I have installed Steam on my Mac, and have played several games on it. It’s great, but now I’ve found that some of the games I want to play are Windows-only, even on Steam. I get a “not supported on this platform” error.
Is there any way to play Windows-only Steam games on my Mac ?
Answer :
Yes there is.
Probably the easiest way to be able to play Windows-only Steam games on your Mac is to download and install NVIDIA GeForce NOW Cloud Gaming for Mac. At this moment of writing the service is in (FREE) Beta and only available in Europe and North America, but that will change in due time.
first you need to login by creating an NVIDIA account (or using your Google or Facebook account, which will also share your personal user data with those parties and their associates)
then you will need to test the speed and reliability of your internet connection, to do so, click on your username in the upper right corner and select “Test my network” from the pulldown menu
only if your internet connection is reliable and fast enough you will be able to proceed (sorry… this is one of the few disadvantages of cloud-computing…)
if you need to optimize your internet connection, you can use a direct Ethernet/UTP-cable from your internet modem to your Mac, and adjust or shut down your Firewall (that’s about the only thing you can optimize, full instructions can be found here)
now, inside the NVDIA GeForce NOW app, you will be able to log into your Steam account and browse for games as usual
you will now see that even the Windows-only games are available for you to run on your Mac
I had a complaint about the amount of spam I was getting from one particular sender, so our system administrator asked me to send him samples of the eMails in EML-format so he can have a look into the eMail-headers and adjust the spam-filter.
But how do I export eMail messages as EML-files ?
Answer :
EML is short for eMail ; an .eml-file is the typical way for macOS (and MacOSX) to store individual eMails that are not in your mailboxes.
The easiest way to export an eMail message from Mail.app to an EML-file is to Drag&Drop :
in Mail.app, select the one eMail that you would like to export
click on the eMail and drag it out of your Mail.app onto your Desktop (simply put : “Drag&Drop”)
now, on your Desktop, the eMail will be automatically be saved as an EML-file
you can double check this by right-clicking on the eMail-file on the Desktop and choosing Get Info ; at ‘Kind:’ it will be listed as ‘Email message’, and at ‘Name & Extension:’ it will be listed with the ‘.eml’-file extension if you uncheck “Hide Extension”
Then you can share the eMail as an attachment in another eMail or put it on a USB-stick or upload it to your system administrator or whatever you like.
In my office, I am using an external monitor as my main screen for my MacBook Pro.Β Today, the screen didn’t respond when I connected my MacBook however :Β the screen stays black and nothing appears on-screen.Β So I opened up my MacBook and used the built-in screen to figure out what’s wrong, but so far I haven’tΒ found any indication in the DisplaysΒ Preference Panel that my MacBook even detects the second screen…
What can I do ?
Answer :
In such situations you should always do this first :
Remedy #1 :
if you are using a MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, make sure you have the power adapter connected
if your laptop is on battery power, the external screen will go black whenever you close the lid of your laptop (when on battery power, all connections are powered off when you close the lid to save energy)
if this works, you’re good, if not, try Remedy #2
Remedy #2 :
make sure your monitor is switched ON
then hit the SPACE-bar on your external keyboard several times (maybe once, usually about 5 to 10 times…)
the monitor should now appear and show the inlog panel to unlock your screensaver
then login
if this works, you’re good, if not, try Remedy #3
NOTE : if you have a Benq monitor (especially the BL2420TP), try this first :
unplug all cables between the monitor and your Mac ( DisplayPort / Thunderbolt / HDMI / DVI / VGA Β and also USB, UTP, FireWire and PowerAdapter )
shut down your monitor
shut downΒ your MacBook
reconnect all cables and double-check if they’re properly connected on both the Mac and the monitor
switch on your MacBook
switch on your monitor
if this works, you’re good, if not, try Remedy #4
Remedy #4 :
on your MacBook, open Apple [main menu bar top-left] –> System Preferences
in the System Preferences window, select “Displays”
in the Display Preferences window, see if there is a button marked “Gather Windows” bottom right
if there is no “Gather Windows” button, press the ALT-key on your keyboard and a button marked “Detect Displays” appears ; click on it when it appears
if this works, you’re good, if not, try Remedy #5
Remedy #5 :
on your MacBook, open Apple [main menu bar top-left] –> System Preferences
in the System Preferences window, select “Displays”
in the Display Preferences window, see if there is a button marked “Gather Windows” bottom right
if there is aΒ “Gather Windows” button, click on it
then you will see 2 Display Preference windows on your MacBook screen
select the Display Preference window that has 3 tabs on it marked “Display”, “Arrangement” and “Color” (not the windowΒ that has “Display” and “Color” only)
first, press the ALT-key on your keyboard and a button marked “Detect Displays” appearsΒ where the “Gather Windows”-button used to be ; click on it when it appears
if your monitor switches on, you’re good, if not…
click on the “Arrangement”-tab and in the next window put a checkmark at “Mirror Display”
if your monitor switches on now, uncheck the “Mirror Display” option again and close your MacBook… you should be good now…
if this didn’t work, try Remedy #6
Remedy #6 :
unplug all cables between the monitor and your Mac ( DisplayPort / Thunderbolt / HDMI / DVI / VGA Β and also USB, UTP, FireWire and PowerAdapter )
shut down your monitor
shut downΒ your MacBook
reconnect your Mac to your monitor using a different type of cable then you normally would choose (e.g. if you normally use a DisplayPort/Thunderbolt-cable, use an HDMI or DVI cable now)
switch on your MacBook
switch on your monitor
if your monitor wakes from sleep now, open Apple –> System Preferences
in the System Preferences window, select “Displays”
in the Display Preferences window, see if there is a button marked “Gather Windows” bottom right
if there isΒ aΒ “Gather Windows” button, click on it
then you will see 2 Display Preference windows on your MacBook screen
now, remove the monitor-cable that you have just used to connect your MacBook to your monitor
then, reconnect your MacBook to your monitor using all cables you normally use to connect the two
if your monitor now wakes from sleep, you’re good
if it doesn’t, restart your monitor
it that doesn’t help, restart your Mac
normally your issue should be resolved by now…
if still the monitor stays showing a back screen, I’m sorry to inform you that your screen probably has a hardware problem… if so, get an authorized Mac-repair-centre to fix it, get the Apple Store support-crew to fix this…
I accidentally messed up the Office documents (Word/PowerPoint/Excel) I was working on, and I didn’t save it before, so I wanted to get the auto-saved version from the AutoRecovery-folder as I’ve done in the old days of Office 2008 and 2004.
But now I am using Office 365, and I can’t find the AutoRecovery folder anywhere… where is it ?
Answer :
You might have guessed : nowadays, the AutoRecovery-folder is located in an entirely different location on your Mac.
If you are running Office 2011 for Mac (whether as part of Office 365 or not) the correct path to the AutoRecovery-folder is this :
…and even though you might not immediately see the recovery files there, you will usually find them when when you search for hidden files in that folder [ see Note #2 below – Thank You to Kurt Pfirter for this addition ]
And if you are running Office 2016 for Mac (whether or not as part of Office 365) the correct path to the Word 15‘s AutoRecovery-folder(s) is :
BEWARE : it’s not straight-forward to get to this folder in recent/current versions of OSX and macOS, as the user’s Library-folder is a hidden folder. So if you want to access it, the easiest way to do so is :
– in the Finder, click on “Go” in the top menu bar
– when the pulldown menu appears, press the ALT-key on your keyboard (a.k.a. OPTION-key) and an extra option named “Library” will appear in the pulldown menu
– while holding the ALT-key, click on “Library” and your personal (hidden) Library-folder will open in the Finder
– there you can navigate further using the paths listed above to find the AutoRecovery-folder you’re looking for
That’s it.
Enjoy !
π
NOTE # 1 :
It is advisory to also switch on the “file overwrite protection” (or “double backup”) option as it stores the previous version of the file you are working on. In Word, you turn this feature on from Word –> Preferences –> Save and then mark the “Always create a backup copy” check box. This way, whenever you click “Save”, a backup version is made of the previous/stored version before it overwrites the stored version of the file… so with it turned on, you at least have one prior version of your file.
NOTE #2 :
If you do not see the autosave file you were expecting to find in the AutoRecovery-folder, you might need a ‘show hidden files’-app to find it. Especially Excel-autosave-files tend to be hidden.
[ a big Thank You to thekurrgan for discovering this and posting this find here ]
NOTE #3 :
it turns out that there’s a bug in Excel 2011 for Mac : even though the Autosave does save a file with an .xlsx file extension, it’s not a true .xlsx file ! trying to open it will lead to an “Microsoft cannot open this file”-error. The solution is to change the file extension to either .xlsb (Excel binary format) or .xlb (older Excel backup format), to enable Excel to recognize the file and enable it to open.
[ a big Thank You to Paul Preston for noticing this problem and for Bryan P for posting the solution on Superuser.com and to Rich Michaels for posting his updated solution on answers.microsoft.com ]
I would like to know which version of Java I have installed on my Mac, since the software I want to use will only run on Java 7Β or higher.
How can I check (and update) ?
Answer :
Java is a free software platform which isΒ operation system independent (so Mac & PC) created and maintained by Oracle. Despite it always having been a very reliable way of making cross platform games & applications, Apple has restricted the use of Java to ‘only when needed’ by default in the latest versions of OSX and macOS,Β because of the security risks involved in using Java and similar software that can run autonomously on your Mac next to macOS.
To find out which version of Java you have installed, do the online check that’s on this official website :
Just follow the instructions given and the resultΒ of the check will beΒ shown : you will either have the latest version installed, or you won’t… in that case update instructions will guide you to getting the latest version available for your Mac.
Someone just sent me a file over WeTransfer. After downloading it turns out to be a .zip-file, but when I double-click on it to unzip as usual, the Archive Utility does start the unzipping but ends in an error each time, claiming the .zip-file is broken.
I’m pretty sure the .zip-file isn’t broken… what can I do ?
Answer :
Even though OSX/macOS’s built-in Archive Utility is your default choice for zipping and unzipping files and folders, it turn out not to be the best choice for unzipping. (Especially .zip-files created on Windows PCs seem to be problematic every now and then…)
The solution is simple : just use an other app to unzip.
There are various payed alternatives like Stuffit ExpanderΒ andΒ WinZIP, but there’s no need to buy an app for this as most FREE apps ( like The Unarchiver ) will do just fine.
To install & use another app to unzip do this :
download a FREE zip/unzip-app from the Mac AppStore
after installation, lookup the .zip-file on your Mac ( it will probably still be in your Downloads folder or on your Desktop )
right-click on the .zip-file’s icon and select “Open with…” from the pop-up menu
I have a 16GB iPhone running iOS10, and it freezes whenever I want to take a photo… I get an error message that there’s no memory left on my iPhone so I can’t continue…
I checked and it turns out that I have literally 1KB (yes, only 1KB, not even 1MB…) left as free memory… and most of my 16GB is occupied by Photos.app (about 12GB)…
How do I free up space without deleting valuable photos and videos ?
Answer :
The best way (if not the only) to free up space on your iPhone will be to delete a lot of photos and videos, in your case. The way to do that without running the risk of throwing away photos and videos that you would have liked to backup it this :
connect your iPhone to your Mac using a USB-cable
open the Photos.app on your Mac
click on your iPhone, which is listed on the left side
now, in the main window, go to the photos that are displayed as ready to import (photos that aren’t on your Mac already are automatically filtered out by Photos.app
from that selection of (un-imported) photos and videos, select ONLY those photos you want to keep
import that selection onto your Mac
first check if all photos and especially all videos (as those are not being transferred automatically through iCloud syncing) you selected have been imported
then unplug your iPhone’s USB-cable
then delete all video’s you can, and if that isn’t enough, deleteΒ all photosΒ older than about one year from your iPhone
Please, note that iCould will only contain the most recent photos (usually not the videos)
now, restart your iPhone by simultaneously pressing the two main physical buttons : both the menu-button (just below the screen on theΒ front side) and the ON/OFF-button (top side or right side)
then checkΒ ifΒ you have enough free space on your iPhone now
if not, delete more photos from your iPhone (in the way explained above)
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