Blain Gunter
Computer Repair Specialist
Favorite Piece of Advice
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Forum Comments (3)
If you're using AirPods 2, make sure that your Mac has macOS Mojave 10.14.4 or later. AirPods Pro 1 require macOS Catalina 10.15.1 or later. AirPods 3 require macOS Monterey or later. AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 (both models) require the latest version of macOS.
If you set up your AirPods with your iPhone and your Mac is signed in to iCloud with the same Apple Account, your AirPods should connect automatically and be ready to use with your Mac. Place your AirPods in your ears and click Control Center in the menu bar. Click Bluetooth, then choose your AirPods from the list.
Make sure the AirPods are not already connected to another device like your iPhone.
You can attempt to factory reset the AirPods by putting both AirPods in the case, close the lid, wait one minute. Then open the lid, and long-press the setup button for 15 seconds until you see the status light change from yellow to white. After you close and re-open the lid, the AirPods should be back in the mode they were in when you first bought them, and should be ready to pair with any compatible device.
If all above has not helped, and there are no updates available for macOS, one of my first troubleshooting steps would be to create a secondary, temporary user account to see if it's a glitch unique to the account that is already on the mac computer.
These are Apple's official instructions to accomplish creating a new and or temporary user account:
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/add-a-user-or-group-mchl3e281fc9/mac
1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Users & Groups in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)
2. Click the Add User button below the list of users. (You may be asked to enter your password.)
3. Click the pop-up menu next to New User, then choose a type of user, for this, we will choose 'Administrator'.
4. Enter a full name for the new user, I like to name it: 'Test' for this.
5. Enter a password for the user, then enter it again to verify. Enter a password hint to help the user remember their password. For this, let's choose something as easy as possible, like: '1212' or 'temp'. (Keep in mind the user name cannot be the same as the password.)
6. Click Create User.
7. Log out of the current user profile by clicking on the Apple Menu in the upper left corner, click 'Logout' and confirm.
8. Log in to our new temporary user account, if it asks to set up an Apple ID, choose to 'Set up later', and I would quickly skip all other steps/leave everything on defaults. Apple assumes we will be using this permanently and wants to set it up nicely for us, but we just need defaults to troubleshoot with.
9. Try pairing your AirPods again by going to System Settings from the Apple menu, then click Bluetooth.
10. Make sure that Bluetooth is on.
11. Put both AirPods in the charging case and open the lid.
12. Do the following, depending on your device:
--For AirPods 4 (both models), double-tap the front of the case until the status light flashes white.
--For all other models, press and hold the setup button on the back of the case until the status light flashes white.
13. Click Connect next to your AirPods in the Nearby Devices list.
14. If sound still plays from your Mac speakers, click Control Center in the menu bar and make sure that your AirPods are selected as the output device.
15. If your AirPods don’t appear in Find My, make sure that you’re signed in to the same Apple Account on both your Mac and iPhone, and that both devices are running the latest software version.
If none of these steps work, you may need to open a support request with Apple: https://support.apple.com/
1 (800) 275-2273
1 (800) MYAPPLE
The default shortcut to start recording in Windows is Windows Key + Alt + R if you are in an app that is allowed to be recorded by Windows.
The approach taken by many is using third party programs. The most used is probably going to be OBS Studio, available here:
https://obsproject.com/download
Download the Installer, open the file that was downloaded.
On Windows you may have to click a button that says 'Allow' to open the file, on some versions this may appear as a more generic Security Warning dialog that asks if you'd like to run, or cancel. Click Run, then follow the instructions to install the program.
On macOS, it will open a small window with the OBS icon next to the Applications icon.
Drag the OBS icon over the Applications icon to install the application, confirm your password.
For Windows you can open OBS Studio from your Start Menu, on macOS it will be in your Launchpad, which is an icon that has 9 different colored squares inside of it, this takes you to the list of apps installed in macOS.
Open OBS Studio, it will ask if you want to optimize for recording or streaming, for what we want to do, choose 'Optimize for recording, I will not be streaming', the next page can be left on defaults, or you can customize your resolution and Frames Per Second.
Now for the only hard part: your source.
In the bottom left, there is a section called 'Sources' that should say 'You don't have any sources.'
Click the + (plus) icon in the lower left of the sources box, choose display capture if you want it to record everything shown on the screen.
Give it a name, I leave it on defaults unless I will have more than one added, and press OK.
It will then ask what the Capture Method should be, leave it on Automatic.
Where it says 'Display', this is where we can choose the monitor it will record from.
If you only have one screen attached, it will only show one monitor.
Once you have selected your monitor click OK.
You may see your display taking up more or less room than is framed in the preview, in this case, put your mouse over the red boxes that are outlining the display preview, and drag them inwards (or out) to get the preview to match the size of your screen.
The only other thing to consider is whether you want audio to be recorded onto the video.
In the middle we have the Audio Mixer, where we can record or mute Desktop Audio, if you have a Microphone attached, it should show up in this section and will be recorded by default, mute that if you do not want it recorded.
If your microphone is not in the list, you may have to add a new source where we added the Video source, this time add an Audio Input if it's a microphone, or add Audio Output if you want to record all sound that is playing on the computer. The next step will ask you which device you would like to record audio from, I choose microphone so it can record what I am saying, and for audio output I choose my desktop speakers, since for me that is where audio is played.
In the Settings app, tap Wi-Fi. Find the Wi-Fi network that you’re currently using. Tap the Info button. Tap the Password field. Use your passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID to unlock and then the password will be revealed.
WikiLorisRunner157 summed it up nicely for Android users, but there can be a few different menu options. On a Google Pixel android device you should be able to open Settings, tap Network & Internet, tap Internet, tap on the Wi-Fi network you would like to share, then tap share. It may ask for a password, then it will display a QR Code the other person can use to scan and connect, it will also display the password below the QR Code.
There is a way to share from Windows too if someone reaches this page by mistake. On Windows 11, open your Start Menu, type 'Control Panel' in the search bar, click on the Control Panel shortcut that displays. After Control Panel opens choose 'Network and Internet', click 'Network and Sharing Center', on the left you should see 'Change Adapter Settings', click on that option. You will now see a list of network connections, right click on your Wi-Fi Adapter, choose 'Status' in the right click menu that appears. Click 'Wireless Properties', click the 'Security' tab at the top, then click the check box that says 'Show characters' to display the password. It's more clicks than it use to be, but this is how I view the WiFi network password when I have no other way to do so.
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