Here is how it works: You start up your Mac, open your apps and get busy. How could this be any more productive? That’s what I hope to show you:
What you’ll learn:
- Disable startup chime
- Login message
- Using Login Items
- Scheduling startups and shut downs
- Handoff
- And more…
Disable the startup chime
Scenario: You will be working in a crowded place and don’t want to add to the noise pollution with your Mac’s startup chime.
If you mute your volume before you travel, your Mac will remember this and reboot silently, or you can disable the chime using Terminal.
- Launch Terminal
- Enter the following:
sudo nvram SystemAudioVolume=%80
- To activate the chime in Terminal:
sudo nvram –d SystemAudioVolume
Login message
You can add a message to your login screen when “Require Password” is enabled in the Security panel.
To create the message:
- System Preferences>Security & Privacy>General
- Click the lock icon and enter the admin password
- Check the “Show a message when the screen is locked”
- Type your login and lock screen message
- Click the lock.
You might even leave your name and phone number in case your Mac is lost or stolen.
Using Login Items
Do you open the same apps when you startup? Your Mac can do this for you with Login Items. Go to:
- System Preferences>Users & Groups
- Select your User ID
- Select Login Items
- Click the lock icon and enter and admin password
- Click the + button to select an app from your Applications folder
- Or drag app icons across to Startup Items
In the future, all the selected apps will open automatically when you start up your Mac (unless you hold down the Shift key after clicking the login button).