The last post about setting up AirPort Extreme to create a home network included a reference to how to connect an external drive to your AirPort Extreme so you can share files on your network or back up your computer wirelessly.

I use Time Machine to back up my data, and I have an external hard drive plugged in to my Mac mini all the time, but that’s easy because a Mac mini is a desktop computer.  If you’ve got a laptop that doesn’t live a sheltered life in the office or on a desk somewhere, you probably don’t take the time to back up your computer as often as you should because it’s a pain to have to plug in your external hard drive and wait for Time Machine to back up your computer.

I will tell you this: approximately 95% of customers that come to us needing hard drive replacements don’t have their data backed up and never thought their hard drive would fail. (I may be exaggerating a little, it might actually only be around 94.875%)

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The iPad Users Group has some BIG NEWS!!! Read more →

People continue to ask me about what apps I recommend for their iOS devices. There are a lot of apps out there, and it can be slightly overwhelming to try and find something new amongst so many options.  So, I’m going to share about some of the apps I use and like.

This week I’m going to talk about utilities. Read more →

People ask me all the time about what apps I recommend for their new iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch. There are tons of apps out there and it can be a bit overwhelming trying to find something amidst a myriad of options. So, for the next couple of weeks, I’m going to talk about some of the apps I use and like.

This week I’m going to talk about entertainment. Read more →

Let’s start with a little background history.  Last September my mother called me on the phone and wanted to know if I could help her upgrade her computer’s Operating System to something a little newer.  I replied that of course I could, but told her that it wasn’t going to be easy based on the age of her computer.  In case you’re curious, this is the computer that she was using:

Yes, that’s correct.  Until September of 2011, my mother was still using an original iBook with a Power PC G3 300MHz processor, a 3.2GB Hard Drive, and a whole 32MB of RAM.  Being the kind of person that I am, I decided that it was time for me to buy my mother a new computer, which I did.  She now has a 13-inch MacBook Pro and loves it to death.  It’s so much faster and so much more powerful than her old computer that she gets all of her work done in a quarter of the time. Read more →

We have a lot of folks call us up who want to know if there’s anything that they could or should be doing to make their Mac happier, or run faster, or bench press more weight.  We usually tell them to bring in their computer so we can take a look at it to make sure nothing serious is wrong, and in all cases, we’ll start with the least invasive methods to clean things up a bit.

So… As promised to a number of people, here is a brief tutorial on how to use Disk Utility to pamper your hard drive.

But first things first, please, Please, PLEASE back up your data using an external hard drive and if you don’t know how, there happens to be another blog post about how to do just that, located HERE.  If you don’t already own an external hard drive, you could just pop on down and see us in person because we have a selection of reasonably-priced, high-quality drives in stock for immediate purchase.

The application that we’ll be using for this is Disk Utility which can be found in Hard Drive/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.  Its icon looks like this:

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Boy, do we ever get a lot of requests for iPad cases that have an integrated keyboard.  We’ve never found one that earned our stamp of approval until now: enter the Crux360™.  This case takes all of your favorite case features and rolls them into one sleek package.  Available for the iPad 1 and the iPad 2, this is a case that has some serious capabilities.

I’ve been using a Crux360™ for about a month now and I’m just thrilled at everything that it does for me.

First, it provides a rigid case for your iPad.  This is no wimpy fabric-backed piece of polyurethane held on by magnets, this is a serious piece of plastic that’s got screen protection covered.  I throw this thing into my backpack every morning around nine and every evening around six and then start my commute. (It’s about a mile.  I walk to work.)  I don’t worry at all about my iPad’s safety or security.  Speaking of security, this case fits so snugly around the iPad that you might have some difficulty getting it in there, and it sure doesn’t want to come out easily.

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We’re offering a new option for learning about your Mac, Saturday Training Day!  In addition to our normally scheduled group classes that are offered during the week in the middle of the day, we’re now offering classes all day long on one Saturday per month!

Registration is $50 per participant and allows you to attend as many sessions as you want on Saturday Training Day, and includes lunch provided by Toast Café.

This month’s Saturday Training Day is on Saturday, March 24 from 10:00 AM until 5:45 PM.

Pre-Registration is required for this event, with payment accepted at time of registration.  Minimum of six participants, maximum of ten.  If we do not have six participants pre-registered by Thursday, March 22, we will have to cancel the event (full refund of payment).

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How valuable is the data on your computer? Do you keep your financial records or family photos on your computer that you don’t have saved anywhere else?

How devastated would you be if your computer’s hard drive failed and you couldn’t recover your data? Years of photos, your entire music library, projects you were working on for school or business; all of them could be gone in the blink of an eye.

Enter the Time Machine utility that is already on your computer. [If you're running Leopard (10.5), Snow Leopard (10.6), or Lion (10.7)]

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