In the new Ventura update, there are a couple of cool things added to Messages. I don’t use FaceTime much to make a video call to someone, but I use messages to text all my friends.

In Ventura on your Mac, if you click on the camera icon, it instantly takes you to FaceTime. Instead of continuing to type out your text, you can view your friends and video chat with them.

Clicking the Apple on the top left, you’ll expect to go to System Preferences. It’s now called System Settings, and it looks almost like the iPhone System settings. Why they changed the name baffles me.

With the Ventura system, you now can delete multiple conversations in the Message App by using the shift key, selecting a whole bunch with your mouse, then clicking on one or two to delete them. Before, you had to choose one at a time.

With the new Clock App, you can ask Siri to start a timer. Stage Manager is a new feature in Ventura that takes all of your open apps and lines them up on the left side of the screen.

So, let’s say you have Mail, Safari and Pages open. They will appear on the left side, and clicking on one will bring it to the center of the screen.

To activate this, click on the top of the screen with the icon that looks like two batteries on top of each other, then click on Stage Manager. I tried it out and went back to my original desktop.

In FaceTime is an option called Continuity Camera that uses the iPhone as a web camera.

In the FaceTime setting, choose Switch Cameras. This might come in handy when you’re viewing a video and a foreign sign appears in French.

You can pause the video and take a Screen Shot, which places it in your Photo Album. Now open up Photos, choose the photo, take your mouse and highlight the text, then choose Translate. So, you forgot your Wi-Fi password. Well, don’t panic — Ventura will not only show your router’s password, but everyone that’s listed.

Go to System Settings, click on Wi-Fi, and a list appears of all the Known Networks. On the right side is a circle with three dots inside it. Right-click on it and choose Copy Password. Now open up the Text Edit App or the Notes App, right-click and choose Paste. It shows the password for that router.

In a pinch, if your router goes down, you could use one nearby until yours comes back up.

So, if anyone needs computer repairs, I work on both Apple and PCs. Give me a call at (808) 280-5055 or e-mail me at Mauimist@aol.com.