Tag Archives: Macintosh

Q. My Mac just has a question mark on the screen

Posted on May 22, 2011 by quill

The ? means that the machine cannot find a drive with a valid operating system. This means either that your hard drive has failed, or the operating system on it is damaged. What to do: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1411?viewlocale=en_US Safe Mode: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564 (Starting … Continue reading →

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Add a SSD to a 2012 or older MacBook Pro or Unibody MacBook

Posted on May 18, 2011 by quill

One way to increase the performance of a MacBook Pro is to change the hard drive out for a fast Solid State Drive (SSD).  The problem is that large SSDs are still more expensive than hard drives, so getting faster … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, How-To, Mac questions, Product Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Q. How do I use Photoshop?

Posted on May 17, 2011 by quill

Here is a collection of learning resources for Adobe Photoshop, the premier image editing program. I like the Missing Manual series of books the “Missing Manual” series http://missingmanuals.com/ Peachpit Press has good instuctional books, and video podcasts here http://www.peachpit.com/podcasts/index.aspx Adobe … Continue reading →

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Q. I have Illustrator – how do I use it?

Posted on May 17, 2011 by quill

Adobe Illustrator is an immensely powerful vector graphics drawing program. It can be intimidating for first time users. I recommend any book in the “Missing Manual” series http://missingmanuals.com/, and the Peachpit Press “Non-Designer’s Book of” series by Robin Williams   … Continue reading →

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Q. Doesn’t a new computer come with Office?

Posted on May 17, 2011 by quill

Microsoft Office software is included on a computer’s drive only if it was purchased in a bundle with the machine.  Far more often, what is pre-installed on a hard drive is the Microsoft Office Test Drive version, a trial version … Continue reading →

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Q. My computer is broken and I need the data

Posted on May 14, 2011 by quill

If your computer has a broken screen, failed motherboard or bad power supply, the data on the hard drive is probably still OK – so you want to be able to get it copied to a new machine or another … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, General Computer, Hard Drives and SSD, Mac questions, Windows questions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Favorite: TrueCrypt open source encryption

Posted on May 13, 2011 by quill

Here’s something that makes me shudder – when I hear someone complain that they lost their USB memory ‘keychain’ drive, and then to hear them say “yeah, now I’m out $30 to buy a new one”.  It’s not the money, … Continue reading →

Posted in Favorites, Free stuff, Hard Drive News, News, Security | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

iMac 2011 models, the end of upgrading?

Posted on May 13, 2011 by quill

Apple has thrown a curve ball at iMac owners with the latest 2011 “Thunderbolt” models.  The 2011 models use pins on the SATA power connector to transmit SMART temperature information from the drive to the iMac motherboard (previously, the temperature … Continue reading →

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Q. How do I get a Word document into Photoshop so I can save it as an image?

Posted on May 13, 2011 by quill

Word documents are not images. Photoshop is an image editor – we’re talking apples and oranges here.  We’ll take it as a given that you will only get one page at a time into Photoshop. If you want an image … Continue reading →

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Q. Why is there a time delay when I am recording sound?

Posted on May 12, 2011 by quill

The time lag between playing and the sound coming back out is called Latency — it is the time required for you interface to digitize the sound, buffer it, the computer to read the buffer, process it, write the results … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Music recording, instruments, hard & software | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Q. How do I remove the singing from a song so I have just the instruments?

Posted on May 12, 2011 by quill

Removing vocals from a stereo track (or conversely removing instruments from a track, leaving the vocals) is difficult to impossible. To do it properly really means having access to the original multi-track recording studio tapes or files. When performers have … Continue reading →

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Favorite Sites: ehMac for Canadian Macintosh owners

Posted on May 12, 2011 by quill

If you are a Macintosh owner or fan in Canada, then ehMac http://www.ehmac.ca is a must-bookmark site. The ehMac forum has discussions about Macintoshes, Mac troubleshooting, software, and opinions, plus wide ranging threads about everything Canadian, from the weather to … Continue reading →

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Q. How can I talk to my computer and have it type in the words?

Posted on May 11, 2011 by quill

You are asking for speech recognition or speech-to-text To support speech recognition requires installing some additional software Windows: Dragon Naturally Speaking http://www.nuance.com/products/ ViaVoice http://www.nuance.com/viavoice/ Microsoft has some speech recognition tools in Windows Windows 7 Accessibility http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/windows7/default.aspx Windows Vista (Narrator)  http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsvista/narrator.aspx … Continue reading →

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Q. How do I recover a Microsoft Word file I was working on when the machine crashed?

Posted on May 11, 2011 by quill

Microsoft Word saves temporary files of your work in progress, so you may be able to get back your document. How to use AutoRecover files Word 2010 office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/recover-earlier-versions-of-a-file-in-office-2010-HA010356735.aspx Word 2003 and 2007: support.microsoft.com/kb/827099 Word 2002: support.microsoft.com/kb/316951 Word 2000: support.microsoft.com/kb/316950 Word … Continue reading →

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Q. How do I transfer all my songs/ movies from one iTunes to another computer?

Posted on May 10, 2011 by quill

In your User folder, under Music or My Music, you should see a folder called iTunes. inside this are your music folders and iTunes settings. Note: This is the normal place for the files.  iTunes is capable of reading the … Continue reading →

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