Category: Tech Support

A significant concern was brought up after we posted the article Clean Install vs. Deleting Users’ Accounts a few weeks ago. The question as to whether your deleted data can be recovered is something to be aware of, but it’s not necessarily something to worry about. It is a fact that data deleted from your…

Customers installing Windows on their Macs often ask whether they should go with a 32 or 64-bit version of Windows (Win32 or Win64). All Macs made after 2006 are using a 64-bit processor (Core 2 Duo, Xeon, i5 or i7), so the assumption is that a 64-bit version of Windows would be the best choice.…

Multiple customers approach our service counter weekly requesting their Macs be “completely wiped.” Normally, this means they would like their hard drive erased of all its content and the appropriate operating system reinstalled. I’m glad to perform this procedure, or give the customer instructions on how to do it on their own, any time a…

We’ve seen some issues with Lion installations, particularly regarding the creation of the recovery partition. If you use a non-standard disk format (such as case-sensitive HFS+), have multiple partitions, or even Boot Camp, you’ll have issues installing Lion. In most cases, you’ll have to delete the Boot Camp partition from your machine so that Lion…

Recently I gave instructions on how to create a bootable Lion installer on a flash drive. I received a lot of follow-up emails from people who have purchased a new Mac that came with Lion and who don’t have the Lion installer to work with. For these folks, their machines don’t even come with restore…

If you own more than one computer, having two separate iTunes libraries can become frustrating and confusing. Luckily, iTunes has the ability to share your library over your home network. My home setup consists of a Mac mini and a MacBook Pro. When I purchased my MacBook Pro, I was not interested in managing two…

Unlike its predecessors, Lion is primarily a download-only version of Mac OS. You can purchase a preloaded flash drive from Apple, but it’s significantly more expensive than the standard download version. Here’s a way to make your own: Step one is to get yourself a flash drive; it needs to be at least 5GB in…

If you haven’t noticed, the most recent update to the Mac mini (July 2011) was quite a huge one. It’s a great injustice that the mini is pushed aside by so many Apple shoppers. A customer recently brought in an Xserve that required quite a bit of work. This customer ended up paying twice the…

In an attempt to keep my article last week short and sweet, I may have oversimplified some things a bit. So, to clarify two points: For sync purposes, “wireless” refers to not having to plug the device into the computer using the USB sync cable. While you do need a wireless network for this to…

A few days ago, a friend asked if I’ve played around with iOS 5 and what my favorite feature is. Since I have a 3rd-generation iPod touch, some of the new features don’t apply to me, but one of the cooler ones so far is the ability to sync with iTunes without plugging into my…