Macs are solid machines, but (like many of us) they have a tendency to slow down and get more lethargic over time. Launching and switching programs takes longer, the dreaded Spinning Beach Ball appears more often, and soon even simple tasks become arduous. What’s going on?
Many things can decrease performance, but several culprits are common: not enough disk space, not enough RAM, and running too many apps at once. I see these in my consulting business regularly.
All Mac applications and system functions have preferences, but there are often more options available than are accessible via the User Interface. Using the Terminal in Mac OS X in conjunction with the defaults write command, you can control behavior of the Finder, iTunes, etc. in ways that you otherwise can’t.
We noted the use of this command with the iTunes 10 button fix last week:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes full-window 1
Following is a list of some other useful commands I’ve compiled which will work in Snow Leopard.
Remote control of your Macintosh allows you to access a distant computer across a network or the Internet. The screen of the remote Mac appears locally, and you use your mouse and keyboard to control the distant system. This capability can be helpful for tech support, system administration, finding missing information or more informed parenting (to the chagrin of many offspring).
With the Mac’s increasing popularity there are now an increasing number of options available for Mac Remote Control, many of which are free. Choices include Apple’s built in Screen Sharing and Remote Desktop software, web based services like LogMeIn and GoToMyPC, and old standards like VNC.
Not knowing your Mac’s password is like locking yourself out of the house; it’s inconvenient (at best) and always happens at the worst possible time. In our efforts to shield information from others we often wind up just blocking access for ourselves. Fortunately there are several ways to reset your Mac password when amnesia strikes or relevant information isn’t available.
Some methods of resetting your password can affect access to the keychain, however, where many of your other passwords are stored. Nothing in life is free…
Clues to the causes of Mac startup problems can be found by analyzing when in the boot process the system fails. Problems may be related to the power supply, battery, hard drive, logic board, OS corruption or an issue with a user account. Macs are reliable machines, but like many of us they get cranky from time to time.
Isolating where the problem is occurring is key to finding the solution. Unplug any external peripherals (disk drives, printer, etc.) to help narrow down the cause.
A clone is a bootable backup of your Mac’s hard drive that provides redundancy for both your data and the Macintosh Operating System. Cloning is easy to do and is complementary to other backup methods like Time Machine. The ability to get up and working in minutes after a crash or system update gone awry can be a very useful thing.
Clones provide a way to rollback your Mac OS X installation. You can keep your clone updated using synchronization software to perform incremental updates, and can use your clone to boot another Mac should the need arise.
Backing up your computer is like flossing teeth or mowing the lawn – something you know you should do but usually don’t. Apple has gone to great lengths to make Time Machine, the backup program included with Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard, easy and fun to use. Those aren’t terms which you typically hear applied to backup programs, and these efforts are to be commended.
Time Machine is easy to setup, but restoring files is not as intuitive. Many of my clients ask me for help with how to do this, and how to ensure that their backups are running reliably. Time Machine allows for restoration of files, folders, applications or an entire Mac, depending on your need.
A review of the process couldn’t hurt. Like chicken soup from Grandma …
Since the days of Mac OS X 10.3 “Panther” Apple has provided a wonderful utility, Migration Assistant, to help move data between your old and new Macs. With this utility you can easily migrate your installed applications, system settings and user data from your old system to your new one.
On the whole Migration Assistant works very well, performs successfully more often than not, and has gotten better with every subsequent release of Mac OS X. However despite Apple’s best efforts there are times when Migration Assistant can’t or won’t work.
A Manual Mac System Migration is just a fancy term for copying things over. The key is knowing what needs to be moved and how to connect the two machines.
WiFi operates in unregulated portions of the radio spectrum. These frequencies are shared with things like microwave ovens, cordless phones, garage door openers and an increasing plethora of other WiFi devices. What many WiFi networks face these days is like trying to tune in to a weak radio station in a busy city market.
This week a few tips and suggestions to try when things aren’t working.
This week a tip for Firefox power users. In addition to the Preferences accessible via the menubar, Firefox retains a comprehensive set of hidden settings that go back to it’s roots in the Netscape era.
Of course you are presented with an initial Caveat Emptor about the stability of your system and all that, but you’ve already jailbroken your iPhone and iPad (right?) so go ahead and dive right in…
As an IT consultant you get accustomed to certain problems and complaints from users. “My computer is running slow” is a universal favorite. “You said this would only take a few minutes” is another perennial frontrunner.
But one stands out as arguably the most common end user headache: “My Email Isn’t Working.”
Sigh… Welcome to the club. Email headaches are endless. Fortunately, many issues are common problems that can be fixed relatively easily.
These days many people do some or most of their music listening on the computer, and much of that is managed with iTunes. It’s very nice to have such quick and easy access to your music library, podcasts and internet radio in one place, but by default these only play in the room where the computer is located.
Wouldn’t it be nice to listen throughout your whole house or office, and without breaking the bank?
Welcome to MacRx, a new category dedicated to some common setups, problems and headaches of All Things Mac. As we all know, how things should work isn’t always how they do work. Sometimes a little assistance can be in order.
This week an issue I’ve seen many users struggling with, Managing Bookmarks in Safari. As a Mac consultant I frequently run into clients who can’t find the bookmarks they’ve added to their systems, or have so many bookmarks saved that the list is virtually endless and unuseable.
Getting to know the ways in which Safari stores bookmarks, and coming up with a simple organizing scheme you can follow, will go a long way in preserving your sanity – or at least help save some time occasionally.
