How to safely uninstall applications on your Mac!

Here is a very quick guide to uninstall applications on your Mac. Everyone knows that, when on a Mac, the easiest way to uninstall an application is by dragging it to the 'Trash'. Well, yes and no!
Some applications are a bit more complex and require to be fully uninstalled. To do that, sometimes, an application will come with an uninstaller, but the best way to do it (and it works for every programme you have on your Mac) is by downloading this simple and FREE appliction called 'AppDelete'. so, to uninstall an application, just drag and drop the main application file to the 'Appdelete' application and voilá!!!
Very simple and easy.
you can get this application here --- > http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23149

Increase performance on your Mac!

Optimising Mac OS X performance

RAM, RAM, and more RAM

The thing is, Mac OS X loves RAM. Adding RAM is the best way to improve Mac OS X performance. Install the maximum amount of RAM that your Mac will accept for best performance.

Maintain plenty of free space on your startup disk

Mac OS X makes extensive use of Virtual Memory (VM), which uses up free disk space on your startup disk (your boot volume). If your startup disk is nearly full, your Mac's performance will degrade considerably.

Turn off the eye candy stuff

I know everyone is impressed the first time they see a window minimised to the Dock with the Genie effect, this has a performance cost. You can gain some speed by turning off the eye candy.

• Make the Dock less entertaining
  1. Open System Preferences > Dock.
  2. Select Scale Effect in the Minimise Using field.
  3. De-select the Animate Opening Applications option.
• Disable window effects
• Tools such as Cocktail and TinkerTool provide options to disable effects, such as zoom and rectangle, that appear when windows and files are opened and closed. The actual settings these utilities change are already available in Mac OS X but are "hidden".
• Avoid using an animated desktop background
• An animated desktop background slows down your Mac by using up sources that would be available to other applications.
• Skip the iTunes® Visuals
• Running iTunes Visuals in the background consumes valuable processor cycles, especially when you are performing other computing tasks. It is not so much displaying the visuals as the computational effort needed to synchronise them with the music in real time that makes them so processor-intensive.
• Close Dashboard Widgets the you will never use.
• Dashboard widgets do not use the CPU unless Dashboard is open, they consume both Real and Virtual Memory (VM) at all times after you open Dashboard. To close a widget:
  • Open Dashboard.
  • Press and hold the Option key.
  • Move the mouse pointer over a widget you wish to close. The widget's Close button (X) appears in the upper-left corner of the widget.
  • Click the widget's Close button.
  • Repeat steps 3-4 for other widgets you wish to close.

Repair Permissions after installing new software

Run the Disk Utility > Repair Disk Permissions against your Mac OS X startup disk after any software installation.

Disable the automatic protection features of utilities

Utilities that constantly monitor your system for performance, automated data recovery, or viruses also use processor cycles. If performance is important to you, disable the automatic protection features of such utilities, usually via their Preferences.

Disable or remove unnecessary fonts

Loading hundreds or thousands of fonts by default can significantly degrade Mac OS X performance. This is especially true if you use Font Book to install fonts and have not adjusted its preferences: by default, Font Book automatically enables newly-installed fonts.

If you have hundreds or more fonts to manage, consider using Font Book or a third-party font-management application to create, enable, or disable font collections when required.

Perform regular maintenance

While Mac OS X is relatively maintenance-free, by regularly running applications like OnyX to clean your system, you will help assure the best performance from your system.

Some Mac computers can decrease the processors speed to conserve energy. To adjust the processor speed, click Options in System Preferences > Energy Saver and make the appropriate adjustments in the Processor Performance menu. Note that:

• If Options is unavailable in Energy Saver preferences, your Mac does not have this capability.
• If you are using a laptop on battery power, increasing the processor performance will shorten the amount of time you can use the computer at the battery's current state of charge.

Other common performance problems

• "FileVault."
• "Finder."
• "FireWire Problems."
• "Font Book."
• "Hard Drive Sleep."
• "Problems from Insufficient RAM and Free Hard Disk Space."

Apple Keyboard: How good it really is?

Starting with the wired version, it looks sleek, has faster USB ports, it is easy to clean, more comfortable to use and it is indeed super-extra-slim. Gone are the raised keys of the old; in their place come flat keys that look and feel almost like those on a MacBook. the weight required to press them is now a fraction of what it used to be. In practice, this means faster typing and less wear on the finger joints.
A thing to keep in mind is: if you are going to replace your keyboard but not your Mac, remember to update your keyboard driver (Apple keyboard update 1.0) to ensure the new keys and layout are fully supported and the keyboard only works with OS X 10.4.10 and above.
Apple has added three new keys: Dashboard, Expose and track-browsing keys for playing, pausing, rewinding and fast forwarding video and audio.

with the same capabilities, there is the wireless version. This works with bluetooth. Because it is wireless, it does not have USB ports. (See below)

6 Tips for the new Mac User

1. Keyboard shortcuts:
You can use most shortcuts you are already used to with Windows on Macs. On Macs you should substitute the key for the Command <⌘> Key and use it normally. Ie: to copy (⌘+C), to paste (⌘+V) and so on.

2.How to delete files:
The Mac has and equivalent to Windows' recycle bin, the trash. All you have to do is drag the file you wish to delete to the trash (located on the dock - bottom application bar - on the left). Then, just empty the trash by right clicking or just clicking fro 2 seconds and select from the pop-up menu. Presto! Your files are gone...

3. Eject a disc:
If you look around on your keyboard at the top on the right hand-side, you will find what looks like an eject key. By pressing it for 3 seconds, it will eject your disk. Another way to do that is by dragging and dropping the icon of your mounted disc from your desktop and dropping it in the trash.

4. How do I know what application is running?
If you look closely, the dock has all the applications you are running alongside the ones you have simply chosen to leave on the dock. The ones that are running are indicated with a black arrow just underneath the application's icon.

5. Force quit an application when it stops responding:
To do that, you can use the equivalent of the 'ctrl+alt+del' from Windows. You can do that by holding '⌘+option key+ESC'. That will pop up a list asking you which application you want to quit, select the application and click 'force quit'.

6. I cannot find the start menu... HELP!!!
Well, you will not find one, because there isn't one! Macs have it's own file manager, called FINDER. You can find the Finder on the left-hand side of the Dock. It is a blue happy face. If you are looking to launch applications, you will find them on your finder window in the 'Applications' shortcut on the left-hand side of the Finder window. There are all the applications you have on your Mac.

There... enjoy these few tips to get your Mac started. Please, post your question and I will answer and you can go ahead and enjoy your new Mac! :-)

For questions and answers on this topic, see the comments!
Enjoy!

VIdeo Conference Between Mac and PC

Well... I have been researching and many of you already know that one of the best (if not the best) application out there is 'Skype' (www.skype.com). This is a cross-platform application, video conference, chat, file transfer (a bit slow) and VOIP (voice-over-IP) telephony. This is a sweet application and will allow you to have voice/video conference with any user on Windows or Linux, naturally, as well as Macs. What is best? It works very well behind firewalls. Another application you should consider is 'Yahoo messenger' (http://messenger.yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php).
It also performs well between PC and Mac. You can also use it for video conference, chat, file transfer and all... But it is a bit slower than Skype, because it works through a server, whereas Skype works through direct connection (P2P - Peer 2 peer).
Another application that can be used for video conference (no audio support yet :'( ) is 'aMSN' (http://www.amsn-project.net/download.php). This is a MSN clone and is Java based. It is very good if you are looking to replace your Windows Messenger. It supports animated icons, you can add your own, transfer files and send audio clips.
I suggest you try these and see what is the best for your needs.
Please, if you know of any other conference software and would like to add to the list, post your comment and I will give it a whirl!
Enjoy!

iPod Touch hype

Well, well, well, Mr. Jobs... are you trying to take over Mr. Gates' title of most hated capitalist in the computer world? Ok, ok... we all know these flash/NAND memories are expensive-ish but c'mon... 16GB is so very laughable and for this price tag... ha ha ha... and why this enormous price difference over here in the UK (16GB - US --> US$399 / UK --> £269 (US$546.41))? *@/% hell... that makes people real angry!
Ok... I guess I made my point by saying how disgusted I am.
The iPod Touch is indeed a cool gadget. Apparently, there was something going on about it having bluetooth, but I believe this was only a rumour... but who knows what might come?
I also have heard complaints about the iPhone losing its ability of multiple touch with time, which will probably affect the iPod, since it also has the same technology in it... will this problem be fixed with these new iPhone revisions and new iPod Touch? We all hope so.
iPod Touch official guided tour

Apple Mac News and Info

Welcome to the newest Apple info and news resource on the web. I will be posting the latest in the Mac World. Talking about new products, reviews, old products and providing help for those in need. I will be your hero from now on. :-) Feel free to send in your questions and I will answer them all.
Keep checking back regularly for updates.