Wednesday, February 1, 2012

About Macs: Troubleshooting Tip - Reset Your Mac's PRAM

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From Tom Nelson, your Guide to Macs
It's the first of February, and we would normally see at least a foot of snow outside our window. Instead, the days are rainy, with temps sometimes in the lower 50s. I'm not complaining, but it just feels so wrong.

February is also the time when we collect nominations for the year's Readers' Choice Awards. Nominations will close February 15th, so there's no time to waste.


Readers' Choice Awards 2012
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The Readers' Choice Awards 2012 nomination process is still open. Some categories are getting plenty of attention, while others are surprisingly lacking in suggestions. Two categories that need a push are best image editor and best word processor. Come on, who do you think deserves consideration?

Let us know by submitting your nominations


How to Reset Your Mac's PRAM
Last week's newsletter talked about how resetting your Mac's SMC could do wonders to fix many common Mac illnesses, ranging from the failure to wake from sleep to USB ports not working.

This week, we look at another troubleshooting tip: resetting your Mac's PRAM. The PRAM (Parameter RAM) holds information about settings for a large number of commonly used components of your Mac, including volume, time zone, DVD region information, and startup volume.

If your Mac starts up and displays a question mark for a long period, then finishes booting, chances are the PRAM has the wrong startup volume listed. If your Mac starts up with the volume set extremely loud, it could be the same problem: the PRAM has the wrong value. PRAM problems can also affect your display and many other default settings.

Resetting the PRAM can fix a good many ills that you may experience with your Mac and it's easy to do... Read more

See More About:  troubleshooting  pram  smc

Brother MFC-J430w - A Budget-Friendly Printer for the Mac
For years, Apple provided a credit of up to $99 when you purchased a qualifying Mac and printer at the same time. The days of buying a Mac and getting a free printer are over... Read more

Spotlight - Using OS X's Disk Utility
Disk Utility, a free application included with Mac OS X, is a multipurpose, easy-to-use tool for working with hard drives and drive images. Among other things, Disk Utility can erase, format, repair, and partition hard drives, as well as create RAID arrays. You can also use it to create a clone of any drive, including your startup drive.

Disk Utility can perform so many tasks that I keep it in my Dock for quick one-click access. If you only use Disk Utility when you add a new drive to your Mac, you should take a look at the many other things it can do for you. It's a great troubleshooting tool to have available... Read more

See More About:  backup  partitioning  repair disk

 


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This newsletter is written by:
Tom Nelson
Macs Guide
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