Author: Mike Moffit

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After some time of owning any type of computer, you might begin to collect large amounts of files. Just like in real life, it is important to regularly do some spring cleaning with your machine in order to keep things running smoothly.

In computer life, when you run out of space, you run the risk of the computer accidentally overwriting very important system files — such as the ones that make your computer run. It is always a good idea to be proactive with storage management because once those files are overwritten, they are gone forever — only a clean install will guarantee their recovery. Therefore, first I want to talk about a few ways to monitor the amount of free space you have on your Mac.

If you are using a Mac running OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) or earlier, you can easily check the amount of free space you have by selecting the hard drive icon on your desktop and hitting Command + I. This will open a new window with a section called General containing two lines labeled Capacity and Available. They will respectively tell you the total capacity of the drive and the total amount you have taken up of that drive.

If you are using a Mac running OS X Lion (10.7) or newer, Apple improved the ability to discern what it taking up space on your machine a little bit better. To find this information open the *Apple Menu* by clicking the apple icon in the top left of your screen and select the *About This Mac* option. In the new window that pops up, click the *More Info…* button. Doing so will open up a different view of the About This Mac window. Clicking on the *Storage* tab will show a visual breakdown of a few predetermined types of files you have on your machine and how much space each is taking up.

Now you may notice that there is a catch-all category called *Other* and wonder what that is and why it is so big. The short and sweet version is that it is a bunch of important system files that the average person shouldn’t really mess with. However, if you are still interested in figuring out what exactly the “other” category is, comprised of there is a free app called “*Disk Inventory X*”:http://www.derlien.com/index.html that I use to see a complete break down of every thing on my drive. It is sort of like the About This Mac utility on steroids and isn’t for the faint of heart. It even gives you the ability to delete things right from the app. However, I don’t recommend using it for much more than investigating what is taking up space so you don’t accidentally delete something important.

So you’ve got all this information, now what does it mean? Well, Our IT department suggests that you have 10-20% of your total capacity free on your drive regardless of the type of drive (hard drive or solid state drive). This will ensure that no files are accidentally overwritten. By using these tools you can proactively monitor how close you are getting to that mark and adjust how you are saving or begin moving files.

In the next installment of Cleaning Up Your Mac, I will detail my best practices for deleting and managing your files to maximize your storage space. Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion.

Hello! Welcome back for another edition of Meet the Small Dogger. This week we are featuring…wait for it…Kerry Westhelle! Kerry is Don’s Executive Assistant, responsible for HR, and is also the girl to beat in Just Dance 3, currently holding the company record for highest score on LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem (Matt is runner up, followed closely by Hapy).

Kerry started work at Small Dog in September 2008 and has lived in Vermont for 20 years and in the Valley for 10. Although she finds the Valley a little claustrophobic sometimes, it’s a great place to raise kids. Speaking of kids, she has 3 of her very own: Two girls and a boy, ages 19, 15 and 7.

Kerry is actually one of six kids and when she was little decided that when she got married she would keep her maiden name. She didn’t think her older brother would have kids and wanted to carry on the family name. Luckily, her younger brother was born when she was 8! Kerry also desperately wanted a pet raccoon and although now she’s a voracious reader, she didn’t learn to read until she was in the third grade. The first books she read were the Little House series and still has her old copies.

Growing up Kerry lived within a couple of hours from the ocean but never really appreciated it until she moved to Vermont. Kerry is also determined to learn how to surf (well) by the time she turns 40 this year. Although tough to do with no ocean and the current temps of -19, I’m fairly confident Kerry can pull this off!

Kerry is a sucker for vintage clothes, specifically 1940s-50s. She recommends only wearing them in the summer, because “you just automatically feel more ladylike”. She also has psychic abilities when it comes to hair. Whenever she gets her hair highlighted her BFF Mel (who lives in Chicago) will be walking out of a salon at that very moment as well. Every few years they will make the “bangs mistake” and will then talk each other through the growing-them-out stages. Someday they hope to get matching bobby pin tattoos. I think that’s an awesome idea.

When Kerry is not busy showcasing her sweet moves, reading Little House, dreaming of surfing and cutting her bangs she’s pretty awesome at making people laugh and being an all-around positive gal…We’re all glad she’s around!

An amazing feat by Apple is how all of their products just plain work – and work together. Maybe a little too well perhaps.

One time when I was using my MacBook Pro a buddy of mine was shuffling through the Apple TV and my volume starts going up and down all on its own! Obviously my first thought went to virus and then I remembered I was using a Mac. Calmly and cooly I told my self there’s no such thing as ghosts and turned to my friend to show him what was happening. He and I both shared a laugh as I realized it was him not only controlling the Apple TV but my Mac as well. Knowing now what the issue was I went back to using my computer but now I was facing his ugly mug to prevent the Apple Remote from controlling my machine.

Apple Remotes run off a simple infrared (IR) technology that luckily can be paired and more importantly un-paired with your other Apple products.

Follow these steps to *pair* a remote with your Mac:
* Log in on your Mac as an Admin user.
* Get very close to your Mac (about 3 or 4 inches away).
* Point the remote at the infrared sensor on the front of your Mac.
* Press and hold the Menu and Next/Fast-forward buttons simultaneously on the remote for 5 seconds.
* Your Apple Remote is now paired with your computer. You should see a chain-link style lock appear in the center of your screen for a moment.

Follow these steps to *un-pair* a remote with your Mac:
* Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu in the upper-left menu bar.
* Choose Security from the View menu.
* Click the lock and enter your Administrator password if necessary.
* Click Un-pair in the Security pane.

The strange thing about my story is that I never paired the Apple Remote to my Mac in the first place and the Apple TV was purchased months after the MacBook Pro was. To fix my issue I simply turned off IR on my Mac.

Follow these steps to turn off (or on) IR reception with your Mac:
* Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu in the upper-left menu bar.
* Choose Security from the View menu.
* Click the lock and enter your Administrator password if necessary.
* In OS X Lion v10.7 or later, click the “Advanced” button in the lower-right corner.
* Enable the “Disable remote control infrared receiver” checkbox.
* In OS X Lion v10.7 or later, click the OK button.

_Dear Friends,_

Don is taking a short holiday in Jamaica this week at Grace’s insistence, and we’re happy to report that he’s relaxing on the beach and feeling irie. We’re holding down the (very, very cold) fort here in Vermont, and we’re thinking warm, sandy thoughts to get us through the week.

I’ve started working on the annual keynote that we present to Apple, and it’s been a nice reminder of all of the goals we have to honor our mission of People, Planet, and Profit, as well as a sobering reminder of all of the irons we have in the fire! (__Oooh…fire. That’d be nice.__)

We really do strive to incorporate a community and environmental-minded element to what we do; as Don says, it’s not enough to just “pile a bunch of dollar bills on the table and say that you’ve accomplished something.” Each year, we take a look at how we can achieve those goals, and it’s a weekly conversation in our management meeting.

We’d love to hear from you regarding our social responsibility mission and if you have any ideas that we could consider. Email us at “*hello@smalldog.com*”:mailto:hello@smalldog.com with general feedback or questions; if you have a formal request for consideration in our Charitable Giving Program, please “*visit our website here*”:http://www.smalldog.com/charity for directions and details.