Taking care for the mac

hi
i'm a newbie to mac.
i realy love it but i want to know if there are any tasks i can/should do to keep my mac running smoothly. i dont know how it is called here but in pc's there are things such as defragment tool and cleaning up disks.
is there any things alike?
tnx

Welcome To The Boards 2es!
See the post by one of the boards major (and smartest) contributors, Kappy, here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7883140&#7883140
He knows his stuff and this should tell you anything you want to know.
Happy Macing!
mwn

Similar Messages

What is the best 'cleaning system' for the Mac?

What do you recommend as the best 'cleaning system' for the Mac!

How to maintain a Mac
Make two or more backups of all your files
One backup is not enough to be safe. A copy of a backup doesn't count as another backup; all backups must be made directly from the original data.
Keep at least one backup off site at all times in case of disaster. Backing up to a cloud-data service is one way to accomplish this, but don't rely exclusively on such backups.
In fact, don’t rely exclusively on any single backup method, such as Time Machine.
If you get an indication that a backup has failed, don't ignore it.
Keep your software up to date
In the App Store or Software Update preference pane (depending on the OS version), you can configure automatic notifications of updates to OS X and other Mac App Store products. Some third-party applications from other sources have a similar feature, if you don’t mind letting them phone home. Otherwise you have to check yourself on a regular basis.
Keeping up to date is especially important for complex software that modifies the operating system, such as device drivers. Don't install such modifications unless they're absolutely necessary. Remove them when they are no longer needed. Before installing any Apple update, you must check that all system modifications that you use are compatible. Incompatibility with third-party software is by far the most common cause of difficulties with system updates.
Don't install crapware
...such as “themes,” "haxies," “add-ons,” “toolbars,” “enhancers," “optimizers,” “accelerators,” "boosters," “extenders,” “cleaners,” "doctors," "tune-ups," “defragmenters,” “firewalls,” "barriers," “guardians,” “defenders,” “protectors,” most “plugins,” commercial "virus scanners,” "disk tools," or "utilities." With very few exceptions, such stuff is useless or worse than useless. Above all, avoid any software that purports to change the look and feel of the user interface.
It's not much of an exaggeration to say that the whole "utility" software industry for the Mac is a fraud on consumers. The most extreme examples are the "CleanMyMac," "TuneUpMyMac," and “MacKeeper” scams, but there are many others.
As a rule, you should avoid software that changes the way other software works. Plugins for Photoshop and similar programs are an obvious exception to this rule. Safari extensions, and perhaps the equivalent for other web browsers, are a partial exception. Most are safe, and they're easy to get rid of if they don't work. Some may cause the browser to crash or otherwise malfunction. Some are malicious. Use with caution, and install only well-known extensions from relatively trustworthy sources, such as the Safari Extensions Gallery.
Only install software that is useful to you, not (as you imagine) to the computer. For example, a word processor is useful for writing. A video editor is useful for making movies. A game is useful for fun. But a "cache cleaner" isn't useful for anything. You didn't buy a computer so you could clean caches.
Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it. Otherwise you may create problems that are very hard to solve. Do not rely on "utilities" such as "AppCleaner" and the like that purport to remove software.
Don't install bad, conflicting, or unnecessary fonts
Whenever you install new fonts, use the validation feature of the built-in Font Book application to make sure the fonts aren't defective and don't conflict with each other or with others that you already have. See the built-in help and this support article for instructions.
Deactivate or remove fonts that you don't really need to speed up application launching.
Avoid malware
"Malware" is malicious software that circulates on the Internet. This kind of attack on OS X was once so rare that it was hardly a concern, but it's now increasingly common and dangerous.
There is some built-in protection against malware, but you can’t rely on it—the attackers are always at least one day ahead of the defense. You can’t rely on third-party "anti-virus" products for protection either. What you can rely on is common-sense awareness—not paranoia, which only makes you more vulnerable.
Never install software from an untrustworthy or unknown source. If in doubt, do some research. Any website that prompts you to install a “codec” or “plugin” that comes from the same site, or an unknown site, is untrustworthy. Software with a corporate brand, such as Adobe Flash Player, must come directly from the developer's website. No intermediary is acceptable, and don’t trust links unless you know how to parse them. Any file that is automatically downloaded from the web, without your having requested it, should go straight into the Trash. A web page that tells you that your computer has a “virus,” or that anything else is wrong with it, is a scam.
In OS X 10.7.5 or later, downloaded applications and Installer packages that have not been digitally signed by a developer registered with Apple are blocked from loading by default. The block can be overridden, but think carefully before you do so.
Because of recurring security issues in Java, it’s best to disable it in your web browsers, if it’s installed. Few websites have Java content nowadays, so you won’t be missing much. This action is mandatory if you’re running any version of OS X older than 10.6.8 with the latest Java update. Note: Java has nothing to do with JavaScript, despite the similar names. Don't install Java unless you're sure you need it. Most people don't.
Don't fill up your disk or SSD
A common mistake is adding more and more large files to your home folder until you start to get warnings that you're out of space, which may be followed in short order by a startup failure. This is more prone to happen on the newer Macs that come with an internal SSD instead of the traditional hard drive. The drive can be very nearly full before you become aware of the problem.
While it's not true that you should or must keep any particular percentage of space free, you should monitor your storage use and make sure you're not in immediate danger of using it up. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of free space on the startup volume for normal operation.
If storage space is running low, use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper to explore the volume and find out what's taking up the most space. Move seldom-used large files to secondary storage.
Relax, don’t do it
Besides the above, no routine maintenance is necessary or beneficial for the vast majority of users; specifically not “cleaning caches,” “zapping the PRAM,” "resetting the SMC," “rebuilding the directory,” "defragmenting the drive," “running periodic scripts,” “dumping logs,” "deleting temp files," “scanning for viruses,” "purging memory," "checking for bad blocks," "testing the hardware," or “repairing permissions.” Such measures are either completely pointless or are useful only for solving problems, not for prevention.
To use a Mac effectively, you have to free yourself from the Windows mindset that every computer needs regular downtime for maintenance such as "defragging" and "registry cleaning." Those concepts do not apply to the Mac platform.
A well-designed computing device is not something you should have to think about much. It should be an almost transparent medium through which you communicate, work, and play. If you want a machine that needs a lot of attention just to keep going, use a PC, or collect antique cars.
The very height of futility is running an expensive third-party application called “Disk Warrior” when nothing is wrong, or even when something is wrong and you have backups, which you must have. Disk Warrior is a data-salvage tool, not a maintenance tool, and you will never need it if your backups are adequate. Don’t waste money on it or anything like it.

Parallels for the mac

I recently bought Parallels for my macbook to download windows xp.
I am taking a class at the local college.
I have microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint for the Mac.
Do I need to buy microsoft programs for the Windows xp side in order
to work on my files w/ the online class?
need help

You will need Windows programs to run under Windows on a PC or in parellels.
You can open Microsft Word, Exel files from Windows in the same programs on a Mac and vice versa. If the tuition is being done in say Word in Windows and you are using Word on a Mac then there might be some differences in menu item locations.
With Parelles you can run both OS's at the same time and just toggle from one to another, this is what I do. I have an alias of my user folder and my desktop folder on the WIndows desktop so I can pull things back and forwards between the two OS's... it is really neat. I never thought it would be so easy using the two operating systems together.
Hopefully this is helpful or solved your problem. Consider rewarding some points!
Please see the "helpful" and "solved" button's on top off this message.

Need a Firehand Lightning emulator for the Mac

My daughter's wedding pictures were put together by the photographer with a program called Firehand Lightning. Is there an emulator for the Mac for this software? The photographer has given permission for me to use an emulator to open these pictures.

Ya, he's giving you the BS treatment. After doing a bit more reading, Firehand basically allows someone to take a set of pictures they have and package them together in a single .exe file that becomes a sort of slideshow presentation. You need to go back and read what your contract with this photographer said, because if you paid him to take pictures and provide you with those pictures for said price, then he needs to provide those pics to you. If the contract read something along the lines of you're paying him to take pics which he will provideo to you in an album or slideshow encapsulation for said price, then you're hosed because he's basically getting away with charging you for doing half-*** work really. Any professional photographer should be giving his/her clients full rez JPEGs of the work they're doing and getting paid for, not some bundled junk presentation/slideshow, unless you asked for that specifically. Either way, you need to go read your contract with him/her. If you didn't have one, then you need to confront him/her with your demands. Paying an additional $1500 just for him/her to take some pics off a card and put them on a CD or DVD for you is outrageous and ground for taking him to small claims court in my book... unless a contract was signed or verbally agreed upon that allowed him to swindle you because you didn't understand what he was selling you on.

Problems with Photoshop cs4 for the Mac

I am having all kinds of problems with Photoshop CS4 for the Mac. When I boot the software it seems to work for a while then, I am unable to open upf a file in Photoshop. I drag a photoshop file over the application icon, the whole screen flickers and nothing happens. I am unable to quit Photoshop as the quit choice is grayed out and command-q will not make it quit. I have to force quit. I can repeat this pattern over and over. What is happening? How do I solve this problem?
--Kenoli

Thanks for the reply. I am using Photoshop 11.0.1. I am using the latest version of Snow Leopard. I have found both Photoshop and Dreamweaver to be pretty buggy for several versions now. My suspicions were that they were really engineered for Windows and never really fully implemented for the Mac. Dreamweaver crashes or hangs on me three or four times a day if I us it all day and does various annoying things like refusing to respond to the delete key after I have used it for a while. I have pretty much stopped using it to some degree for that reason and also because there is other software that does a lot of coding things I do much more directly and simply. Also Dreamweaver always seems to struggle to quit when I tell it to quit (that is, it takes a long time and gets hung up at places before it quits) and once it does quit, I always get a message saying that it has unexpectedly quit (even when I have told it to quit).
The problems with Photoshop (starting with just taking a long time to load) have escalated to the point I described today, which makes it almost unusable. I just reinstalled Snow Leopard to see if there was anything buggy in the system software. I will report if problems go away.
Regarding both the refusal to open image files and the grayed out quit command, made me think something like you, i.e. there was some dialogue box open somewhere. However, I couldn't find anything and I don't use two monitors.
So . . . Adobe just seems to be getting more expensive and more buggy.
Incidentally, why is it still running in Rosetta rather than natively? Adobe now has a real Intel processor to work with.
--Kenoli

Worth getting apple care for the Retina model?

Is it worth geting apple care for the Retina models? have read they can be dodgy...
Since I will have a one year warrenty could I just skip out on apple care untill a month before the warrenty expires as the warrenty will cover all my needs?

jaymanjoel wrote:
From the sounds of it, the Retina 2012 model is so not worth it. I assume that the 2012 retina model is almost like a testing ground to build on future retina models so there will be a lot of bugs to sort out... i assume such bugs like program capabilities with retina will be sorted out by the time the 2013 model comes around?
Have to agree completely with that.
If I was in the market for a new Mac it certainly would not be one of the Retina models. Way to expense for what you get and then there are all the problems with it.
You know I've been doing my work and having fun on computer for over 20 years and never needed a screen like the Retina to actually get things done and make some money.

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

In the Mac side of things, backups usually come in two flavors: clones or incrementals.
A bootable clone is a bit-for-bit copy of all essential files in the startup volume. If using the Lions, clones can be made using CarbonCopyCloner or just plain old Disk Utility. These backups represent the safest protection of your info, but take the longest to do. Recovery is an inverse process: you copy the clone back into the internal drive.
Incremental backups start with a complete backup of the startup volume and only copy whatever changed from the previous run. OS X includes the fully integrated Time Machine backup utility to do this. It is extremely easy to do and takes the least amount of time. Recovery is another matter altogether since you have to start with a freshly installed instance of the OS and have to apply all intervening backups to bring the result to the latest saved version.
As for where the backup takes place, the recommended media is an external dedicated drive or drives connected via the fastest interface available on your Mac: Thunderbolt, USB3, Firewire, or USB2. Network-based backups, wired or wireless, are attractive but may not offer the same performance and hence take longer. Also important to note that the entire drive need not be completely dedicated to a single backup. The Mac's EFI firmware infrastructure allows for an unlimited number of partitions on a hard drive and each can be used for either type of backups.
Holler if you need specifics on how to do each. This was just an executive summary.

I am trying to play a DVD on my MacBook Pro and transmit it to my TV (use my TV as the monitor) utilizing a VGA cable and adapter for the Mac but the only image that shows up on the TV is the MacBook wall paper, any ideas on how I can transmit to my TV?

I am trying to play a DVD on my MacBook Pro and transmit it to my TV (using my TV as the monitor) utilizing a VGA cable and adapter for the Mac but the only image that shows up on the TV is the MacBook wall paper, any ideas on how I can transmit the movie from my MacBook to the TV? I also tried an HDMI cable and had the same issue.

you are probably seeing the extended display.. to see ur main display go to pefrences then display steeings and turn mirroring on.
this will display ur mbp main screen. good luck.

Office for the Mac - file open slowness, freeze, or crash

When I select the File - Open window, any of the Office programs take a few minutes to display all of my files in the Documents folder. When they are finally displayed, any attempt to scroll through the list or go to a specific file results in the Mac's spinning wheel being displayed. Quite often, nothing happens after the wheel stops spinning. Sometimes, it just continues to spin. Consequently, it is almost impossible to use the File - Open window in Office to select a file to open. The only way I can do so is to use Finder to display my files in the Documents folder and then selecting them in that program's File - Open window.
When the wheel is spinning, Force Quit says that the specific Office program being used is "not responding." Usually, I use Force Quit to close down the Office program if it has frozen, crashed, or been slow using the File Open window.
I spent an hour yesterday with Microsoft Support on the problem. The conclusion of the tech was that I had too many files in my Documents folder. I pointed out that other programs such as FileMaker Pro didn't have this problem. The tech's response was that Office has to scan the entire Documents folder every time the File Open window is opened, but that FileMaker Pro stores a list of the last files in the Documents folder and doesn't rebuild the list every time.
I am skeptical of this "answer." The problem didn't exist until a few months ago.
My computer is a MacBook Pro 2.3gHz with 16 GB of RAM and a 750GB hard drive which has about 500GB free. This is a fairly fast machine with a Geekspeed of 10688. I was running the latest Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.1. The problem first surfaced with Office for the Mac 2008 about 3-4 months ago running Mac OS 10.10.1. I installed Office 365 yesterday, and and Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.2 today, and nothing changed.
The only solution that I know of is to take a lot of time to segregate my files in the Documents folder into more subfolders (I already have quite a few). That I am loath to do, because the solution doesn't work very well. It takes about a minute to select a subfolder in the File Open window, and then about another 30 seconds before Office allows me to scroll through a relatively small number of files (e.g., 100 files) in the subfolder.
When this question was posted to the Microsoft Community, I was directed to an article talking about problems with Office and Mac OS. None of the solutions worked, probably because the article considered only Office X and Office 2004 for the Mac and OS 10.2 and 10.3.
Help, please!

1) Verify that Office is fully updated. v14.4.7
2) I suggest you run Font Book and vailidate your Fonts. Microsoft installs duplicate fonts and after you clean up your fonts, this has often fixed odd issues with Office.
Office 2011 Duplicate Fonts to Delete
3) Delete the com.apple.LaunchServices file in your User's Library/Preferences folder. Log out under the Apple in the Menu bar and test. More info
If this fails to fix....
Testing in a new User will quickly tell you if the problem is system wide or if it's your User's folder that contains the problem.
Put a few test files in the Shared folder. Data in the Shared folder can be accessed by another User. When you "Switch Users", you can access the files in the shared folder. After you log into the new test User, drag from Shared (it actually copies). Put the test files in Documents.
Open Word. It won’t be in the Dock in the new User. Go to Applications to open.
Do you still see the issue?
If yes, you can eliminate the number of files in your Documents folder.
If no, then you might want to do a clean up in Documents.
*Remember to drag files back from Shared when you log into your main User.
**(Fair disclosure: OfficeforMacHelp is my site. I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from links on my site.)

I need to use an older version of FireFox for the Mac (3.0) to be compatible with another program; how can I get it?

My company uses SalesForce CRM and recently changed wholesale to Macs. Unfortunately, certain functions in SalesForce are not compatible with the current version of Safari or any version of FireFox newer than 3.0 and we need to be able to use those functions. How can I download that version for the Mac?

There is also a portable Firefox 3.0 version via this link:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/osxportableapps/PortableFirefox_3.0_en-US-OSX_r4.0u.dmg?download
It can take some time before the download starts.

Looking for software that allows you to make "who wants to be a millionaire". Must be able to put in your own questions and HAS to be for the Mac. Help!

I am a teacher who would love to create the game "who wants to be a millionaire" with my own questions. I would use this for test reviews. I can't not find something for the mac. It is out there for the PC, but my class room is mac based. I can't use anything that will allow me to run the mac in windows, either. Anyone know of a software that will allow me to input my own questions? Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

You may possibly find something here:
http://www.oneonlinegames.com/who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire-games
but in any case beware of copyright.

I have a mid 2011 27 inch iMac and a late 2012 mac mini. I am using the 27 inch iMac as the display for the mac mini. I was trying to use bootcamp on the mini but after I started downloading windows I can't get it to display on the iMac.

I have a mid 2011 27 inch iMac and a late 2012 mac mini. I am using the 27 inch iMac as the display for the mac mini with a thunderbolt cable. I was trying to use bootcamp on the mini but after I started downloading windows I can't get it to display on the iMac.

Hi there,
The simplest way is to drag it across wirelessly using the 'Airdrop' application once both computers are near one another. 'Airdrop' can be found near the top, on the left hand side menu, within 'Finder'.
AJ

How can I get qucken data from windows copied over to quicken for the Mac?

I recently bought a Macbook Pro. I have been using windows my whole life. I installed Quicken 2006 for the MAC. I backed up my windows quicken on a disk and it just doesn't open it. Is there a trick? or am I screwed?

Unfortunately, there is no simple way to convert a Quicken/WIndows data file to Quicken/Mac. This is a major complaint of a lot of switchers.
I can't find the link (I'll keep looking) but I know that Intuit offers a conversion service. You send them your data file, and for an absurd amount of money they'll convert the file for you.
You're probably better off starting your Quicken/Mac file from scratch.
That's what I did. It took some time to do, but now I'm happy with it and I didn't have to pay anyone to convert the file.

I have iMovie 09. I just erased my external hard drive, but it is still formatted for the mac. However, iMovie will not recognize the hard drive. It shows the only hard drive available is the computers. How do I get the external hard drive to show up?

I have iMovie 09. I just erased my external hard drive, but it is still formatted for the mac. However, iMovie will not recognize the hard drive. It shows the only hard drive available is the computers. How do I get the external hard drive to show up?

In Finder's Menu, select Go menu>Go to Folder, and go to "/volumes". (no quotes)
Volumes is where an alias to your hard drive ("/" at boot) is placed at startup, and where all the "mount points" for auxiliary drives are created for you to access them. This folder is normally hidden from view.
Drives with an extra 1 on the end have a side-effect of mounting a drive with the same name as the system already think exists. Try trashing the duplicates with a 1 or 2 if there are no real files in them, and reboot.
If it does contain data...
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2474

I have Photoshop CS2 for the MAC and it stopped working on my MAC. I recently bought a new MAC, an iMAC. There appears to be no way to contact Adobe about this. What do I do? Ed

I have Photoshop CS2 for the MAC and it stopped working on my MAC. I recently bought a new MAC, an IMAC and it doesn't work on that either. There appears to be no way to contact Adobe. What do I do? Thanks, Ed

That because the activation servers were retired. Now for the good news:
Adobe has provided a non-activation version of Photoshop CS2 free of charge for their CS2 license holders.
Download the Mac version of Photoshop (not the suite) and copy down the serial number next to it. Do not use your original serial number or cs2 disc.
Download Acrobat 7 and CS2 products
Uh... one more thing CS2 is PPC only. OSX 10.6.8 has Rosetta to run legacy PPC products. 10.7 and above will not.
Good luck,
Gene

Taking care for the mac

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