Getting Your Mac Ready for Mavericks, the new OS

Mavericks, Apple’s new OS for Mac is packed with a new look and lots of new features.

As with any upgrade, you may want to wait until they iron out some of the bugs before you jump in. And before you rush to upgrade, you’ll want to make sure your Mac is ready for the new OS.

1. Confirm that your Mac will work with Mavericks

For a complete list of compatible Macs and software requirements, check out Apple’s www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/

2. Back up!

If you are not already using Time Machine to automatically back up your computer, now is the time to invest. Get an external hard drive, plug it in and follow the on-screen prompts.

3. Clean Up!

Mavericks requires 8GB of space on the hard drive for installation. For most computers this won’t be an issue, but MacBook Air users may be pressed for space.

Delete old files
Clear out the Downloads folder
Delete any apps that you never use
Archive your older photos to DVDs or another external drive

4. Run Disk Utility!

In the same way that you clean out your physical file drawers, throwing out old papers and then smooshing the file folders to create more space, you can have the Mac do a similar kind of cleaning up.

1. From the Desktop, click on the GO menu and choose Utilities, and then open Disk Utility
or, using Spotlight, type in Disk Utility and open in

2. In the left column, click on the icon of Macintosh HD, your internal hard drive

3. Click Repair Disk Permissions

It may take a while, even a long while, to complete the task.

If it reports errors that were fixed, Click Repair Disk Permissions again to run it again.

5. Confirm that your apps are Mavericks compatible!

While most software will still work with the new OS, you need to confirm this! Check out www.roaringapps.com for a complete compatibility list.

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

In Case of Emergency

If you are in an accident and can’t communicate, officials will check your phone for an emergency contact person. To make it easy for them to find the correct person, add an entry in your Contacts for ICE (in case of emergency):
1. In Contacts, click the + to add a new person
2. Enter the person’s first and last name
3. In the Company field, type ICE
4. Click the box next to company to have Contacts list that person under the company name
5. Enter the appropriate contact information
6. Click Done
7. You’ll now have an entry in Contacts under the letter ‘I” for ICE

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Is Your Mac Running Slow?

Here are three quick remedies to increase the performance of your Mac:

1. Restart your computer at least once a week

2. Quit any Apps that are open that you don’t use regularly

3. Repair Permissions

In the same way that you clean out your physical file drawers, throwing out old papers and then smooshing the file folders to create more space, you can have the Mac do a similar kind of cleaning up.

1. From the Desktop, click on the GO menu and choose Utilities, and then open Disk Utility
or, using Spotlight, type in Disk Utility and open in

2. In the left column, click on the icon of Macintosh HD, your internal hard drive

3. Click Repair Disk Permissions

It may take a while, even a long while, to complete the task.

If it reports errors that were fixed, Click Repair Disk Permissions again to run it again.

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

iCal Tip

If you are looking at your calendar in the Month mode and want to quickly see the Day view, turn your device sideways. (This may not work with iOS7 on the iPad)

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Saving Photos You Receive In An Email

There’s no need to keep an email just so that you have access to the pictures. Instead, save them right in to iPhoto.

1. Open the email.

2. In Lion and Mountain Lion Mail, first click Show Details.

3. Then click and hold down the SAVE button and choose Add to iPhoto.

4. iPhoto will open and the pictures will be added to your iPhoto Library.

5. Now you can delete the email.

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

Adding a Person’s Photo to Their Contact Info

It’s fun to have a person’s face appear when you are receiving an incoming call from them on your iPhone or a FaceTime call.

1. Find the person in your Contacts.

2. Tap Edit.

3. In the top left next to their name tap the circle that says Add Photo.

4. You can either take a picture of them or choose a photo from your Camera Roll.

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Facebook Security Settings

Facebook is THE social media program for connecting with friends and colleagues and meeting new people. People share photos, inspirational quotes, details about meetings. And many businesses are using Facebook to offer discounts and daily specials.

You can participate as much or as little as you want to.

But it’s important to set your privacy settings and notifications so that YOU have control over who sees what and what you you see.

Here’s a free guide to help you set up your Facebook account to ensure privacy and connection with only the people you want to connect with.

If you’d like to Friend me on Facebook, I’m RuthRDavis.

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

Fast Access to Drafts

Often, you may start writing an email on your mobile device, but decide to finish it later. If you tap Cancel, you get the option to Save the email as a Draft.

To quickly access the draft to finish it, tap and hold the Compose icon (pen and paper) and it will show a list of all drafts that you created on your iPhone or iPad.

Sorry, drafts written on your Mac do NOT appear in this list.

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Fast Printing

Instead of opening up a document in order to print it, you can drag the icon of the document onto the printer icon in the Dock.

To get your printer into the Dock, open any document and print it. The printer icon will appear briefly in the Dock as it is printing. Click and hold the cursor on the icon and choose Options. Choose Keep in Dock.

Now, anytime you need to print something, just drag it onto the Printer icon.

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

Don’t Type Periods

Instead of actually typing a period at the end of a sentence, double-tap the space bar and it will put in a period and a space so you can just start typing the next sentence.

If this feature doesn’t work:

1. Tap Settings

2. Tap General

3. Tap Keyboard

4. Turn the “.” Shortcut ON

iOS 7 iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

Essential Guide to iOS 7

I must admit, my first reaction to the new iOS7 was frustration and crankiness. I didn’t like the new colors and motion. I resented the change in swipe directions and the repositioning of buttons.

But then I had a change of heart.

Even though I still didn’t like the new look, my brain was learning new things, creating new neural pathways, which staves off dementia. So thanks, Apple, for giving my brain a workout!

If you have upgraded to OS7, you’ll want to check out Mac2School’s Essential Guide to iOS7.

Be sure to save it or print it for easy access–it’s packed with tips and shortcuts to help you get used to the new look and feel of the OS.

Get the Free iOS7 Guide here.

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Ram vs. Hard Drive Storage: What’s The Difference?

Computer memory is RAM. It’s like your physical desk. How much RAM you have determines how many apps you can have open at one time and work with efficiently.

If your computer is slow, or freezing, or you get the spinning ball, you need more working space–you need to install more RAM.

Hard drive storage space is like your closet. You can store a whole lot more in your closet than would ever fit on your desk to work with at any given time.

Uninstalling Apps, deleting photos and documents creates more storage space. Buying and installing RAM will create more efficient working space.

To find out how much RAM and hard drive storage your Mac has:

Under the Apple menu, choose About This Mac

The RAM amount, measured in GB, is listed in this first window.

To see how much hard drive storage you have, click More Info

If you are running Lion or Mountain Lion, click on the Storage tab across the top and a graphic will appear, showing you how much you are using and how much is left.

If you are running an earlier version of the OS, in the left column of the More Info window, scroll down and click on Serial ATA and click on the hard drive listed for the information.

In my opinion, you need a minimum of 4GB if you are running Lion or Mountain Lion. Anything less than that, and things may run slow, or freeze.

Contact Apple or a third party dealer (MacMall, MacMemory) to find out how much more you can add to your particular Mac.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Free Apps

The cool, crisp weather of autumn is an invitation to get outdoors and spend some time in nature. This month’s free apps can enhance your experience.

LEAFSNAP

Have you ever found a leaf and wondered what kind it was? This virtual field guide lets you take a picture of the leaf, then matches it to the correct leaf in the apps database.

iBIRD LITE GUIDE TO BIRDS

This intro app is a pared down version of iBird, one of the most popular bird identifying apps. iBird Lite includes 31 species of birds, including search capabilities and bird songs.

RELAXING SOUNDS OF NATURE LITE

If you can’t get outdoors, you can bring the sounds of nature indoors with this free app. With 22 different nature sounds, you can create your own combination of sounds to relax, reduce stress and feel better.
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Reminders in Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion is packed with so many new features, like Smart Browsing in Safari, VIPs in Mail and Reminders.

Reminders, like Notes, sync between your iPhone, iPad and Mac. Unlike Notes, you can set an alert by date, time, even location in the Reminders App.

I’ve just added a whole new course to The Virtual Classroom so members can learn all about these great new features.

Click here to watch a free video from the Virtual Classroom that will show you how to use the new Reminders feature.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Quick Scroll To The Top

When you reach the bottom of an article, an email, or your Facebook posts, instead of scrolling all the way back to the top, just tap in the very top black horizontal menu space where the time and battery are displayed and you’ll zip right up to the top of the screen.

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Turn Off Facebook Notifications

Do you get an email every time something is posted or commented on in FaceBook? This can make for a very full and overwhelming Inbox.

Here’s how to turn them off:

1. In FaceBook, click on the down triangle in the top right next to HOME

2. Choose Account Settings

3. In the left column, choose Notifications

4. Anywhere you see an icon of an envelope, it means you are asking to receive an email notification

5. Click Edit

6. Click on the envelope to remove all checkmarks

7. Do this with each category

8. Now breathe….

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Editing Text

Instead of deleting and retyping, you can edit text, just like you do on your Mac.

1. Tap and hold your finger near the text you want to edit. An onscreen magnifying glass appears, showing you where the cursor is positioned

2. Drag the cursor to the desired point

3. Now you can type, delete, and edit your text

Selecting Text to Copy and Paste

1. Use the same technique for positioning the cursor, and this time, tap and release, revealing choices to Select, Select All, etc

2. To select only some text, drag the corner grab points to surround the text you want to work with

3. Tap the now selected text to choose to cut or copy

4. To put the text someplace else, tap where you want to put it and choose Paste

Shortcuts:

To select a single word, double-tap it

To select a paragraph, swipe across the paragraph with two fingers

or

quadruple-tap the paragraph

or

pinch/pull on the corner handles with two fingers to change the range of text

Undo the Last Thing Your Did

To undo the last thing you typed or edited, shake the iPad and then click Undo

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Make an Email Really Stand Out

The Flag feature of Apple Mail is great for marking important emails. And you can quickly find any flagged emails quickly with the built-in Search tool.But sometimes an email is REALLY important and you want it to really stand out in the long list of messages in your Inbox. So why not make it a color?

1. Click once on the email

2. From the Format menu, choose Show Colors

3. Choose a color. You can change how you see the different color choices by clicking on the icons at the top of the window. The icon on the far right will show a simple crayon box for simplicity.

4. Close the color window and the email will now be highlighted in that color.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Inserting a Picture in Mail

The new iOS6 is filled with great new features, including the ability to now add a photo into an email directly in Mail.

1. Create a new mail message

2. When you’re ready to insert a photo tap and hold in the message area

3. Choose Insert Photo or Video

4. Choose where the picture is (Camera Roll, Photo Library, an album, etc.)

5. Choose the photo

6. Tap USE

To send several photos at once, either repeat the above steps for each photo or:

1. Open the Photos app

2. Tap Camera Roll or Photo Library, depending on where the photos are

3. Tap Edit

4. Select the photos you want to email

5. Tap Share

6. Tap Mail

If Mail is not an option, you have too many photos selected. So cancel and unselect several photos then try again.

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Setting Margins in Microsoft Word

Many of my clients have been using Microsoft Word for years, yet they admit they don’t know how to properly set margins.

It’s NOT by sliding the triangles on the ruler!

Here’s a free video lesson that will show you how easy it is to properly change your margins.

This tip is just one of the many things you can learn in the newest course in Mac to School’s Virtual Classroom, Tips for Microsoft Word. To gain access to the entire course and all of the other great video lessons, join the classroom!

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Maps vs. Google Maps in iOS6

It’s true. The new Maps app in iOS6 DOES include turn by turn directions but it does NOT include mass transit or walking directions. BUT you can still use Google maps!

1. Open Safari

2. Go to maps.google.com

3. Tap the Share button and choose to save it as an icon to your home page

 

Adding Signatures to Email

A signature automatically appears at the bottom of your email. It can be your name, your contact information, even a favorite quote. You can create several different signatures and choose which one you want for a particular email.

To create a signature:
First, create a new email message so you have a place to type
Type everything you want to appear, including choosing the font, size, color
Highlight it all
From the Edit menu, choose Copy

Then, under the Mail menu, choose Preferences
Click on the Signatures icon
Click the “+” sign at the bottom of the middle column to create a new signature
Title it
In the right column, click the cursor, then, from the Edit menu, choose Paste
Your typed text will appear
To actually USE the signature, you have to now assign it to an email account.
Drag that named signature from the middle column to on top of the email address in the left column that you want to use it with
Click on that email address and, at the bottom, under Choose Signature, decide whether you always want that signature to appear or, if you choose None, then you can select the signature when you want to use it in a particular email

Spring Cleaning in Your Inbox
So many of us receive all kinds of emails from companies, newsletters from organizations, shopping specials from our favorite stores. They can quickly clutter our Inboxes and, often, we don’t even read them.
Instead of just deleting them, take a moment to UNSUBSCRIBE. At the bottom of every business email you will find a link to change your settings, or Unsubscribe. Click the link, change your preferences and soon, your Inbox will be less cluttered with junk.

Fun with Facebook
Facebook is a free online service that allows you to find old friends, share your photos, connect with people with common interests. Facebook allows you to post public comments on your Wall and your friends then see your comments and can comment back. You can even send private notes to your Friends.

Facebook is a great way to share good news, favorite websites and stay in touch with people.

The key to using to Facebook is taking the time to set your Privacy Preferences so that the whole world doesn’t have access to your comments and posts.

To set your Privacy Preferences, log in to your Facebook account

Click on Account in the top right corner and choose Privacy Settings

Click on each of the sections and choose WHO can see your information. I recommend only Friends, not even Friends of Friends.

Also, it is recommended to limit the amount of personal information you share. To change your information, first click on Profile in the top right corner. Then, in the left column under your picture, click Edit Profile.

If you want to include your birthday, it’s best to not include the year. You can make this choice from the pull down menu below where you enter your birthday.

You may choose to include your high school if you want to be found by former classmates.

Be sure to Save Your Changes when you’re done.

FAVORITE iPHONE APP OF THE MONTH:

LOSE IT!: If you looking for a way to keep track of what you eat, Lose It! is a great, free app that tracks your meals, your exercise, your weight goals. You enter your foods and the serving size and LOSE IT! keeps a log of the calories consumed. You also enter your exercise and it calculates the calories burned. You can track nutritional values as well. Then, with a click of a button you can see where you are in your daily food and exercise budget.

And the data automatically uploads to the free LOSE IT! website so you can print spreadsheets of your weekly progress.