Answers...

to commonly asked questions.

Aug 2009

Snow Leopard first thoughts...Disappointed

 I just got home and now my Time Capsule RR internet is not working.  I probably screwed something up in trying to fix the Alltel problem.  wife's internet is working fine.  Airport is on but it says I am not connected to the internet or to the server.

After reading your email over again, I realize I may have answered your question incorrectly.  The actual issue is that you may need to look at network in system preferences.  You can set up multiple profiles for different environments such as a school network, business network, or others.  To do so, go to system preferences then to network.



You can then create different settings for your altel device verus the automatic system already in place. You may also want to choose advanced then release DHCP in the next window.

Snow Leopard incompatibilies

Here's an interesting letter recently forwarded to me by a client who's children attend the local private school who sent the email out. Then my response.

Dear Parents,
 
Please read carefully the message from our computer department concerning new upgrades. 
 
We have upgraded all of our computer to Microsoft Office 2007. Families with previous versions (office ’97 to 2003) have two options to be compatible with the school:
 
1.      Download the compatibility pack from Microsoft by clicking on the following address: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en
2.      Use the “SAVE-AS” feature and save as a previous version (’97-2003) when working in Office( word, excel, PowerPoint…) at the middle school.
 
Also, please be aware that we DO NOT support Mac software. If students work on Office for the Mac they “should” be able to open them here at the Middle School. However, we have had a lot of problems with students working on a Mac at home and trying to open up their documents at school. Please know that we can NOT support two operating systems. We are a Windows based school.

my response:

This email you received is indeed a very disturbing one.  I am sad to see that this school would take this stance and tone.  This says to me that the IT department is not knowledgeable enough to support the most popular Operating systems.  As an active consultant in the area, I can't tell you how many of my clients (mac users) send their children to this school.  This is not the best position to take as an organization but it is, of course, their prerogative.  
Now to address the question.  It's not actually a mac to windows issue of compatibility.  The core issue is that Microsoft chose to adopt a new file saving method and extension naming system that cripples older versions of office documents, be it excel, doc, powerpoint, etc... by adding an "x" to the file name extension.  In actuality, Apple's iWork suite was compatible with Microsoft's new file format before Microsoft was.  As long as anyone creates a file on a mac with an office application then saves it as a traditional office document, there is no reason it should not open on Windows other than the Windows machine's own inability to open files singularly.  

The one common mistake that mac users can make is by using iWork to create their documents but then forgetting to export them to the Microsoft format.  It is true that Microsoft Office can not open pages, keynote, or numbers files in their native apple format.  The simple thing to do is to export the file from iWork into the Microsoft format.  Very simple and built in to iWork.  

This school's statements are made out of ignorance on how both platforms interact with each other rather than out of actual fact.  Their statement that they can not support two operating systems should be reworded to say they choose not to.  Not that they can not.  As many corporations have begun to discover in the past few years, there are a tremendous growing number of mac users in both the home and in business and if they do not learn to adapt to both platforms, they will find themselves technologically inferior to other choices of schools in the area such as Charlotte Latin who does a very good job at educating both their staff and students on how to work within today's computing environment.

 The old attitude of "macs don't work with windows" was last relevant around 1995.  We've moved on.  

Shy about Town Hall

From what I've read, Snow Leopard seems to disengauge screensaver modules not written in 64bit. Screensaver developers are working to get their apps up to date. Serene Screen's Marine Aquarium 2.6 is currently disabled but will be resolved with the upcoming 3.0 as well. No fish for now!

Dog needs a good home

I've had reports that Snow Leopard declares hard drive's SMART status failed and therefor will not install.
Was starting to put snow Leopard on my Macbook pro and it has an error
S.M.A.R.T. the hardware problem can not be repaired.


One client reports Snow Leopard breaking EyeTV by Elgato.
So, I installed Snow Leopard on both hoping that would improve things.  The MacBook Pro is still finishing up but all looks good so far.  The first thing I have noticed that has not come back on board properly is the EyeTV.  It just says it is not responding and the rainbow dial just spins forever.   I have Force quit it and restarted the iMac but still no success.

Furthermore:
Snow Leopard broke my own website design tool RapidWeaver. Had to move to the beta of the next release. I'm experiencing tremendous instability on multiple machines. One odd incident however. HP's new Photosmart Plus printer setup utility would not install the wireless functionality of it's printer today via leopard but was successful via Snow Leopard. Weird.

Can a G5 become an intel machine?

So I’ve installed Snow Leopard on five machines now three different ways.

1. Clean install
2. Upgrade on top of Leopard
3. Clean install with recovery of data via time machine.

And so far each of these have been filled with issues. High speed running fans, wide spread incompatibility of 3rd party add ons, slowness, lots of spinning beach balls, and the list goes on.

I have to say that so far, I’ve been very disappointed in my $30 investment. There are very little noticeable differences. And you have to really search to find them. I’ve had password issues on two different machines after install. The good news is that I’ve seen many of my favorite apps rush updates out to fix what Snow Leopard broke. VMware fusion, iStat menus, path finder, etc... Now all of these were to be expected and I’m not unhappy about the 3rd party stuff. That’s not the issue. Those issues are to be expected. The issue is that Apple is charging us $30 for things that seem could have been covered within updates. Maybe it’s the move to 64 bit processing that is what is at the heart of this. But it’s not on by default. You have to hold down 6 and 4 at startup to enter 64 bit mode.

I have to say that I’m in disagreement with the majority of people who’ve sung Snow Leopard’s praises. Just as I’m typing this, I’ve received notification that Snow Leopard would like to delete 62 (update 360 more) entries of my keychain via mobileme sync. What? Huh? No. Please do not delete all my keychain entries.

I’ve lost 3 gigs of space on the install and that’s after choosing not to install additional languages and fonts. Apple has promised a smaller OS. What? Then there’s the appearance of all the hidden files in the finder now. Good gracious. Where did these come from?

Before


After


Of all the positive things Apple has going for it right now, the Snow Leopard release first impression leaves me with more a feeling that they felt they had to put out a “we updated our OS too” release before Windows 7 starts getting all the press next month. I’ve not seen the speed increases other have claimed as well. I’m testing and pushing Snow Leopard on three machines currently and so far the results are very similar across each of them. Underwelming.

To be fair, here are a few people who would disagree. They’re smarter than I am and they have a few valid points. You can judge for yourself.

Andy Inhatko’s review (Chicago Sun Times)
Engadget
his holiness...Walt Mossberg (Wall Street Journal)


My recommendation for now is:

Wait a few weeks before getting involved with Snow Leopard. I wish I had.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to install developers tools so I can go in to terminal to re-hide all those files.


(update) Running 64 bit
_______________________
Just had Hulu freeze in Snow Leopard.
The latest version of VMware has also frozen.
Safari has crashed.
iMac refuses to restart on its own
Faster User switching name has disappeared

Snow Leopard Preview

Snow Leopard will be breaking several older applications including Parallels 3.0 as well as a host of printer drivers. Here are a few useful links to keep an eye out for what will not be allowed to open or may not be able to open in Snow Leopard. Another good reason to wait a few weeks before updating.

Apple’s list of incompatible software

3rd party watch list

new print drivers from Apple

External Hard Drive recommendations


Scotty,

I would love to join your Town Hall Forum Sunday night, but I am shy about it.  Plus it is probably already filled.

_________


Please don't be shy about joining us on Sunday evenings.  You can mute your sound and never even be heard.  You can simply type a question and we'll discuss it.   There’s never been a full session yet. Please feel free to join us on Sunday’s at 8pm.

Leopard and Parallels

A client of mine has recently asked if I would share this information with my install base.

Copper is 3 or 4, probably a shepherd-golden blend, very friendly.

If anyone is interested in taking a young dog,
email me and I’ll connect you with the client.



Why Logic?

Scotty, I vaguely recall hearing that Snow Leopard will work only in an Intel Mac, which my G5 is not. Is that correct?

If true, then can my Mac become an Intel Mac?

Thanks.

________

Unfortunately, there’s no way to convert your G5 based mac into an intel based one. Leopard will require an intel machine which means it may be time to purchase a new computer if you want to move up to 10.6.

iPod on Windows

Snow Leopard Preview now available in the Newsletters section.

Deleting Aiport history

had a question... i need to back up my hard drive, especially since i'm loading on all kinds of new music.  what kind of hard drive should i buy?  it's mostly for the music i have.  my computer is a dell inspiron 6000 (you know, the one with the batteries that can catch on fire.)
_______

Personally, I'm a big fan of the Lacie hard drives.  They're a little more expensive but do a great job.  Next in line are the seagates.  You can find them at Best Buy.  I would avoid the MyBooks by Western Digital.  They're inexpensive but problems abound from my experience.  

Time Machine Woes

here is my concern:  there is no place on the iPhone where I can enter information just for my use, i.e. "Memos" on Palm.  I need something that will sync with the computer.  IF I have Leopard, then "notes" will sync with the 2, so I assume I can cut and paste into "Notes" the info in my Memos.  However, I have been told (by you???) that Leopard messes up Windows XP.  I can't afford to do that.  Feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place - please help!  Thanks -

_______

You can use the notes syncing feature to get done what you’re looking for. You are correct to be concerned about the Leopard upgrade and it’s affect on Parallels. However, I would recommend updating Parallels to the most current build of that version. You can do so directly from the Parallels application under Help in the menu bar I believe.

Next, you’ll want to choose to upgrade the operating system during install which is the default setting anyway. Overall I think you’ll be fine. If not, Parallels can usually be recovered if Leopard causes a problem. Most importantly, update Parallels before moving to Leopard.

Emailing a bulk group in Apple's Address Book

 Scott;

Great presentation today. I actually don't have an ipod question for you, but instead an audio question. I've got a pro-tools studio in my house running off a new 24'' imac that I got a month ago. That being said I'm running pro-tools 7.3.1 and am seriously thinking about moving over to logic, which you were using today. Are there any specific features that help make your decision to go with Logic?

Thanks so much,

__________


While Pro Tools is of course the standard of the industry, Logic is a strong second place.  There are of course, several choices, Logic, Digital Performer, Cubase, etc...  I started on Cubase in 98 and after about 2 years, went to Emagic's Logic.  A few years later, Apple purchased Emagic and took over Logic production.  In the last 4 years, Logic has changed into the strongest overall audio editing software on the Apple platform in my opinion.  

As Logic is developed by Apple, it is a strong advantage to have the company that develops the operating system and hardware going to lunch with the Logic development team.  Working under the same roof, we as consumers are guaranteed to have lots of problems answered before they get out in the open.  The other software developers are usually a little behind on solving software/hardware conflicts.  


Further, Logic will import Garage Band projects easily which means you could start in Garage Band with your kids then move to Logic later for more detail.  It's a big investment so the more research you do the better.  The apple store usually has Logic installed on a few machines on the floor with demos so I would suggest checking that out as well.  


In the future, if you'd like a quicker response from me, emailing my personal email sells@mac.com will result in a faster turn around.  I don’t check my cms email as often as I should.


Linksys, Linksys, Linksys

Scotty,
    I'm having trouble with the following. Please help!!!!!!!
          1. How do I transfer my songs in order from the computer to the ipod?
          2. When I try to disconnect, my screen on the computer tells me that I can't because a program is in use.

   Also, you said that you had a handout for us but we were unable to pick it up after the first session. Could you please mail it to me. I would appreciate any help that I could get. Thanks.  


_________________
Hi

 I've included it as an attachment in this email.  

To respond to your questions:  If you have any software that scans a drive, it could have hold of your ipod's content therefore you're getting this warning.  Not sure if you are mac or PC, but I'll assume PC.  It's common for windows to scan through any device attached.  I would suggest quitting any program that may be running besides iTunes.  There could also be virus protection installed that may be scanning the ipod and therefore you may see that message as well as a result.  (again, on a mac this is not an issue)

To address question 1.  Do you mean to say that they are not in order once you get them to the ipod?  They should show in the order you placed them in your playlist.  

In the future, if you'd like to email me, it would be faster if you send it to my personal email  sells@mac.com.  I don't check my cms mail as often as I should.


CMS handout August 18, 2009

Snow Leopard Requirements?

Hi Scotty,

Suddenly my  Macbook Pro doesn't recognize my wireless devices. When I hook up to hard wire they all show up in airport utility with green lights (2 expresses & a time capsule). They are all plugged in & working. please advise what I should do.

Thanks,

_____


First, we need to make sure you have the correct airport network selected on your laptop. Go to the wireless airport icon in the menu bar and click it to reveal all the possible networks you could choose from. Be sure you are connected to the network that belongs to you.

If you are connected to you own personal network but the devices still don’t show in airport utility there may be other issues.

open airport utility and hit command +R. This will refresh the airport device list. If this still doesn’t show the network, then next go to system prefs and then to network.

Select the airport in the left hand column. Now click “Advanced”. Now select each network listed and hit the minus button on each one. This will manually remove all the history stored wireless network. Restart. Now go back to your airport icon in the menu bar and try to reconnect.

If neither of these work, then there are still more steps that can be taken. But they are a bit more advanced than I would feel comfortable addressing in this forum.




________
Scotty,

I failed to clarify that the wireless network fan icon at the top of the screen just suddenly goes grey...I loose connection. So when I go to the first step you suggest, I cannot select the proper home network because none appear at all.  I did clear the history as you suggested however. If I reboot the computer, the fan icon goes active again, the proper network is selected  & all the wireless devices show active. It happens about once or twice a day. I recent travelled to Chicago and used a hotel wireless network and Boingo network in the airports...could there be something that happened with these that is causing this dropping of the signal? Anything we can do to fix this inconvenience? Thanks so much,

________
Follow up:

It’s a bit hard to isolate whether it’s hardware or software. I would tend to lean toward software. To best isolate the problem you’d want to use a second user. If you don’t have one, create a test user on your computer and connect to the internet wirelessly. The results of this test can tell us a great deal as to where the problem lies. If the problem persists then we can begin to look at the computer’s own files however, if the problem goes away then most definitely the problem files are within your own user.

Wireless Scanning? Nope, not yet.

What is happening here, scotty?


_________


Did the time machine backup resolve itself after a restart or are you still having the same problem?  If you select the clock icon in the menu bar, do you see a "Latest Backup:  time"?  



As I’ve posted before, it’s common to see time machine errors that self resolve after a short period. Usually a couple hours.

Time Machine and virtual machines

Set up a group for wife in MobileMe. Went to send email to group and  couldn't select it, only could check/ select indivdual addresses. Been  all over Apple/Me.Com help to no avail. Any solutions for the  knowledge challenged ? 
_______
I'm affraid I may need a little more information.  But I'll assume you mean you set a group up within address book.  Once you've set up a group within address book, all that should be required is to begin typing the group name within the "TO" address field in Apple's Mail.app.  (The stamp) If you are using an application other that Mail, then address book's groupings may not work.  

You could also open address book, select the group then right click (or control+click) to send a bulk email to the group as well.  

Getting rid of iPhone junk mail

Scotty,

A number of months ago you helped me with changing out a hard drive, airport card, etc. on my iBook.

Do you work with home wireless networking?

I am having difficulty with keeping a consistent signal.  Some times my mac mini does great . . . connects and navigates very fast.  But at other times it will just get stuck.  This "slow/fast" situation will go back and forth within minutes of each other.

Mostly I am the one having problems, but other of my family members who are connected wirelessly will also some times have problems.  So, I don't know if the problem is my computer or the router we are using, or something else.  I was having the trouble before and bought a new router (a mid-cost linksys) thinking that might be the problem.  Sometimes if I shut down my computer and reset the router it works normally for a few minutes, but then goes back to giving me problems.

________


Yes, I can assist you with the in home network.  Overall, I'm not a very big fan of linksys routers.  I've posted several entries on my answers section of my website concerning how often linksys routers fail.  Personally I would suggest looking at the airport extreme router.  It's pricey but does a great job.  If your home is over 3000 square feet, you may need to look at an additional repeater/extender such as the airport express.  

Other contributing factors can be the building materials of your home such as copper pipes, plaster wall thickness, metal interference, or large surface mirrors.  

Linksys routers still suck

How can I determine if my Mac can be upgraded to Leopard? It is a Intel Dual Core 2 late 2006 model with 1Gig ram and a 2.16 processor. Also will my CD/DVD reader burner work with the new imovie and other software? It is not what came in it, they had to replace it and did so with the one listed below - I pasted the info from the profiler. I tried to look it up online but am not sure I got the right one as it said it was a dual core unit. Any help you can give me is appreciated.

________
PIONEER DVD-RW  DVR-K06:


  Model: PIONEER DVD-RW  DVR-K06
  Revision: Q609
  Detachable Drive: No
  Protocol: ATAPI
  Unit Number: 0
  Socket Type: Internal
  Low Power Polling: Yes

________


Only PPC based macs will not be able to handle the move to Snow Leopard. That means G5s and G4s are obsolete. Any intel based mac with enough ram should be fine. (1 gig now required)

Here are the details:

Apple - Mac OS X Snow Leopard - Technical specifications

Sound going out on laptop

Can I wirelessly scan from my older HP printer?
______


 If you're connnecting to your scanner wirelessly then wireless scanning is mostly impossible.  HP does have the ability to scan wirelessly on some models but even on the models supported, it usually doesn't work.  It's still best to plug up directly via usb if you want to scan from your printer.  I've not come across any other printer manufacturer that can scan wirelessly yet other than HP.  But hopefully the technology will grow in the near future.

Webkinz killed my Safari

Second question.. Can I use the “my book” external hard drive to back up both the Mac and the PC by installing the software on both sides of the computer.  I may try that when I hear back from you.   Thanks

_____


For backup, if you begin using time machine on the mac side, you'll actually be backing up the PC side although not in exactly the same manner.  Where time machine allows for individual files to be recovered from various versions from the past, the PC image inside VMware or Parallels will back up as one large virtual machine file.  Several gigs large.  This is fine overall but if you want to truly back up the Windows machine with windows software then you'd need seperate software to do that.  But to answer your question, time machine requires a mac formated hard drive os x extended journaled.  Time machine will not work on a MS-DOS formatted drive.  The mac will read the FAT-32 formatted drives but time machine will not work.  So if you're not going to rely on time machine to back up your virtual machine and want more control over what is being backed up within that virtual machine, then you'd really need two drives.

Entourage to mobileme

Is there anyway to reduce the junk mail that comes through on my iPhone?!  You set it up for me with my business email and for some reason ALL of the junk mail seems to come through on my phone, but rarely any of the business emails I NEED to get.  Is there some way to change the filtering system or make it match the email system on my office desktop?

Thanks!!

_________

Yes, this is a bit of a problem. Currently there is no junk mail filtering on the iphone. So the best way that I know is to leave your mail program running on your computer with it’s junk mail filtering system active. Now, providing you’re using an IMAP email and not POP email (Bellsouth or Road Runner email is not good) then the mail program will sort through the junk mail as usual then sync automatically back to the iphone so while the junk mail may appear on your phone at first, they should disappear from the phone when the iphone syncs back over the cloud. Essentially you’ll be creating your own mail server by leaving the mail program running on your computer. Again, this method will only work with IMAP email like aol, mobileme, .mac, or gmail for example. Not RR or Bellsouth. I see you are running your email through your business website which adds another obstacle. You would need to check with your hosting service to see if they offer IMAP email. Some do, some don’t. You could also route that email through a gmail account for instance.

As far as your business emails, that would need to be addressed in your junk mail filtering settings within your mail application. You can customize your settings to work in such a way so that any previous recipients would not be filtered or people you have in your address book for example would also be left alone.

see my previous post on IMAP here:
POP email is inferior to IMAP | email | Sells Consulting

AppleTV taking a while to sync and wireless printer

Hi, Scotty-

Perhaps you have a quick answer as to why I can get streaming audio on my macbook and desktop Gateway with no problem but on both computers the video stops and pauses long pauses on any site I go to, even one I've bought the teaching sessions for and now cannot access them. I've unplugged the router and Linksys and rebooted everything.....going on for a long time. I have cable RR. What do you suggest?

Hope your business is going well.

Thanks,

_______

You said the magic word. “linksys”. Linksys routers are very unreliable. See my very first post in the answers section here.
linksys sucks | networking | Sells Consulting

That being said, there could be other forces at work here. The next thing to check is the speed of your network. A slow internet connection could lead to studdering video. Use time warner’s own speed test. Generally speaking you’ll want to see around 4 megabits download and between 250-300kbps upload. 4 megabits is 4000kbps. Here’s the link to test your connection speed. http://speedtest.twcnc.com/

If your speed seems good, then you may want to next go back to the router. Linksys could be the problem. it may be time to get a new one. You could also directly connect to the router via ethernet and if you still have the issues, then it’s not the wireless portion of the router.

How to get Google search back into Safari's Toolbar

Hey Scotty,

You helped me set up my email account during an in home consult previously.  I have a question that I hope you can answer.  My internal speakers aren't working.  I am not connected to an external source and am not using headphones (I am at a hotel away from home and don't have either to check via that method).  I looked at apple.com and tried to troubleshoot that way and checked my sound preferences but nothing seems to help.  when I do click on something to start playing (in itunes, for example) there is a cracking noise but i can't hear music.  Any thoughts? Should I just go to the genius bar to check it?

Thanks,

_______

I suppose you’ve gone to the system prefs and looked at sound output and checked to make sure that output is set to internal speakers.
It would be great to know if the headphone jack had problems as well. There’s always a chance that it has become a hardware issue that the Apple Store would need to address if the unit was under warranty. But let’s say it’s a software problem. Possible offending sound files that could result in this problem are as follow:

~/Libary/preferences/system configuration/preferences.plist
~/Library/preferences/com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist
~/Library/preferences/com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist

Throw away all three of those files then restart your computer. If it’s software, there’s a good chance the problem will disappear. However, these files will be recreated with new settings. You’ll need to fine tune. Only a minor detail. For instance, volume level. Check to make sure you are connected to wireless once again. You may have to reconnect manually because that first file could contain other settings that may be reset besides sound.



Hope this helps.

See, I told you so.

HI SORRY TO BOTHER BUT MY DAUGHTER WAS PLAYING ON WEBKINZ AND THE CURSER STOPPED WORKING AND SHOWS A RAINBOW CIRCLE GOING AROUND IN IT'S PLACE.
       I CANNOT CLOSE WEBSITE OR GAIN ACESS TO INTERNET.I AM ABLE TO GET MAIL. Any hints?

_______


Damn that Webkinz! Yes, it happens. Sometimes Safari has problems just like any other application and it just decides to stop working. I would guess it had something to do with Webkinz’s flash functionality within the site itself. By using the key command option+command+esc you’ll get a dialogue box to force quit the application. Choose to quit Safari and go back to the site. If you still have the same issue then obviously it wasn’t a fluke. There are other problems then. You may need to update the flash engine inside safari or safari itself. I can help more in person if you need. For the short term, if you’d like you can just use Firefox.

Time Capsule errors (as usual)

Hi

is there a way to move my folders/emails from entrouage to mobile me. I want to do this so I can have access to them when i travel for work. Thank you

____

A few things to do. First, choose to import mailboxes from apple’s mail.app under the File menu then select Entourage.
Next, after the mailboxes are imported, you’ll need to drag the mailboxes into your mobileme email address on the left hand column of mail.app. You could create one new mailbox within your mobileme account by hitting the plus button at the bottom of the page however, you’d want to select that folder to live not on your mac but within the mobileme cloud. See below:



DVD burner not seen on Mac and PC


I am in and out a lot...   everytime I come back home...the network seems to be jacked up

It syncs with my apple tv forever and I my wireless printer etc doesnt respond...to either computer...

thanks
________



AppleTV can be slow to sync but not "forever".  Usually, mine syncs for about 4 minutes or so  then stops syncing.  There may be something there we want to look at.  

As far as the printers go, I don't think we ever addressed any printers in your home.  If you want to add them to your wireless network there are several ways to do it.  I'd like to know how the printer is connected to your wireless network.  If it's a wireless printer then it has settings that allow it to join your network.  Then you'd need to add it from each of your computers from within the printer pane of system preferences.  When can take a look at it when you have time.  I know it's a busy time for you.  Since it's a networking issue, it may be better for me to be there in person rather than remote in.  

Logic and the Yamaha DM2000

Scotty
I deleted the google search from the top of Safari and do not know how to get it back. Can you help?
Thanks
_____


To change the toolbar in Safari, go to “View” in the menu bar at the top of the screen with Safari open. Next, choose “customize toolbar”. You’ll see a drop down window. Simply drag the google search bubble back into the toolbar in safari then hit Done.

iPod touch can't get on wireless network

SCOTTY,

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP WITH THE TIME CAPSULE.
BECAUSE OF OUR PROBLEMS IN THE PAST, I USUALLY THINK
IT IS GOING TO BE A HUGE PROBLEM AND SOMETHING THAT
I CANNOT FIX!  I NEVER THOUGHT TO JUST RESTART THE 
COMPUTER AND THAT IT MIGHT FIX THE PROBLEM....NEXT
TIME I WILL KNOW AND TRY THAT FIRST!!!!!! 
IT IS WORKING GREAT AGAIN AND BACKING UP AS NEEDED......
THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP!

-----

Glad it worked out.

buy new or fix what I've got?

HEY SCOTTY,

THE COMPUTER HAS BEEN WORKING AWESOME AND BETTER THAN EVER,
AND BACKING UP PERFECT TOO........ UNTIL TODAY  ;~(
THE TIME MACHINE KEEPS TRYING TO BACK UP MY MAC BOOK AND 
EVERY TIME IT TRIES A MESSAGE COMES UP THAT SAYS  'UNABLE TO 
COMPLETE BACKUP. AN ERROR OCCURRED WHILE CREATING THE 
BACKUP DIRECTORY. "  I AM AFRAID TO TRY ANYTHING TO FIX IT
BECAUSE I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I AM DOING!!!!!  ;~)
DO YOU KNOW A QUICK FIX AND CAN YOU GIVE ME SOME ADVISE ON
WHAT TO DO??????

______

This can be a common error. I don’t think it has anything to do with the strength of your network this time. There are several known causes to this issue. Try the following.

1. power off both the airport time capsule router and and computer then back on again.
2. run all your updates on the computer reporting the error by going to “software update” under the black apple in the top left hand corner of your screen.
3. This can be caused by being logged into a user other than the admin. So restart the machine and log in to your parent admin and see if it completes.
4. If none of those resolve the issue then you can also do a repair permissions on your computer to help it run more healthy. Directions on how to do that can be found here:

About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature

Will G5's go be able to take Snow Leopard?

Question:

I have two DVD player/recorders.  Both MAC and PC are only seeing  one.  How do I fix it so they see both.

Thanks

______

Do you mean you have stand alone burners?  I would question the age of the unit not being detected.  I would look at if it connects via firewire or usb.  I would look at how it's being used on the computer.  You you trying to burn a disc with iTunes using the burner or just watch a DVD.  I guess I would need more information before I could assist you. 

Adding an HP wireless printer

Scotty,

I have a very specific question that you may be able to answer. We need to record our Praise and Worship portion of our service, but only have a left and right input for 18 different channels. I have the ability to modify the input levels of each channel, which seems to be working. My question is this, would Logic Express or Pro make this easier than Live? Or is there another way to accomplish what I am trying to achieve? I will investigate gaining access to the Yamaha DM2000 board, to see if I can have it on my Mac screen, and modify from the Mac, versus having to be in front of the board.


_______

Logic Pro should be able to control the DM2000.
Logic Pro 9 Control Surfaces Support: Setting Up Your Yamaha DM2000

Apple has made Logic 9 help available online as a replacement to their paper manuals. Here’s a list of all instances of the DM200 mentioned.
Help Library Search

I’m not sure if Logic Express supports the DM2000 but I’ve seen evidence online to suggest it does. Just not from Apple.

Merging two iPhoto libraries

my i-pod touch seems to be locked and i can't get my e-mails, etc.  i stopped at the apple store today and the girl said that if didn't remember my password, to stick a paper clip in the airport.  is that all i need to do and which little hole is it?  i don't think i chose a password for my i-touch except it is called Betty's Network and i just have been able to get on.  can you help me?  thanks,
_____

Ok, there may be a little miscommunication going on. These are two different problems. I assume by “locked” you mean that it is unable to get online via your wireless network at home. I found a record of your airport network in my keychain. I’ll send it separately from this post. But if you ever need to recover a password on your computer, you can do so from the keychain access application on your mac.

Resubscribe to the RSS feed

Hi Scotty,
 
I got your card from the Apple store and had written you before about my daughter's macbook pro she got a year ago. We had it repaired once for 900 dollars- apple said she dropped it and broke it and warranty was void. We tried to tell them she did not but they would not believe us. We made the repairs and now numerous other problems have come up and she will need a new one. We looked at them today and noticed the new ones are all one seamless housing and the screens are better. Some of my daughters other friends have also had problems with buckeling and disc drives. Questions for you- should we invest in a new one (is it better),
should we try to sell the old one, or repair things on it and try  to use it as a backup? Thank you.


_______

I'm sorry to hear of your trouble with the computer.  As far as upgrading to a new computer goes...there are a few things to consider.  The speed of the newest macbook pros is not so much greater that they would compel me to purchase a new computer if I have one from only last year.  The unibody enclosure is much more solid than the older aluminum style cases and do not dent nearly as easily.  However, when it comes to hard drives, every hard drive dies.  They are a technology based on moving parts and are very prone to failure.  Since I'm not sure what problems now exist on your current macbook pro, I can't really advise whether it would be a good idea to purchase a new one or solve the problems on your current machine.  Problems fall into one of two areas:  software or hardware.  

If your problems are software related then buying a new computer would not be the best way to solve the issue.  Learning what caused the software problem then knowing how to avoid repeating it is the best solution.  If the problem is hardware related then buying a new computer becomes more reasonable.  Of course you should expect to get more life from a computer than one year.  

Hope this helps.  

file sharing between macs

Do you recommend upgrading my 2 G5 imacs to Intel for Snow Leopard or can I get by with what I have.


________

Apple does not have plans to support G5’s in Snow Leopard. So that means that Leopard 10.5 will be the last operating system for G5’s.

Trouble in Parallels

I am having trouble with the printer install.  I used the disk and followed all the instructions.  Remember I am running wireless and the Mac never asks for anything to let it know to look for the router.  Now the HP printer does.. And it finds it every time.. But it is running the laptop downstairs... Which I now have running just fine. How do I get the MAC to look for the wireless network?

Thanks.

_____


The way to get your mac to look for a wireless network is to toggle the radar icon in the menu bar. You should see your linksys wireless network then select it to join. But if you’re adding a wireless printer to your mac then you’ll want to start at the system preferences then Printers/fax.

Next, click the plus sign to add your printer. The mac should find the printer automatically but the correct drivers may not be available. So either download the latest drivers from the printer manufacturer’s website or use the install CD that came with your mac. HP has a check box to check if your printer is not listed during the install/setup process. If the printer has already been joined to the wireless network, the HP software should detect it and the install should proceed fine.

Even if the installer doesn’t detect the printer, you’ve installed the drivers and you can add it manually by repeating the steps to add a printer in the system preferences printer/fax setup pane.

iDisk storage allocation and reseting sync data

So how do I combine two iPhoto libraries into one. The import libraries function will not pull in an older iphoto library .

There are a few ways to import a second iPhoto library into your current library.

1. Control click or right click on the old library and choose to show contents. Then drill down to the folder containing the “originals”. Then choose to import that folder. However, this method does not allow for importing metatags or album combinations. So there is another way.

2. Use iphoto library manager. The free version will do pretty much what you want. Merge libraries. and you’re good to go.


Where'd my sound control go?

Stupid me. I changed some things on my web pages and broke the old RSS feed. Please resubscribe Here.

Installing a printer in Windows is a headache

Hi Scotty
I need to get a mac desktop for my business. Is there a way that there can be a shared drive between my new one and my MacBook pro laptop? I have a girl working for me now and need to have her on a separate computer. I need your assistance in buying the computer and getting this
All set up. Is this something you do?


You can share all drives within your network easily. Just be sure to turn on “file sharing” in the sharing pane of both macs. I’d be happy to assist you in your purchase as well as setup.

Hard Drive data recovery for $100? -be careful


The lap top downstairs can no longer access the wireless printer in my office.  Please advise on the fix.

If the laptop downstairs was getting to the printer by the mac pro having shared the printer over to it, then it would best to have the laptop establish it's own wireless connection to the printer.  

G drive is gone again (my backup).. the pc is showing it as a Z drive.  I know you fixed this once.. so tell me how to do it, if you think I am capable.

You should be able to toggle the use of all USB devices by using the toggle switch in the bottom right hand corner of the parallels window.  If you don't see it there, try plugging it in once Windows is booted and you should be prompted to choose which operating system is to assume control.  Remember that once you quit windows, the devices that were being controlled by parallels (Windows) will fall back to the Mac.  ie:  CD's, flash drives, external HD's.  

I am about to install the software to put the new printer on the MAC  side.  I assume this is just the normal process.

Yes.  You can go download the latest drivers from the web site or use the install disc that came with the printer.  

This image is a theme.plist hack