Answers...

to commonly asked questions.

Jul 2013

SEOs...legit or snake oil?


The screen on my Mac laptop broke last night. Looks like someone tried to pick it up by pinching the screen and back.  Is that fixable or am I in the market for a new computer? 
___________



While anything is fixable, the display is the most expensive part of the computer. If you take in to consideration the age of the computer, it's possible your best option is to not repair due to the cost.  The data is most likely completely fine and safe on the hard drive but I’m sure you were backing up anyway. Right?!!! You could always just plug a second monitor up to it and convert it to a “desktop” computer with the monitor from that point forward if you’re not yet ready to purchase a new machine.

Missing voice memos

Finally got all downloads and updates run. Most seems OK except my calendars are crazy - gobs of duplicates and triplicates of events. Any quick way of cleaning this up or do I just have to wade through them all and delete? (any hidden "duplicate event" option that I haven't found?) 
There are many reasons that could be causing calendar duplicates.  The most likely candidate is that there are multiple accounts containing the same events.  With calendar open, go to preferences and check to see that only one iCloud account is added.  We often set up multiple calendars unknowingly.  We allow gmail, yahoo, iCloud to all control calendars.  This can result in duplicates.  

Another possibility is that you are syncing both through iCloud and over a wire within iTunes.  You would want to delete all calendars "on my mac" and only use iCloud.  In the past 2 years since iCloud has been available, I've only seen 2 instances where duplicates were caused by iCloud.  It's usually a multiple account issue.  

I recently have migrated totally over from my old mindspring email to gmail and have been updating every sign in and password where I use my email address including my apple i.d. (it is updated and have logged into mountian lion with it so all appears to be well on computer). Brings me to my phone…it looks like I cannot just update the address there, but  I need to delete that account completely and set up with gmail address. I assume since I have done it on apple site and updated on my computer and set up iCloud with that address with mountain lion that all data is well and secure  BUT before I delete off phone thought it might be prudent to just cover my butt and make sure. Thanks.
You should be fine.  

Daughter’s pictures have been a cluster by the way. Not all came through the last transfer. She has lost many  what appears to be all through the years now. :(
Yes, her pictures are a mess.  I agree.  It all comes back to the fact that the original pictures folder was changed.  This will best be solved when she moves to a new computer.  At that time will will be able to recover the actual "pictures" folder and put the proper contents where they actually go.  I suspect the permissions of the current picture folder have been changed.

Moving your business email to another provider

questions: 
1 - the laptop is showing doubles on the calendars.  You fixed it on my computer, but how can I fix on the laptop.
Check to be sure only one account is set up on the calendar.  With the calendar open, go to the calendar preferences in the menu bar and then select accounts.  If only one account is listed then you would most likely need to delete the doubled events manually but I am betting that's not the case.  

2 - remember the weird thing on the iPad where you could not click on the icon, you had to go in and type it in. Do you know how we can go in and fix that?

try restarting the iPad.  Hold down the top button and home button for about 7 seconds until the iPad shuts down on its own then restart.  Hopefully that will resolve the issue.  

3 - For the emails, I wanted to change the name descriptions, but when I do it says incoming mail server cannot be blank (even though the server name is in there and it greyed out). You said it was an apple bug, is there a way to work around it?  Not a big deal if not.
It's possible after an update you'll be able to rename the iCloud account.  The iCloud server settings are now stored in the operating system and cannot be changed therefore it is greyed out.  Which means, on occasion the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing so the mail program doesn't realize the computer already knows the settings so it reports the silly error.  Try restarting and see if that helps.  

Taking your iPhoto library with you.

Hey Scotty,

You helped me set up my computer several years ago at my house and everything runs great but now I need to change my password for wifi, I think.  My grandson cannot access internet from my system when he is here even though I gave him my password I recorded a long time ago.

We have tried working network preference but no change.  How do I change the password?  Or why doesnt' the current password allow him to connect to my system?

___________

You can find your current password by reading my previous posts on the subject here:
How do I recover my wireless password? | wireless, security | Sells Consulting
Finding your aiport password in Keychain Access | keychain access | Sells Consulting


If you would rather change your password then you’ll need to use Airport Utility (a program on your computer). You can find it by doing a spotlight search or going to your applications folder then into your utilities folder inside that.

Turning on iCloud calendars

What do you think of Search Engine Optimization companies? Are they worth the investment?
_________


As we discussed the other day, the best way to acheive a high ranking in Google is to 1. have as many other sites linking to you as possible. 2. keep your site active.  Post often.

Simply putting "justin beiber" in the meta data will not mean your site will show up when searching for Justin Beiber.  Google is smarter than SEO companys.  In fact they often punish sites for trying to game the system.  SEO's are sort of like looking for a miracle cure to the common cold.  If there was really one, no one would ever get another cold.  The truth is it's more complicated than that.  

Before you invest in any company claiming they can raise your ranking in google the best thing to do is become educated yourself on the subject first.  SEO companies often charge a rediculous amount of money selling snake oil.  

Look over these pages to become more familar with the subject.  Empower yourself!
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Webmaster Tools Help
Official Blog: Finding more high-quality sites in search
The Top Five SEO Mistakes According To Google's Matt CuttsGoogle's algorithm change hits 12% of search results - Feb. 25, 2011
Search engine optimization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
What Is SEO / Search Engine Optimization?


I know that's a lot of information to try to understand but in general, if were as simple as paying money to get your ranking higher, google wouldn't exist.  It takes a lot of work to get high results.  If you focus on posting often and post good useful content, people will find you and google will notice.  Just be careful before you invest in an SEO company.  Know what your are paying for.
This image is a theme.plist hack