Adam Engst was thrown for a loop recently when his iMac’s SSD died suddenly. This week, he shares lessons learned from the process of figuring out how to become functional again, which is easier said than done, even with good backups. If you’re stuck with tabbed windows in the Finder but would prefer folders to appear in their own windows, Adam also points out which two settings control that behavior. Some serious security vulnerabilities in Mail in iOS have come to light, but Glenn Fleishman explains why you probably don’t have to worry about them. Finally, if you’re working from home and want a standing desk, Julio Ojeda-Zapata suggests two affordable options. Notable Mac app releases this week include Transmit 5.6.4 4/21/20, Default Folder X 5.4.5, Fantastical 3.0.11.
Frustrated by having drives and folders in the Finder open in tabs instead of new windows, Adam Engst discovered that there are two preferences that control this behavior, and one is in a surprising spot.
A security research firm found a pair of bugs in Mail in iOS 13 that could be leveraged to allow arbitrary code to run without a user viewing the message. But claims about how severe and how widespread the exploits are seem overstated.
Office workers have left their fancy standing desks behind as they work out of their homes due to the pandemic. Luckily, low-cost alternatives exist. Julio Ojeda-Zapata tested two affordable tabletop computer stands.
After working through the failure of his iMac’s SSD, Adam Engst shares the lessons he learned with regard to backing up, restoring, and eking out the most life from old hardware. Hint: waiting to upgrade hardware and software can make troubleshooting and recovery more difficult.
Watchlist
Adds support for automatically converting Google Docs files during download. ($45 new, free update, 34.8 MB)
Improves performance when running over a screen sharing session. ($34.95 new, free update, 8.4 MB)
Improves support for the Todoist task app and fixes numerous bugs. ($39.99 annual subscription, free update, 21.9 MB)
