I'm Mac, and so am I..

backing up

A school recently contacted me when a teacher had a complete data loss after a work order was placed to fix a problem.  Unfortunately, through no fault of the teacher, other than she had not herself taken explicit action to back up, all of her work was lost.

The district does provide some space on servers to back up to.  You do have to take action, however, to use it.  I'm attaching a PDF called Backup to help you with this.  Please consider taking action now before disaster strikes!

Download Backup

Finally, if at some point you are forced to migrate to a Windows computer, much of your data will be fine.  The content in iLife applications is, for the most part, not.  Before that happens, go into your iLife applications and export into formats readable by Windows applications.  From iMovie, export to QuickTime.  From GarageBand, export to iTunes (you'll have to either move the library yourself or insist that it be moved for you).  Your pictures in iPhoto will be ok, but your slideshows should be exported to QuickTime.  Just be sure to copy the iPhoto library.  Finish up any iDVD projects and burn them.  Your iWeb sites will be difficult to continue to edit, but copy your content into text files at least.

As always, contact one of us if you need some help with these tasks.

Running out of room on your hard drive?

I've been contacted twice recently by teachers running out of hard drive space on their Mac.  The teachers are being good stewards of public resources and have used their laptops to their fullest potential!  Unfortunately, when the hard drive is under ten gigabytes of space left, it's time to archive content off, as performance will take a hit in many applications with this little space left.

External hard disks are great in this circumstance.  First, they can be used to back up data.  This can be as simple a process as connecting via USB or FireWire and dragging and dropping the Documents folder, Music Folder, Movies Folder, etc onto a dated folder on the external drive.  I suggest a dated folder because it's a visual reminder of when you last backed up (in the initial rollout training for teacher laptops, we suggested doing this with a burn folder).  It can be as complicated as using a program such as Carbon Copy Cloner to completely clone your internal hard drive to an external device.  (The software is easy to use and is free for educators.)

Another use for an external drive besides archiving and backup is for an alternate iTunes or iPhoto library.  Here's a link to information on how to set up a move of your iTunes library:  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449

It's possible to have more than one iTunes library:  http://lifehacker.com/software/itunes/multiple-libraries-in-itunes-7-202302.php

I am very hesitant to recommend either of these procedures, as I believe it would corrupt your iTunes library if the hard drive it's located on were accidentally disconnected.

I'm happy to help if you want to consider anything mentioned here!

Connecting to the Network/Internet in the District

Having a problem getting your laptop to work at school?  Check your Location:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been awhile since your laptop has been to school, so it may have forgotten how to politely ask to get on the district network ; )

If you don't have a Location set for the district, set it to Automatic and you'll likely be fine.  After you make changes in those settings, if they don't seem to work, shut the computer down and start it back up.  Sometimes that's all it takes after a change.

Finally, if you just can't seem to get it, please put in a work order by calling 770 426 3330.  They'll have you back up on the internet in no time!

Releasing mail from eSafe filter in GroupWise Mac

I alluded to a work order I had placed in the prior post regarding releasing mail caught in the eSafe spam filter. The work order has been closed, with a solution stated that I should use webmail to temporarily release quarantined messages when using a Mac. No timeframe was given as to how long this would be the case.

To do this, open your mail in the web browser (Safari). Open the message from eSafe and scan through the list of quarantined messages. If you find one that needs to be released, click on the release link and choose Release or Release and Learn, as appropriate.

As you are doing this, consider Control or Right Clicking the Release link and choosing Open in a New Window, as a simple click will open the link within the mail message window. You would have to close the message and re-open it to release another caught message.

Dashboard Widgets

We continue to produce materials to assist you with making the most of your Mac in the classroom! You'll find a new handout on Dashboard Widgets in the tools section of the Integrated Mac site.

Also, not only did Apple update Macbook Pro's as I mentioned in my last post, but Macbooks as well! Rumors point to another update this summer, based on progress Intel is making on chips.

We're still working on dates for classes this summer, so stay tuned!

.Mac Syncing

.Mac syncing is now restored! I tested last night and it seems to be working now. No word from Apple on what the problem was or if there will be credit to those affected.

.Mac Syncing

As of this morning, 9:30 am, November 8th, 2007, .Mac syn has been in maintenance for 20 days. I have read the forums, looked at the suggestions, and am not satisfied by any solutions posted there. I have also put in a ticket with Apple support, and have received a reply, essentially saying if I still have a problem after the maintenance is over, to let them know.

I am willing to give Apple lots of leeway, but almost 3 weeks is enough!

If you are using the sync services, my recommendation for now is to not sync, even thought the Apple says Mac to Mac syncing is working. There are too many reports in the forums to the contrary, so I'm simply staying away.

Please check the status of .Mac on this page:
http://www.apple.com/support/dotmac/
I plan on waiting until all lights are green.

First virus in the wild...

It finally happened. There's a Mac virus in the wild. It's in a form called a Trojan Horse. You get it by visiting a website with video that tells you need to download something to update the codec in QuickTime. In light of the number of video formats out there, it would be quite understandable to have to do that. Fortunately, right now, the only web sites where it's at are "inappropriate" sites.

I imagine it will spread to other sites, so please be careful! If you get it, your computer will go to sites other than those you intend. For example, if your computer were infected, and you tried to go to a website to purchase something, you'll instead be directed to another site, that looks just like the one you were trying to get to, which will then collect your personal information, credit card numbers, etc.

MacWorld has done a good job of explaining it in everyday terms. If you think you have the virus on a district computer, please put in a work order rather than trying to fix it yourself.

http://www.macworld.com/2007/10/firstlooks/trojanhorse/index.php

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty....

Leopard hits the streets tomorrow. It's the latest kitty from Apple. (Apple has long nicknamed their operating systems after cats.) I watched a preview movie last night on the Apple web site and really liked what I saw. You can do the same here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/guidedtour/

Some of us may show up at the Lenox Square Apple store downtown for the release, just for fun, Friday night at 6 PM.

I don't know when we'll start to see it in the district, as the computers shipping on Friday will have an upgrade package dropped in and will boot with Tiger. Apple has not announced when they will start to ship computers with the new kitty installed.

.Mac users sharing with PC's

There's a folder on your .Mac account called Public. You can put stuff there for others to retrieve without need of password or anything except your .Mac user name, if they have a Mac. It has been a bit tougher from a PC. Here's how: Enter the URL idisk.mac.com/membername-Public into the URL line of a web browser, and the .Mac server displays a page that automatically includes download links for whatever is in the Public folder. In fact, you can even do it on a Mac if you like!