How to Downgrade

Before you attempt to downgrade your OS, here are three possible scenarios. First is you have a backup of your Snow Leopard (via time machine). Second is you have no backup, but you have the Snow Leopard installer DVD. Third is you own a Macbook Air or a new Mac Mini.

Users with a Backup

If you are hardworking enough to always backup your system, then you are lucky. For those who have a Time Machine backup with the older OS on it, there is an option in the Lion’s Recovery HD that allows you to restore from an existing backup. All that you have to do is run your restore from that backup and your operating system will be send back to Snow Leopard without any problems at all.

Users with no backup, but have Snow Leopard installer Disk

If you do not have a backup, but you have the Snow Leopard Installer disk, the only way for you to downgrade is to re-install. Before you do that, remember to first backup your system, user data and all other important files to an external hard disk. DO NOT USE YOUR TIME MACHINE TO BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM. The reason is because after the downgrade and you restore from the Time Machine backup, it will un-done your downgrade and restore back to Lion again. If you don’t want to invest in hardware, you could probably use a cloud storage service for a few hours.

1. Begin by holding “Command + R” while you reboot. This will bring you to the Recovery HD.

2. Double click on the “Disk Utility” option from the “Utilities” menu.

3. Click on the “Erase” tab and then on “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” and finally on the word “Erase”.

Now, you can install your disk and restart the system.

Macbook Air or New Mac Mini Owners

For proud owner of Macbook Air or the new Mac Mini that comes with the Lion installed, I am sorry, you are stuck with OSX Lion. Unlike Lion, Snow Leopard is not offered as a download on the App Store.

Enjoy your downgrading.

The post How To Downgrade From OS X Lion to Snow Leopard appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Get Off The Mouse

You may be used to waking your laptop with its track pad, or your desktop with the swipe of your mouse, but for some reason, this does not always do the trick. Before you do anything complicated, book a genius appointment or even get angry try tapping on a key a few times. Users are reporting that this seems to work best with the space bar, though any key will do the trick. You may however want to avoid using keys like control, option, or command, since depending on where you left off, you could make inadvertent changes to your system or applications that will have to be fixed. Accidentally typing “p” four times isn’t a big deal compared to some of the other things you could do to your system. If this doesn’t work, you may want to also try giving the power button a light tap. Don’t hold it, or you will shut the system down. Literally, tap in a manner similar to a mouse click.

If this fixed your problem, huzzah! If not, you need to move onto the next step; a hard reset.

Just Breathe and Reboot!

This is not a recommended way to shut down your computer on a regular basis, but in some cases, it is the only way to go. All you need to do in order to do this is hold down your power button until the sleep indicator light (usually found on the bottom right side of the front face of your case, is dark. Then you can wait a few seconds for the restart. If for some reason, your machine does not restart as normal at this point, you will want to either call the Apple Care line or book an appointment with a local Genius Bar since you may have a more serious power management issues at hand.

These solutions both work well for one time (or generally infrequent) waking issues, but if you are having more chronic issues with waking slowly, or not at all, there is one thing that we can try.

Reset the System Management Controller

An improperly running System Management Controller can cause a whole host of issues, including problems with sleep mode, case fans, improper lighting, and about 20 other things. If you want to give this a shot, it has a good shot of helping you out in more ways than one. Please note that the procedure you will use depends on the type of Mac you have. Find the right type below and follow only those instructions.

A Macbook (or other mobile device) With A Removable Battery

1. Shut down your Mac and, if needed, unplug it from the power cord.

2. Take out the battery the way you usually would. There is usually a well-marked release mechanism on the bottom of the device.

3. Hold the power button for five seconds, no shorter and no longer.

4. Put the battery back in.

5. Re-plug in your power supply, if needed, and turn your Mac back on.

A Macbook (or other mobile device) Without A Removable Battery

1. Shut down your Mac and plug in the power cord.

2. Press on the Shift-Control-Option keys on the left side of your keyboard simultaneously with the power cord. Be sure that you also release them all at the same time.

3. Turn your Mac back on.

A Desktop Mac

1. Shut down your Mac and unplug its power cord.

2. Wait for 15 seconds.

3. Re-attach the power cord to your Mac and wait five more seconds.

4. Re-start your Mac as usual.

If this does not do the trick, you may want to see a genius.

The post How To Fix a Mac That is Stuck Asleep appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Step One: Get Thee to the Apple ID Site

You can manage your Apple ID from the My Apple ID site, which is found at https://appleid.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/MyAppleId.woa/. Open a new tab in your browser and paste that URL. This is the site you will see.

Click on the “Manage your account” text in blue on this page.

Step Two: Sign In

Now, you will be asked to sign in with your current Apple ID information. If you have forgotten your username or password, you can use the “Forgot your Apple ID?” or “Forgot your password?” links below the fields to get them back. Just be aware that they may email you the information so if you don’t have access to the old box, you may just want to take an educated guess or two.

Step Three: Edit

You will see your email address listed on this page. Across from it will be the word “Edit”. Click on that word.

You will now see a box with your current Apple ID email address inside of it. This box is typeable. Go ahead and put in the new email address that you want in this box. Then click on the blue “Save” button at the bottom of the page.

There you have it, your ID is changed. If this is all you wanted to do, then you can stop here. If a change to a more memorable (or more secure) password is also in order, then let’s move on.

The Password Pane

On the left, you will see a set of menu options. Click on “Password and Security” to bring yourself to the password pane.

From here, we will be able to make changes to the password associated with your Apple ID. Find the blue writing labeled “Change Password” and click on it.

Now, you can go ahead and enter your old password once, and your new password of choice twice. This form will also ask you if you want to change your security question, which you may want to do if the question is out of date or you simply no longer remember the answer you selected. When you’re done, click on the big blue “Save” button at the bottom of the screen.

There you have it, one newly changed Apple ID and password ready for your use.

The post How to Change Your Apple ID and Password appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

What details? You may wonder. Well, how about your favorite programs? When an operating system gets an upgrade, your software may not be up to snuff, at least not initially, when it comes to compatibility. Before you go ahead and install that upgrade, you will want to be sure that you are going to be able to run all of your favorite (and essential) software. Skip this step at your own peril. After all, what is the worst thing that could happen?

Oh yeah. You know that copy of Adobe® CS5.5 Design Standard that you bought last year? The one that cost you $1,299.95. Well, you could run the upgrade and find out that it no longer works and you are now without a whole lot of cash, and for a valuable tool. Good luck getting your work done now!

So, lets get you amply prepared with a complete search that can help you to avoid the heartbreak of incompatibility.

Step One: Make a List

This may seem a bit obvious, but some people miss it. Go to you applications folder and make a list of all of the apps you want to check for compatibility.

This is probably every non-native app in the folder. You don’t have to check the ones you don’t care if you lose or not, but be sure that anything expensive or essential get checked out before the upgrade.

Step Two: Get Thee to The Wiki

A new site has sprung up to help create a master list of Lion compatibility statuses, which is good news for you since it saves a lot of site hopping. Make your way over to http://roaringapps.com/ and click on the big, red, “View the Compatibility Table” button.

Now you can either use the search field, or tap the button for the first letter of the apps name to see if it has a status listed. You will see an icon at the far right of the entry. A blue question mark means that there has been no solid answer. A yellow exclamation mark means that the software will survive the upgrade, but not function perfectly. A red check means that the software is not compatible. A green check means clear sailing ahead, the software is completely compatible.

Get Specific on The Yellows

If you have a yellow icon on an essential piece of software, then you will want to figure out exactly what kind of problems it has on Lion, and then you can decide if you are willing to put up with them on a case by case basis. To do that just click on the name of the app. You will be taken to a screen that gives you a description of the problem(s) that users have been experiencing with this piece of software.

There you have it. Now you can decide whither or not you want to upgrade now, or hold out for upgrades to some of your essential software.

The post How to Find Out If Your Favorite Apps and Programs Will Work on Lion appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

The really good news is that you can use a single payment to buy OS X Lion and install it on any of the computers that you have authorized with your Apple ID. That is not a bad deal at all considering that you can authorize up to five computers with a single account, making the total cost of each install about $6.

Now, you could just download the installer on all of your machines, but that will take up plenty of your time, since each download (the OS X Lion is 4GB in size) could take up half a day.

A better solution is to create a disk image so that you can install it over and over again without multiple downloads.

Download Lion

If you have not done so, you can go ahead to download the Lion installer from the Mac App Store. Remember, you only need to do this step once.

Once you have finished the download, do not run the installer! Once the installation start, you won’t be able to create the disk image.

Creating a portable disk image

Plug in your USB drive (or external hard drive). Make sure your USB drive has more than 4GB of free storage space. Now, go to the location where you downloaded the new operating system and copy the OS X Lion to the external drive.

This could take a few minutes to transfer over. Once the transfer is completed, you can unmount your USB drive from your machine.

Installing

Putting the new OS on your system will be pretty easy from here, but before you do that, it is best to backup your existing system. Go ahead to make a backup copy with your time machine. If you did not setup your time machine before, then you may want to do that now.

Once the backup is done, you can plug in your USB drive and begin the installation. Remember, the machine has to be authorized under the same account in order for this to work. Begin by dragging the installer package to the Applications folder of the new machine. Next, double click on it and the installation will begin.

Now, just follow the screen instructions to finish the install.

The post How to Install OS X Lion on Multiple Mac’s with A Single Download appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Signing In

If you have not started using the Mail app, this is a great time to start. Go to your Applications folder and double click on the icon for your Mail app.

Enter your user name and password. Then click on the Create button.

For the first time, it will take a while for it to load your mailbox and fetch the mails from the server.

Creating A Rule

To make your rule, simply click on Mail -> Preferences.

Click on the rules tab, follow by Add Rule.

Now you can name your rule.

Select ALL from the first row of dropdown field.

In the second row, select “FROM”, “IS EQUAL TO” from the first two dropdown fields and enter the email address that you want to block in the third input field.

In the third row under the “Perform the following actions”, select “Mark as Flagged” to flag all the message from this sender.

Additionally, you can also get it to highlight the message by selecting the color from the “Set Color” field.

Lastly, click OK. You should see your new created filter system implemented in your inbox.

Now you can enjoy all of the sorting that you need to do with your inbox. Yes, you will need to make a new rule for each address you want to highlight or flag. On the bright side, it allows you to micro-manage and organize your incoming emails, so that is not a bad thing too.

Do also check out how to backup your Gmail using mail rules in Mac.

The post How to Use Mail Rules to Manage Your Incoming Emails [Mac] appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Apples newest operating system, OS X Lion is expected to come some time in July. Just to tantalize us, Apple has not released a specific date, and that means that you should be ready to go at any time if you want to be the first one in your social circle to have the new OS. So, let’s go about getting your Mac prepared for the new operating system.

Know Your Specs

In order to install Lion, you need to make sure that your computer meets the minimum system requirements. Before that, you need to know what the minimum system requirements are. According to Apple you will need to have a system with the following:

• At least 2GB of RAM
• One of the following processors: Intel Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7, or Xeon
• You have to be currently running Snow Leopard

To find out if your system has the right specs, simply click on the Apple logo and select “About this Mac”.

The pane that pops up will show you the processor and memory specs that you have on your current system. You can then compare your systems information to the minimum needs. As a general guideline, most of the system built after late 2006 will be able to run Lion.

Check Your HD Storage Space

You should probably have at least 8GB of free storage space on hand for the install, since the OS installer is 4GB and you will need to have more for the temporary files created by the installation process itself. While there are a wide variety of tools out there that can help you to determine your memory usage. If you do not want to pay for one, you can just use a classic organization system, updated for the digital age. You are going to need a flash drive, and an external hard drive if you have a lot of memory.

Sort through your documents, media and pictures. Each will fall into one of three categories:

1. Keep – This is a file you need to have on hand. It is essential, used frequently or needed for a current project.

2. Store – This is the point of your flash drive. You will store files that you need (or paid good money for on iTunes) but you do not use that often, files that are older, or files that you simply have no use for in the near future.

3. Trash – This category is for files you do not need now, have no good reason to store and see no need for in the future. This is also a good category for any photos of yourself that could be deemed embarrassing or potentially incriminating.

In most cases, a good clean out can give you what you need. While you are at it, go ahead and see if you have any program that you are not using anymore. Sure, The Path was a great game, but it does not need to stay on your system forever.

Get Updated

Before you install, make sure that your OS and software are up to date. Click on the Apple menu and then on Software Update. The system will then present you with a list of the updates you need to run before you can install the new OS.

After this, all you need to do is check on the manufacturers sites for your favorite programs that are not made by Apple. Many early adopter is annoyed to find that their favorite software is not forward compatible, and the patch will not be out for three months, as this writer did with her copy of Mac Speech Dictate when she upgraded to Snow Leopard.

Now all you have to do is wait for the announcement.

The post How to Prepare Your Mac For OS X Lion appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Regardless is cloud or local storage, as long as the file is important to you, you know that it is necessary to create a backup of it. We have covered many local backup solution. Today, we are going to show you how to back up your Google Docs.

1. Login to your Google Documents.

2. You should see a check box next to the Actions menu icon. Check this box to select all the documents in your Google Docs. You can deselect as many as you want if you do not need older items. If you only want to back up a small list of selected items, you can choose to check only those documents manually. It will be faster than de-selecting the things that you don’t need.

Once you have made your selections, click the Action menu and choose the “Download” option.

3. Now, it is going to ask you what format you want to save your files in. Select the file type for each type of document with the pull down box on the right.

For Mac users, if you have Office for Mac, you can go ahead and save in Office, the default choice. Since iWork is compatible with office, you can also use this format for the native suite. If you are planning to save this file for later storage on a flash drive, and you plan on using it on multiple devices, you may want to consider saving the files as HTML. HTML files are usually lean and allow you access to the text without a lot of memory killing frills.

4. Lastly, click the Download button. Your files will be zipped and the download will start automatically. Make sure the radio button next to Save is selected and click on OK. You may want to take note of the file name so that you can do a simple spotlight search to find the file later on. This will begin your download. This can take some time depending on the number of files you have.

There you have it, a backup that you can use on your local machine as well as store it for future use.

The post How To Back Up Your Google Docs appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

The dock is a great way to store the programs that you use all of the time and do not want to dive into the applications folder in order to find it each time you want to use it. Of course, if you have a wide variety of programs that you use on a regular basis, you may find that your dock is getting crowded and that the convenience is less than it was before. What do you do with the conundrum of a convenience that is no longer convenient?

That is easy. You modify it to meet your current needs, even if that includes going with an option that the design team did not originally consider. Today you are going to learn how to add multiple docks to your system so that you can have one for each of your work flows and make your life simple again, well at least you will make access to your software simple again with the help of a little bit of shareware.

Dock It

The system in question is known as Dock-It.

You need to start by getting the software. Once you have gotten to the download page, you can either buy it outright or to download the free trial version. The free trial is valid for fourteen days, and this trick is only for users of the Snow Leopard operating system. Sorry to those of you who have not updated recently. Once the download is done, drag the application icon to the Applications folder of your hard drive.

Customize Your First New Dock

When you first open this software, you will see your first new dock show up in the middle of the screen. It is full of things that you may or may not want to have on a custom dock. Click on the first icon to access the dock controls. To add a new dock, open this menu and click on “Edit Docks”. Then click on the plus sign. The dock will by default be given the name “Favorites Dock”. You can rename it if you want by double clicking on the name.

Add Items to Your New Dock

If you want to add an application to your new dock, you would do this the same way you would for your current dock. Simply find your icon and drag it onto your dock. After a few seconds, you will see the icon on your dock. But, what if you want add something that is not an application? What if you want easy access to a folder? To add a folder to your dock, open your settings and choose “Add File/Folder”, you will find it in the “Add menu” section. All that you have to do is browse to the location of the folder that you want to add and click on Open. This will add your folder to your dock.

Give The Dock Your Own Style

Now, lets give your dock a little bit of style and make it your own. To do that, begin by clicking on the Advanced tab. Here you will find options that allow you to change the background colors, border types and the overall transparency of the dock. Play with these to make it the way you want. Admittedly, this is not a high degree of customization but it will give you some sense of meshing with the rest of your system’s look and feel.

There you have it – an extra dock to do with as you please. Have fun.

Dockit is fully functional for 14-day trial. After that, if you like it, you have to pay $10 to own it.

Dock-It

The post How to Add Extra Docks In Your Mac (Snow Leopard Only) appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

But wait, you’re saying. I don’t want to have to open a recording program every time I have an idea either. That is just as clumsy as writing a new email for the idea. Well, have no fear. You won’t be opening a program to get what you want. You will be using the ease of a keyboard shortcut. How is this possible? With the help of a little known program called Automator. For those of you not familiar with it, this tool is designed to make customized tasks on your Mac easy by automating them. Let’s get started.

Setting Up The Recording Capability

1. Launch Automator by double clicking on the icon in your Applications folder.

2. Click on Workflow and then on Choose.

3. Using the search field in the left of the window, add the following actions: New Audio Capture, Start Capture, and Stop Capture. You can simply search for the names of the actions you want and then click on them to add them to your work flow.

In the start and stop actions, you will see check boxes. Click them. They should read, “Wait For Capture To Complete” and “Close Movie After Stopping”. Configure the top of the window to read Service Receives No Input in Any Application and then save your application with a name that you will remember, such as Voice Reminders or Remotely Nagging Kenny. It is your choice depending on your needs.

4. Close and re-open Automator. Choose “Open existing workflow”, then navigate to and open your file. You should see the same elements in your workflow as before.

5. Click on “Workflow” and then on “Run”.

6. When a recording window appears, begin speaking. When you are done, tap on the space bar to end and save the recording of the file. The file will be saved with the name Audio Recording.mov.

Now that you can record whenever you want, let’s attach your memos to a keyboard shortcut. That way you can make a new memo on the fly.

Adding a Keyboard Shortcut to Record Anytime

1. Open your System Preferences, and choose the Keyboard preferences.

2. Click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. Click on “Services” on the left hand side of the pane. Then on the right choose the “General” heading. You should see your workflow at the bottom of the list. Click to the right of it and a text field will appear. Choose a set of keys for your shortcut and press on them now. Just be sure not to duplicate any existing shortcuts in the process.

Done.

The post How to Easily Record Voice Memos on Mac appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

While Apple does release new batch of definition files in its daily updates, some users have reported that the files have not been automatically updating the way that they should. This procedure shows you how to check if your virus definition files are up to date, and if not, how you can update them manually.

Check To See if Your Malware Definition Is Up To Date

1. In the Spotlight, search for “terminal“. Open the Terminal app.

2. Copy and paste this command:

more /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/XProtect.meta.plist

4. In the code that comes up, you should see a last modification date in the code. If this date is today, you do not need to update. If it is not today, then you need to update your virus definitions manually. The date line should look like this:

How to Update You Virus Definitions

You are going to love this one because it is so simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Open your System Preferences.

2. Click on the “Security Preferences” pane.

3. Uncheck the box next to the word “Automatically update safe downloads list”.

4. Re-check the box.

There you have it. You will have your files automatically updated. You might want to double check your system with the same command to see if the file is is up to date. If you see today’s date, then you are good to go. If not, you might need to check your Mac for 1. virus that prevent the system for auto-update, 2. software defects.

There you have it, the best way to make sure that your system is up to date on the virus definitions that are available to you.

Image credit: ?rakaz

The post How to Manually Update Your Mac’s Virus Definitions appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Doing The Prep Work

This may sound obvious, but before you begin, you will want to round up all of your iPods and their cords. iPods tend to accrue as we upgrade, so unless you traded in or gave them away, now is a really good time to find them. They may have hidden gems that you were not listening to (or watching) recently, that you do want to keep in your collection in general. While you are at it, dig up any old CDs you have with media you want to add to your collection or external storage (such as flash drives) with parts of your media library on them. This will lead to maximum restoration of your files.

Importing From Your iPod

Now, you can plug in your first iPod. When you do so, iTunes will open automatically and you should get a pop up window with your syncing options. Choose “Transfer Purchases”

If you are adding to a new system, or you needed a complete reinstall of the OS, you will have to re-authorize the computer. Choose “Authorize” and enter your username and password for iTunes. Remember, if you copy your songs back from a friend with similar music tastes, you will need to use their login to authorize and not your own.

The automatic transfer should happen now.

Eject this iPod when the transfer is complete and repeat with any other iPods you happen to own.

Note to iTouch users: In some cases, when a library was wiped but the software is intact, you may have to follow a bit of a different procedure. Once you plug in and open iTunes you will see tabs labeled with titles like “Music”, “Movies” and “TV Shows”. Check the box next to the word sync in each media category, then click on the button labeled “Sync” in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. This will sync your library to the system.

Importing From A Flash Drive

Plug in your drive. When it appears on your desktop, double click it to open the drive. Double click on the songs that you want. When iTunes opens to play them, a box will appear asking if you want to “Add to Library”. Click on “Ok” and your songs will import.

Importing from Your CD’s

I know, if you have an iPod, you probably don’t have a large CD collection, but get out what you do have and get ready to import. This will take the longest, and work only for your music, but it will get back things you cannot retrieve any other way. Insert your CD into the slot. If iTunes is not still open, it will open again and take you to the disks information. Click on the words “Import Disk” and the songs will be copied to your library.

There you have it, as good of a restoration as you are going to get from external media sources. If you had a real favorite that you just cannot restore, you should ask apple to let you re-download it. Just be ready to prove (with your digital receipt) that you own it, and know that asking is a bit of a shot in the dark. Sometimes it is a yes and sometimes it is a no, depending on how much you want to re-download and your proof.

Next time, back up your files please.

The post How to Restore Your iTunes Library with Your iPod, Flash Drives and CD’s appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Why Virtualbox?

You may be wondering why you should choose VirtualBox instead of using VMware. Well, for one reason – you will save yourself a good bit of cash, since VMware can costs you a pretty penny, and VirtualBox is a free solution. Of course, free is not enough to make a product worth your while. It needs to have other traits, such as stability and a development team that support it with regular updates. VirtualBox provides you with both of these things, so you can use it with confidence that you will not end up with problems a year down the line.

What Do You Need On Your System

In order for this system to work, you need to have a setup that has either an Intel or AMD processor that is capable of supporting hardware virtualization.

What You Need to Do

First off, if you have not installed VirtualBox, now would be a really good time to get it. Go to Virtualbox website and download the installer for your OS. If you do not own a Snow Leopard disc, you might want to search for a OSX86 iso file and download it.

Step 1: Open the VirtualBox software and click the “New” button. This will launch the ”create a new VM” wizard tool which is designed to walk you through the setup.

Step 2: Give your new VM a name (I named it Mac OSX). Choose “Mac OS X” in the “Operating System” dropdown menu, and then select “Mac OS X Server” from Version dropdown menu, which you will find in the same area.

Step 3: Assign the amount of memory you want to allocate to the new operating system. The maximum in VirtualBox is 1500MB, but you will want to temper this figure based on what you need to do with the system, how much memory you have in total on the system, and the types of programs you intend to install on under the new OS.

Update: The maximum in VirtualBox is not 1500MB. You can allocate up to 2GB if you have enough memory in your system.

Step 4: Make a new hard drive for your VM. If you are not sure how much you need, choose the “Dynamic” option. This will allow the system to expand as your needs do. If you choose the “Static” option, be sure that you know what you need and allot accordingly. Then click on “Next” to finish up with the wizard.

Step 5: Click on “Settings” and then “System”. Uncheck the box next to the words “Enable EFI (special OSes only)”.

Step 6: Choose “Storage” from the menu on the left and choose the word “Empty”, you will see it under the OSX.vdi. You will see a folder with a green arrow. Click on it and a new window will open. Click on the plus sign. You will now be able to find the OSX86 iso that you downloaded earlier in this process. Once you have highlighted it, click on the “Select” button and then click on “OK”. Finally, click on the main start button to begin the process.

Step 7: When all of this is done the VM should start booting. You will be asked to select a language. Do that and click on “Next” then “Continue and Agree”. The next screen will show you the words choose the 20GB VBOX HARDDISK, and click on the “Erase” button.

Step 8: Click on “Install” to begin your installation. When the installation is done click the Right-Ctrl key and unmount the CD/DVD drive for now. Then restart the VM. OSX should begin to boot.

There you have it Mac OS X Snow Leopard running in VirtualBox on your Windows-based machine.

The post How to Install Mac OS X Snow Leopard in VirtualBox appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

What You Need to Do On Flickr

Begin by opening your web browser and making your way to Flickr. Sign in the way that you normally would. Once you are signed in, you will see a button on the toolbar near the top of the screen. Find the word “You” in this menu and click on it. This will take you to your photostream, a listing of all of the photos you have ever posted to Flickr.

At the top of this screen, you will see a URL. This is the custom URL for your stream. Depending on your settings, this may, or may not include your user name. Highlight the URL and then copy it.

You may have noticed that this is not a RSS feed URL right now, and you cannot use it the way that it is right now. No worries, we will fix that in the next step.

Turning Your URL into An RSS Feed

The easiest way to turn your Flickr URL into a RSS feed is with a conversion tool. Luckily a few have been created specifically for Flickr. In this case we are going to use the BIG Flickr Feed tool, which you can find at http://www.bigflickrfeed.com/. Once you are on the site, you can paste your URL into the box, before you click on the “Go” button, which will create your RSS feed. You need to look at the radio button options above the box. Your choices are “Feed my most interesting photos” or “Feed my latest photos”, the most interesting photos is selected by default. Make your selection and then click on “Go”.

You will now be presented with an RSS feed URL. Copy it.

Setting Up The Screen Saver

Now you need to get to the screen saver settings. First, open System Preferences, then click on Desktop & Screen Saver and select Screen Saver from the two tabs at the top.

Here you will see a plus sign. Click on this to add a new screen saver option. This will present you with a pop up menu. Choose “Add RSS Feed” from the options that appear.

A pop up box will appear on the screen. Paste the URL into this box and click on “OK”. Be sure that you pasted the new RSS feed URL and not the original URL for the Flickr photostream into this box. The feed will be validated by the program. Once this is done, you will see the option in your list of screensavers. All you need to do is click on it to select this feed as your new screen saver.

There you have it, one screensaver based on your Flickr’s photos.

Image credit: Zanastardust

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2. Once your system has re-started, you can go ahead and open your Screenshots Remote software.

3. Go to Preferences. Here you will be able to set your frequency and data storage options for your screenshots. After you have made your selections, do not close this window.

4. Click the Remote Access tab. This will allow you to set up authorization for remote access at a later time. Enter the name of the system, your user name and your remote access password. If you do not have remote access set up on your Mac, you will need to do this before you can set up this feature on the system. You can close this window.

5. Click on the Time Range and you will be able to set a schedule for when shots should be taken.

5. Press the Refresh button.

Now, you should be able to see the screeshots that you want in your system.

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If your needs are basic, and you have Word already installed on your Mac, then you do not need to download anything at all. Even if you have never used Word as a web editor in the past, it does have that feature and you can use it to save yourself some hard drive space. This is especially good news if you have an older Mac laptop that is short on space.

No matter what your reason for using Word on your Mac is, the process will be roughly the same. If you want to move on, just follow these simple steps and you will have a basic HTML site ready and waiting to be uploaded to whatever server you are using to host your site. You will even be able to add new code for your favorite widgets or social media site badges once the site is up and running, without having to alter your Word document again.

Step 1:

Open your Word document the same way that you normally would for a standard document. You can do this by double clicking on the icon on your dock. If you can’t find it in the dock, go to the Applications folder in the Finder. Depending on the age of your machine it may take some time to load.

Step Two:

Right now you are in your document view, which is good for a variety of things. However, the web view will give you a much more accurate look at how the project will actually look when it is on the web. To switch to web view, simply click on “View -> Web Layout”.

Now we can move onto creating the look and the content of your new site.

Step Three:

This is the body of your work.  Here is where you add your text and images. Make any changes to the size of the text, the color of the text or background. Be sure to get things exactly the way that you want them, though that may require a little bit of tweaking in the formatting department. Just be sure to make good use of your formatting pallet and you should have no problems getting the effects that you want to see.

Step Four:

If there was a tricky part, this would be it. In reality this part is simple too.

Choose file, and then “save as”.

Give your new website document a unique name and save it in the place where you can find it easily. In the pull down box for file formats, choose a Web Page (.htm) for your file type. Once you have chosen the correct file type, you can go ahead and save as you normally would, by clicking on the “save” button.

Now, you can upload your HTML file, wherever you need to. Enjoy your site.

The post How to Make A Website in Word For Mac appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

A song template can help you to save time and make your song writing and recording much simpler. A song template can help you to manage your preferences across multiple songs. No more resetting your count for each track. Instead of having to set your preferences for each track, you can simply get down to business and create your song. Also, having a song template will prevent GarageBand from automatically opening your last song when you double click on the icon, which will reduce the load time when you are ready to create a new track.

Now, let’s get you set up with your first template.

1. Create your GarageBand song the way that you want it to be. Don’t get too invested, unless you plan to re-use elements of the melody again. Play with your settings, your default instruments and anything else that you prefer that is not standard. Once you have your file just the way that you want it, save it with the name “Template”.

2. Use finder to locate your template track. You can do that with a simple search in the magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner. Just click on it, and then begin typing to search. Once you find your song, select it. That way, you will be able to open your template style file, and begin to build on the foundation of a song that you have already created.

3. Now you can double click on the file to open it. All of your preferences are ready to go, and you can begin the creation of your song. Alternatively, open GarageBand, and simply choose Open an Existing File, then navigate to your track and open it as you would any other saved file.

4. Make one change to your song. Not a big one. Then click on File and Save As. Rename your track with whatever the title of the song will be. Be default, the title will be Template, at this point, so be sure to change the name before randomly clicking on the Save button. If you do accidentally click on the button, be sure to click on Edit then Undo and re-save your template file. You can then click on Edit and Redo, and go ahead and re-save your changes under a different name.

There you have it. This is not exactly a template, it is as we mentioned in the title, it is a sort of template. It allows you to not waste your composition time on setting up the same details again and again. As long as you are careful not to save over it, you will have nothing to worry about. If however, you know that you are the kind of person who will save without thinking, you should save more than one version of the template. Save a Template and a Template2, just be sure not to use Template2 unless you mess up the first version.

The post How to Make A (sort of) Song Template in GarageBand appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

That does not mean that all Midis are perfect just the way that they are. Let’s say that you found the right track, but it is the wrong type of sound. Should you go onto the next file, and keep looking for the perfect sound, or should you alter what you have to make it perfect?

If that clang of a bell should be the pulling of a violin string, then you will want to consider alteration, since it will generally be much quicker, and you will be able to do it with this free piece of software. Just follow these steps and you will be able to change instruments for your Midi file in Garageband.

Find Your Target File

If you do not already have your file, the get your midi file. If you are still searching for your file, there is a wide-range of different sites where you can download Midi files for free, at least for this one time. Find a site that has what you need and download your file.

Download Your Editing Software – if you need to

If your file is not a Midi, or it is not compatible with your system, we can simply convert it. The software we are using to convert it today is Professional Audio Editing Software for Mac OS x. You will find it at http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/. The software is not free, but it does have a free trial. You can download it, use it until the trial ends and then decide if you want to pony up the $100 to keep it full time, or if you want to trash it. For users who only have a day or two of need, the trial should be more than enough.

Working In Garage Band

Of course, if you already have a Midi file, then you can skip this download process. Now, we will move on to what we need to do in garage band.

1. Open GarageBand. You can do this by double clicking on the icon in your applications folder.

2. Your GarageBand software will ask you what you want to do. Choose “Open Existing File” and you will be able to choose your file and import.

3. Once the software has imported the file, you will be able to select your instrument in the track. The software will have automatically separated the track into instruments.

4. Once you have made a selection, press the button that has a circle around an “i”. This will give you a list of instrument options. Choose a new instrument by clicking on it.

Now, you can play your track with the new sound. Enjoy your new sound.

The post How to Convert Midi File Instruments in Garageband appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Cookies are the bits of information that your web browser stores about the sites you have visited. Most of that data will be related to the information you have given out yourself, such as filling in a registration form or setting up a set of preferences. In most cases, the cookies should automatically expire and delete itself from the system once the expiry date is due. However, this is not true for all cases. Some of them do not expire and simply sit on your system for the rest of its life. They act as a kind of digital waste of space in your system, a waste of space that can actually present a security risk to revealing your personal data. So, if you want to minimize your risk, and potentially speed up you system, deleting cookies suddenly seems like a very reasonable idea.

Think of the fact that it is easy to do as just one more bonus that you get for being a responsible Mac owner. Let’s take a look at the process.

Clean Your Cookies in Safari

1. If it is not already open, take this moment to open Safari by double clicking on the icon on your dock. If you do not have a Safari icon on your dock, you should be able to find one in the Applications folder in your system.

2. In the menu bar above, choose the word “Safari”. The click on the word “Preferences”. Alternatively, if you prefer to use the keyboard to get to preferences then click on the Apple key and the comma at the same time.

3. Once the preference menu opens, choose the “Security” tab. This will bring you to the security options for Safari.

4. You will see a button labeled Show Cookies”. Go ahead and click on this button.

5. You will see a button labeled “Remove All”. Click on that button to clear all your cookies.

See, that was easy enough to do. Now, you have no good excuse not to get this done on a regular basis. You will notice that your browser runs faster and smoother than it did before. Depending on the age of the system that you are using, and how many cookies you had stored in your browser, you may even find that you system is running faster on the whole. There is nothing like cleaning out the gunk to give your system a shot in the arm.

Image credit: scubadive67

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Of course, your dilemmas may not be so complex. You may simply want to show the contents of your pages document with the world, without the annoyance, and security risks, of letting everyone download your file. No matter what your situation is, you could always convert your doc files (particularly pages) into JPEG. In that way, you could share it without a format loss, or you could save it to a website for the world to see. If you’re ready to make that conversion, there are two different methods that you can use in order to reach your goal. Just pick the one that seems right for your needs.

One method will give you a portion of your document, which is great for making samples. The second method will convert your whole document to a JPEG, which is great for sharing the whole of your document.

How to share only a section of your document as a JPEG

This method will let you get all the text you can fit onto one screen.

1. Take a limited area screenshot of the document section that you wish to share on your Mac. You can do this by tapping command + shift + 4. When the crosshairs show up on your screen click on your starting point and drag the crosshairs to the bottom of the document.

2. Open your image in Preview by double-clicking on it. Then choose file and save as. You will see a pull down menu of different file types. Select JPEG from the listing and click on the save button. There you have it, a limited area JPEG of your document.

If you want something more all-encompassing, try the methods listed below.

How to share the whole of your document as a JPEG

1. Open the document that you want to convert to a JPEG in Pages. Choose File -> Print.

2. When the print box shows up, you will see a button for the PDF Drop-down in the bottom left corner of the Print window. Click on this button to enter the menu you need.

3. Choose the button labeled “Save PDF to iPhoto”. When you document is changed into an iPhoto document, it will automatically convert the PDF to a JPEG.

4. If you want to find your file, simply open up finder and type in the file name. Once that is done, you will find the file that you want is ready and waiting as a JPEG that you can share as you see fit.

There you have it, two easy ways for you to share your pages file as a JPEG. Now you can do whatever you need to do with your new JPEG.

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