Matt Elliott/CNET Earlier this week, I showed you how to set up and customize Stacks in OS X, a relatively straightforward process of dragging a folder to the right side of your Dock, and also how to create and deploy smart folders in OS X. Now, let’s put these two ideas together and create a …

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET Smart folders in OS X are one of those features that you may not bother to learn how to use, but once you do, you fail to see how you ever lived without them. Smart folders display files by search criteria you define and are updated on the fly as you change, add and remove files. …

Matt Elliott/CNET Stacks have been around since OS X 10.5 Leopard, lending the ability to drag folders to your Mac’s Dock for quick and convenient access. A stack provides one-click access to a folder’s contents. It saves you from having to drill down through your file hierarchy in Finder while at the same time keeping your desktop free from folder …

Matt Elliott/CNET The Christmas season is upon us, a time filled with Bing Crosby, eggnog and shipping deadlines. You can let Bing keep crooning his holiday hits, but it’s time to put down the nog and finish your shopping. Or in my case, start shopping so that I may then finish it. In addition to supporting your local merchants, I’d …

Matt Elliott/CNET Facebook’s targeted ads are like Brussels sprouts — to my palate, at least. I don’t care for Brussels sprouts, but they are served to me from time to time. Cooked with enough butter and bacon, however, and I find myself going back for seconds. With this blog post, I will show you how to add butter and bacon …

Let’s start with the why. The reason why you should use a password manager is twofold: it makes your online life more secure — and easier in the process. A password manager stores the passwords for your various online accounts and profiles and saves you from having to remember and enter each one each time you visit a password-protected site. …

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET Mozilla has dumped Google in favor of Yahoo as Firefox’s default search engine in the US. If you’ve been using and enjoying Google search, the previous default, in Firefox then you’ll need to dig into settings to change it back. And while you’re rummaging around in Firefox’s search settings, there are a few other search options …

Matt Elliott/CNET Many times I encounter an interesting but long article on my iPhone that I want to read later on my iPad or laptop. Since my browser bookmarks are a mess and I have not committed myself to a read later app, I usually just email myself the link. If you share my disorganized reading habits, then I have …

Matt Elliott/CNET Welcome to Mac Mondays! Each Monday, the team at CNET How To goes in-depth on ways you can improve your Mac. We’ll talk performance upgrades (for old and new models), hardware hacks, and workflow tips. This is where you’ll go to find out how to release your Mac’s potential and make the most of your purchase. The way …

Matt Elliot/CNET I think it’s fair to say that “epic” is an oft-overused word, particularly among skiers and snowboarders. I also think, however, that “epic” can be used to describe accurately the snowfall that has hit Buffalo in the past week. I live a few hundred miles east of Buffalo in New Hampshire and was hoping that the storm would …