Apple is proud of creating Macs, which are user-friendly and intuitive. These machines are less prone to cyber-attacks compared to other computers. Also, their sleek appearance and size make them the ideal travel buddy. What’s more, you ask? Macs are known for their adaptability. You can easily change a few settings to customize your system and make it your own.
Let’s get started.
Automate Updates
Forget the hassle of updating your computer manually. After all, Apple regularly releases software updates to fix potential security issues and fix bugs. You can automate updates by configuring your Mac settings. To do this, click the Apple menu > About This Mac > click Software Update > tick Automatically keep my Mac up to date.
If needed, you can also turn off auto-updates following the same steps.
Disable Keyboard Light
Keyboard backlighting is an excellent feature, especially for those who prefer working at night or in dark environments. Mac’s keyboard light illuminates the perimeter of the key and shines directly through the symbols and letters. But this taxes your Mac’s battery, and your computer may die faster.
So, the best option is to disable the keyboard light. How to turn off MacBook keyboard light? If this is your question, go to System Preferences > Keyboard and adjust the brightness or turn off the light.
Personalize the Menu Bar
The menu bar can be customized according to your preferences. Since you don’t always need to access Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or such functions, you can remove them from the menu bar.
To tweak the menu bar settings and appearance, go to System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar > choose Functions > untick Show in Menu Bar.
Also, if you find the Menu Bar distracting, you can make it automatically hide and appear when you hover the cursor over it. To do this, go to System Preferences and then tick Automatically hide and show the menu bar on desktop.
Set Up a Hot Corner
Hot Corner is a highly underrated feature, which allows users to use all the corners or one of the corners of the Mac screen to trigger actions like accessing the desktop or opening the Launchpad.
You can personalize how you use Hot Corners to make your workflow seamless.
Customize Trackpad Gestures
Trackpad gestures is one of the settings on your Mac that you must explore. This can personalize the way you use your computer. Head to System Preferences > Trackpad > tick the gestures you want to use > explore gestures from the Scroll & Zoom, Point & Scroll, and more Gestures tabs.
Modify the Display
If you work on your Mac for hours, modifying the display will make it fun. Also, you must adjust the brightness of your Mac so that blue light is filtered.
You can start by enabling the Night Shift mode on your Mac. This shifts the display colors to a warmer tone in darker environments. This is based on the premise that exposure to bright blue light at night may alter your sleep patterns.
Also, you can enable Dark mode on your Mac. This will give you a darker UI, which will be easy on the eyes. This setting works system-wide and includes all the third-party and in-built applications that support the feature.
You can also change the wallpaper to modify the display of the desktop.
Refashion the Cursor
Modifying the pointer’s size and color can add some personality to it and help you locate the cursor faster.
Head to System Preferences > Accessibility > Display > Pointer tab > move the slider beside Pointer size to enlarge your cursor > choose from the palettes beside Pointer outline color or Pointer fill color. This will change the outline and color of the pointer.
Modify Finder Settings
It is possible to modify Finder settings to make the tool work better. Whenever Finder is launched, it shows a messy Recents Folder. You can change this to another destination.
Launch Finder > choose Preferences > choose which window you want to show instead beside New Finder windows show.
Organize with Tags
You can use Tags to organize your files and make your life better. This will work brilliantly if you have multiple active workflows. Tags are colored categories, which makes it easier to find your files.
You can add a Tag to the file by control-clicking and selecting a color. Or you can click Tags and choose one of the tags.
Personalize Location Privacy Settings
In today’s age, you wouldn’t want just anybody to have access to your current location. Unless it is necessary, it is best to modify the location privacy settings. Also, this will prevent apps and programs from tracking your location as well.
You can see which applications are tracking your location, so you can block them by going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy tab > Location Services > untick the apps you don’t want to share your location with.
The Bottom Line
Toying around with the settings mentioned above on your Mac will help customize your computer. Get started!
