Yup. Sure can. Although playing a movie shouldn’t cause them to activate, unless it’s using 3rd party software that doesn’t interact with the OS correctly (or a bug in the OS).
I write my own script to disable and enable sleep on any Mac, but it is a command line tool and requires the root passord, so it may be too much/too inconvenient for casual Apple PC users.
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Yeah, most Mac users don’t want to interact with a shell. I do for my work, often interacting with git, etc from a zsh shell. On my Macbook Air – that I use for personal, non-professional stuff – it’s rare that I drop down to the shell for anything.
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She NEVER uses Time Machine. I do it for her (when I remember to). She’s had her own laptop for >10 years, and still is a one finger typist! She originally had a fairly low-spec Windows laptop, decided that she needed a new computer …
I didn’t really agree, as she was only using it for email, Facebook, Amazon an booking holidays. Painful to watch her doing it, and I am always having to sit on my hands so that I don’t try to help her. (I know my place …)
Anyway, I gave in to her ‘need’ for a new computer so let her loose in the local Currys store as she didn’t want me to help her. Expecting her to come out with a mid-range new Windows laptop, what she came out with was a MacBook Pro with the larger of the available screens. She’s had it for a few years, and I think that to get her a new one would be a waste of money.
Every 2-3 weeks I sneak it away from her and remove various pieces of malware which she has managed to install. Still, it’ll be our 52nd anniversary in 4 weeks, so I should be used to it all by now.
Just migrate her to iCloud. That will sync everything in her Documents and Desktop folders, automatically as long as she is on the internet. Time Machine is mostly unnecessary now. It won’t surprise me if Apple abandons Time Machine sooner or later. The Time Capsule hardware is long gone.
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Can’t you just disable sleep and screen saver? I think there is an option in the System Settings.
I’ve looked long and hard on this Mac with Sonoma, and can’t see such an option, although it does appear to be possible on my wife’s MacBook.
I should add that Macs are not better than Windows PCs, just different. I started off many years ago with Acorn BBC > Acorn RiscPC > Windows PCs > iMac with 27 inch screen > MacMini M2 with Studio Display. I moved away from the Windows machine because I got fed up of banging my knee on the protruding case (restricted room near my computer desk). I wanted a large screen, and with small computer footprint, and the iMac fit the bill, as does my Mac Mini.
Just migrate her to iCloud. That will sync everything in her Documents and Desktop folders, automatically as long as she is on the internet. Time Machine is mostly unnecessary now. It won’t surprise me if Apple abandons Time Machine sooner or later. The Time Capsule hardware is long gone.
I’ll think about it …
Just migrate her to iCloud. That will sync everything in her Documents and Desktop folders, automatically as long as she is on the internet. Time Machine is mostly unnecessary now. It won’t surprise me if Apple abandons Time Machine sooner or later. The Time Capsule hardware is long gone.
I was watching a DVD using my Oppo 103, Arcam etc, not the Mac. My Magic Mouse was on the coffee table next to me.
macOS lets you control how and when you want your Mac to go to sleep. However, with the arrival of System Settings in macOS Ventura, you might not find those options under Energy Saver settings since it isn’t available. Nevertheless, follow these simple instructions to turn off your Mac from going to sleep in macOS Ventura or later (eg Sonoma).
1 Open System Settings on your Mac.
2.Click Lock Screen from the left sidebar.
- Choose Never from the dropdown menu next to the “Start Screen Save when inactive” option.
- Choose Never from the dropdown menu next to the “Turn display off on battery when inactive” option.
- Similarly, select Never from the dropdown menu next to the “Turn display off on power adapter when inactive” option.
Setting these options to “Never” will turn off the sleep mode on your Mac completely, even when it’s plugged in. But if you want it set to a particular time, macOS provides a few options in the same dropdown menus. Although it’s not permanent, you can always revert to the old settings when needed.
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I was just about to post the same (with less detail). Thanks for sharing that very helpful post.
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yeah, you left that detail out. I’ll bet the majority reading your post assumed you were playing a movie on the Mac.
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Surprisingly my Time Capsule is still doing hourly back-ups! It must be at least 10 years old now, and I say surprisingly because my original one crashed and had to be replaced. I don’t trust it though and do a separate back-up - I should look into using iCloud for my MacBook as well as my phone.
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Well, the Mac seems to be behaving itself today, and I managed to finish setting up my ChronoSync backups. Perhaps it was just having a temper tantrum? 
Now I just have to finish sorting out our Lasting Powers of Attorney and chase the Solicitors for a printed copy of our wills/probates. (the “pleasures” of getting old)
Completely off-topic, I’m really looking forward to next Monday when I’m taking SWMBO, and my youngest daughter and her family to see Australian Pink Floyd at Birmingham Symphony Hall. I’m told that they’re very good.
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If you are using a 10 yr old Time Capsule, failure is imminent. Apple didn’t use the best hard drives in them. If you got 10 years out of it, consider yourself lucky. Listen for the ticking sounds anytime now.
Thanks for this prompt. I have now engaged with the cloud as I have been relying on a time capsule. This brought up another bad result from sonoma - I cannot find a backup service that works with it so have transferred my files to iCloud and bought a bunch more storage.
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I replaced my timecapsule’s drive this year following a failure, fiddly but not too stressful. IFixit has full instructions and required tools if you dont have them already. Do you mean an onsite backup function or cloud based as backblaze appears to work ok for me.
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I was aiming for one offsite / cloud and one onsite but I am in the cloud entirely ! I obviously rushed it last night. Now I am in the cloud there isn’t anything to backup anymore on a hard disk at home 
Quick update - HP emailed me a link today to update printer drivers and the printer is now working again. Annoyingly the update was dated 31/10/23 but I could not find it on their website update pages when I looked a few weeks ago. Anyway I can now print again without using another device to do so
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I have had no end of troubles with two external hard drives since updating to Sonoma.
They dismount and cannot be remounted without going through the recovery mode first aid mechanism, which takes ages.
A google search on this issue produces myriad results to show I am far from alone.
Someone received advice from Apple to ‘downgrade to Ventura’ - it seems Apple know but have yet to correct whatever is causing it.
So, if you haven’t yet installed Sonoma and you have files of importance or regular use on an external drive, my advice would be to wait. I wish I had.
(Macbook Pro 2021)
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