Getting started with this blog
The first post – testing the setup and demonstrating the blog format.
Read post →Our thinking
Blog
Technical notes and observations from years of supporting creative businesses on Mac.
Issues with DNS on macOS not looking up hostnames on LAN from internal DNS server
I had an issue recently with a client whereby they were unable to resolve servers on the local network via their hostnames. What was really odd is that using...
Read post →Import Contacts in to the Microsoft 365 Global Address List using PowerShell
I'm working with a client who needs a few hundred contacts added to the GAL in Microsoft 365. Easy! Just upload a CSV and you're good to go! Shortest. Blog P...
Read post →Prompt user on macOS to change local machine password on first login
I frequently set up new laptops for clients, and as a part of this, I'll often set up their user account so I can sign in to all of their services for them....
Read post →Can't log in to Windows after deleting user profile folder in /Users
I recently had a client who when they gave me the login details to set up a new user for them, they had a typo in that person's first name. As their email ad...
Read post →Configure Netgear NF20MESH wifi modem router in bridge mode
I was recently stuck with trying to set up a UniFi Dream Machine on an NBN FTTN connection, and being FTTN it was delivered over VDSL, not Ethernet. As such,...
Read post →Download older Intel macOS Installers on an Apple Silicon Mac
I recently picked up a bunch of older Intel Macs that a client was disposing of, and needed to wipe them and instal an older version of macOS, such as Catali...
Read post →Fix broken createinstallmedia from macOS Catalina to run on modern macOS
In my last post, described a way to download the macOS Catalina onto an Apple Silicon Mac . Once I had the installer in hand however, running the createinsta...
Read post →Add a domain to the Tennant Allow/Block Lists in Microsoft 365 using PowerShell
If you're using Defender for Office 365, then you have access to some pretty powerful anti-phishing and anti-spam capabilities. Sometimes however the anti-ph...
Read post →Force Spotlight to rebuild search indexes
There's an excellent series of articles on Spotlight in recent versions of macOS over on the Eclectic Light website. I've recently had a couple of machines t...
Read post →Automatica Corporate ID Refresh
As we head into 2025, we are in the process of rolling out a new corporate ID for Automatica with the aim to freshen and simplify our visual imagery. We're k...
Read post →Check APC UPS Warranty Status and Build Date
I had a bit more trouble than I would have expected trying to find a page on APC's website to enter a serial number and check the warranty status of a UPS. O...
Read post →macOS High Sierra Internet Recovery Error: “The Recovery Server Could Not Be Contacted”
I had a Mac recently that had been wiped via Find My, so it had neither an OS nor the recovery environment on the internal drive. It also had the default fir...
Read post →Automate LetsEncrypt certbot SSL certificate renewal on macOS
The instructions for certbot on the EFF website for macOS instruct you to schedule the automatic renewal using Cron. On recent versions of macOS, Cron has be...
Read post →Display most recently modified files in a folder, and all subfolders, using Terminal
I recently needed to search through a fairly extensive list of files to find when the most recently modified files were last edited, and needed to search in...
Read post →Fix issues wth Out of Office (OOF) rules on Microsoft 365
Sometimes the Out of Office auto-responder can get confused and it won't send replies correctly, or even at all. Sometimes it sends an old reply instead of t...
Read post →Universal Print Drivers for Windows 11 arm64
I've been deploying more and more Snapdragon powered PCs for clients lately and generally they're really good. They are fast, the battery life is great and t...
Read post →Create a Bootable Windows 11 Installer USB with Autopilot Configuration for Zero-Touch Enrolment in Intune
I've recently been building an SOE for a client using Windows 11 and Microsoft 365 with Autopilot and Intune. In order to streamline the whole process, I wan...
Read post →Print to Fuji Xerox / Fujifilm printers from Windows 11 on ARM64 / Snapdragon
None of the existing 64-bit printer drivers for Windows 10 or Windows 11 will work with Windows 11 on ARM. Xerox can make it tricky to find a print driver th...
Read post →Upgraded from Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro via Microsoft Store. Ended up with Windows 11 Enterprise that wouldn't activate.
I was setting up a new Surface Laptop (with a Snapdragon arm64 CPU in it – very nice) recently and as part of the setup procedure, I needed to upgrade it fro...
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