5 posts tagged with "macOS"

When you work at a café, the internet often stops after about an hour and the Wi‑Fi login page pops up again. Your free Wi‑Fi session has timed out, and you have to open the page and press "Accept" all over again.

Having this happen in the middle of research or a focused writing session was a small but constant source of stress. So I built "cafe-wifi-okawari", a Mac tool that reconnects you automatically when the session times out, and released it for free. Accept the terms yourself once at the shop, and the tool keeps topping up your connection, just like a coffee refill (okawari in Japanese).

Please note that the tool is built for the free Wi‑Fi at café chains in Japan, and does not work with networks outside Japan.

1. Introduction​

My MacBook operates smoothly, but I recently wondered, "Are there any unnecessary files or settings accumulating where I can't see them?" prompting me to perform a system health check using the Terminal.

While there were no security issues, I discovered a shocking fact regarding my storage. A single hidden folder, invisible from the standard System Settings, was consuming a massive 109GB of space.

In this article, I will share the story of how I identified the cause of this storage hog and the steps I took to recover over 100GB of free space.

More Mac articles: Enabling key repeat · Fixing custom wallpaper issues · Fixing public Wi-Fi captive portals

1. Introduction​

Have you ever tried connecting to public WiFi at a café or hotel, only to find that the authentication screen (captive portal) takes forever to appear, or doesn't show up at all?

I frequently struggled with this issue while working remotely, feeling the stress of "not being able to start work because I can't connect to the internet." However, after some investigation, I discovered that past WiFi connection history accumulated on the device was the culprit.

Based on my personal experience, this article explains how to organize and delete unnecessary WiFi history on both Mac and iPhone. This simple maintenance can improve the speed at which the login screen appears and ensure smooth connections to public WiFi.

More Mac articles: Enabling key repeat · Fixing custom wallpaper issues · Reclaiming 109GB of disk space

1. Overview​

This article provides a step-by-step solution for an issue on MacBooks where custom image files set as wallpaper (Desktop Picture) through System Settings are not applied correctly or are reset after a restart. After struggling with this minor but persistent issue for years, I finally found a solution and wanted to share it.

More Mac articles: Enabling key repeat · Reclaiming 109GB of disk space · Fixing public Wi-Fi captive portals

Restore Comfortable Typing on Your Mac​

When you're writing or coding on your Mac, have you ever held down a key like a, expecting it to repeat like aaaaa..., only to be interrupted by a menu of accented characters (like à)?

This is a handy macOS feature called "Press and Hold," but it can hinder your workflow, especially when you need to type the same character repeatedly for coding or writing.

This article provides a clear, step-by-step guide on how to disable this accent menu and enable traditional key repeat, even for those unfamiliar with macOS.

More Mac articles: Fixing custom wallpaper issues · Reclaiming 109GB of disk space · Fixing public Wi-Fi captive portals

This guide has been tested on the following environment:

• Mac: M1, 2020
• macOS: Sonoma 15.1 (24B83)