Tips

How to set preferred Wifi network on Mac

November 16, 2021 By Ravi Shankar

This tutorial provides the steps for making a specified WiFi network as a preferred network on Mac. This is quite useful when you have multiple Wi-Fi networks at your work place or home and you want to set a preferred order.

Click the WiFi option on the Menu bar and select Network Preferences from the menu list. You can also access the Network Preferences via System Preferences.

In the Network Preferences, click the Advanced option available at the bottom of the screen.

Now you can set preferred order by dragging and dropping the network.

How to recover Firefox password from Time Machine backup

November 7, 2021 By Ravi Shankar

Here are steps to recover Firefox passwords from Time Machine backup on Mac.

Open Time Machine and navigate to the backup data from which you want to retrieve the Firefox passwords
Make sure hidden files and folders option is enabled on your Mac.
Navigate to Users -> <UserName> -> Library
Under Library navigate to Application Support followed Firefox folder.
Under Firefox navigate to Profiles and open the folder ending with default-release.
Copy key4.db and logins.json.
Copy the above two files to Profiles folder under Users/<UserName>/Library/Application Support/Firefox/…default-release/Profiles. Before copying make sure to take a backup of existing key4.db and logins.json files.

Now all your saved usernames and passwords for Firefox will be available on your Mac.

Show hidden files and folders on Mac

November 6, 2021 By Ravi Shankar

Hidden files and folders are by default not shown on your Mac. Here are the different ways you can show hidden files and folders.

Terminal

Open Terminal and run this script, defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true
Make sure to close all finder windows and relaunch Finder – killall Finder

And if you want turn off this option this change true to false, defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles false

Keyboard Shortcut

Navigate to the folder you want to see the hidden files and folders and type “Cmd + Shift + .“. And to turn off press the same keyboard combination again.

Finder

If you want to see the hidden library folder then follow the given steps.

Open Finder and navigate to Go menu bar
Navigate to Go to Folder and type ~/Library (Keyboard shortcut in Cmd + Shift + G)

How to request a refund for apps in App Store

November 2, 2021 By Ravi Shankar

Apple provides users with the option to get a refund for app. Here are the steps for submitting a refund request.

Launch reportaproblem.apple.com and login using your Apple ID.
In “What can we help you with” drop down select the option as “Request a refund”.

In “Tell us more” drop down select the reason why you need a refund.

Then select the app for which you need a refund and click on the Submit button.

You will receive a email once your request has been processed. Use the “Check status of claim” to find out whether you have request has been approved.

Checklist needed when an issue is reported in your mobile app.

June 22, 2021 By Ravi Shankar

The major work when a bug is reported in your production app is to identify the steps required to replicate the issue.

Get the app version of the device.
Get the operating system version, device model, user locale. Incase of iOS the number of parameters or less where as in case Android it is more.
If it is visual or display error then try to get a screenshot.
If it is a crash then check Firebase Crashlytics or other crash recording framework that you are using.
Check if the crash or issue happening in previous version of the build. This way you can isolate if it is problem related with the latest build.

if you would like add any other steps, please use the comments section. Thank you.

Preserve iPhone battery by reducing brightness

June 21, 2021 By Ravi Shankar

Earlier we had seen how to turn on lower power mode automatically using shortcuts. This is another shortcuts tip to preserve iPhone battery by automatically reducing the brightness when iPhone battery falls below certain percentage.

Launch Shortcuts and tap Personal Automation.

Select Battery Level option and set the battery level to 50%

This automation will be triggered when the battery level falls below 50%. In the Actions screen, select “Set Brightness”

Reduce the brightness to 30% or whatever percentage you are comfortable with.

Turn off the “Ask Before Running” option.

This will ensure that the automation will execute without prompting you for the permission.

11 tips to avoid distraction and increase productivity

June 20, 2021 By Ravi Shankar

We are seeing lot lot of work going remote but people are finding it difficult to be productive.

Here are 11 productivity tips to reduce distraction and increase productivity.

Create a to-do list before starting the day.
Define working hours.
Have a separate work desk. If possible have a separate room for work.
Define in your working space with some productivity quotes
Take breaks in-between working hours.
Use a Pomodoro timer. Whenever you are starting your work use the timer to enter a zone.
Try to avoid night pyjamas when doing your work.
Use apps like Self Control to block websites.
Keep your Phone away from your work desk.
Use browser extension that blocks YouTube recommendation like DF YouTube.
Try to get a good night sleep.

Create distribution list in Gmail

June 12, 2021 By Ravi Shankar

Distribution list or mailing list is quite useful when you want to send email to multiple recipients at the same time. You can create a distribution list using Google Contacts and this can be used in Gmail for sending emails.