A long time coming

This post has been a long time coming. Things have been pretty busy for me and I haven't taken the time I should to focus on contributing to this blog. I have had some good learning experience with Macs over the past little while and even got to do a 2 week trial of an iPad. If you still aren't sure about the iPad all I can say is get one! They are amazing. I had to send my loaner back to Apple but should be getting my own to use sometime in July. Once I do I will be reviewing some Apps and mixing that in with the other posts that I make. My next post is coming soon and will go into some of the features of iMovie for anyone who is interested. If you have anything you would like included in the post please let me know and I will include it. Thanks!

Maintenance

Many people wonder how to keep their Mac running nice and fast. People are used to doing things like a defrag in Windows but don't know how to do any type of maintenance on a Mac. There is a great little download that will help you keep your Mac running in tip top shape. It is called OnyX and can be downloaded from http://www.titanium.free.fr/index_us.html be sure that you download the right version. They come out with a new version for every OS update from Apple. If you have Tiger get the Tiger Version, Leopard get the Leopard version and Snow Leopard get the Snow Leopard version. They even have versions for Jaguar and Panther depending on how old your Mac is. This is a great little tool. Once it is downloaded just drag it over to your applications folder like any other application and you will find what you need to keep you Mac running fast and even customize your computer a little. Each version of OnyX is a little different as they make slight changes and improvements for each version. I am using Snow Leopard so if things are a little different for you it is probably because you are using a different version of OS X. Don't worry about it. Most of it is the same just a category moved or something simple like that. One thing to know before you use OnyX is this...it is powerful. If OnyX asks to do something and you do not know what it is then don't do it. You don't want to cause damage to your system that you cant repair later on.

When you open OnyX a few things will happen. First it will ask to verify the S.M.A.R.T. status of your disk. This is something important because it will look for errors on your hard drive. If it finds something it will alert you. This is a good way to know if your drive is failing. If your drive fails a S.M.A.R.T. test it is a good idea to look into getting a new hard drive. After that you will be prompted to test your startup volume. This is another good test to run but please be aware that it will cause all of your programs to quite when it runs. Be sure to save all of your work before you run the test to prevent loss of work.

Once these tests are done you will need to enter your password. Before it lets you get in and clean, and maybe change settings on your computer, it wants to verify that you are the person responsible for the changes. This prevents someone from messing up your computer without your knowledge. Along with the interface is a guide to help you use OnyX. It tells you to be sure to backup all of your work incase you make a mistake using OnyX you can go back and get any lost work. Be sure to review the guides provided by them and follow the suggestions they give before trying anything on your system.

The first part of OnyX is the "Verify" section. Clicking on it will show you a pane where you can go back and run the S.M.A.R.T. Status check and the Startup Volume check again as well as checking the .plist status. These test will show you how your system is running and help you know what else you need to do based on the results of the test.

The Next section is Maintenance. Through this tab you can view and repair permissions, check the scripts or logs of your computer and rebuild any indexes or databases you need to. Most of this can be done through DiskUtility which comes built into every Mac but OnyX seems to be a much easier way to get things done. The maintenance section will make sure all of the files line up where they need to be so that they are easily discovered on your hard drive and they allows you to make sure your scripts are being cleared as needed. Sometimes people don't use their computers that often and because of the computer being off or asleep the cleaning out of the scripts doesn't happen during its programmed time. This will allow you to clear those out so that they don't become overloaded.

The next section is "Cleaning" it is important to remember to keep the internal workings of your computer just as clean as you would keep your screen or keyboard. Each of the different sections within the cleaning field searches the files it describes looking for partial files, corrupt files or anything else that may be causing you problems. If you are using an Application or anything on your computer and keep having issues it is a good idea to come here execute a clean on your system and see if that helps to fix the problem.

The next two sections are the ones you want to be careful with. The "Utilities" and the "Automation" sections can cause some issues if you do the wrong thing. If you are not familiar with what you see in those sections I suggest not going into them too much. I will go into detail about those sections in a later post because i feel they need more attention so if you want to skip over them it might be a good idea for now and we will come back to them soon.

The "Parameters section is where you can have some fun and make some useful changes to your computer. Through here you can go in and make little changes to the Finder, Dock, QuickTime, Safari, iTunes, the Login, and Spotlight. The general tab lets you make some changes to backgrounds. If you use this be sure that you have a powerful computer. Running an animated background is very taxing on the computer so you need to be sure that you have the power need to keep it going and still use all of your other applications up to standard. One of the features I really like in the general setting is the ability to change the Arrows in the scroll bar. I like the double arrows at both ends. It makes for easy clicking no matter where your mouse is. You can change your dock from the 3D dock to a 2D dock in the dock section and also change how your items move in and out of the dock. Most of these changes are to make your Mac into something you like better. Feel free to play with them and see what it does.

The "Info" section is a lot like the about this Mac section. It gives you general information about your computer like the serial number and what version of the OS you are running. It tells you how big your hard drive is and how much of it is being used. It will tell you how long your computer has been on since the last boot and provides other useful information about your computer.

All in all OnyX is a very clean and nice application that you can use to help you keep track of things and make sure your Mac is running the way it should. I find it easy to use and I like the added features it gives me to customization of the user interface of my computer.

Getting Started With iPhoto

One of the areas I see a lot of people have difficulty with when using a Mac is trying to use it like Windows. The first thing that is important to remember is that the Windows OS and Mac OS have a lot of differences. Take pictures for example. Every Mac comes preloaded with a very nice tool to store, manage and even manipulate your photos. iPhoto can store all of you photos for you and makes them readily available to you whenever you need them.
When you first import photos into iPhoto it will separate them into events by the dates the pictures were taken. If you have an event that is spread out over more than one day it is easy to combine the events so that the photos can stay together and been seen in one large group. Simply click on the event you want to move and drag it over the top of the event you want to merge it with. When you do this a little plus sign will pop up informing you that the two events will be added together. Once you do this a message will pop up informing you that the two events are going to be merged together if you select ok you now have your photos in one event. One thing that can be very useful is to give each event a name so that you always remember where you were when the pictures were taken. Over time it can become increasingly difficult to remember where everything was taken and sometimes a date is just not enough. If you hover your mouse over the date it will bring up the name of the event. If you have not put an even name in you will notice that they all say untitled event. Just click on untitled event and give the event a unique name that will help you remember where all of your wonderful pictures were taken. These are just some simple ways to start organizing your photos.
Once you have them put into events and have given the events names you can start doing things like setting up Faces or Places. Faces uses facial recognition software to help you organize photos of individuals into their own groups. If you double click on a photo to bring it up to a larger view you will notice a little icon that says names in the bottom left area of iPhoto. Clicking this will bring up little name areas and boxes around faces. All you have to do is start tagging people in your photos. the more you tag the more the software built into iPhoto can find the faces for you and start putting them into the same group. The nice thing about the software is that it will always ask you if it is the right person. Sometimes it does make mistakes and you will have to tell it that is not the right name but the more you put in the better it will get. If you are into social networking and use Facebook this feature is a lot like tagging people in your Facebook albums. It is a nicer way to help keep things organized and helps you remember the names of people you might not see often enough. Once you have started using faces you can click on the Faces Icon under Library in the Left hand navigation area. This will bring up a page that shows all of the people who have marked or tagged in your photos. If you run your mouse along the photo above a persons name you will see it scroll through the photos of that person. A quick double click on the photos opens up the library and shows you all the photos of the person you clicked on. The more people you make the easier it will be to find pictures of them when you need them.
The other feature I really like in iPhoto is the ability to add a flag to the picture to show where it was taken. iPhoto calls this feature places. When looking at a folder you will notice a little "i" pop up on the picture if you hover the mouse on it. Clicking on this opens up the information page. Through here you can add a brief description of the photo and also find the location of where the photo was taken on a map. Simply type in the City and State of where the photo was taken and drop a pin. Once you tag your photos you will be able to click on the Places icon in the Library section of the left hand navigation bar and see a map of all the places where your photos have been take. This is a nice little feature to help you remember where you were and maybe even jog your memory about the trip there.
Using iPhoto can really help you keep your pictures organized an help you find the exact picture you are looking for when you need it. Through the editing tools you can even do things like fix red eye, rotate or crop you pictures. It is a very nice tool to use and will take away the headache of trying to organize and store all of your pictures because it does all of the hard work for you. If you are someone who likes to share their photos online it even offers easy uploading to sites like flickr or facebook. As you explore iPhoto you will see that it is quite a powerful tool that is included with your Mac. It even has simple ways to make photo books, photo calendars or custom cards to give to your friends and family. If you have any questions beyond what we covered today let me know and I will be happy to go into greater detail. Check back soon for advice on how to keep your Mac running in top condition and a free tool that you can download to help you with this.

Intro

I am a college student studying Information Technology. I also work as the Director of IT for a school district in Southern California. I have been a Mac user since I bought my first computer and will never go back. I am fascinated with Apple products and I am always looking into them and trying to stay up on the cutting edge of Apple Technology. The best part about working for the district I work at is that it is an Apple One-to-One computing school. This gives me ample opportunity to work on Apple products and to familiarize myself with their latest and greatest. I also own a few Apple products at home. I have a MacBook Pro as does my wife, we both have iPhones and iPods and we also enjoy using our Apple TV. The 3.0 software for the Apple TV has made some great improvements. Through this blog I want to share my experiences working with Apple products and try to give some insight on how to use them to the fullest of their ability. If there are ever any questions please let me know and I will be happy to answer them to the best of my knowledge. I have recently started reading and training so that I can become Apple certified and look to one day open up an Apple repair center in my local area. I think the more that Apple products are welcomed into the lives of people the more they will realize how nice the products are and how much they can really help simplify and organize peoples lives. One of the main reasons I made the switch to Apple is because of the ease of use and the simplicity of using everything together. One thing I will say is that I am a Mac through and through. I know a lot of Windows people and I don't have anything against them. I think Windows is a good product I just much prefer to use a Mac. When it comes down to it each system has its own ups and downs and a case can be made for either one. I prefer not to argue about what one is better because it really comes down to an opinion and a preference. I at times am a little strange. I tend to get caught up in having the latest and greatest Apple product and like getting into them and seeing what they can do for me. If you can handle all of that and want to try to gain something from my experience in the Mac world then please check back and let me know what you want to know about.