Here's a checklist for improving your Mac's performance
They do say patience is a virtue but there is nothing more frustrating than a slow start-up of your MacBook or iMac, especially when it should only take around 30 seconds - normally!
And we are all familiar with the frustration of apps that take forever to start, or to do whatever it is they should do. That ‘spinning beachball of death’ can really raise the blood pressure.
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25/11/2020 0 Comments Mac Mail is constantly crashingJust this week, iTandCoffee has assisted two different clients who had the same problem - that their Mac Mail app just constantly crashed. Every time they clicked the Inbox, the app would immediately close.
Both clients had the same operating system - OS-X El Capitan. Here's what we had to do to fix the problem. Just last week, I went to use my new AirPods Pro for a Zoom meeting. I had already done this multiple times without issue.
However, this time, I found that I could not connect to the AirPods - no matter what I did! Not only would they not connect to my MacBook Pro - they would not connect to ANY of my Apple devices. When I took them out of their case, the light on the case was flashing orange. Nothing I did seemed to help - even following the instructions on the Apple Support website for re-setting and re-pairing the device would not work. A call to Apple's help line did not, initially, shed any light on how to resolve the problem. I about 40 minutes on the phone to the level 1 support agent with no positive result. It was only when I was transferred to an engineer that the problem was resolved with a relatively simple fix, but one that I did not see mentioned anywhere during hours of trawling the internet for solutions. Here's the solution, for anyone else who encounters this problem. During the past week, I was asked to take a look at a small business client's Windows computer, which was very slow in opening Word and Excel documents. She wondered if it was time to look at getting a new PC, given that her current computer was several years old.
For appointments such as this, I always go through a series of checks to look for obvious things that may be chewing up processing capacity and memory on the computer. Here's a Microsoft support article that provides a great list of these things that you can look at yourself if your own computer is a bit on the slow side. Subscriber Ruth D has asked if there is something she can do to stop her phone conversations from cutting out on her iPhone 7. She says this only started happening when she upgraded to the iPhone 7.
I had a call today from someone who could not get her Zoom or Skype apps to enable the microphone on the iPhone - something that was a major issue given that she needed to join meetings for work.
The Settings that can block the use of the microphone and camera by apps are in Settings -> Privacy. Normally, the issue if the microphone is not working is that Zoom/Skype is not enabled in the Privacy -> Microphone or Privacy ->Camera settings. However, for this particular client, there seemed to be no way that she could make Skype or Zoom even appear in the Privacy settings for her microphone. Here's what we did to resolve the problem. Client Joan C contacted iTandCoffee last week with a puzzling problem. Her computer was receiving emails, but her iPad was not showing any of the new emails.
It looked like she was successfully connected to Wi-Fi - and turning off her router and turning it back on did not solve the problem. Here's what ended up solving this problem for Joan. I you ever find that your Mac's screen colours go haywire - perhaps darkened like the example above, or even showing black and white - watch this short video to find out how to bring back the correct colours!
If you are lucky enough to have an iPhone 8, don't make the same mistake I did last week!
While assisting a client with an iPhone problem, I needed to do a 'forced reboot' of her iPhone. On the iPhone 6s and earlier, this is achieved by holding the Home and Sleep buttons at the same time for about 10 seconds, until the Apple symbol appears - at which point, you let go of the buttons and wait for the device to finish startup and bring up the lock screen. On the iPhone 7, the combination of buttons required to force reboot changed to the Sleep and Volume Down buttons. So, on iPhone 8, I made the mistake of assuming that the force reboot process would be the same as for the 7. Boy, did I jump when a siren sounded and a screen popped up about contacting emergency services! Pressing the Sleep and volume button and the same time activated the Emergency SOS feature of iOS 11. (Read more about this here: Use Emergency SOS on your iPhone) So how do you 'force reboot' and iPhone 8? On the iPhone 8, a 'forced reboot' is achieved very differently. Press the volume up, then volume down buttons in quick succession, then press and hold the Sleep switch until the screen goes black and the Apple appears. Then you can release the Sleep switch and wait for the device to start up. Here's an article about this: Learn more great tips like this How to 'Force Reboot' your iPad or iPhone is just one of the topics that we cover during the class series 'Introduction to the iPad and iPhone', which we are running again at iTandCoffee, from Thursday October 26 2017, 10am-12pm. Select the button below for more information and to book online, or call 1300 885 420. I had a call from my lovely Aunty V during the week, after the news came out about yet another 'ransomware' attack. She asked me if I could explain a term that was being used in news reports, about the need to 'patch' your computer to ensure that you are protected against attacks. What does 'patching' mean?Microsoft, Apple, Google (i.e. Alphabet) are constantly working on the software that runs our computers and mobile devices (know as operating systems), to ensure that evil-doers cannot gain access to our devices and lives via the internet. Microsoft's computer operating system is Windows. Apple's computer operating system is OS X or, more recently, MacOS. Apple mobile devices run iOS, and many other mobile devices run Google's Android operating system. All of these operating systems are, at times, targeted by hackers who try to find 'holes' in the security of these system, so that they can sneak in and steal stuff from computers that run the operating system - or even (in the case of ransomware) scramble all the information that is on the computer so that we can no longer use it. (I'll leave you to read up about ransomware in this article from Wikipedia: Ransomware - Wikipedia.) Most commonly, it is Windows that is the target of such attacks (as has been the case with the last two highly publicised 'ransomware' attacks). Microsoft, Apple and Google have, in most cases, already 'patched' the hole in their operating system security, and 'released' that patch as an 'update' to our computers' operating systems. Any computer on which the 'patch' is installed is protected if you, inadvertently, click on a nasty link or file in an email or on a website that might have otherwise taken advantage of the security hole. Are you patched?On some computers and mobile devices, these updates (patches) are automatically installed. The problem is that many computers have not been 'patched' because the business or individual user of the computer has not installed the updates that have been made available. This has left them at risk of falling victim to the ransomware attacks that seem to be getting more and more frequent. How to check and how to patchThe big question is how do you 'patch' your computer or device. To help you with this, we have included some 'how to' articles about below, that will (hopefully) help you ensure your computer or mobile device is up to date with all 'patches'. We are here to help if you need assistanceWe know that for many of our clients and subscribers, the information provided in the above articles will still leave them unsure how to proceed.
If you need assistance with this area, iTandCoffee is available for one-on-one appointments at the shop in High Street Glen Iris, or in your own home (depending on location). Over-the-phone support can also be provided if required. Just call 1300 885 420 or email bookings@itandcoffee.com.au to make an appointment. |
What's on at iTandCoffee ?Below is our list of videos, classes and other events that are coming up soon.
Videos shown are offered for eligible members of the iTandCoffee Club. If you have questions, why not join fun and informative 'user group' meetings, held once a month. All iTandCoffee classes are run as online classes (using Zoom), which means you can attend from anywhere. |
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