Understand Privacy and Security Settings in OS X to Keep Your Data Safe

If you use OS X, you probably have perused its security preferences on several occasions. These preferences are fairly straightforward, but there are some notable features about them that merit further exploration.

System security should always be one of a user’s primary concerns. We’re not just talking about strong passwords and firewalls, there are other considerations that you want to make such as encrypting your hard drive, which services can poll your location, and what apps you can install.

The range of security concerns on modern systems is fairly vast and wide, thankfully most operating system makers have developed ways to make it pretty easy and painless to users. Android for example, has refined how its notifications display so you can hide sensitive notification content on your lock screen. Meanwhile, iPhone and iPad users can effortlessly unlock their devices with any of their fingerprints.

How to Turn Your Computer Into a DLNA Media Server

Many boxes you plug into your TV, including the Roku, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PlayStation 3 offer DLNA (“Digital Living Network Alliance”) streaming support. They can stream video files and music over the network from your PC — as long as you set up a DLNA server first.

This feature is also known as “Play To” or UPnP AV. Using it is easier than you might think, as the server software you’ll need is built into Windows. if you want to play media files from your computer on a DLNA-enabled set-top box, it’s useful.

Sign PDF Documents Without Printing and Scanning Them From Any Device

Need to sign a document and email it? Don’t print, sign, and then scan it back in again. Skip the entire process and apply your signature electronically. It saves time and you don’t need a printer or scanner.

All the below tools also let you type words into a document, so you can fill out forms without printing them first. This even works if the form isn’t “fillable” — type words and position them in a place that looks correct.

How to Extend Your iPad’s Battery Life When You’re Not Using it

A while ago we had the realization that we don’t use our tablets as much as we used to; that led us to ask how we could extend battery life on our Android tablets when we weren’t using them. Today, we pose that same question to our iPads.

In reality, iPads tend to get really good battery life with little adjustment, but that’s not to say it couldn’t be better. There are things you can do to wring more time from a single charge, particularly if you use tablets in a way that we feel is typical: for short periods, in evening, perhaps sitting on the couch or lying in bed.

Most of us aren’t taking our iPads with us everywhere, they usually stay home when we go to work or out to play.