Six topics. One clear PDF.
Every page answers a question a Mac owner actually asks. No theory, no detours — just the menu path, the click, the keystroke, and what you should see on screen when it works.
Memory & performance
Stop guessing why the fans woke up. Activity Monitor tells you exactly who is eating your RAM — once you know which column to read.
- Opening Activity Monitor from Launchpad › Utilities, or with Spotlight (⌘ Space)
- Clicking the Memory tab and sorting by the Memory column, largest first
- Reading the Memory Pressure graph: green is calm, yellow means compression, red means your Mac is short on RAM
- What Swap Used really tells you before you consider closing anything
Startup
Your login list grows quietly over the years. Here is how to see it, trim it, and keep only what you truly want waiting for you.
- Finding the list: Apple menu › System Settings › General › Login Items
- Removing an entry with the minus button — the program itself stays on your Mac
- Reviewing background items and switching off the ones you don’t recognize
- Right-clicking a Dock icon › Options › Open at Login for the tools you do want
Files & privacy
Two different things, explained plainly: keeping a folder out of sight, and keeping your disk unreadable to anyone else.
- Hiding a folder from Finder with chflags hidden in Terminal — and undoing it with chflags nohidden
- Toggling hidden files in any Finder window with ⇧⌘.
- Turning on FileVault under System Settings › Privacy & Security, and where to keep the recovery key
- Why hiding is tidiness and encryption is protection — the difference in one paragraph
Automation
Boring repeat work, handed to your Mac. Built entirely with Automator and Shortcuts, both already sitting in your Utilities and Launchpad.
- Creating a Quick Action in Automator that receives files or folders in Finder
- Saving it, then running it from the Finder right-click menu under Quick Actions
- A tidy-up routine: move selected files into a dated folder in one go
- The same idea rebuilt in Shortcuts, with the “Use as Quick Action” option switched on
Battery
Numbers you can check yourself, and habits that quietly extend the years your notebook stays useful.
- System Settings › Battery, then the small info button next to Battery Health
- Finding the exact cycle count: hold ⌥, click the Apple menu › System Information › Power
- What Maximum Capacity and the “Normal / Service Recommended” note mean
- Optimized Battery Charging, Low Power Mode, and which everyday habits are worth changing
Shortcuts
Not a dump of every key combination in existence. Just the ones worth memorizing, grouped by the job you’re doing.
- Screenshots: ⇧⌘3 full screen, ⇧⌘4 selection, ⇧⌘5 for the capture and recording toolbar
- Spotlight with ⌘ Space — searching, and doing quick math right in the field
- Switching with ⌘ Tab, and jumping between windows of one program with ⌘ `
- When something freezes: ⌥⌘ Esc opens Force Quit
Written for macOS. The PDF itself opens on any device that reads PDFs — Mac, iPad, iPhone, or a printer, if you like paper.
How the PDF is organized
Made for jumping in with a question and leaving two minutes later with an answer.
Quick start cheat sheet
One page at the front: the keystrokes worth learning today and the handful of settings we’d check on any Mac.
Topic sections
Six chapters — memory, startup, files and privacy, automation, battery, shortcuts — each self-contained, each linked from the contents page.
Step-by-step format
Numbered steps with exact menu paths and real key names, plus a short note on what should change once you’re done.
Lifetime updates
macOS moves; so does the PDF. When we revise or add tips, the new edition lands in your inbox without additional charge.
Read the whole thing tonight.
One payment of $19, a lifetime license, and every future edition by email.