Automatically Start Up And Shut Down

Probably one of the simplest ways to automate your life when using your Mac is to automatically startup and shut down. If you start up your Mac every morning and shut it down every evening, this can be done with a simple change.

Open System Preference and navigate to the Energy Saver preference pane. In the bottom right-hand corner, there will be an option called ‘Schedule.’ Click on this button to open the scheduling options.

You can pick the day of the week in which you wake will startup and the time. You can also limit this change to a weekend, weekday, or a specific day of the week. You can also set what time your Mac will shut down or go to sleep.

There are a variety of options within System Preferences to set how your computer starts up and shuts down.

These are handy options, for example, if you want your Mac to start up Monday morning and shut down Friday evening. You can’t get more complicated than that, unfortunately, but it is useful for most people’s needs. These options will allow you to wake your Mac if it is asleep. There is also an option to restart your Mac. If you want to reset your Mac every Sunday, you can do that with these options. Just make sure your Mac is powered to the wall, or in case of a laptop, has charge.

Log In Automatically

If you have set your Mac to start up automatically, you may also want it to log in automatically. Although I don’t recommend this for security reasons, it can quickly be done. Within System Preferences, open the Users & Groups tab.

At the bottom of the users’ column, select Login Options. Within the options, you can choose which user will be automatically logged in. If you can’t access the settings, click on the lock at the bottom. You will be asked to enter your password. Once complete, every time you boot up your Mac, it will log in to the selected user.

Don’t bother logging in each morning. Let your Mac do it.

Set Apps To Launch At Login

Once you have set your Mac to automatically start up each morning, log your in, the last option is to let it open your apps for yours. I always have Mail, Safari, Calendar, and other apps option each morning. Instead of wasting your time clicking on each one, you Mac can be set to open this upon logging in.

Within System Preferences, Users & Groups, select the login items tab for the required user. Use the plus symbol at the bottom of the list to add the applications you want.

You may notice in this list a couple of apps that you may not recognize, most of these are daemons or background processes that need to be started for certain functionality to run. If you find an app on the list, you don’t want, and it can be removed with the minus symbol.

Now every time you log on, these apps will launch.

Set Automator Actions To Run On A Specific Date

The previous tips and tricks are essential, built-in features of you, Mac. This next section is going to explain various methods, which you can customize at will, to perform multiple tasks automatically. The list shows some basic commands which the majority of people will find useful. However, these can be as complex or as simple as you want. All you need is a little bit of imagination.

Each of these tasks uses an Automator script, which is executed at a particular time due to a calendar entry. By altering the calendar entry, we can adjust the time in which the script runs. Automator allows it to be used as a programming language to perform the task we want.

Every command follows the same essential step. First, open Automator and select the Calendar Alarm option. This will automatically put the workflow into Calendar when complete. You can set this up manually if you have other workflows within Calendar, however, these options take out most of the hassle.

Use the Calendar option within Automator to automatically add a calendar workflow entry.

This next step is to build your workflow as usual. The following section will detail a variety of workflows that you can use. When you have finished and tested the workflows. Hit save. You will be asked for a name. When you have done so, its entry will appear within Calendar under the Automator calendar heading. Here you can set the time, re-occurrence, and other parameters associated with a calendar entry. The unique thing about this entry is that it will automatically execute the workflow you have just created, acting.

Your automation workflow will automatically be added to your Calendar.

These workflows are stored in ~/Library/Workflows/Applications/Calendar/ if you ever want to delete them.

Play A Wake Up Song

Following on from the previous section, we have started our Mac, logged on, and opened all of the required applications. Lets now play our favorite tunes to get us going in the morning. Within Automator, select the workflow, select the “Start iTunes Playing” Automator action. This will automatically start playing your tunes. If you want to play a specific iTunes playlist, add the “Get Specified iTunes items” workflow (where you pick you playlist using the add button) and then select the ‘Play iTunes Playlist’ workflow. This will load your playlist and begin playing.

Set up the playlist you want to play.

Open A Webpage

Do you always open Mac Tricks And Tips each morning, you can easily do this with a workflow. Add the ‘Get Specified URL’ workflow and add your URL you want to open. Then add the ‘Display Webpages’ workflow action. When activated, this will get the URL’s you have added and then open them. You can add more than one.

Archive Files

You have finished a hard day’s work, and you want to archive your data. Even though you should be using something like Time Machine, it can be worth creating a zip of your files. Within Automator, first, add the ‘Ask For Finder Items’ workflow. This will bring up a dialog box which asks for the Finder items you want to archive. Then add the ‘Get Folder Contents’ workflow, followed by the ‘Create Archive’ option.

Archive the days work with a workflow.

This will select the Finder items, and add them to an archive. If you want to extend this further, you can email it to someone, and this can be done with the ‘New Mail Message’ with the field filled out, followed by the ‘Add Attachment To Front Message’ option. Credit goes to Stu.

Quit Applications

If you have had enough for the day, you can automatically quit every application. Within Automator, select the ‘Quit All Applications’ workflow. This will, when run, stopped every application open, although it will ask you to save files. You can add entries into the list for apps it won’t close, such as Mail or Safari.

Empty Trash

Another handy Automator trick which you can run it the ability to empty your trash. This may be useful to run at the end of the week or month. This command takes a little bit more effort in the form of an AppleScript. Add the ‘Run Applescript’ workflow option and add the following text:

tell application “Finder”.

empty the trash
end tell

If you want to empty the trash securely you can use the following piece of Applescript.

tell application “Finder”
empty trash with security
end tell

When you run the workflow, the AppleScript will run allowing you to empty the trash.

Set Desktop Image

If you want the latest image from NASA’s picture of the day, you can. This workflow can be a little trick to setup, but only takes a moment. Test this workflow to ensure it works. The idea behind this is we pull the image we want from cyberspace, then set it as our image. If the image you are pulling is part of an RSS use this workflow. If the image you want is from a URL use the second option.

To pull an image from an RSS feed or similar add the following workflows.

“Get specified URL’s” adding the URL of the RSS feed. Add ‘Get Image URL’s from Articles” set the drop down option to either ‘in the articles’ or ‘linked from the articles’. This alters the way the script interacts with the RSS feed, test to see which one is applicable. The add the ‘Download URL’s’ option selecting a place to download the image, your image folder is suitable. The add the ‘Set Desktop Picture’. If you are downloading the image from a webpage, and not an RSS feed, add the URL of the image to the first workflow. Instead of ‘Get Image URL’s from Articles’ add the ‘Get Image URL’s from Webpage’, this means it pulls the image from a webpage instead of an RSS feed. You just need to find an image which updated every day. Setting an image automatically can be a little tricky. But worth it.

Launch Applications

Previously we showed how to quit applications. What happens if you want to launch applications, but at a specific time, for example at lunch. This can easily be done within Automator. Simply add the ‘Launch Application’ workflow. Select the application you want to launch. If you want to launch more than one app, keep adding the workflow.

System Clean Up

As a final note, an application which allows you to run more complex clean up operations is Main Menu. Although you can’t set it to automatically run at a specific time, it gives you plenty of shortcuts to run more complex tasks such as cleaning caches or running disk checks.

Conclusion

There are many ways to automate your life on your Mac. These are just a couple of simple ones to help you understand what can be done. Like a teacher I have showed you the basic tools, all you need to do is build your own for you specific needs. These tools are simple to build and can automate the most basic needs. Automate your life and allow yourself to do something more interesting.

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NASA

We might not be aware that Linux powers NASA. Pleiades supercomputer of NASA runs Linux. The International Space Station changed, or you may say they switched from Windows to Linux six years ago due to the reliability of the operating system. NASA recently deployed three “Astrobee” robots—which run on the Linux—to the International Space Station.

eReaders

We read a great deal, and we go-to device is the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, which runs Linux (though most people are entirely unaware of that fact). If we use Amazon’s services—from Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) to Fire TV—we are automatically running on it. When we ask Alexa what time it is, or for the score of our favorite sports team, we are also using it, since Alexa is powered by Fire OS (an Android-based operating system). Google developed Android as it for mobile handsets, and powers 76% of today’s mobile phones.

TV

If we have a TiVo, we are also running Linux. If we are a Roku user, then we are using Linux. Roku OS is one of the custom version of it, which is specifically for Roku devices. We may opt to use Chromecast—which runs on Linux—for video streaming. It likely runs smart TV. LG uses webOS, which is also based on the kernel of Linux. It doesn’t just power streaming devices and set-top boxes, though. Panasonic uses Firefox OS, which is based on the Linux kernel. Phillips, Samsung, and many use Linux-based operating systems to power devices.

Laptops and Smartwatches

If we own a smartwatch, it’s more likely that it is also running on it. School systems in the world have been implementing one-to-one systems where each child is provided their laptop—a rapidly increasing number of institutions outfit students with a Chromebook. The lightweight laptops use Chrome OS, which is also based on it.

Cars

The car driven by us might well be running Linux. Automotive-Grade Linux has enlisted manufacturers like Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Volkswagen in the project that sees it as the standard code base for most of the high priced automobiles. Our in-vehicle infotainment system and utilities likely run it.

Gaming

If we are a gamer, then we might be using SteamOS, which is a Linux-based operating system. Also, if we use any of Google’s myriad of services, then we are running on it.

Social media

As we start scrolling and commenting, we may realize what a lot of work these platforms are doing. Perhaps it is not so surprising that Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter all run on it. The new wave of social media and decentralized, federated nodes of connected communities like Nextcloud Social, Mastodon, GNU Social, microblogging platforms similar to Twitter, Peertube (distributed video sharing), and Pixelfed (distributed photo sharing) run on it. Being open-source, they can each run on any platform, which is influential precedence in itself.

Businesses and governments

The Stock Exchanges run on Linux, as does the Pentagon. The Federal Aviation Administration handles over 16 million flights a year, and they operate on it. The Library of Congress, Senate, House of Representatives, and White House use it.

Retail sector

That entertainment system placed in the seatback on our latest flight is likely running on Linux. The point of sale at our favorite store may be running it. Tizen OS, based on it, powers a long list of smart home devices. Many public libraries host their integrated library systems on Evergreen and Koha. Both systems run on it.

Apple

If we are an iOS user who uses iCloud, then we are using a system that runs on Linux. Apple Computer website runs on it.

Routers

The router that connects you to the internet in your home may be running Linux.

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If one uses that simple password in one’s multiple accounts, as a reported 92 percent of online users do—that puts all of the data at risk. Here are some tips to ensure passwords are as secure as possible.

MAKE PASSWORD LONG

Hackers use many and invariably multiple methods to try to get into the accounts. The most common, simple, old, and rudimentary way is to get into the report personally, target, and manually type in numbers, letters, and symbols to guess the personal password. The more advanced method which is now being used is known as a “brute force attack.” In this password hacking technique, a computer program is run through every possible combination of numbers, letters, and symbols as fast as possible to crack the password. The longer and more varied complex the password is, the longer the hacking process takes. Passwords that are three characters long take a few milliseconds to crack.

MAKE PASSWORD A NONSENSE PHRASE

Long passwords are better; long passwords that include random phrases and words are better. If the letter combinations are not in the dictionary, the expressions are not in published literature, and none of them is grammatically correct, and they will be harder to crack. Also, never use characters that are in series and sequential on the keyboard, such as the widely used “qwerty” or numbers in order.

NUMBERS, SYMBOLS, AND UPPERCASE AND LOWERCASE LETTERS MUST BE INCLUDED

Randomly mix up numbers and symbols with alphabets. Substitution method should be put to use, such as a user may substitute @ for the letter A or a zero for the letter O. If the password is a phrase, consider capitalizing the first letter of each next new word, which will be easier for the user to recall.

AVOID OBVIOUS PERSONAL INFORMATION

If there is some information about the easily discoverable user—such as anniversary, birthday, address, high school, city of birth, and relatives’ and pets’ names— do not include them in password. These only make user passwords easier to guess and break. On this note, if the user is required to choose security questions and answers while creating an online account, select ones that are not so obvious for someone browsing social accounts.

DO NOT FREQUENTLY REUSE SAME PASSWORDS

When hackers complete large-scale hackings, as they have recently done with the lists of compromised email addresses, accessible email servers, and passwords are leaked online very often. If a user account is compromised and the user uses this password and email address combination on multiple sites, the information can be easily used to get into any of the other social or bank accounts. Therefore, it is advised to use unique passwords for everything and every account.

START USING A PASSWORD MANAGER

Password managers are services that help auto-generate and store secure passwords on user’s behalf. These passwords are kept in a centralized location, in an encrypted way which user can access with a master password. But surely don’t lose that master one. Many services are free to use and accompanied by optional features such as auditing user password behavior, ensuring users are not using the same one in too many locations, and syncing new passwords across multiple devices.

KEEP PASSWORD UNDER WRAPS

Don’t give passwords to anyone else. Don’t type the password into the device if the user is within plain sight of other people. And do not plaster user password on a sticky note on work desk or computer. If the user is storing a list of user passwords—or even better, a password hint sheet—name the file something random on the computer in a document file, so it isn’t a dead giveaway to smart snoopers.

CHANGE PASSWORDS REGULARLY

The more sensitive information is, the more often one should change the password. Once changed, do not use that password again for a more extended period.

Hackers could keep trying to crack user passwords no matter how strong the user makes them. So, maintain safety.

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