5 Start-up Modes for M1 Macs

Hi guys and welcome to 123myIT. In this video, we will show you all the Mac M1 Start-up Modes. These are helpful if you need to troubleshoot or work on your Mac for any reason.

This video will show you how to open Startup Options. Start the Mac with Diagnostics, Recovery and Safe Mode. Also show you how to set a default Startup Volume.

Lets get started. I am using a MacBook Pro M1 computer. First step is to shut down the Mac.

Start-up Modes

Once your Mac is shutdown to get into Startup Options press and hold the power button until you see the Apple logo with Continue holding for Startup Options menu. When you see the Options cog you can let go of the power button. This is the Startup Options menu and you can do things like select bootable disks.

start-up modes M1 Macs
Diagnostics modes and other modes

Diagnostics Mode

To get into Diagnostics Mode we want to press and hold Command and D keys until your Mac Restarts and you will see the Diagnostics Menu load. Now you might need to connect the Mac to your WIFI to start the diagnostics. Once you have connected to WIFI the Diagnostics will download and you can use the Diagnostics to see if you have a hardware problem with your Mac.

Just click Run Offline and the Mac will check all your hardware to see if its ok. I get an error with my power adapter because its not plugged in. If you click get started it will show you a list of error codes. So if you have faulty hardware you can contact Apple for help.

If I plug my cable back in and run the test again I don’t get any error codes. This means that the Mac hardware is fine and working correctly.

Start-up Disks

If you want to check startup disk, reinstall MacOS, restore from backup or change security settings go into Recovery mode by pressing the Options Cog. So in Recovery menu you have Restore from Time Machine. Reinstall Mac OS. Disk Utility and Browse Apple support.

Safe Mode allows you to Flush user cashes and disable third-party extensions. TO get into Safe Mode go back into Startup Menu and press and hold the Shift key. Then click continue in Safe Mode underneath it. You Mac will restart and then you should be able to see the top right hand menu. Simply logon and your Mac will be in safe mode.

If you want to set a default startup disk go back into the Startup Menu and press and hold the Option key. Under the Disks it will show Always Use option. This allows you to set the default Startup disk. Helpful if you have multiple disks.

Guys don’t forget to check out my other videos such as Fix Broken Bricked Mac with Restore Revive. This will show you how to put a M1 Mac into DFU mode. And do me a favour if you know anyone who might need this video please share it will them, hit the subscribe button and smash the bell icon.

How to Record your Screen on a Mac

Hi Guys and welcome to 123myit. In this video, we will show you how to record your screen on a Mac. Guys if you are new to the channel we do tech related videos that can help you with any questions you might have. So please don’t forget the hit the subscribe button and smash the bell icon.

Let’s Get Started!

To record your screen on a Mac you will need to bring up the Screen Recording menu by pressing Command + Shift + 5.

record your screen on a mac
The different options when record your screen on a Mac.

So that’s buttons command shift and 5 all at the same time. You will see the Screen Recording menu pop up. I am going to go through each part and show you what they all do. The first option is capture screen shot. This will basically take a screen shot of you screen as it is. Once its selected click on Capture and you will see a preview pop up. It will also save this image to your desktop.

Command + Shift + 5 keys

Double click on it and you be able to preview it. Press Command + Shift + 5 again and click Capture selected window. This will allow you to select a part of your window to screen shot. This allows you to screen shot a window that is currently open. If I select the background it will screen shot that only. See the preview in the bottom right. If I do it a again and select the 123myIT website it will screen shot that only.

Capture Selected Portion

And again I can double click it to preview it. Next up is capture selected portion. This allows you to capture a exact part of the screen. Just move the guidelines to where you want them and click on capture.

Alright the next part of the menu is called Record Entire screen. This will allow you to record a video of your entire screen. So click that and then click record and move something on your screen. Once your are done click the stop button in the menu bar. If you want to look what you have recorded click the preview and play the video.

Record Selected Portion

Next up is record selected portion. This allows you to record a video of only the part of the screen that you move the grid lines too. Click record and move your video and then click stop when you are finished. Now there is some other cool options you can choose. If you click on the options menu you can choose where you want the files to be saved. The default is to the desktop but if you want you can change this.

Other Helpful Tips

Next it’s a timer count down which gives you 5 or 10 seconds before its starts to record. Handy if you need to clear your throat or something before you start.

Under Microphone, if you want to record your voice or sound to the video you can select Microphone. Lets test it.  Cool so the sound came through.

The last option I want to show you is mouse clicks. This is handy if you want to highlight where your mouse is clicking in your video. So turn it on in options record you video and I am going to click on the link on the 123myIT website. No if I stop the recording and play the video you should see a circle highlighting a click around the mouse cursor. And there it is.

One last thing, if you want to quickly trim a video simply click on the preview and then click the Trim button. Move the yellow sliders to select the part you want to keep. And then click done to save your recording. Let say I want to move that click to the beginning of the video. Double click your video and it will play you the video you Trimmed.  

Also guys don’t forget to check out my other videos such as Setup & Reset Screen Time Passcode on iPhone, iPad & iPod touch. And do me a favour if you know anyone who might need this video please share it will them, hit the subscribe button and smash the bell icon.

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Fix Mac by Resetting NVRAM PRAM

Hi guys and welcome to 123myIT. In this video, we will show you how to fix your Mac by resetting NVRAM.

Before we get started, what is NVRAM? NVRAM is a small amount of memory that your Mac uses to store certain settings. Therefore, if you are having issues with Sound Volume, Display Resolution, Start-up disk selection, Time zone and Kernel Panic then resetting NVRAM might help. 

Ok to reset the NVRAM you need to hold down Option, Command, P and R buttons on your keyboard as your Mac restarts.

Resetting NVRAM
Hold down the ALT Command and P R keys will help you in resetting NVRAM.

Go up to the Apple menu and restart your Mac now and you see your Mac restarting. Quickly, hold down the Option, Command, P and R buttons. Because you will hear the first Apple chime continue to hold down the Buttons and you should hear a second Apple chime. Great job the NVRAM has been reset now let go of your buttons now.

You can log back into your Mac and hopefully your issues have been resolved! Other helpful reset videos are fix MacBook Air with T2 chip. The T2 chip is that funny looking power button on some of the Mac computers.

Also guys don’t forget to check out my other videos such as How to join a Zoom Meeting. And do me a favour if you know anyone who might need this video please share it will them, hit the subscribe button and smash the bell icon.

Install Windows 10 on Mac 2020

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Install Windows 10 on Mac 2020

Hi, Guys Welcome to 123myIT. In this video, we will show you how to install Windows 10 on a Mac in 2020.

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I get allot people asking me. Why would you want to install Windows 10 on a Mac? Moreover, my reply is always. You have nice Apple hardware; why not put the best OS software on that hardware? People, if you disagree leave a comment in the comments section below.

Get Windows 10 for FREE

Ok let us get started. You will need a Mac a USB stick and a copy of Windows 10. To get a FREE copy of Windows 10 you can get it from the 123myit.com website under downloads. However, you will need a Windows computer to download that copy onto your USB drive. In the Downloads section scroll down to where it says Windows 10 Media Creator tool and run that. Select create installation media for another Pc. For language, I select English US, Edition Windows 10 Pro and Architecture 64 bit.

Next we want to select ISO file. This is the Windows 10 file that we will copy to the USB and then from that USB we will copy it to your Macs Desktop.

SanDisk USB C and USB 3

Ok so I have already copied the Windows 10 ISO file to my Macs Desktop from the USB stick. The USB stick I am using is a SanDisk Dual drive USB. It has both USB C and the older USB 3 so I don’t get stuck when using USBs on my new MACs. They are helpful I will leave a link here. Once the Windows 10 ISO file is copied to your Macs desktop. Go ahead an open Boot Camp assistant. Just click on finder and search Boot Camp.

Ok if Boot camp does not select your Windows 10 ISO file Automatically go ahead and select it manually. Mine has detected so all is ok.

Windows 10 on Mac
Partition the Macintosh hard drive to keep both Mac and Windows.

Partition your Macintosh HD

The next step is to Partition your drive so that you can fit Windows 10 onto you Mac. If you are unsure about this just move your slider to halfway. Click install and then your Mac will download the Windows support software. This may take a while so let the Mac do its thing. Next, it will partition the disk and just follow the prompts it will restart.

If everything has gone ok you should see the Windows 10 setup screen. Just go ahead and select the options for Language and Click do not activate Windows now.

Ok select your country and follow the prompts to setup Windows 10.

So setup for personal use, click that and I always just use offline account. However, feel free to setup Windows whatever way you want. Click limited experience and then type in your user name. I just create 123myIT as a user. Add in a password and click next. I always click no and decline. Up to you, what you want to select for Privacy settings I just click no.

Installed Windows 10!

Awesome you have just installed Windows 10 on a Mac. The last step here is to make sure the Boot Camp drivers are installed. It is an important step so do not skip this. Otherwise, things like your sound buttons on your Mac will not work properly.

You should see a Boot Camp Window on your screen just click next and follow the prompts. If you didn’t get this screen go back into your Boot Camp folder on your hard disk and run the boot camp setup.exe file again. If you want to check your drivers are installing properly go into device manager and you should see all the devices install properly.

Sweet that is finished now check your devices and you can do a restart and test if your Sound and Volume buttons work ok.

People do not forget to check out my other videos such as Copy Music from Android to iPhone, iPad and iPod. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments felid below. In addition, can you do me a favour hit the subscribe button and smash the bell icon.

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Fix MacBook Air T2 Chip by resetting SMC

Hi Guys and welcome to 123myit, in this video I will show you how to Fix your MacBook Air by resetting SMC.

Ok guys in this video we will show you the official way to Fix your MacBook Air with the T2 chip. If you do not have the T2 chip on your Mac but you still want to reset the SMC then I will put a link in the video to an earlier video I made which shows you how to do it on Macs without the T2 chip. Find that link here. If you do not know what I mean by T2 chip, it is that funny little power button on some Macs.

Resetting SMC
The T2 Chip on some Macs – Resetting SMC

Resetting SMC can fix issues such as fans running at high speeds. Battery and charging issues. Sensors and status indicator light issues.

Problems when opening and closing the lid on your mac as well as a host of other issues you might be having with your Mac.

Resetting SMC

To reset the SMC when your Mac is powered off hold down the Ctrl, Option and right shift buttons for 7 seconds. Once 7 seconds is up press and hold the power as well. If you Mac is on it will turn off. Here’s a picture of the keys you should be holding down.

Keep holding the keys down for another 7 seconds and then release them. Wait a few seconds and then press the power button to your Mac on. Once you Mac is powered back up check and see if you are still having the issue that bought you to this video. If you are, still having an issue leave a comment in the comments field below. I can try figure it out for you.

Also guys don’t forget to check out my other videos such as Apple MacBook Air 2019. And do me a favour hit the subscribe button and smash the bell icon.

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Apple MacBook Air Retina 2019 – Still good in 2020?

Hi guys and welcome to 123myIT. In this video, we take a look at the Apple MacBook Air 2019.

MacBook 2019 vs MacBook 2018

The 2019 MacBook Air is pretty much the same as the 2018 MacBook Air, However the 2019 version brings a lower price tag at $1099 USD for the 128GB storage model. An updated True Tone display and some small SSD changes and a butterfly keyboard which uses the same updated materials as the 2019 MacBook Pro.

Other included features are Retina Display, Force Touch trackpad, Touch ID, Great Speakers, the MacBook Air compact form factor. Modern eighth gen processor as well as Thunderbolt 3 ports. The colour that we have today is space grey. However, the MacBook Air also comes in the colours silver and gold. Now the MacBook Air only comes with one processor this is dual core 8th generation i5 clocked at 1.6 GHz.

Accessories

On to the accessories and it we take a look at the paper work first. We have the quick start guide, a set of colour matched Apple stickers and guarantee information. Next, up we have our charging Adapter. This is a 30-watt USB C charger. The model I have here is the Australian New Zealand version. However if you are in the US you will have the US version. You can actually remove the adapter prongs and add in an extension cable or an international wall adapter.In addition, the last accessory in the box is the USB C Charging cable.

Touch ID

Apple MacBook Air
Touch Id – A great feature on the MacBook Air

Although the MacBook Air did not get the touch bar it did get touch ID.  When you start the setup process, you will be prompted to setup touch ID.  Now you can use this to unlock your MacBook Air as well as authenticate payments and authenticate passwords. Along with the 13.3-inch Retina display, you also get a true tone screen. I hope that you can see the difference as I toggle true tone of and on.

The display is fantastic with a resolution of 2560 x 1600. This is the most affordable retina display on the Mac and it produces 40% more colour than the older design. You also get four million pixels, which is up from one million on the older models. The display is a IPS display now instead of a TN display, which means it has truer colours and better off axis viewing angles. IPS panels have a slower refresh rate than TN panels. Therefore, it means that this display is more suited to design work over gaming. The older models also had a wider display bezel. Which was aluminium right up to the glass. Now we have an edge-to-edge glass panel which is also more anti reflective than the old glossy panel.

Butterfly Keyboard

The Apple MacBook Air also has a butterfly keyboard which was the same one that debuted on the 2018 MacBook Pro. The great thing about this Keyboard is its quitter, but it also has a membrane under each key, which keeps dust out. This keyboard is a nice upgrade from the old keyboard as the keys are wider so that makes them easier to strike. Wider and more stable and they do not wobble like they did on the old MacBook keyboards. Because the keys do not move around so much you can type much faster. Improvements in backlighting because each key gets its own LED light, which means there is much less light bleeding around the side of the keys.  In addition, each key is brighter.

In terms of a Trackpad on the Apple MacBook Air, you get the force touch Trackpad that replaces the mechanical Trackpads on the older versions. So now, we have larger Trackpad surface that responds to pressure thanks to a haptic motor. The Trackpad is a little bit smaller than the one on the MacBook Pro, so there is more room on either side. This is good because it helps with palm rejection meaning that the mouse does not move around when you are typing.

Audio

On both sides of the keyboard, you have a set of front facing stereo speakers. Which are a massive improvement over the older keyboard design. The speakers are 25% louder and have twice the base with a much wider stereo sound. There are more immersive and less muffled. Take a listen.

Ports

If we look at the left side of the MacBook Air, we have two Thunderbolt three ports. These ports, which can be, used for charging as well as up to 5K displays. On the right side of the Mac Air, we have 3.5 Headphone Jack for your earphones. To plug in an external display you might need a USBC to HDMI adapter like this one. You just plug it into the USBC port on the left and plug the other end into your external display. Once done you should be good to go. Along the top of the MacBook Air, we have the FaceTime HD camera, which still records at 720p. You also get an LED indicator and ambient light sensor.

On the underside of the Mac Air, you have a single panel, which is held together by Pentalobe screws. In addition, they are matched to the colour of your Mac Air we also have plastic feet on each corner which protect the underside of the MacBook Air. Again, the ventilation hides in the hinge of the MacBook Air and this time the hinge is integrated into the Aluminium unibody. Gone is the black plastic of the old design. On top of the MacBook, you get the standard polished inset Apple logo. The Apple logo is colour matched along with the MacBook Air text on the front of the display.

Benchmark

Now I mentioned the Touch ID button before but here is the button in action. The Mac is locked and with a press of the Touch ID it unlocks itself and it’s very fast in doing so. For those that are interested in the Geekbench scores the MacBook Air brought a single-core score of 3510 and multi-core score of 6957.

The battery life is really very good considering its smaller than the old MacBook Air and they were to do this by Adding the more efficient 1.6 GHz dual core intel i5 Processor. So you can expect about 12 hours of wireless web browsing.  Which is good among the MacBook range.

So if you are looking a portable laptop that will be good for doing some video editing and designing then this MacBook Air would be a good choice. However if you wanted to do some gaming you might be better off looking elsewhere. 

Also guys don’t forget to check out my other videos such as Official Pixel 4 Cases + Eco Cases. And do me a favour hit the subscribe button and smash the bell icon.

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Clean Install MacOS Catalina on any Mac

The clean install process is easy.

In the video we will show you how to do a clean install of MacOS Catalina on any Mac.
In a previous video I showed you how to create a MacOS Catalina installer USB and I here is the link. Create MacOS Installer Drive.

Once you have followed that video and created your USB we can now show you how to do a clean install on any Mac.

One more thing to mention your USB can be USB type A or USB type C it doesn’t matter which one. If you want to buy one similar to what I am using here’s the link.

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Step 1 – Clean Install MacOS

Go ahead and shutdown your Mac. Apple Menu > Shut Down and Select Shutdown again. Next plug in your MacOS Catalina USB. Press and hold your Alt Option Key on your Keyboard and press your power button to turn your Mac on.

You should then see the Boot menu with Install macOS Catalina, use the arrow keys and select Mac OS Catalina drive. Press return on your keyboard.

It will eventually boot you into the macOS Utilities menu. If you want to Upgrade or Install a new copy of macOS, select the install macOS option. I want to show you a clean install so I am going to wipe the hard drive first. Click Disk Utility.

Clean Install MacOS
Disk Utility a program to help you format your hard disk before installing MacOS Catalina.

Step 2 – Disk Utility

When you are in Disk Utility, select your Internal Hard drive in the top left hand corner and press partition. Press partition again. Give your partition an Name in this case I will call it Mac HD. Under format you can select APFS or if you have an older drive Mac OS Extended (Journaled).Click Apply and click Partition. When you have done that go back up to Disk Utility menu and Quit Disk Utility.

Alright you have wiped your hard drive and now you are about to do a clean install of macOS. Select install macOS. Click continue. Agree to the terms. Select Mac HD and then click install.

So by now you Mac would have rebooted and you should get the Welcome screen where you select the country you are from. You have now done a clean install of macOS Catalina and you can just go through all the mac setup prompts, similar to when you first purchased your mac.

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Fix MacBook by resetting SMC

This video will show you how to Fix MacBook by resetting SMC System Management Controller.

This should be a pretty straight forward easy one. Sometimes your Macbooks will play up and you will need to Fix it by resetting the SMC. If you are having issues suggested in the picture below then resetting the SMC should resolved these issues.

Fix MacBook by resetting SMC

You will need to hold down a combination of buttons and it will vary slightly depending on which MacBook model you have. I have tried to cover all models in the video.

I should add first to reset SMC on older MacBook’s try this video here.

Ok to get started you will need to shut your MacBook down. So just power it off. Once the Mac is powered off, Press and hold down the Shift, Ctrl and Option buttons are the same time. While holding down these buttons next press and hold the power button for 10 seconds while still holding down the Shift, Crtl and Option buttons.

Once this is done hold your power button down again to start your Mac up. This should now have reset your SMC and any issues that you were experiencing should now be gone.

If you want to check out the original Apple SMC reset page you can do that on the link here.

Macs with the T2 chipset you will need to shutdown again. Once the Mac is shutdown you will need to hold down the T2 button again for 10 seconds and this should reset the SMC and this should fix MacBook.

Lastly, shutdown your Mac again.press and hold down the right shift key. and the left option key and hold it for 7 seconds. And then press and hold down your power button for 7 seconds keeping the right shift key and left option key held down. Let them all go power on your Mac and you should have reset the SMC.

I hope this helps!

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