The OFFICIAL Mac User Support Thread - Part 2

[Thread Manager]

This is a continuation thread, the old thread is Here

[jaguarr]

Hey All,
guitarsingerguy asked a couple of Mac related support questions in Malice's virus thread, and I didn't want to clutter up that thread with Mac talk, so I thought I'd start a thread just for the Mac users on the Hype! to ask questions, get answers, and share tips and tricks. There are quite a few of us on here, so this thread is probably way overdue. So, without further ado, here's the first question:

Originally Posted by guitarsingerguy

Alright, you asked for it. :p Dumb new MAC user question #1 - My ibook shuts itself off after a period of time with no use. Where can I change or extend this time period? I've found where the sleep function is, but nothing to do with the laptop turning itself off. Also, do you know anywhere that I can find a REALLY extensive list of Apple key shortcut commands? That's all for now. Thanks.

When your iBook shuts itself off, are you sure it's not going into Safe Sleep? That's really what it sounds like it's doing. Which OS are you running, and what model of iBook do you have?

Macintosh Keyboard Shortcuts

jag

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Originally Posted by wiegeabo

The only real issue that I've found is that Mac's are more mouse intensive (assuming you're a heavy keyboard shortcut guy on the PC like I am).

Also, installing and uninstalling programs takes a bit getting used to. Unlike a PC, it's often just drag the file into the Applications folder and you're done. And when I uninstall, there always seems to be little files left behind, and I don't know the best way to clean them.

Originally Posted by Golgo-13

Clean them using app zapper:

http://www.appzapper.com/

Highly recommended.

Originally Posted by Crook

There's plenty of uninstallers that do the job similarly. I'd recommend trying each one of these out, or just take their final recommendation:

http://www.myappleguide.com/blogs/ip...er-vs-cleanapp

They're all pretty competitive with every new software update.

BAH!

1) Delete the program.
iTunes

2) Delete your User folder Library files.
/Users/shh/Library/iTunes

3) Delete any User folder, Library, Application Support files associated with it.
/Users/shh/Library/Application Support

4) Delete any user folder, Library, Preferences [plist] files associated with it.
/Users/shh/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist

5) Delete any Hard Drive Library directory associated with it.
/Library/iTunes

6) Delete any Hard Drive Library Application Support folders/files associated with it.
/Library/Application Support/

7) Delete any Hard Drive directory Preferences associated with it.
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iLife.plist

8) Delete any Hard Drive System Library files/folders that maybe associated with it.
/System/Library/Quicktime


That's all you need....unless.

It's a program that has the uninstaller built into it. MS Office, Norton Anti Virus, Adobe CS Suite.

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Why did it close?

[wiegeabo]

It was over the limit and Thread Manager finally got around to it.

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Over the limit of....?

[wiegeabo]

1000 posts in a thread.

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Wow really? They are limiting it to that now for all threads?

[wiegeabo]

You must have been away for a while.

The whole site was having problems, and the recommendation they got was to limit all thread sizes.

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Yeah I've been gone for about 8-10 months or so.

[Golgo-13]

Glad this thread is back up and running!

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Word.

[Golgo-13]

So, this question still stands;

what is the best way to rest your mac; put it to sleep ever night, or power down?

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There seems to be no actual proof either way that on is significantly better than the other. If you have a notebook there is a little difference being that you can wear out/hurt your battery by having it plugged in all the time.

But as far as for which is actually better for the machine.

Never sleeping. Putting it to sleep. Or shutting it down. If there is any difference at all, it is negligible.

One school of thought is if I leave my computer on all the time, the HD and other components since they aren't constantly powered on and off.

Or if I turn my machine off all the time when not in use, I save my HD and other components by not using them.

Neither seem to prove true over the other.

[Golgo-13]

I still have my old Powermac G4 'FW 800'. Had it since 2003. NEVER had a problem with it, after all these years.

I usually put mine to sleep every night. Maybe once every 2 weeks i'll completely power down, when it seems to be running a little slow. That's probably due to the fact that i have so many programs running at one time, and don't realize it. Once i re-start it, it's back to normal speed.

I do a routine 'repair permissions' about once a month...that's all the maintaneance i do.

I have some software from OWC: http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/

...where i purchase hard drives and optical drives for it from. One of the optical drives came with some software called: SpeedTools™ Utilities that de-frags. I've hear how useless de-fragging a mac is over the years, but i run it anyway.

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Nice, good for you man!

As for de-fragging the HD, on a mac you don't need to because when you run software updates it de-frags it at that point.

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I hope not, but if you have encountered the new Malware program running around here is what you need to know.

It goes by a few different names:
Mac Security
Mac Defender
Mac Protecter
Mac Guard

Here's a youtube video of what happens.

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

And here is the official Apple support article to get rid of it.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4650

DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT input your credit card #

Apparently there is also a new variant that does not require the admin password to install itself, but that means that it is at the user level so the entire computer does not contain the Malware.

[twylight]

Okay, my Macbook Pro is... um, I wanna say 3ish years old (a real trooper, I love her), and running OSX 10.6.7 but recently it's starting to get slow, and I get the lovely pinwheel quite a bit. I currently have about 15 GB free and I keep it around that, putting as much as possible on my externals. Do I need to give it more space?

Is there anyway to 'clean' it up a bit to make it not give me the pinwheels?

I checked the previous link and only came across a non-working link. I've read about programs you can DL, but is there any non-program way tricks to speed it up/clean it? If not what are some good programs?

[wiegeabo]

I thought it was older than that. You got it in 08?

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Originally Posted by twylight

Okay, my Macbook Pro is... um, I wanna say 3ish years old (a real trooper, I love her), and running OSX 10.6.7 but recently it's starting to get slow, and I get the lovely pinwheel quite a bit. I currently have about 15 GB free and I keep it around that, putting as much as possible on my externals. Do I need to give it more space?

Is there anyway to 'clean' it up a bit to make it not give me the pinwheels?

I checked the previous link and only came across a non-working link. I've read about programs you can DL, but is there any non-program way tricks to speed it up/clean it? If not what are some good programs?

Not sure what you're talking about? The link in my post? It worked for me. Anyway.

1. What is the total size of your HD? For example if you have a 320GB and you only have 15GB of free space, you're below the 10% marker which is recommended for the minimum amount of space you should leave on your HD in order for it not to slow down due to being to filled.

2. It may be failing. Back up your data asap.

3. Once you're data is backed up, open Disk Utility and run, Verify Disk. If it fails, well depending on the failure you may be able to repair it, but not always.

[twylight]

102 GB on my Mac side with 15gb free, 16 GB on my Windows partition. I'll run a Time Machine tonight and verify.

Wieg - The earliest date I could find for it was 2008 under my network information. But I just searched the old thread (someday someone will be able to read my posts on Hype and piece together my life like tree rings) I bought it in 5/2007 so she is 4 years old...Doing pretty well for her age if I do say so...

P.S. I miss Jag.

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Originally Posted by twylight

102 GB on my Mac side with 15gb free, 16 GB on my Windows partition. I'll run a Time Machine tonight and verify.

Wieg - The earliest date I could find for it was 2008 under my network information. But I just searched the old thread (someday someone will be able to read my posts on Hype and piece together my life like tree rings) I bought it in 5/2007 so she is 4 years old...Doing pretty well for her age if I do say so...

P.S. I miss Jag.

IF TM errors or fails, then that pretty much guarantees that your HD is failing.

Usually you can look here for when you made the purcahse....

https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

Yeah, Jag was a good guy.

[twylight]

OH, I meant to post this... *months later*

TM worked fine and the verify then (and just a moment ago) returned this:

The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK.

It's also been heating up super fast with the fans kicking in for simple word processing... going to empty more of the disk off and see if that helps.

[wiegeabo]

Probably need to give the laptop a good cleaning. You could have a ton of dust built up which is acting like a blanket and keeping heat in.

But, as long as your processor is under 200 degrees, preferable 150-170, it's fine. 190 is pushing it.

[twylight]

How do I check that/clean it?