Your sacred Mac can run slower and slower while using it.  There are several ways you can speed it up to give it the burst of speed you’re looking for.

Here are the top 5 ways to speed up your slow Mac:

1. Unclutter your desktop - Having tons of files and folders on your desktop can slow down your startup.  You should, instead, put these files in to folders in your home directory and create desktop aliases to them.  This will allow your computer to start without having to load these files in memory every time.
2. Clear out the temp items - As with a PC, it is very helpful to remove the files in the Caches, Log files and Temporary Items.  These temp items sometimes hold corrupted files or misdirected links.  By removing them, you refresh your computer’s cache or temporary storage.  You can accomplish this removal task by going to Home/Library/Cache. 
3. Upgrade the RAM - Over the years,  you have surely increased your applications and iTunes Library among other process-hungry items.  An easy, way to ensure your speed is increased is to install more RAM in your Mac.  You can ask a Mac hardware technician if your Mac can be upgraded and what the cost is.
4. Get rid of Login Items - If you’re not using any of your Login Items, get rid of them.  That way, your Mac won’t have to load them every time.  You can still access them later, but they just won’t be in the background taking up memory.  You can remove them by going to System Preferences->Accounts->Login Items.
5. Remove Firefox Extensions - Firefox gets a bit overcrazed with its tons of extensions.  Every time you have an extension loaded in Firefox, that makes your Internet browsing a tad slower.  Get rid of the unnecessary ones by launching Firefox->Tools->Add-ons.

These 5 tips should help speed up your Mac.  If you still need Mac support afterwards, you should bring your computer to a mac specialist to diagnose possible hardware issues as well as a full system check.

GoToMyPC has long been a great way to remote into your PC.  This comes in handy if you’re at home and you want to remote into your office computer, or vice versa.  Now, you can also remote into your Mac with GoToMyPC whether you are using a PC or Mac from your starting computer. 

In the past, remoting into a Mac was a mess.  You needed VPN, VNC, or another V-named program.  There was never a simple way to remote into a Mac.  The GoToMyPC makes it a piece of cake.  For your Mac to accept this computer remote solution, you’ll need to have at least Mac OS 10.4 or later and Java enabled for your browser. 

You can test it out first with a 30-day trial.  This is definitely a great way to avoid the commute and the tech support setup for this software is a breeze!

Some videos or movies are just meant for Windows computers.  For instance, many Israeli movies are specifically meant for PCs.  Why?  Because Israel has only started to think about selling Macs to its people.  At this time, 99% of Israelis use PCs so videos are set up for this specific population.

Although a video or movie is made for a PC, it doesn’t mean you still cannot watch it from a Mac.  If a movie requires only Windows Media to be run, then you can run Flip4Mac.  Flip4Mac provides Windows Media video and audio playback in Mac’s QuickTime Player.  So, you can download this program, which is free, to run any Windows Media-based movie, song, movie, or other media.

Running Flip4Mac is effortless and doesn’t require a Mac genius or Mac expert to set it up.  Enjoy movies without bounds.  You can find other popular Mac downloads here.

Recently, one of our staff members lost her iPhone so she went through all of the options with ATT and Apple.  To save you some time, we’ve noted the below take-away points if your iPhone is lost or stolen.

1. Do not attempt to complain to ATT or Apple for a free replacement phone or upgrade.  Their policy is that no insurance is able to be put on the phone to get a free replacement if the phone is lost.  Why?  Too many iPhone enthusiasts have cried wolf in the past to a lost phone just to get the newest iPhone.  So, Apple is guarding against that with a no-insurance policy for lost/stolen phones.
2. Call and suspend service right away.  Don’t give your thief a chance to call overseas for free.  You will still be able to use the same phone number later.
3. If you have an old iPhone or another phone laying around, you can transfer your number to it.  You might need to go to the Apple support to have one of their Apple tech support folks replace the SIM card if the phone is too old.
4. You can get a MobileMe $100 subscription for your phone next time so that it will track via GPS where your phone is at all times.  That way, the possible perpetrator will be flagged if cops are looking for it.

Unfortunately, your photos, emails, and music are unable to be erased from your iPhone if your phone is lost.  So, the best thing to do is just suspend your phone line and transfer the number to another phone.  You should still have the bulk of your music and photos on via iTunes on your computer if you’ve been performing a periodic file backup.

We’ve put the new Snow Leopard to the test and have found several benefits and computer installation tips.  First of all, if you’re upgrading to Snow Leopard, you can do so only from Leopard.  The upgrade cost is only $29.  For previous operating systems, you’ll need to purchase the full Mac Box Set for $169, including Snow Leopard, iLife ‘09 and iWork ‘09. 

For the installation, in the past you would be prompted for which printer drivers to use.  Now, it automatically installs the drivers you used in the past as well as the popular Apple printer drivers so there is no confusion.  This reduced printer clutter vastly reduces bloated storage space. 

Do you have an older program to run?  Don’t worry - your old PowerPC apps will still run on the new Intel chip by a technology called Rosetta.  Rosetta will prompt you to run it if you have an old app that won’t natively run with Snow Leopard. 

Quicktime is radically different.  Other than that, the operating system looks the same.  Everything is built in 64-bit mode which should make the Finder and all the operating system functions work faster.

Exchange may be used without Entourage.  Snow Leopard allows you to connect to an Exchange server simply by its own programs: Mail, iCal, and Address Book.  It is stable and very responsive.  And you are not forced to use Entourage which was once the only Mac app that could connect to Exchange.

We find the Snow Leopard to be faster than Leopard so the hype is true.  Further, Apple touts that future improvements will allow the Snow Leopar to run even faster.  For Exchange users, it’s the way to go.  Yes, the OS only provides little tweaks here and there, but the overall sum of the parts plus the cheap $30 price tag is well worth it.

Viruses mostly affect PCs.  But, your Mac may still pick up a virus.  One of the more common Mac viruses is a Word macro virus.  This means the virus actually infects a word document on your Mac.  If you have anti-virus software on your Mac, you should make sure it’s updated and run a full scan. 

If you don’t have any security software, follow the following 3 steps to remove your Word macro virus on your Mac:

1. Open Word, select Preferences and then Security.  In the Macro Security area, enable Warn Before Opening a File That Contains Macros. 
2. Open up your suspected file, and most likely will give the option to enable or disable the macros.  Open it after disabling macros; cut and paste its contents to a new doc, and trash this infected original document after.
3. Quit all Office open apps and go to your user folder/Documents/Microsoft User Data and trash the Normal document which is most likely infected as well.  You can then create a new one by opening a new blank document selecting File->Save As.  Then, choose Document Template. 

These macro viruses are common in Microsoft Office 2004 and older versions.  The current version of Word 2008 can’t run macros at all so you’re safe from these pesky macro viruses in this more protective version.  However, it always smart to install anti-virus software on your computer whether you’re running Windows or Apple as your operating system.

The white macbook is a great mac.  However, there is a limitation with the macbook that came out in 2007 - specifically the macbook 3,1 with a core processor, 512MB - 1GB RAM, and was installed with Tiger 10.4.  You may have this model come with up to 120GB of hard drive storage.

The issue with this macbook is that if your hard drive fails, then your hard drive upgrade can only upgrade up to a maximum of 250GB storage.  The firmware on this mac doesn’t allow it to be upgraded past 250GB of storage.  So, if you try to install a 320GB SATA Hard drive, it won’t work.  You can try to slave it to another mac to ensure it’s FAT or HTFS+ format, or try to boot via target mode, or try to rig it with the disk utility function.  The fact of the matter is that the firmware of the mac is not able to handle higher than a 250GB hard drive.  So, don’t waste your time!  Grab a 250GB hard drive and a coke and have a nice day.

You can call this one of Apple’s encouragement motives to ensure mac users cannot keep upgrading their current 2-3 year old laptop, and not buy a new mac.

It’s very easy to lose sight of your important e-mails with so much spam or the high quantity of e-mails.  Wouldn’t it be nice to separate your unread, new e-mails from the ones you opened already?  Yes, there is the default way of spotting new e-mails by bold text; however, they do sometimes get lost if you have to scroll down your screen to find them.

In Mac Mail, you can create an Unread Smart Mailbox to highlight new emails.  This mailbox will just pull in all unread e-mails.  When you open one, it will then kick it over to your regular mailbox with the rest of the read e-mails.

Here’s you how you can set up your smart mailbox:

1. Go to Mailbox -> New Smart Mailbox
2. Click drop-down box under contacts text and select message is unread
3. Name the smart box: unread e-mail

This smart mailbox creation is a great way to control your Mac Mail while still being e-mail efficient.

The new iMac has launched today.  It boasts the nice shiny 24″ screen that we’re used to seeing.  The mac comes with iLife 09 package and Leopard.  The speed is not much faster; however, at 2.66 - 3.06GHZ processing and 2-4GB of RAM.  That is the biggest letdown that the speed doesn’t top the older iMacs.

Starting at $1,499, this iMac is definitely a good deal.  There is not much of a difference with the older iMacs except for the lower price, slightly thinner design, and iLife 09 package.  That being said, it is a good investment if you currently don’t have a mac.  If you have an apple computer, this new computer’s specs do not warrant such a mac upgrade.

iLife is a nice software suite that comes for free on all Macs.  The software includes: iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, and iDVD.  The new iLife 09 comes with all new Macs.  So, if you still have iLife 08, you’ll need to upgrade to the new version for $79.

Is this upgrade to iLife 09 worth it?  iPhoto alone validates getting this upgrade.  iPhoto 09 has a new Faces and Places bundles which organizes pictures by face and/or location.  The Faces option is not perfected and may require entering one’s name first before it can recognize it again.  The Places feature is spot-on as is GPS technology which is what powers it.  iMovie allows for more video integration in between clips, and also stabilitize herky-jerky videos.  Garageband provides more tutorials and freebies on how to play the piano and guitar, as well as provide some more functions to mix and play music.  iWeb and iDVD are pretty much the same.

So, if you’re a big photo and movie creating buff, go get iLife 09.  Otherwise, stay put.  You won’t need a mac specialist or Apple guru to assist on this one.  Software installation here is a snap.