 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 [email protected] to make an appointment.
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 Do you sometimes find that, even though your device shows a 'full' 'Wi-Fi' symbol on your device (your computer, iPhone, iPad, or other device), you still don't seem to have any internet?
This issue came up in appointments with two clients this week. It is important to know that, even if you see full bars on your Wi-Fi symbol, this does not necessarily mean that you have internet. The Wi-Fi symbol is just showing that you are connected to your router. However, the router itself may have lost its connection to the internet. In this scenario, your best bet is to go and switch off your router, leave it for a few seconds, then turn it back on. In many cases this will restore your internet connection (once all of the router's lights are back on). If it doesn't, the next step is to check if there is an outage in your area. Here is a previous article on this topic: If you have been having trouble lately with your internet or with sending mail ...  Cynthia D asked iTandCoffee this week: "Last year you gave me that for how to clean up my computer so it would be faster. And it worked amazingly! I have tried to do it again but Windows has now upgraded to 10 and the configurations are all different and I can’t work out how to do it again. Would you mind forwarding me your instructions I can use with windows 10 so I can have another clean out?" How can you manage what processes are opened at each startup?The article that Cynthia referred to was an iTandCoffee Hany Hint from a while back, that describes how to stop unnecessary processes from opening up on startup of the computer. Here is that article, applicable to Windows 7 and earlier. With Windows 10, accessing the list of 'startup' items is achieved differently. Here is an article that covers this topic. Related Handy Hints and Articles
 Since updating my iMac to MacOS Sierra, I have suffered constant freezes and crashes - which have gotten worse and worse, to the point where I have had to restart my Mac several times a day. I have been nearly tearing my hair out - something that I can't afford to do! I had tried everything I could think of to diagnose the problem. The hard drive is fine, there is no hardware issue, no sneaky malware hijacking my computer, and I have been monitoring ingoing and outgoing network traffic using a handy app called Little Snitch. Nothing I tried seem to help resolve my problem. I was on the verge of wiping my Mac and re-installing Sierra when I decided to try one last thing. Diagnostic and Usage Data log provides a hintI had noticed in my Mac's 'Diagnostic and Usage Data' log file (which is accessed via the Console utility) that a process associated with the Photos app and iCloud Photo Library was generating an error on a regular basis, and often just before my Mac crashed. (I don't necessarily recommend iCloud Photo Library for clients due to the limitations of this service at the moment and problems that I have encountered on a regular basis.) So, I figured it might be worth disabling the iCloud Photo Library sync'ing process for 24 hours - to see if this made a difference. Pausing iCloud Photo Library's Update process fixed my problemI opened my Photos app, went to Photos -> Preferences -> iCloud and, under the iCloud Photo Library Option, chose 'Pause for one day'. Just like magic, my spinning beachballs, pauses and crashes suddenly stopped! I then worked for quite a while on many different things - things that had previously been causing issues - and had no problems. The minute I 'resumed' the iCloud Photo Library sync'ing, my problems started all over again. So, for now, I am making sure that I disable iCloud Photo Library each day before I start work (or as soon as I log in/reboot) and hope that a forthcoming Sierra update will resolve this issue. I will raise a support request with Apple to try to work out what might be causing this problem, and report back on any findings. Update 5/12/16: Before going down the path of raising a support request, I decided to wipe my Photos library and recreate it from iCloud Photo Library. This took many days (as it had to download nearly 140GB of photos and videos), but seems to have resolved the problem - for now! Related articles and handy hints
8/10/2016 0 Comments Working out what's slowing down your Mac (and giving you that dreaded 'spinning beachball of death'!) Just today, while trying to write an article for this fortnight's iTandCoffee Handy Hint Newsletter, I found that my Mac started giving me the dreaded 'spinning beachball of death'. It was looking pretty dire - I couldn't do anything for several minutes, which was very frustrating. I wanted to avoid the drastic step of shutting down my Mac by holding down the power button, as it is best to try to shut down 'gracefully' if at all possible. Also, I was busy converting a video and did not want to stop that process. To solve my Mac's problem, I used a standard utility on my Mac, one that showed me what was going wrong. A particular web page that I had opened was the cause of my problem. This web page was showing that it was using nearly 5GB of my computer's working memory, its RAM. What a hog! No other process could get a look-in, and this was causing my spinning beachball. Find out what I did to resolve this issue in this Handy Hint for iTandCoffee Club members: Not yet a member of the iTandCoffee Club? Why not JOIN TODAY for all sorts of great tips like this and to take advantage of a range of other great content (videos, slideshows, articles), services and discounts for members. (As a limited offer for new iTandCoffee Club members, join by 14/10/16 to receive iTandCoffee's 95-page guide "Introduction to the iPad and iPhone - A Guided Tour (iOS 10 Edition)" for FREE. Find out more HERE›) Other hints and articles about troubleshooting Mac problems
29/5/2016 0 Comments Even my own Mac can have a bad week! The spinning beachball of death turned into the black screen of death! Oh dear. My poor 3.5 year old iMac (the 28in variety) suffered a major, major failure this past week! After suffering frequent and persistent 'spinning beachballs of death' last week, I worried that something was amiss and, between other work, started the process of diagnosing what was wrong with it. It seemed that the hard drive passed all checks, and tests showed that the RAM and other hardware were fine. But, my poor Mac was certainly still unwell, so I tried a couple of other resets - all to no avail. After I had exhaused nearly all the tests and reset my login preferences, I decided to start up my Mac in something called Safe Mode - at which point, I got the dreaded black screen of death. From that point on, any attempt to start the iMac up failed - it would look like it was starting but just give up and shut off after a few seconds. At this point, I thought I had better admit defeat and booked a Genius Bar appointment at Chadstone's Apple Store - dreading the prospect of lugging my massive iMac through Chaddy for an inspection by a young Genius. I decided that I would try one final thing before my appointment - pre-empting what I thought that the Genius would, most likely, suggest. Given that a successful Time Machine backup had been completed 5 days before it 'died' (thank goodness), I decided to do a full restore from that backup. (Unfortunately, I would lose a couple of days' of work - the Time Machine had, without me realising, stopped working over a weekend when I did a lot of movie editing. Drat!) I then waited the 40 hours it took to restore my iMac from the Time Machine backup, holding very little hope that my problem would be resolved. Well, the good news is .... It worked!! And I am writing this article from my Lazarus iMac. No more prolonged spinning beachballs, no black screen of death, and (thank goodness), no visit to the Geniuses! I am just kicking myself I didn't take heed of the warning signs before it stopped functioning - I should have checked the backup was working. This would have prompted me to separately back up the movies I was working on, to Dropbox or an external drive. Hindsight is such a wonderful thing, isn't it. The key message for everyone is - make sure you are backing up your Mac! You never know when something could go wrong and, without a backup, you may lose EVERyTHING. Here is a collection of articles that I referred to while trying to diagnose my problem ...
18/12/2015 0 Comments Clearing out your iPhone's or iPad's memory (RAM) may help if it is mis-behaving
Not only as my Mac been mis-behaving this week - my new iPhone 6S Plus has been getting a 'Storage full' message, even though it has about 30GB of available storage! This morning it showed this message for the second time in two days, then shut itself down. Grrrr.
This was so strange, as it had shown that I had 23GB of storage yesterday afternoon - and I had not taken any photos or added anything to it since then. What to try first in a situation like this If you can identify the app that is causing the problem, you can double-press the home button and 'swipe up' that app to close it. Sometimes this sorts out whatever is going wrong. In a case such as mine where I was not sure what was causing the problem, there are a couple of other things to try. Try a clear out of its memory Your iPad and iPhone is pretty good at managing its memory (RAM), but on occasion can get itself into a bit of a knot. You can clear out your device's memory and see if that solves your problem - see the below article for instructions. This does not delete anything, and your list of 'recently used' apps remains intact. Perform a hard re-boot The next thing I tried was a 'hard re-boot' my iPhone by holding down the Sleep switch and Home button for about 10 seconds, until the screen went blank and the white Apple symbol appeared - at which point I let go. This does a 'flush-out' (technically speaking!) and, once this is done, takes you back to the Lock Screen. If you normally use your fingerprint to unlock, you will need to enter your passcode the first time you access your i-Device after the reboot. Did this solve my problem? Normally, one of these methods would fix whatever was amiss with my i-Device. In this case, however, it seemed to be something going awry with my Photos and iCloud Photo Library. As soon as I deleted all photos from my Recently Deleted album in photos - something I had already done yesterday to (temporarily) solve the problem, 30GB was magically freed up - even though the storage used by my Photos did not show any change. (I went to Settings->General->Storage and iCloud Usage to check this.) I'll be taking a trip to the Apple Store if this problem occurs again!  If you have a lot of photos on your Mac, you may find that you are suddenly running short of storage space on your hard drive after you migrate your photos from iPhoto to the new Photos app.
On my 128GB Macbook Air, I suddenly found that I was getting a message popping up telling me that 'Your startup disk is full'. Here's something that Apple doesn't tell you when you perform this migration to Photos: it leaves a copy of your photos behind in your iPhoto library, and and creates a new Photos library. This means that your photos are suddenly taking up twice as much space as they used to! Here is a link to the article ››
Related articles about your Mac Below are some great Mac tips and tricks from the iTandCoffee Club's Handy Hint library. Are you a member? Why not Join Today!
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27 Sycamore St, Camberwell, Victoria Australia
(also located in Daylesford)
(also located in Daylesford)
Call +61 444 532 161 or 1300 885 420
to book an appointment or class, or to enquire about our services and products
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