In the shadow: Overview and contents

Overview and links to each of the articles in this series looking at shade and shadow in figurative and landscape paintings. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 19 days ago

Find what you want in the log

Is the log the right place to look? Should you use the active log, or make and use a logarchives? When should you start the search? Predicate or search? And further questions answered. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 19 days ago

Apple has released an update to Safari 26.6.1 for Sequoia and Sonoma

Apple has just released a security update for Safari in macOS Sonoma and Sequoia, bringing it to version […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 19 days ago

Apple has just released an update to XProtect for all macOS

Apple has just released its regular weekly update to XProtect for all versions of macOS, bringing it to […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 19 days ago

Portraits of trees: Camille Corot

Early works followed Constable or his teacher Michallon, and excelled in anatomy. His trees became more gestural, with daubs and marks as he led the start of Impressionism. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 20 days ago

Recover Recovery

What to try if your Mac doesn't enter Recovery Mode when you want it to. For Apple silicon Macs, there's Fallback Recovery, while Intel Macs have two forms of internet or remote recovery to choose from. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 20 days ago

Apple has released a security update to macOS Tahoe 26.6.2

Apple has just released a security update to macOS Tahoe, bringing it to version 26.6.2. There don’t appear […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 20 days ago

Hero or hooligan: Odysseus restored

First he fights a beggar, then plans how to get rid of his wife's many suitors by killing them all. He then fears his son will kill him, but succumbs to the venom in a stingray spine. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 21 days ago

Solutions to Saturday Mac riddles 373

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 373. Here are my solutions to them. 1: King Harald […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 21 days ago

How long until my backup storage is full? DeltaFree can inform you

To work out how long you'll be able to use your present backup storage, you need to know how much space is free now, and the rate at which free space is being used by further backups. This app can forecast that, and more. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 21 days ago

A volcanic weekend of paintings 2 Vesuvius

An early painting of an eruption in 1631, later works by JMW Turner, Clarkson Stanfield, Albert Bierstadt, Charles Caryl Coleman and others. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 22 days ago

Last Week on My Mac: Due cause

Causation is important when dealing with Mac problems, but tougher than when looking at cholera or even cyclosporiasis. macOS provides little help, though, because of its complexity and opacity. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 22 days ago

A volcanic weekend of paintings 1 Fuji to Hekla

Mount Fuji by Hokusai, Naotake, Hiroshige, and pioneer botanical painter Marianne North. Childe Hassam's Mounts Adams and St Helens, Church's Cotopaxi, and others. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 23 days ago

Saturday Mac riddles 373

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation. 1: King Harald […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 23 days ago

Identify files in APFS using inode numbers

How to resolve an inode number to a path and filename, and how to go the other way from a file to an inode number. How you can tell which files are on System and Data volumes. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 23 days ago

A cold countryside: James Ward 2

Some innovative sketches and studies, with a series of major commissions including his huge landscape of Gordale Scar that wouldn't fit. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 24 days ago

What to do when a macOS update goes wrong

Anything can happen, but so long as you have a recent backup you should be able fix the problems and get back up and running again. Here's how. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 24 days ago

Brushstrokes: Divisionism

Seurat intended to use optical mixing of many tiny dots of colour, often contrasting, in Divisionism. How this worked out in his major paintings. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 25 days ago

Why and how to check your SSDs Trim correctly

Trimming ensures an SSD can write data as fast as it can read it. Although most SSDs should be Trimmed when they're mounted, if you're unsure, here's simple test to tell whether any SSD does Trim correctly. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 25 days ago

In the shadow: Not quite

Among the greatest challenges in painting, cast shadows aren't always correct. Examples from Masolino, Canaletto, Prendergast, Ravilious, Cézanne and Seurat. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 26 days ago

Why do macOS update sizes vary so much?

With yet another macOS security update to 26.6.2 due shortly, why do the download sizes of these updates vary so widely? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 26 days ago

Apple has just released an update to XProtect for all macOS

Apple has just released its regular weekly update to XProtect for all versions of macOS, bringing it to […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 26 days ago

Portraits of trees: Apple

Difficult to cultivate, as it can't self-pollinate and doesn't breed 'true', it has still become a major food crop around the world. From blossom to market in paintings. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 27 days ago

How can you run code that hasn’t been notarised?

How can you run apps and executable code that hasn't been notarised? Can you also run those with broken signatures, or none at all? And do the controls actually disable Gatekeeper or XProtect? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 27 days ago

Hero or hooligan: Odysseus on Phaeacia

He swam ashore naked and fell asleep in a pile of leaves, When he awoke the following, he walked in front of princess Nausicaä, and had to ask for her father's help. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 28 days ago

Solutions to Saturday Mac riddles 372

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 372. Here are my solutions to them. 1: Fruit element […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 28 days ago

How much backup storage does your Mac need?

Does your backup storage really need to be twice the capacity of your Mac's internal SSD? If you're already backing it up you can estimate the size required more accurately, as given here. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 28 days ago

Painting legendary self-sacrifice: Did the Horatii save Rome?

Two sets of triplets fight outside the city of Rome acting as proxies for two warring cities. One survivor at the end demonstrates his loyalty by patriotic sacrifice. But which side was David on? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 29 days ago

Last Week on My Mac: Climate change

The latest XProtect update brings behavioural detection of malware, and extends assurance of app identification beyond notarisation. For some but not all Macs. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 29 days ago

Painting legendary self-sacrifice: Did Horatius Cocles save Rome?

A classic legend of self-sacrifice, in which a single Roman soldier defended a bridge against a whole army until it was demolished, and Rome was saved from the Etruscans. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Saturday Mac riddles 372

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation. 1: Fruit element […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Who has been using my filename extension?

How to discover which app 'owns' the mapping between a filename extension and its UTI, and whether you can do anything to fix a conflict. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

A cold countryside: James Ward 1

Largely self-taught, in the early 19th century stood alongside Constable and Turner. Prolific painter of the countryside, with wonderful oil sketches, and farm animals. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

What just changed in XProtect?

A new file in the latest XProtect data is set to protect private data used by eight widely used third-party apps, including popular web browsers. But which version of macOS will do this? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Apple has just released security updates for 26.6.1, 15.7.9 and 14.8.9

Apple has released security updates to macOS Tahoe, bringing it to version 26.6.1, for Sequoia to 15.7.9, and […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Brushstrokes: Constructive strokes

As Paul Cézanne reached the end of his Impressionist phase, he started painting foliage using patterned brushstrokes, his 'constructive stroke'. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Can you disable Gatekeeper and XProtect?

macOS Sequoia and Tahoe have changed the way Gatekeeper and XProtect are controlled. Can a user disable them, and if so, how? And how can you check whether both are enabled? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Apple has released a major update to XProtect for all macOS

Apple has just released its weekly update to XProtect for all versions of macOS, bringing it to version […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

In the shadow: Colour controversy

Before about 1870, no one questioned that cast shadows should appear grey, without any change in colour. The Impressionists disagreed. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

How can you back up your backups?

Every computer system needs a backup strategy to cope with different scales and types of disaster. How to work out what needs to be preserved, and how to do about reducing the risk of data loss. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Portraits of trees: Walnut and Almond

Walnuts providing food, fine wood, and a drying oil used as an alternative to linseed; almonds that may have a high cyanide content, but are still eaten. Paintings from Piero to Bonnard. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Fix LaunchServices problems with command tools

Two command tools, lsregister and lsappinfo, are often recommended for dealing with LaunchServices problems. This summarises what they can and cannot do. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Hero or hooligan: Odysseus escapes the Sirens

Odysseus is warned about the Sirens, who lure ships' crews to their deaths. After negotiating their threat, they sail past Scylla and Charybdis, but all his crew are lost in shipwreck, and he ends up with Calypso for 7 years. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Solutions to Saturday Mac riddles 371

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 371. Here are my solutions to them. 1: Brown beverage […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Find an expected macOS or security data update

A macOS update has just been announced, but your Mac can't seem to find it. Here's what to try next, so you can bring your Mac up to date. Includes details of log entries during a normal check. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

On the beach in paint 2

A giant roc's egg, a Punch and Judy show, a train of camels, emigrants leaving the Scottish highlands, a massive canon, and a firing squad. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Last Week on My Mac: Onward and update

Few Macs survived the past week without an update, and for more recent models that meant two updates. Have we gone forward, and if so, where have we got to? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

On the beach in paint 1

Some of the strange things seen on the beach, from racing sandyachts in 1608, to mermaids and mermen three centuries later. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago