Mac360's Macintosh User Forums

Web Based Backups

2009-10-31T23:10:40-02:00

I am interested in backing up my data to an off-site location. I currently have Time Machine backing up both my iMac and PowerBook to a 1Tb Time Capsule drive, but I’m paranoid enough to wonder about loss of everything in a fire, through theft, etc.

Anyone using one of these services (e.g. Mozy, etc.). .Mac seems a little pricey and storage limited.

I’d like to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly before I embark on this journey. Thanks.

What Is The Absolute Perfect Utility For Every Mac User?

2009-11-06T16:51:25-02:00

I’m on a quest. I want to find the absolute perfect utility for Mac users; the one software tool that has the most value to the most number of Mac owners. It’s easier said than done. Think of it this way. If you could have only one non-Apple utility on your Mac, what would it be?

The first and most obvious answer would be, “It depends.” Yes, it does, but there still must be a single Mac utility that would be high on the list of most Mac users. That’s what I’m after. My quest is not without some planning, effort, judgement, and criteria.

What Is A Mac Utility?

That’s a fair question and requires a qualified response. How would you define a utility on your Mac?

A Mac is made up of many files, but, generally, we could classify those files we interact with as documents, applications, or utilities.

A document is a file created by an application (or a file manipulated or modified by an application). An application creates a document. Mail is an application because it creates a document.

What about Safari? Yes, it can create a document, but the primary purpose is to read and display documents, so I’ll place Safari in the application stack. For the sake of simplicity rather than semantics, allow me auto place our major Mac tools in the application stack.

Mail. Safari. iPhoto. iTunes. Garageband. iWeb. Automator. Photo Booth. QuickTime. iCal. Address Book. All applications. Terminal. Activity Monitor. Time Machine. Network Utility. Console. System Preferences. All utilities.

Utilities, in general, don’t create applications, but, rather, modify settings, files, documents, etc.

The Search For A Non-Apple Utility

Moving aside all the software provided by Apple for Mac OS X (or Adobe or Microsoft), let me begin the quest with my list of 3rd party utilities of notoriety and merit.

For example, Drag Thing is a must have for me. But is it really essential? If I could have only one utility on my Mac (back to the criteria), would it be Drag Thing? No. I could just use the Dock.

How about SuperDuper!, the famed back up and hard drive cloning software? Now we’re talking. It’s a utility (it doesn’t create a document). The purpose is distinct and necessary. Add SuperDuper! to the list.

Some Mac users might be tempted to put Tweetie or Twitterific on the list, but I consider both the be similar to Mail; they create documents (stored in the cloud), so, no go.

The Essential Mac Utility

SuperDuper! in. Tweetie out. Likewise, 1Password goes on the stack, while RSS reader NetNewsWire does not.

A dozen utilities can clean your Mac’s cache, open up hidden settings and preferences, and perform dozens of functions that make Mac life more personal. Are they essential? If you could have only a single utility would it be Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner, Onyx, or Cocktail? Probably not.

If an essential utility is in the vein of SuperDuper!, which can save your Mac life by making a perfect clone of your hard disk, what of AppleJack?

The only time you may need AppleJack is when your Mac isn’t working, and, assuming that AppleJack makes it work again, doesn’t that automatically make it an essential utility? Possibly, though the need for AppleJack is lessened if your have a perfect cloned back up, ala SuperDuper!

And The Winner Is…

What’s the answer? If you could have only one utility on your Mac, what would it be? Almost any answer will depend on each Mac user’s needs, so it’s a subjective response. Your stack of acceptable utilities may differ from mine, however, I choose SuperDuper!

Yes, you could substitute SD for Carbon Copy Cloner. It’s less expensive (as in free) and works much the same way to clone your Mac’s hard drive.

While other Mac utilities may solve distinct problems or provide great usefulness, if I had to choose a single utility, I would want it to be the one that would protect my Mac’s files—all of them—system files, documents, applications, utilities—from destruction.

Any utility that can fully clone your Mac is a valuable utility. What about you? If you could have only a single non-Apple (or non-Adobe or non-Microsoft) utility on your Mac, what would it be?

Where Art Thou, Black Macs?

2009-10-13T06:27:37-02:00

Why did they stop making em?

Need Mac Website Tools/Software/Tips

2009-10-21T16:09:41-02:00

I’ve been doing some online research to find a toolkit or online course for building a website (“beginners” preferably), but nothing is catching my eye. Does anyone know of a good resource or online class?

Can Your Mac Really Have Too Many Utilities?

2009-10-05T16:57:02-02:00

My next door neighbor was visiting yesterday afternoon. Amid all the talk of neighbors, kids, husbands, and Sunday football widowhood, she asked me how to do something on her Mac. I’m like the neighborhood big sister who persuaded her to toss out her Windows PC and get a Mac.

She was wary at first, but like many PC switchers, came to love her Mac and look up to me as some kind of Techno Goddess™. Then I showed her my Mac and she went into shock. Why? What’s on my Mac tends to scare neighbors, children, and pets.

Utility Shock

It’s no secret that I collect utilities, tools, applications, Dashboard Widgets, and anything else to make my Mac life a little better. It also makes me appear technologically supernatural to my neighbors.

Between a few glasses of wine and toting bags of chips out to the men who were watching my beloved San Diego Chargers get mashed by the Steelers (I stopped watching after the third quarter—my bad), she asked me about disk images.

It seems she had downloaded an application and it opened up as a disk image on her Mac. She wanted to know what disk images were, what they did, and how to make them. So, I showed her my Mac’s screen. That’s when she went into utility shock.

The Collector

I use DragThing as my Mac’s main launcher, though I keep plenty of apps, utilities, and folders in the Dock. My neighbor only uses the Dock. Compare the two. My DragThing has 11 rows of applications and utilities, each row with 13 icons, a total of 143. The Dock adds 40 more.

My neighbor gasped and stood in shock for moment. “What are all those things? You use all those? There must be hundreds.” Even in shock, she could count. I felt guilty.

One by one I went through many of my favorite utilities and apps and showed her what they do, how they do it, why each is valuable to me. By comparison, her Mac has the basic OS X apps and utilities, plus iWork ‘09 and iLife ‘09. That’s a couple of dozen total, and more than she uses regularly.

How Many Is Too Much?

Yesterday’s neighborly episode gave me something to think about. First, never count out the San Diego Chargers, even when they’re down by 28 points against the defending Super Bowl champions. I missed the 4th quarter action. My bad.

Second, is there such a thing as having too many utilities, applications, or Widgets on a Mac? I cherish my collection, upgrade regularly, and try to use each at least a few times every six months. My iPhone collection is even worse. I’ve bought or downloaded over 300 apps, utilities, games and keep nine iPhone pages full—148 total. Is that too many?

Valuable Assets

My reality is a bit different than my neighbor. I’ve been a Mac user for about 20 years, so I’m comfortable adding a new tool, whereas a recently switcher from the Dark Side of Windows may be less inquisitive or willing to muck around on the Mac.

The Bell Curve applies to Mac users as it does with many facets of society and culture.

A few are power users. a few hardly know what to click or when. The vast majority of users are somewhere in the middle, getting things done, not worrying much about what else might be out there.

Excluding Apple’s apps and utilities, and excluding anything by Microsoft or Adobe, how many different third party Mac applications, utilities, tools, and Widgets exist on your Mac? Which ones are best and why? Which ones have you used for years? Which ones are the most recent add ons? Inquiring minds want to know.

Quicksilver Lives!

2009-10-05T23:04:49-02:00

In the form of Google’s Quick Search Box (QSB). This is where you’ll also find Alcor (aka Nicholas Jitkoff, original Quicksilver developer):

Quick Search Box

Where Are All The Free Mac Utilities And Applications?

2009-09-25T01:34:20-02:00

For many years Mac360 had a tradition of Friday Freebies, with yours truly, The Value Vixen™ reviewing free Mac software. Are those days gone forever?

Sure, Mac users can still find free software, but, as the Mac grows in popularity, and sales grow, more and more applications and utilities come with a price tag. What of those excellent free software titles of yesterday, the labors of love that we used to love but not have to pay for? Sometimes they just disappear. Sometimes they get a price tag.

That Was Then

Don’t misunderstand my intent. I pay for Mac software. If I use it, I fork over the cash.

Maybe I have to give my husband Hamburger Helper instead of dinner out to pay for some little utility I fell in love with. Maybe the kids get a couple of cardboard boxes to play with instead of a new toy.

Whatever the situation, I’m not averse to paying for what I use on my Mac. I’m just wondering what has happened to what seemed to be a plethora of excellent Mac software titles that have disappeared or gone commercial.

This Is Now

Here are a few examples. Remember iGTD? It was the little Getting Things Done application that towered over some commercial software.

iGTD’s developer has been hired by the folks who develop and market Things, another classy but commercial get things done utility. So, iGTD is no more. Discontinued.

NetNewsWire is, arguably, the best Mac RSS reader. At one time it had a price tag, so never showed up on my Friday Freebies. Then, the new owner, NewsGator, dropped the price and NetNewsWire became free. Yay!!

Free comes with a price. NewsGator couldn’t figure out how to make money with RSS feeds, so NetNewsWire has a $10 price tag to remove the ads that show up in the new version.

Reality Bytes

This does not mean that free software for Macs does not exist. There are plenty of titles, though most have been around for many years, many are open sourced, and available with a click from OpenSourceMac.org.

Out of the tens of thousands of Mac applications and utilities, only a few dozen have made a popular name, and escaped the work in progress mantel.

Even open source efforts like Mozilla’s popular web browser, Firefox, have commercial ties. Free for us to use, yet Mozilla collects money from Google whenever we search using Firefox, and click on a Google ad.

The Search For Free

I took a few minutes to scan my Mac’s software for any new app or utility I’ve added in the last year that was also free. There’s only one. VLC, the media player that plays what QuickTime doesn’t, which means it seldom gets used.

How about Quicksilver, the venerable keyboard file launcher? It’s free, right? Right. And development has crawled to a near standstill.

Does all Mac software need a commercial incentive? No. Open source projects tend to maintain development and progress over time.

So, what free software do you use on your Mac? Is open source (ala Mozilla’s Firefox and Thunderbird), or simply a labor of love by a Mac developer? Do you fear that development will stop because there’s no money involved? Share your favorite free Mac apps and utilities with other Mac360 readers.

monitor

2009-09-25T00:48:51-02:00

Hi, I have a new Mac, 24” and it has a connection to hook up another monitor but unsure as to what type of monitor to hook up? Any suggestions?

The idiot running Microsoft

2008-10-06T18:37:13-02:00

No offense to all my Republican friends out there, but Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer must be a Republican the way he spreads lies about his products vs. Apple’s products.

“Steve Ballmer: Microsoft’s “Head Coach” is one of the crummiest interviews I’ve ever read—not so much for the questions, but for the responses coming from a CEO of a major corporation. Lie after lie after lie. It’s as if he got his talking points from Sarah Palin (bless her lying soul, wink, wink).

Remote Control does not function with Macbook Pro

2009-09-17T04:49:07-02:00

my remote control does not function with my macbook pro.

the remote works with another mac, so the batteries are ok.
I can see IR receiver under usb in system profiler.
I tried pairing it, but it does not respond to the remote.
after upgrading to snow leopard(from leopard), the remote still does not function.

anyone have any suggestions?