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Apple Mail Basics

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:24:03 +0000

A simple guide to setting up and using the Apple Mail application which is bundled with OS X. Most users want to know how to send emails, attach photos, and about viewing files and photos they have been sent.
Mac OS X: Mail Basics (length 0:03:04, source: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/)

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Mail is Apple’s bundled email app. It can use most email services and types of email account.

Setting up Mail. MobileMe (now iCloud) automatic. The video skips over settings for other services! (Though my experience has shown Mail to be thoroughly capable if you know what settings are needed, and it already knows them if you are using Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc).

What you can do with Apple Mail.
Creating a new email message, addressing an email, finding email addresses.
Adding attachments, adding photos from iPhoto, sizing images prior to sending.

Quicklook: viewing attachments without having to open other applications. Viewing photos in emails as a slideshow.

Searching through emails: use anything you can remember about the email you are trying to find using Mail’s powerful search facility.

Send large email attachments

admin — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:56:47 +0000

You can send large email attachments for free (up to 50mb) using YouSendIt. This is tremendously useful for sending designs and images that would normally bounce back if emailed. From a Mac user perspective they have an app and some plugins for Photoshop and Acrobat.

But sometimes I have found that the YouSendIt app will refuse to send and come up with an error message that says my connection to the internet is broken, when it patently isn’t. I mention the following fix mostly because I could have done with it when sending some large files against the clock this morning! Things always go wrong when you need them most. I searched the internet in vain. Only after I had calmed down did I start to think what the answer might be…

The solution – for the record – is to close the app, bin the following files and folders (at your own risk of course):

in /Library/Application Support/YouSendIt

in /Library/Preferences/com.yousendit.YouSendItExpress.plist

and then start the app again. To get to your Library folder under Lion, hold the alt key while pressing the Go menu in the Finder.

The app, by the way, at time of writing is YouSendIt Express. There is a “Desktop” version coming soon that I imagine allows for online storage.

Mac Mail forgets password

admin — Mon, 02 May 2011 04:58:47 +0000

Sometimes Mail (mail.app) just seems to forget the passwords it needs. One day your mail is collected OK by the Mac’s Mail application, and then suddenly it starts asking for your password to send or receive.

Of course, Mail might not be at fault; perhaps there could be a network error instead, and if so you can adjust your Mail settings as much as you like and get no where. Tweaking settings that have previously worked in Mail just because they suddenly do not work could be a dumb move, if infact the problem turns out to be your service provider, because you may have just screwed up settings that should work.

But assuming other devices, such as an iPhone or another Mac or PC, can still send and receive using the same settings, the cause should lie with the Mac. Let’s look at the problem I am seeking to address here… specifically, Mail asks for the password and even though you makes sure the “remember checkbox” is checked, it ignores this and asks again, and probably gets no mail. This error is longstanding with Mail.app. I have fixed it on a new iMac running Snow Leopard, for instance, and also on machines as old as a G3 iBook running Tiger.

So if this sounds familiar try the following fix: Locate and open Keychain Access in the Utilities folder, in the Applications folder. Look for the pop, mail or smtp settings that Mail is complaining aren’t working. They will probably look like the one I have highlighted (which is for an old account I no longer use):

a mail keychain

Double-click to edit. Check the Show Password to look see if it is the one you expect. Then click the Access Control bar to get:

Keychain Access Control

Now grant access to this password to other applications besides Mail.app. Click the radio button “Allow all applications to access this item”. Save and close. Do this with any other email account Mail complains about, covering settings for both incoming and outgoing mail. After this I find Mail asks one more time but that this time the password sticks.

Administrator rights in XP command prompt

admin — Sun, 01 May 2011 14:48:05 +0000

I needed to run the command line in Windows XP as the administrator, something that I couldn’t just do by right clicking the Command Prompt in Accessories and selecting Run As Administrator, as you can in Vista or Windows 7. (I wanted to run the sfc.exe, and to do this it needed full administrator access). The quick way to do it, assuming you are logged in as a user with ordinary administrator or power user rights, is to go to the start menu, select Run…, type in CMD and press CTRL-SHIFT-ENTER on the keyboard. The command prompt shell will appear as normal, but you will find that you can issue commands that were previously restricted.

Open winmail.dat on a Mac

admin — Sun, 01 May 2011 14:36:14 +0000

Sometimes emails from Windows users contain an attachment called winmail.dat or win.dat which mail applications on the mac do not automatically decode. If you reply asking the sender what the attachment is, they will most often say that they had not actually attached anything. This is because their Microsoft email application mostly uses the dat file to store formatting code for the email to make it look nice to other users of the same software.

However it is also sometimes a wrapper for attachments the sender does intend you to be able to open. Why Apple Mail does not automatically decode it I don’t know. The decoding software is open source.

So, in the interests of harmony with Windows users, here is a link to what you need to decode the dat files, TNEF’s Enough: For OS X 10.5 and above For OS X 10.4 Thanks to Josh Jacob

Right RAM for my computer

admin — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 06:09:40 +0000

So, how do I get the right RAM for my computer, whether it is a PC or Mac? There are so many different kinds! Is there a way of finding what RAM my computer needs and how much RAM it can handle? Just because it fits the slot does not mean it is compatible, and even if I do use a compatible memory module, it might not be the best partner for the other memory modules already installed. I have found that Crucial.com/uk have an excellent online scanner that can read the system data from your Mac or PC and tell you what memory modules you can buy. It is extremely useful to me to be able to help clients find the right memory.

In most cases, it can give a number of options, so that if you just want to upgrade one module you can, or you can replace all your modules with memory that maxes out your system and makes best use of its processor. Better still, for those buying relatively expensive Mac hardware, the advice has to be to think twice about getting the RAM memory pre-installed by Apple if you want more than the base configuration. It will almost certainly be more expense than you need, and a system scanner like Crucial’s will enable you to get more for your money.

At the other end of the market, if you are on a tight budget and have bought a cheap PC, especially a little netbook, you can probably cheaply upgrade the memory as they tend to be sold underpowered to keep the price down.

One of the things I also like about Crucial is that it supports really old hardware. Macs for instance just go on and on, and I have recently upgraded my lovely little G4 Mac Cube to 1.5 GB RAM. I would have been a bit stumped as to what to get otherwise.

However, on the subject of upgrading Macs the free MacTracker application* is great for letting you know what is inside each machine. This is possible because Macs are only made by Apple and they know what they put into them, whereas PCs are made it seems by just about anybody out of anything. Which brings me to something the Crucial scanner won’t help you with, and that’s a home-build PC or hackintosh Mac. You just need to remember to hang on to the motherboard documentation…

* MacTracker is also available as an app for your Mac or your iPhone/iPad/iPod

photo: ed.welker

iPhone Exchange “incorrect password”

admin — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 05:26:16 +0000

The iPhone Exchange “incorrect password” error does not necessarily mean you are using the wrong password. It can imply a different error entirely. I was running around for ages trying to get the settings for an Exchange account, but kept being told “incorrect password”.

If the Microsoft Exchange mail set-up doesn’t work and the emails don’t instantly flood in, any error message can indicate how far you have got.

If the iPhone asks whether to accept a certificate, it at least means contact with the server has been made. Fed up with this error? Ask the server admin to send you the certificate in an email. Send it to your iPhone unzipped, open the email, tap the attachment and install it. You may get warnings about trusting the certificate. But you do don’t you?
The iPhone says the password is incorrect, and it doesn’t accept the password that you know is right. (Always the thing with the iPhone keyboard – the nagging doubt that you haven’t typed it in right) But despite this message, the problem might be nothing to do with the password…

Instead, look again at what you have entered in “Domain”. If you are like me and you followed what works in Entourage, you might feel confident that you have it right. But double check. I found it was this “optional” entry that was the cause of my problems. It wasn’t until I used the company domain name that the emails started to arrive (rather than the name of any internal domain, or web email server, or anything else I was given or had ever worked in Microsoft Entourage/Outlook). And then there were no password errors. I have set up a number of iPhones with Exchange accounts and the so called optional domain setting has in fact been crucial.

What I don’t understand is why the iPhone didn’t just say “Unknown Domain” instead of “Incorrect Password”? It would have saved me a day’s messing about.

A good guide to Microsoft Exchange setup here:

http://support.apple.com/manuals/en_US/Enterprise_Deployment_Guide.pdf

Mac back-up

admin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:41:24 +0000

Just a quick post to plead with mac users to back-up their stuff. Windows users seem to know they have to back up their stuff, but mac users are lulled into a false sense of security by their macs, especially if they have had years of trouble-free use. But I just came across another iMac with a disk that had suddenly become unuseable. Years of precious photos gone. I tried every disk utility I could find but no joy. This is sad and unnecessary because with TimeMachine* and a USB hard disk it is 2 clicks for hourly back-ups forever. How to here: http://macwiz.co.uk/backup-and-restore-your-mac/

There are those unwilling to back up their whole mac, who perhaps just want backups of their pictures or music, etc. These could just be put on a few USB keys for instance. To save copying the whole lot manually each time there are utilities that will keep two folders in sync. My favourite is the free software Silverkeeper by Lacie. After setting source folder on your mac, and the destination folder on your USB key, the back-up is a one click process. You can have many different back-ups configured and they can be scheduled – so you don’t have to click anything. The utility also offers on start-up to back up your whole mac, or just your user folder, but this can be bypassed.

And if actually remembering to connect your USB disk to your Mac is to difficult – or perhaps plain inconvenient – there is the (rather expensive) TimeCapsule by Apple which will accept TimeMachine backups wirelessly over your wifi network. How to again here: http://macwiz.co.uk/backup-and-restore-your-mac/ You can configure a cheaper wireless “NAS” box to do the same thing, but check support for TimeMachine first, and don’t expect help from Apple.

Persuading people to back-up is a bit like selling them a pension – they know it is important but they put it off. But Apple have at least made it easy, so please do set this up today.

*To use TimeMachine users of older macs need to upgrade to OS X 10.5 Leopard, or OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

OpenDNS and Sky Broadband Router workaround

admin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 06:51:12 +0000

Open DNS a is an excellent free service for home and small business* users which can give your router parental controls and filter your internet connection for all the devices that use it. Nowadays, internet access is not limited to the family PC. All sorts of devices can access the web through your router, and as parents, or employers, we should take some responsibility for what may be accessible. The trouble is, you can’t go around putting content filters on all your children’s or employee’s gadgets and devices. This is where OpenDNS comes in. It is able to filter what is available through your network itself, and is easy to configure through a login on their site as well as a few tweaks to the router settings. It protects against undesirable content as well as phishing sites for added internet security. For me this has been a perfect solution.

However, I find that Sky broadband internet users are unable to have their internet filtered through OpenDNS because of how Sky has hard-wired the router they give you. Most routers are fully configurable so that you can choose which servers on the internet direct pages to you (DNS settings). Most people settle for their router’s default anyway, but if you want to change the settings – to OpenDNS servers for instance – it is usually an easy process. But not so with Sky routers. This is probably in the name of quality control or in order to sell you their own, or McAfee’s, limited alternative**. You’d think you could just use a different non-Sky router, but this is near impossible because of how Sky routers authenticate with Sky. Other routers will just not work because Sky won’t admit them to their network.

To get around this I have found that connecting to the sky router through another intermediary wireless access point can work instead. I use an Apple Airport, but any AP would do. I connect it to the Sky router via an ethernet cable, and then use Apple’s Airport Utility (freely available for mac or PC) to configure it. (If you use a different make of wireless access point then it will have its own configuration method). The Airport then passes on the internet connection from the Sky router to the PCs and devices on your network via its own wireless signal. And it’s DNS settings can be configured separately, it can use OpenDNS, thus filtering the internet for all devices connecting to it. In this scenario I have the Sky router’s wireless signal turned off.***

This method has worked well, and saves monkeying around trying to get Sky’s or an alternative router to work. As long as your devices connect to the internet via the intermediary access point they are fully filtered and any undesirable websites are blocked according to the preferences you set on the OpenDNS website.

OpenDNS is well worth setting up and very configurable. It can make the internet a far safer place for your family as well as your finances. I should add that if you need help making your home internet more secure and safer too, please do contact me as it is a service I offer.

* OpenDNS is free for home users, and a lot of us have a small business running on our home broadband. They also do a paid for version and they supply this to some pretty big businesses!

** Limited to Windows PCs. And PCs that you have admin rights over, that is. So when your son’s friend comes over for a sleepover with his laptop and plugs it into your network – McAfee filters will not apply.

***By the way, cunning children/employees who know their stuff could turn on the Sky wireless signal and hide it (from you) at the same time, so that only those who know it is really on, and exactly what it is called, can connect to it. So you should make sure you

lock down the sky router with a secure password. Otherwise your filtered intermediary wireless network setup can be bypassed.
password protect the intermediary wifi configuration – and I mean its configuration panel, not just a password on its signal.
keep the local IP address of the Sky router a secret (change it) as putting that IP into a PC’s connection settings as the router can bypass the configuration on your wifi.

Backup and restore your Mac

admin — Sat, 15 May 2010 09:44:48 +0000

Backup and restore your Mac (length 0:02:45, source: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/)
Automatic back-up and restore of your Mac and your files with TimeMachine. Time Machine is a back-up technology introduced to the Mac with OS X 10.5 Leopard. Earlier versions did not have this facility.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Time Machine

Can backup your whole Mac

Setup Time Machine

Wireless backup via Time Capsule

Restoring lost files

Finding lost files anywhere on your Time Machine backup

Restore your data to a new Mac

Full wireless backup and restore can take a long while. The video does not explain how to exclude something from the backup. If you want to exclude items, open Time Machine Preferences either from within System Preferences, or from the Time Machine menu at the top of your screen. There you see an options button. Click it, and any folder or volume you add in the window that follows will be excluded from the back-up.

Basic wireless networking

admin — Wed, 12 May 2010 03:23:49 +0000

A very basic overview of wireless connections available to your Mac. Included here because it does simply explain some basic terms. However, there is the impression given that you need an Apple Airport Basestation to set up wireless networking in your home or office. This is not so, as is indicated towards the end of the video when connecting to wireless networks in other places is explained.

Basic wireless networking (length 0:02:48, source: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/)

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Wifi – used for access data, internet, email

Bluetooth – shorter range compared to wifi. Used to transmit data between close or adjacent devices, i.e headsets or keyboards, mice

Wireless networking in the home – basestation connects to modem. Computer connect wirelessly to basestation or printer

Connecting to existing networks – Airport symbol in menubar, select from list of networks, enter password if prompted to do so

Indesign: Create a new document

admin — Sun, 09 May 2010 01:34:06 +0000

Getting started with Adobe Indesign (CS4 – but good for any version, length 0:05:15, source: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-indesign-cs4/getting-started-01-starting-a-new-document/)
The Indesign welcome screen and options in the New Document dialog box.

What you can do with Indesign: multipage documents for different purposes

The welcome screen

Creating a new document, ‘Book’, ‘Library’

Using templates (via Bridge)

Create a new document from scratch

New document dialog options

Single and facing pages

Entering custom page sizes. Options entered in the dialog box can be changed later! So don’t worry if you haven’t got all the information… Columns, margins, and presets

Save your settings as a custom preset

Voila! Your new document…

Switching from PC to Mac

admin — Sun, 09 May 2010 03:33:09 +0000

Don’t be intimidated by the Mac. If you have used Windows, you will soon be up and running with the Mac.
From PC to Mac length: 0:05:40, source: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Start menu and taskbar functions in Apple Menu and Dock.

Opening applications. Pinning applications. Finding your applications, files and downloads.

Minimalising windows. Trash/Recycle Bin

Right-clicking, control-click, double tapping trackpad.

Menubar, switching and quitting applications. Keyboard shortcuts

Windows Explorer function in the Finder

Customize Your Mac Desktop

admin — Sun, 09 May 2010 03:10:43 +0000

Some built-in customization options for your Mac, to change your Mac wallpaper, screensaver and what’s in your Dock.

Personalize your Mac (length 0:02:12, source: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/)

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Changing the desktop background

Screensavers and photo slideshows

Customize the Dock: size, position, effects. Add folders or applications to the Dock

This all offers only a basic makeover. Many of us have been disappointed with how little can be customized with OS X as compared to the earlier Mac OS9. For a more complete transformation of OS X, checkout Candybar, which will allow you to change the look and feel of system icons, folders, and the Dock to a remarkable degree. The trial download gives you plenty of time to get your Mac looking the way you want before it runs out.

Mac OS X Finder Basics

admin — Sat, 08 May 2010 11:30:42 +0000

Get to know the Finder and find your way around your Mac. Keep track of your files and documents.
Mac Finder Basics length 0:01:15, source: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Opening a Finder window

Finder windows: the sidebar; Devices, Shared, Places, Smart searches, Spotlight.

Changing your view of your files and folders; icon view, list view, column view, cover flow.

Where to find more help.

How to start using your new Mac

admin — Sat, 08 May 2010 07:10:32 +0000

Short video to explain the things you see when you first set up your Mac.

Mac Basics (source: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/)

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Start using your new Mac

Anatomy of a Mac

Setup Assistant

The Desktop

The Dock (1) how to open applications: Finder, Dashboard (Widgets), Mail, Safari, iChat, Address Book, iCal, Preview, iTunes, Photo Booth, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, Time Machine, System Preferences
(2) Stacks: Application folder, Document folder, Downloads folder

The Menu bar, changes with open application, status icons

Finder Basics, Quick View, create and rename folders

Spotlight, finding anything on your Mac, calculator functions

Mac Help menus

Apple’s support website

AppleCare.