Troubleshooting

Starcraft 2 has been out for about a week now and since launch date my life has basically revolved around the game (I’m a nerd, I know). The game is an absolute blast and you should buy it if you like real time strategy games. Now all that said, it’s not without problems. Despite a … Read More

If you’re troubleshooting a Mac machine with some particularly odd issues that routine measures don’t seem to be resolving, it can be helpful to list what kernel extensions are activated, particularly third party kexts loaded in OS X. Determining what kernel extensions are loaded and running in Mac OS X is rather easy, and using … Read More

I use Synergy to share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple Mac’s and PC’s. Recently I added a new machine to the setup and was frustrated to discover that the Synergy client on the new machine just refused to connect to the server, without any attempts I would immediately get the following error message: … Read More

You can find out what the manufacturer, model number, and type of LCD panel you have in any of your Macs, including the iMac, MacBook Air, MacBook, or any model MacBook Pro by using a fairly complex looking terminal command. If you’re unfamiliar with the command line, just copy and paste the line below into … Read More

If your iPhone 3G is running really slow after installing iOS 4, you’re not alone. While iOS 4 is a great OS for newer iPhone models, it makes my older iPhone 3G slow down to a crawl, with everything delayed and stuttering to catch up to touch. At times it’s practically unusable. So what can … Read More

Modern versions of Mac OS have a feature for MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook that will report to you the condition of your battery, as shown through the battery menubar item. Usually charging messages are shown there, but there are two other messages you may see in that menu, and they are “Replace Now” … Read More

Did you accidentally ignore a Software Update in MacOS or Mac OS X and now you need to install it on a Mac? Perhaps you were putting off a specific update for one reason or another, and now it’s time to install that ignored or hidden update again onto Mac OS X. Fortunately, getting the … Read More

So you saw the latest iPhone 4 commercial and fell in love with FaceTime. You bring your iPhone 4 home, and you attempt to make a FaceTime connection with a friend… but nothing happens. What’s going on? It’s probably the wireless networks firewall settings. I was recently speaking with an Apple employee and they told … Read More

Have you ever put your Mac to sleep, only to find it awake seemingly on it’s own when you return to the machine? I’ve run into this mystery of a randomly waking Mac a few times, and with a few terminal commands you can help track down what caused your Mac to wake from sleep. … Read More

You can manually download software updates that are available for Mac and OS X, without having to go to the Mac App Store Updates section, or without running Software Update. This is helpful for many reasons, but it’s particularly nice if you’re troubleshooting or need to bring updates to a computer that is not connected … Read More

Skype launches itself automatically on either user login or system boot of Mac OS X. This is either helpful or annoying, depending on your needs. If you wish to stop Skype from opening itself automatically in OS X, you can do so easily using the methods outlined below.

Some users who have upgraded to iPhone OS 4.0 (iOS 4) have noted that the proximity sensor behaves differently, sometimes it’s just less sensitive, a bit slow or lagged, and other times it’s just not as responsive. In the worst case scenario, the iPhone is up to your ear and the device doesn’t detect that … Read More

There are times when you will find a windows sizing controls have been rendered inaccessible, the most likely cause is from changing the Mac’s resolution by hooking it up and then disconnecting it from an external display, however I have also seen poorly written javascripts resize windows to outrageous proportions as well. Additionally, sometimes a … Read More

You know what’s really annoying? When you go to certain websites, copy some text from them, and go to paste elsewhere and it gives you something like this: Basically, it’s an “iPhone without a screen,” is how Engadget hears it. Oh — and it will cost only $99, supposedly. Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/28/new-apple-tv/#ixzz0pH6qJPa4 You wanted to … Read More

There are several reasons why backups can take forever on an iPhone, so here are a few tips you can try that should increase the speed of your iPhone backups and restores. Yes, these tips work on Mac OS and Windows, and for iPod Touch too. Fix slow iPhone backups by deleting photos If you … Read More

If you’re having Synergy ‘cannot read configuration’ error problems, try the following: * Get the latest version of Synergy KM from SourceForge * Be sure the clients have the latest version of Synergy installed too (it’s pretty old for Windows clients, but works) * Create a new ‘Location’ and re-add your server, screens, clients, in … Read More

Growl is a desktop notification system that allows applications to publish updates and items to floating windows on your desktop. This allows you to see things like updates, information, and status changes to whatever application is publishing the Growl notification. The advantage to Growl is that regardless of what application has the focus, you’ll see … Read More

“Close Firefox – A copy of Firefox is already open. Only one copy of Firefox can be open at a time.” You may have gotten this message if Firefox has recently crashed or you killed the process. The reason this error is appearing is likely because there is a lock file on your Firefox profile. … Read More