Making the Move To Mac Even Easier!

ByMike Moffit

It’s no surprise that a large portion of people currently purchasing Macs are former PC users; we call them “Switchers.” One of the most common concerns for a Switcher is how to move his or her emails, address book and calendar items from Outlook to a new machine. While there are several tips and tricks on how to do this, I wanted to showcase one of my favorite Switcher applications, O2M.

I was first turned on to O2M when it went by it’s former name, Outlook2Mac. It’s a great little app by Little Machines that will convert all of your Outlook data to a format that your Mac will read for the low price of $10. While there are some free ways to do this, they are cumbersome; O2M does a clean and simple job and outputs to a format that can easily be read by Address Book, Mail, iCal, Entourage, and several other third-party mail programs on the Mac.

It’s important to note that O2M is made to export information from the full version of Microsoft Outlook, so if you have Outlook Express you’re out of luck. To get the application, simply download it in your Windows PC from Little Machine’s website and run it on your PC. The program’s clean interface allows you to chose which type of files you’d like exported, what format you’d like them exported as and then it does the rest for you! You can then use either a USB Key/Flash Drive or external hard drive to transfer the exported data to your Mac. Enjoy!

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    With many schools and colleges back in session, we are seeing the usual and predicable spike in accidental damage repairs in our service facilities. It’s very important to remember that a dropped computer, one with a broken screen, or one with any type of liquid damage–no matter how new–has no warranty coverage.

    Small Dog has a ton of products to protect your Mac or iPod from impact and liquid damage. Keep in mind, though, that you still should avoid dropping your laptop or drinking anything near it. Here are my favorite protective products for Apple laptops.

    “Speck cases”:http://www.smalldog.com/search/?find=speck are hard shells that are form-fitted for a precise and tight fit to your laptop. Available in many colors and textures, they are the best-selling and best-performing protection against impact damage.

    The second part of protecting your laptop is a well-padded laptop bag like “those from Timbuk2.”:http://www.smalldog.com/search/?find=Timbuk2 These messenger-style laptop bags have lots of storage, look good, and provide great protection. If you prefer a sleeve-style laptop case, know that they provide less protection, but are still better than carrying around a naked computer. My favorite is the new “Hammerhead line,”:http://www.smalldog.com/search/?find=hammerhead named for CEO Don Mayer’s bulldog.

    Jeremiah Johnson, assistant manager of the South Burlington store, likes the Incipio Feather line of cases, and has a review a little later in this issue of Best in Showroom.

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