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Mac OSX Noob thread of OSX noobs

Ohwiseone

Member
So I have an issue with my Imac.

I haven't been home recently (At college), and so I came back two weeks ago, and I log onto it.

Well it is really SLOW, it takes 10-15 minutes just to get to the log-in screen. and even longer after I try to log in.


I did some googling, and discovered that it might be some apple-back door diagonistic thing.
But, I can't really get to it, if it takes 4 hours for me to get to it.

Do you guys know anything about this, or should I just unplug it and end up paying a small fortune at the Apple Store.
 
I've never really heard of an Apple backdoor diagnostic.

Boot off the install media/recovery partition and run Disk Utility. Check the SMART status. Repair the hard drive (or SSD). Keep repairing until it runs clean. Also, hit 'about this Mac' and see if the right amount of RAM is listed.

If those things check out, reboot, get it to the desktop and run Activity Viewer and see what is eating RAM/CPU.
 

Ohwiseone

Member
I've never really heard of an Apple backdoor diagnostic.

Boot off the install media/recovery partition and run Disk Utility. Check the SMART status. Repair the hard drive (or SSD). Keep repairing until it runs clean. Also, hit 'about this Mac' and see if the right amount of RAM is listed.

If those things check out, reboot, get it to the desktop and run Activity Viewer and see what is eating RAM/CPU.


Alright thank you,

I was out of ideas, and I really didn't want to end up taking it to Apple.

It might of not been a Apple Backdoor diagnostic, I might of mis-read that, it was a few weeks ago.
 

Pachimari

Member
I have another question related to iPhoto. I have never used it before as I'm waiting for my NAS, but I'm selling a camera for my cousin and then I want to upload photos I took with my DSLR, but the website says they are too big in file size. How can I reduce the sizw on a Mac? Do I need a third party app?

Another thing is, let's say, if I have a lot of photos and I want to mark the first one and the following up until photo #28 but not the rest. How can I do, so I won't have to mark a single photo up until photo #28? Kind of like SHIFT+MARK on Windows. ?
 
I have another question related to iPhoto. I have never used it before as I'm waiting for my NAS, but I'm selling a camera for my cousin and then I want to upload photos I took with my DSLR, but the website says they are too big in file size. How can I reduce the sizw on a Mac? Do I need a third party app?

Another thing is, let's say, if I have a lot of photos and I want to mark the first one and the following up until photo #28 but not the rest. How can I do, so I won't have to mark a single photo up until photo #28? Kind of like SHIFT+MARK on Windows. ?
Re: iPhoto & resizing: You can resize an image in iPhoto when you're exporting it - there are options in the dialog that pops up that let you resize. You can do this for multiple photos as well.

By mark do you mean flag photos? If so you can select whichever ones you want and go to Photos > Flag Photos. Otherwise I'm not sure what you mean.
 

sc0la

Unconfirmed Member
I have another question related to iPhoto. I have never used it before as I'm waiting for my NAS, but I'm selling a camera for my cousin and then I want to upload photos I took with my DSLR, but the website says they are too big in file size. How can I reduce the sizw on a Mac? Do I need a third party app?
iPhoto has a built in resize in File > Export. This will export all currently selected photos, though you may just want to throw everything into an album that first then resize if your photos span iPhoto "events"

Another thing is, let's say, if I have a lot of photos and I want to mark the first one and the following up until photo #28 but not the rest. How can I do, so I won't have to mark a single photo up until photo #28? Kind of like SHIFT+MARK on Windows. ?
SHIFT + click will select all the photos between the first and the last one selected just like windows.

COMMAND + click will select only the individual photos so you could mark say #1, 7 an 12 only.
 

Ohwiseone

Member
So I managed to get Disk Utility to the main page, and I went to repair it, however it says that I need to resinstall the drive.


I can't find my install DVD's however that came with my old mac.. so Im stuck on my laptop from now on.
 

Pachimari

Member
Nice, I'll check out the resizing right away guys!

It's really weird, sometimes SHIFT+CLICK selects the row of pictures I want (like in iPhoto) but not when I'm gonna select them for upload on the Internet, then it just selects one at a time. =/

Example: In iPhoto I can select the row of photos with SHIFT+CLICK, but in a folder it only selects one at a time using this combination.
 
Nice, I'll check out the resizing right away guys!

It's really weird, sometimes SHIFT+CLICK selects the row of pictures I want (like in iPhoto) but not when I'm gonna select them for upload on the Internet, then it just selects one at a time. =/

Example: In iPhoto I can select the row of photos with SHIFT+CLICK, but in a folder it only selects one at a time using this combination.

If you're shift+clicking in a file select dialog, it's likely the website only lets you upload one image at a time. Nothing you can do about that.
 

G_Berry

Banned
installed the latest update yesterday (combo) and today my new MBP turns off without warning. I plug in the charger, turn it back on and now the battery states its at 0% and not charging.

tried everything. resetting the SMC, different charger. WTF is going on??
 
What about in a folder?
Cause whenever I go to a folder or to the Trash can, SHIFT+CLICK doesn't work as intended.
Oh I see what you're saying, yeah in the Finder, Shift+Click will only select the ones you click on, if you want to select up to a certain row, click & drag the cursor over the rows you want to select. Strange inconsistency now that you mention it.
 

noah111

Still Alive
Oh I see what you're saying, yeah in the Finder, Shift+Click will only select the ones you click on, if you want to select up to a certain row, click & drag the cursor over the rows you want to select. Strange inconsistency now that you mention it.
Actually, no. I was curious as to why those methods weren't working for me.

If you use the 'arrange by' option, say by name, you can shift+arrow key to highlight/select items by row. Also, I never use the shift+click option, I use CMD+click. Forgot that shift-click works, too. :p
 
installed the latest update yesterday (combo) and today my new MBP turns off without warning. I plug in the charger, turn it back on and now the battery states its at 0% and not charging.

tried everything. resetting the SMC, different charger. WTF is going on??

Battery might have died?
 

noah111

Still Alive
^YES, it's about damn time. I'll probably be switching back from MPlayerX when 2.0 hits. Design is a bit cluttered, but maybe there'll be some visual options for windowed view.
 

Jasoco

Banned
Is it a single-window mode finally? I hate that VLC has a separate controller on OS X. I want it all in one goddamn window.
 

whitehawk

Banned
I have a couple questions. I have a copy of Windows 7 premium upgrade.

1. Can I use an upgrade disk to install windows 7 on a mac for bootcamp?
2. If I already installed Windows 7 on a different computer with the product key, can i use the key again?
 
From the moment your machine restarts, your desktop loads, and you click on a browser, how long does it take for your home page to load up? My laptop seems to be rather slow as of late, particularly in opening applications without the rainbow icon appearing and the screen freezing. What advice would you give in help solving this?

Another small annoyance I have is when I download e.g. an application and open it, the window doesn't come into the foreground but rather the background. Is there a way to force new window pop ups to show in the foreground?
 

Jasoco

Banned
I have a couple questions. I have a copy of Windows 7 premium upgrade.

1. Can I use an upgrade disk to install windows 7 on a mac for bootcamp?
2. If I already installed Windows 7 on a different computer with the product key, can i use the key again?
That all depends on Microsoft's strict rules. You will probably have to uninstall it from the older computer first because Microsoft, unlike Apple, checks their database religiously to make sure you're not using a pirated copy of Windows. You will have to call Microsoft, explain the situation.

Also, you probably can't use an UPGRADE disc unless you install the full previous version first. You might have to buy a new copy fresh. Microsoft isn't as lenient about it like Apple is. Apple's $29 fee lets you install one copy on multiple machines. Microsoft's $200+ copy of Windows only allows one machine. The tradeoff is Apple sells you hardware that specifically runs with their OS while Microsoft sells an OS you can put on any machine you want. Even a cheap $200 POS up to an expensive $4000 gaming rig.
 
Is there a way to only install certain bits of a DMG? Ie with iWork is there a way to just install Pages and not the rest of the stuff? I'm sure I've seen an app around that does that but can't remember what its called.
 
Is there a way to only install certain bits of a DMG? Ie with iWork is there a way to just install Pages and not the rest of the stuff? I'm sure I've seen an app around that does that but can't remember what its called.
Well, DMG's normally come with .pkg's or .mpkg's on them. These you can normally right-click on and select "show package contents" from the contextual menu that appears. If this option isn't available, you can normally extract it to somewhere else using The Unarchiver and then manually go through the contents.
 

Chris R

Member
So does anyone know what would be causing my trackpad in my air to be detecting a second finger when only one is on it? IE in Chrome I'll start highlighting when just moving the cursor, and it isn't just in Chrome either.
 

mrkgoo

Member
So here is something I have been trying to figure out since I switched over to mac. When I work in windows, I can highlight several files and then just hit the delete key and it will put it in the trash, but when I do it on my mac, nothing happens, and I have to drag the files to the trash myself, or right click and hit move to trash.

Is there anyway to just hit the delete key and send it to the trash??
You want to perform an action or a 'command'. Hence 'command+delete'.
 

Panzon

Member
What are some good apps for drawing/sketching/messing with photos that is not adobe photoshop? I have snow leopard if that matters
 
What are some good apps for drawing/sketching/messing with photos that is not adobe photoshop? I have snow leopard if that matters

Corel Painter, sketchbook pro, Manga Studio and IllustStudio. Not sure if SAI, open canvas or art rage work on OSX.

These are purely for painting/drawing though. No idea about photo editing because I use PS for that.
 

Panzon

Member
Corel Painter, sketchbook pro, Manga Studio and IllustStudio. Not sure if SAI, open canvas or art rage work on OSX.

These are purely for painting/drawing though. No idea about photo editing because I use PS for that.

Thanks will look into these. Never used PS before but I think I'll pick up CS6 whenever it releases and start from there
 

KtSlime

Member
So, I'm looking for suggestions for RSS clients that are capable of catching files in a feed. I had for several years used Mail and some scripts I wrote to download files from feeds, but it appears that Mountain Lion may be discontinuing the RSS features in Mail and Safari.

I couldn't figure out if Reeder supports file catching, I know NetNewsWire does, but I've tried it before and disliked it so much that I ended up writing my own scripts to use the crappy RSS feature in Mail. :lol

So any recommendations? If need be, terminal clients - as long as they are scriptable, are also acceptable.

Thanks in advance!
 

Aroo

Neo Member
Anyone know of any Project Management software they'd recommend for OSX? (Something that can do Gantt Charts.)

I have a VM of Windows 7 on this MBP 13 Feb 2011 that has an SSD and 8GB of ram. I know I can run it on the VM fast however, I prefer an OSX native program (MS Project is not available on OSX.) I want a mobile project management solution basically (running the VM will eat my battery.)

Only see SG Project on the Mac App Store and that is about it.
 
Anyone know of any Project Management software they'd recommend for OSX? (Something that can do Gantt Charts.)

I have a VM of Windows 7 on this MBP 13 Feb 2011 that has an SSD and 8GB of ram. I know I can run it on the VM fast however, I prefer an OSX native program (MS Project is not available on OSX.) I want a mobile project management solution basically (running the VM will eat my battery.)

Only see SG Project on the Mac App Store and that is about it.
A quick Google search brings up iTaskX: http://www.itaskx.com/software/en/iTaskX2_info.asp
 

Jasoco

Banned
I'm gonna say right now that there are some apps that reaallllllllly shouldn't incorporate "Versions" support. I use ScreenFlow for recording LP's and videos of my screen and for some stupid reason they decided to support Versions. What does that mean? It means EVERY time you make a change and save the file, it creates a whole new version and keeps the old one. Which means it gobbles up GIGABYTES of my SSD every time I make changes. And if I forget to delete the Versions it created (By going through hoops to get to the UI) before deleting my source, it keeps the Version in a hidden protected folder you can't delete without also going through more hoops.

Every time I make a change the app freezes with a beachball for upwards of 3-5 minutes while it duplicates the files. And where I had 60GB free, I then had 32GB free and now have less than 7GB free and I haven't even been able to get to the Browser to delete them.

Is there any way to disable Versions for a single app? This is ridiculous!
 
Is there some possibility to get rid of that option to open all windows on the next start when I shut the Mac down?

I don't need that option and it just takes too much time.
 

Jasoco

Banned
Is there some possibility to get rid of that option to open all windows on the next start when I shut the Mac down?

I don't need that option and it just takes too much time.
One thing I noticed about Mountain Lion is that the checkbox will be unchecked by default. At least it was when I tested ML out today.
 

mrkgoo

Member
One thing I noticed about Mountain Lion is that the checkbox will be unchecked by default. At least it was when I tested ML out today.

this makes so much more sense.

sometimes it seems Apple makes a default setting something not so obvious to force people to give it a try. You know, like, if they didn't people wouldn't try it, and they might like it.
 

KtSlime

Member
No, it's always checked since I installed Lion.

He said Mountain Lion, which now preserves the users last choice.

this makes so much more sense.

sometimes it seems Apple makes a default setting something not so obvious to force people to give it a try. You know, like, if they didn't people wouldn't try it, and they might like it.

There are good reasons why Apple would want to make it so that default action is to preserve the current state of the users interactions with the system. For instance, one of the big problems with ensuring system security is updating the software. However, to update the software interferes with the users current tasks and is disruptive so is often neglected and forgotten by many users.

Apple has devised several methods to minimize the sting that comes from a system update. 1) do as much of the update in the background as possible - download the update before interruption 2) keep as much user data as possible - save app states and system states 3) minimize time wasted - short install and reboot times.

There are still things wrong with how this is implemented in Lion and it is much improved in Mountain Lion - the restoration of saved states is incredibly fast in the preview. Perhaps remembering the state of remembering the state is of value if only to put the minds of crotchety 'old-skool' users at rest. And I fully respect that there may be times that a user wants to reboot to a 'fresh' boot. But that really should be considered as the rarer situation of the two and Apple's first instinct to preserve data is obviously the most correct thing they can do and most apprehensions towards this action should be viewed as a result of archaisms in user expectations due to the evolution of the computer-user interaction.
 
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