Many users are aware of some boot commands for Mac OS X that provide different functionality for your system. The following is a more comprehensive list of the keyboard commands you know and many you ...

A minor puzzle arrived from a reader who was trying to choose his boot drive by holding down the Option key at startup. OS X has a variety of keyboard combinations you can press to invoke different ...

When Apple Computer Inc. introduced Open Firmware with the first G3 Macintosh computers, it was big news because it allowed Apple to easily modify system information previously stored in ROM. This ...

With the release of the first Apple silicon Macs, Apple dramatically reduce troubleshooting modes and key sequences from what was previously available. Since the company no longer has to integrate ...

While users may never want to have to rely on them, it's comforting to know that PCs running modern operating systems have fail-safes and recovery modes that can help get the system back up and ...

The iconic Mac startup sound has evolved over the years, but it is a distinctive part of being a Mac user. Sometimes, though, you just want to boot your Mac up silently. You can keep it from sounding ...

Topher, an avid Mac user for the past 15 years, has been a contributing author to MacFixIt since the spring of 2008. One of his passions is troubleshooting Mac problems and making the best use of Macs ...

Safe mode is an important troubleshooting tool. It boots the OS in such a way that it uses the bare minimum files and apps to start and run. This can help you isolate issues, figure out where problems ...