Tips
Tech Tip: Evernote – A World of Knowledge at your fingertips.
So you are sitting somewhere you don’t want to be, and waiting for some thing you’re sure you will not care about tomorrow. What to do? Thinking swiftly, You pull out you iPhone from your pocket (or purse) and randomly search the web.
I believe I can speak for all of us, when I say this happens all to often, in this so called “Modern Life” we all seem to be trapped in. But what if, you could turn those moment of mindless web surfing into actionable, productive, and dare I say “edifying” moments of discovery. I know. . . sound impossible right. Well, not exactly, the collective knowledge of all human kind can be yours, if you only have the right Apps.
I know. . . sound to good to be true. And well, I may be playing it up a bit, but I do have a few suggestions on how you can turn minutes (or hours, you know who you are) of mindless web browsing into not so mindless web browsing.
The first app, is the Wikipedia iPhone app. A must have for those of us who love the random verbal tidbit, or the slightly odd meme of the moment. The second is not any app in particular, it can be one (or more) of the many news app, or any of the other site readers (Diggnation comes to mind.) It could even be one of the many eBook you can find at the app store. The source is not really the focus, it’s the collection of the interesting snippets, that we are concerned with.
The final App, is Evernote: http://evernote.com/. This application is not only on your iPhone, but on your Mac (and PC) as well. And get this. . . they sync. Now that the iPhone 3.0 software has copy-paste, you can save the things you want to remember on your iPhone, and it will sync to your Evernote account on line, then sync back to the Evernote application on your Mac (or PC) the next time you launch the app. It even allows you to have several different “NoteBooks” so you can categorize the thing you collect. It is free, but you can upgrade to a pay account.
I don’t care who are, a student, a lawyer, or just someone love to argue, and win. This application set will save you brain space, help with any project, big our small. With all the things the life can shoot your way, a little mental outsourcing can’t hurt.
Well that my two cents for this week. See in a fortnight.
-Seth
Tech Tip: Using File Sharing Services
One of the most useful functions of OS X is it’s powerful built-in file sharing services. You can easily set up custom shared folders for Windows file sharing, OS X file sharing, and the tried and true FTP file sharing. Virtually any platform is supported in some way. Simply turning on file sharing will allow anyone to connect to your machine and put things in your Drop Box without risking the integrity of your machine. Follow these steps:
1. Open System Preferences by clicking on your ‘Apple’ menu and selecting ‘System Preferences’.
2. Click on the ‘Sharing’ preference pane. Make sure the lock on the bottom left hand corner of the window is unlocked.
3. Click on the check box next to ‘File Sharing’. This will do two things – enable OS X filesharing (AFP) and share your public folder located in your home folder. Note: Anyone will be able to connect to your machine and have read access to this folder. They will not be able to delete anything from this folder and will only be able to copy items into the Drop Box folder. Nobody is able to READ the contents of your Drop Box folder except for you.
4. Now that you have enabled sharing for OS X users, you can easily enable Windows Sharing (SMB) or FTP sharing by clicking on the ‘Options’ button. You may also choose other folders to share by clicking on the ‘+’ button to the left of the options button. I would recommend leaving the default shared folders to minimize security risks.
5. Test your setup! Go to another OS X machine on your network. Open a new Finder window (click on File -> New Windows) and notice that your computer name shows up in the side bar under the ‘Shared’ heading.
6. Congratulations. Now when you are trying to figure out how to transfer that pesky Word document to another machine, you have a quick, easy solution.
Tech Tip: Recover from a liquid spill
Spilling any type of liquid on a computer is not an easy thing to recover from. Even if you get your computer to a functional state, there is no guarantee that it will stay that way for long. Even so, here are a few tips that can maximize your chance of having a working computer.
No two types of liquid affect your computer in the same way. Naturally water is a best case scenario for a spill. Any sort of liquid with sugar in it (soda, wine, etc) is very dangerous and damaging to computer components. Be sure to be extra careful when handling these types of drinks near any electronic device. If a spill does happen, perform the following steps immediately. Time can be a factor.
1. Turn your computer off - This step is important. If you are on a laptop, pull the battery out as soon as you can. Once again, time can be a factor. On a desktop simply pull the power cord. Remember: shutting a machine down like this can be damaging in it’s own way, only do this in an emergency.
2. Put your computer in a position to facilitate drying - Position your laptop with the lid half open on a hard surface. You could use a fan (NOT a heater) if the spill is just water.
3. WAIT, take a deep breath, relax – The worst thing you can do is panic. Do not turn the computer on to ‘test if it’s working’ (can’t tell you how many times I have heard that). Your data is ok, unless you fully submerged your computer in water then this is not a cause to worry.
4. Bring the machine to someone who can look inside it – Ideally bring the computer to a computer place like us. Do not try and open the machine if you have never done so before, a laptop requires a specific take apart procedure and you may damage your computer further if you try this yourself.
In almost every spill case we recieve, a customer attempted to turn the computer on. Please do not do this for your own sake. For a water spill that is relatively bad let the computer dry overnight (with a fan) or two days (without a fan). In the event that you spill any type of other beverage then take the computer in to a repair shop immediately. Even if the computer drys, there is still evough junk left inside the machine to cause significant problems. If memorize these steps and act quickly – your computer could be ok.
MacMechanic Support Service Setup
We are launching a new support system dubbed, for now, @support.macmechanic.net. This service will allow us to literally show you how to fix an issue by using a service called screen sharing. This service works only when the customer initiates a ‘service call’. There is no way for us to control your machine in any way until you specifically accept the service request. Basically we will take control of your machine and you can watch exactly what we do. This allows for swift and quality service without you needing to leave the house!
The pay scale is as follows:
1. $20 per incident
2. $50 for 3 incidents
3. If the incident turns into a house call (Onsite) then all fees are waived
One incident gives you 30 minutes of service. If the incident takes longer you will be charged two incidents (up to the Tech’s discretion, we aren’t going to nickle and dime!)
To set up your machine to use our service:
A. Open iChat located in your Applications folder.
B. Go to the iChat menu in the menubar at the top of the screen.
C. Click the ‘Accounts’ tab at the top of the window. Click the +(plus) button on the bottom left hand corner of the window.
D. Set the account type to ‘Jabber’. The tech will inform you of which username and password you should use.
E. Click ‘Done’
That is all! You will receive a request to share your screen shortly afterwards.
Tech Tip: Diagnosing software issues Part III
One you have determined that your problem is related to your System and not your User then follow these steps to replace your system only. This will not erase your personal files but you may need to reinstall some drivers and such.
Performing an Archive and Install:
Step 1: Insert your Original Install Disk or The disk you used to upgrade to another version of OS X. Restart your machine and hold down the ‘C’ key on your keyboard. NOTE: If you do not have the correct disks you will need to obtain replacement disks from Apple.
Step 2: Click past the Introduction/Language Selection screen and any successive screens until you reach the area where it asks you to choose the Volume to install on.
Step 3: Click on your hard drive (most likely called Macintosh HD) and notice the exclamation point hovering above the icon.
Step 4: Click the ‘Options’ button on the bottom left hand corner of the window and select ‘Archive & Install’ with ‘Preserve Users and Network Settings’ checked. Click the ‘Ok’ button.
Step 5: Continue with the install as normal.
BONUS: Resetting your password:
Step 1: Insert your Original Install Disk or The disk you used to upgrade to another version of OS X. Restart your machine and hold down the ‘C’ key on your keyboard. NOTE: If you do not have the correct disks you will need to obtain replacement disks from Apple.
Step 2: Click past the language selection/introduction screen. Notice the menu bar that appears at the top of the screen.
Step 3: Click the ‘Utilities’ menu and select ‘Reset Password’.
Step 4: Click on your hard drive (most likely Macintosh HD) and choose the user to reset the password for from the drop down menu. Enter your new password twice and click save.
Step 5: Restart the machine.
OPTIONAL Step 6: The user account password is now changed but your keychain password is not. This will cause OS X to bug you for this password (which you do not know) whenever it tries to read from the keychain. You will need to generate a new login.keychain to solve this issue.
A. Go to the ‘Go’ menu from the Finder and select ‘Home’. Navigate inside the ‘Library’ folder to the ‘Keychains’ folder.
B. Delete the login.keychain file.
Before bringing in a machine, one will usually call us and ask us if there is any way possible to fix the machine before bringing it all the way down to the shop. These were a few simple ways to fix some of your most basic problems. Everyone hopes that their problem will just be a quick fix, but honestly most of the time there isn’t a cut and dry solution. If you want to avoid bringing in a machine then research your problem, someone has likely had the same issue as you before.
Tech Tip: Speed up Firefox and Safari
Firefox and Safari are both wonderful browers. They are fast, elegant, and most importantly standards compliant (*cough* Internet Explorer *cough*) but did you know that you can make them BETTER? First off Firefox has a couple tweaks that will speed up your web page loading times dramatically with a hidden feature called pipelining. Pipelining increases the amount of concurrent connections your browser has with a webserver and allows it to load content without waiting for any previous content to finish downloading. While this seems a bit confusing, the bottom line is: FAST.
You have no ability to alter the pipelining preferences in Safari, unfortunately, but to enable pipelining in Firefox…
1. Type ‘about:config‘ in your address bar and hit return.
about:config
Careful!
2. Type the word ‘pipelining‘ into the ‘Filter’ field.
3. Doubleclick ‘network.http.pipelining‘ and ‘network.http.proxy.pipelining‘ to set their values to ‘true’
4. Doubleclick ‘network.http.pipelining.maxrequests‘ and set the value to something like 8 (NOTE: if you make this number too high it can end up slowing down your browser and putting a heavy load on the web server. Be considerate 
).
Settings
You have enabled pipelining! But theres more. Browers have a built in delay that it will wait to draw the website on your display. They do this so all the website content (hopefully) loads at once and to make sure the stylesheet is downloaded so you don’t see an ustyled website. While this can be nice, I prefer to see whatever content I can as quickly as possible. To turn this delay off in Firefox:
1. Hold down the control key and click anywhere in about:config
2. Select New -> Integer from the pop-up menu.
3. Enter ‘nglayout.initialpaint.delay‘ as the preference name and click ok.
4. Enter the number 0 as the integer value and click ok.
In Safari:
1. Quit Safari (Safari must not be open during these steps so copy and paste these directions into TextEdit or another word processor).
1. Open the ‘Terminal‘ application in your Utilities folder located in your Applications folder.
2. Copy and paste the following ‘defaults write com.apple.safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay 0.1‘
3. Hit return
Enjoy your new, fast, browser!
Tech Tip: Maximizing your battery life.
One question that we hear a lot is from new laptop owners about keeping their battery running at it’s highest capacity for the longest time. Battery maintenance is a necessary albeit annoying aspect of owning a portable so here are a few easy tips to keep your battery healthy.
1. Train your battery. When you buy a new portable device training your battery is an important first step. When you get home, charge your device to 100% capacity, unplug the device, and let it discharge completely. Repeat this procedure twice to train your battery. NOTE: You may use the device while you perform this process.
2. Keep your laptop in it’s ‘comfort zone’. Temperature is an important aspect to keep in mind. Keeping your laptop too hot or too cold can decrease your battery’s lifespan. Never keep your laptop in a hot car, leave it running under a blanket, or in direct sunlight for long periods of time. If you like to use your laptop in bed use a large hardcover book or a commercial laptop ‘lap shelf’ from our store instead of keeping it directly on your lap.
Courtesy of Apple®
3. Keep your battery fit. Do not leave your laptop plugged in all the time or completely discharged for long periods of time. If you go away for a week try and keep your battery at around 50% to ensure that it does not go into a ‘deep discharged state’ and is unable to be charged again. Alternatively, do not keep your laptop plugged in all the time or you may experience a loss in capacity. Try to fully discharge and recharge your laptop at least once a month as per the instructions in step one.
4. Optimize your energy preferences. The brightness of your display has a very large impact on your battery life. If you’re watching a DVD or doing any other tasks that tend to drain your battery quickly then dimming the display is an easy way to get more time. Finally, turning off your Airport and Bluetooth can give you a surprising amount of extra juice.
Turn down your brightness in the 'Display's' preferences in System Preferences
For more information see: Apple.com/Batteries
Free Content Filtering with OpenDNS
Getting content filtering for your home or small business can be daunting, pricey, and difficult to set up. Luckily a company called OpenDNS has done all the work for you and is offering it for FREE. Signing up and getting started with OpenDNS is easy, just follow the instructions on their website or the following below (tailored for Mac users – of course).
- Change DNS settings! This is the most important step. On an Apple Airport open up your Airport Uitlity located in the ‘Utilities’ folder within the ‘Applications’ folder. Make sure your Airport device shows up in the left hand column and click it once. Continue by clicking on the ‘Manual Setup’ button. On the very top of the window there should now be an ‘Internet’ category, click it once and fill in these two DNS servers in the appropriate fields. DNS Server 1: 208.67.222.222 DNS server 2: 208.67.220.220
- Sign up for your free account here (https://www.opendns.com/smb/start/create_account/).
- Configure your account! First add a network by putting your in your ip address. You can find your IP address by simply pointing your browser to whatismyip.com. After that you are free to mess around with whatever settings you want to play with. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Tech Tip – Mail Bug in 10.4 – 10.5 Migration
There is an interesting bug with mail I found that happens occaisionally in a 10.4 (Tiger) to 10.5 (Leopard) migration. This bug will make mail unable to quit and all your messages will not appear in the mail window. To fix this issue:
1. Navigate to your Library folder inside your home folder.
2. Locate the Mail folder and drag it to your desktop.
3. Launch the Mail application.
4. Mail will now ask you if you want import your messages. DO NOT HIT CONTINUE YET.
5. Navigate back to your Library folder inside your home folder. Notice there is a NEW mail folder that was created. You cannot delete this folder yet because it is in use by mail so we will just rename this folder Mail2.
6. Drag your OLD mail folder located on your desktop to your Library folder located in your home folder.
7. Go back to the Mail application and click continue. Your messages and settings should import fine now.
8. Verify that your messages and settings imported correctly and quit Mail. Navigate back to your home Library folder located in your home folder and delete the Mail2 folder.
9. Launch the Mail application and make sure everything functions correctly.
I found a fix to this by just messing around with the issue for awhile. I have found NO good resolutions online for this bug. Another solution is to just delete the mail preference file but then all your settings will be lost and your mail will have to be imported (this will put a new folder in the mail app called imported messages, I find this to be a work around not a fix). In any case, this tip is a perfect solution to this bug.
Tech Tip 11/28/08.2
Troubleshooting Software Issues Part 2: Migrating User Data
From our internal wiki:
1: Perform an Archive and Install without saving User setting.
2: Create new user with the same User name/Short name and password as the old user. Navigate to the /Previous Systems/Users/users folder, and locate the old users data. Copy old users directory to the new desktop folder.
3: Copy the contents of the old Desktop folder to the new Desktop folder. Same for the: Documents, Downloads, Movie, Music and Pictures folders. Saving the Library folder for last.
4: In the old Library folder keep the following directories if they are present:
* Address Book Plug-ins
* Application Enhancers
* Application Support
* Calendars
* Internet Plug-ins
* iTunes
* Keychains
* Mail
* Mail Downloads
* PreferencePanes
* Preferences
* Printers
* Safari
* Screen Savers
* StickiesDatabase
* Widgets
“This list is by no means complete, other Third-Party software will create folders in the ~/Library. Do some investigating before you trash unidentified folders.”
Once you have these folder separated, follow the same tactic as before, replacing the contents of the new Safari with the contents of old Safari folder: etc.
Start from the top of the list and work your way down, restarting the Mac after each folder move. The Preferences folder should be treated like it is its own animal. Replacing each .plist and then restarting the Mac.