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Intuit recently announced that it plans to release an update to Quicken 2007 that will make it compatible with Mac OS X 10.7, aka Lion. This news is a big relief to a number of my clients who have intentionally held off on updating to Lion. Those clients use Quicken 2007 and migrating to another … Read more
Do you send out annual updates about your family around the holiday season? If so, MacWorld has written a good article about how to create a newsletter using Pages. Pages is Apple’s word processor which competes with Microsoft Word. It comes bundled with some Macs, so you may already have a copy. If not, you … Read more
I strongly recommend the AppleCare Protection Plan (APP) for all MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac and MacPro purchases under most circumstances. I know that extended warranties have a poor reputation in general, but I think AppleCare is a good value for most Mac models. For the rest of this article I’ll simply refer to the AppleCare … Read more
Have you ever wanted to report a bug or request a feature for an application made by Apple, Adobe or Microsoft? Each company offers you the opportunity to do just that. Use the following web page addresses to submit your bug reports or feature request.
Read moreI recently discovered a bug in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac. If you insert a movie file into a PowerPoint presentation and you’re using the older .ppt file format, the link to the movie breaks when you close the file. I’ve confirmed that this problem occurs with .wmv and .mov movie files, and I assume it … Read more
You have choices when you want to re-use, recycle or destroy a hard drive. Let’s look at a few common scenarios.
Read moreThis is the first in a series of articles about how to easily recycle your Macintosh computer, monitor, printer, ink and toner cartridges, batteries, cell phones and other electronics commonly used in small businesses or around the home. I live in Seattle so I focus on Seattle and King County, but many of these resources … Read more
Did you know that Apple’s Preview lets you easily annotate and merge PDFs as well as delete and re-order pages within a PDF? Preview is a free application which comes bundled with Mac OS X. Apple has been quietly updating over the years and it has become quite capable and user-friendly. Just a few years … Read more
Do you want to check to see if your Mac is still under warranty from Apple? The technical support section of Apple’s web site lets you easily check to see if your Apple device is protected by either its built-in or the extended hardware warranty. Here are simple instructions on how to do so.
Read moreHere are instructions on how to reindex your Quicken Data File.
Read moreApple produces their own technical tips for the Mac and iPhone. They are short how-to videos. Check them out. I’m sure you’ll find one or two that will teach you a new trick. [Update: February 2018 – Apple Support now has a YouTube channel.]
Read moreWhen you open Entourage 2004 does it immediately display the spinning multi-color ball icon? This icon simply indicates that Entourage is thinking. However, if this icon never goes away, then Entourage is getting stuck while trying to complete a task. There are a number of possible causes, but over the past two months I’ve had … Read more
Do you often want to get driving directions from Google Maps for somebody’s address which is stored in Address Book? If so, then you should use Brian Toth’s Google Maps Address Book Plugin. I’ve used this great little utility for several years and rely on it regularly to get driving directions either from my office … Read more
If you use Entourage 2004 or 2008, I believe that it’s critically important that you backup your Entourage database daily or even more often.
Read moreAre you looking for a replacement for PageMaker? Did you like the easy of use that PageMaker offered? It was a basic page layout application. Adobe realized that PageMaker wasn’t capable enough for professional designers so they replaced it with InDesign. However, InDesign is overkill for many small business owners who just want to create … Read more
Do you have occasional shredding needs that are too much for the shredder that you have in your office or at home? If so, you might like to know about Datasite’s residential shredding services This is an excellent service for Puget Sound small office and home office customers.
Read moreHere are a couple of tips to help you use Google more productively. Google supports many advanced search criteria to refine a search. This Google page gives you an overview of the available criteria. The two criteria that I use most frequently are “this exact phrase” and “search within a site”. Let me give you examples … Read more