching list. I’ll watch something on TV+, and it won’t update the list; same for Max, Hulu, Paramount+, etc.

3 weeks ago | sixcolors.com | Glenn Fleishman

Six Colors subscriber Ampsonic—an excellent source of questions—asks: Why do some names turn red in Messages when a non-iOS user is added? It’s all about hegemony! Ok, not quite, but it is about the tricky issue of how Apple deals with email addresses connected or not connected to iCloud accounts. Outside looking inWhen you enter an email address or type one into the address field in Messages, the software does a quick behind-the-scenes check.

1 month ago | sixcolors.com | Glenn Fleishman

Six Colors reader Philip asked some specific networking questions that centered on this dilemma: How does the choice between using Ethernet vs. Wi-Fi get made? Does one particular transaction solely use Ethernet or Wi-Fi, or can it be a mixture of the two? Home, home on the range of choicesOne of the joys of the modern Mac is that you can attach all sorts of networks to it, and macOS just figures it out. Gone are the days of installing drivers or digging deep into network configuration settings.