OnyX - OS X System Maintenance Utility

If your looking for a way of cleaning up your Mac then this free piece of software should be right up your street.

OnyX is quite a powerful tool so if your not sure on something then read the help file found in the help menu before you do anything.

The main reason I have used OnyX in the past is to make use of the Cleaning facility that it has to offer which is the section I am going to focus on as part of this review.

WARNING: Ensure that you don't have any programs open when you run OnyX.  If you do have some programs running it will close them so you may lose your work if you've not saved any open files.

 

Click Continue and the S.M.A.R.T. status box will appear

Click Continue to verify your startup volume

 

Mac Malware

Most of us knew this day would come.  Mac users have been burying their heads in the sand for far too long now and they have a rude awakening ahead of them as now that Mac's have a 10% share of the American market it's worthwhile criminals writing Malware and that's exactly what they've done!

The Mac Defender fake antivirus virus program can automatically be installed from an infected/dodgy website on to a Mac if you are using the Safari web browser if the Open "safe" files option is enabled.

Apple sent a memo to their technical staff that said "AppleCare does not provide support for removal of the Malware. You should not confirm or deny whether the customer's Mac is infected or not".

Basically they're saying it's your fault you got Malware so you sort it out - we didn't put it there so we're not helping you!

They're assuming that the Malware has prompted the user to enter their Administrator password and that if you've entered the password then you have effectively agreed to have the Malware on your Mac, but many users that have been infected have denied that this is the case.

Apple need to get their act together very quickly else they'll have a major problem on their hands - remember, the bigger the are, the harder they fall so if Macs end up having the same Malware/Adware/Virus issues as normal computers (PC's) then why bother buying a Mac?

BookArc - Vertical MacBook Laptop Stand

Oh my god, I can't believe I've just spent £34.99 on a small piece of metal!

About a week ago I was trying to work out how I could make a bit more space on my desk so I started looking for a solution via the Google search engine.  I came across loads of normal laptop stands, some plastic, some metal and some with built-in fans to help keep your laptop cool - but none that would help me free up some space.  :(

Then I came across a company called Twelve South who produced a vertical laptop stand specifically for MacBooks - hooray!   I had a quick look on the shop on Apple's web site and when I saw the price I quickly closed my web browser in shock!   £39.99 + delivery costs!!!

I refused to believe that it would cost so much so I had a good search around and the best price I found was on Amazon.co.uk where after much debate with my wallet, I finally ordered the stand at a cost of £34.99 + 4.50 delivery.

After placing the order 3 days ago (despite all the snow we are currently experiencing here in the UK) it landed on my doormat this afternoon!  :)

Straight away I could see that a lot of effort has been put in to this premium product as the packaging looked very 'Mac-ish'.  After removing the sleeve and opening the box you are greeted with a thank you message.

The BookArc comes with 3 differently sized pieces of rubber which you can fit to the BookArc depending on what model of MacBook you have.  I have to say though, it's not as snug as I expected and I'm not sure this is a design issue or if it's meant to be like that.

My MacBook is now working in Clam-Shell mode and is sitting to the left hand side of my monitor and has freed up a fair bit of room.

So is the BookArc worth spending around £40 on?  Not really, but are there any other vertical laptop stands?  Not that I could find, so if you want a vertical laptop stand then it's the BookArc or nothing.

In conclusion, if you're looking for a vertical laptop stand then there is one available, but it comes at a price.

Apple USB Keyboard With Numeric Pad

The standard keyboard you get with a Mac is OK, but if you want extra functionality then the Apple USB Keyboard With Numeric Pad is well worth buying.

Not only do you get the handy numeric keypad, but several additional keys such as DELETE, PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN.

If like me you have a MacBook then having an external keyboard to the built in one means you can position your MacBook in a more comfortable viewing position and if you have an external monitor that is larger than the screen on your MacBook then it also makes sense to have this item.

AirPort Extreme Base Station

The AirPort Extreme Base Station is basically a wireless access point that you can connect to your existing broadband internet connection.

You can use it to share your internet connection with other computers (both Mac’s and PC’s).  It has a single USB port on the back so you can connect either a compatible USB printer or external hard disk drive which can then be shared across your network.  If you want to connect more than one USB device to the Base Station then simply plug in a USB hub and connect up your devices.

I have two external USB hard disk drives that I have plugged in to a USB hub which is in turn connected to the USB port on my Base Station.  One of the hard drives I use to store my downloads on and the other I let OS X Snow Leopard use backup my MacBook with using Time Machine.

Apple iWeb '09

As you’ve probably guessed, I’ve been having a go with iWeb ’09 which is Apple’s website creation software and is very easy to use.

It has a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface which means there’s no messing about with HTML or any other website programming language, you simple create a new page and insert text and images just like you would do in Apple Pages or Microsoft Word.  What you see on screen is exactly how your website will look like.

If you take a look at my other website (www.ketrin.co.uk) you will see that you can easily put in photo albums and even videos or podcasts if you wanted!

Included with iWeb ’09 are plenty of templates that you can use to easily and quickly change the look of your website.  There are also plenty of websites that you can get additional templates from, some are free and other you have to pay a nominal fee for.

If you’re a PC user and have ever used FrontPage before then you’ll see that it is the same sort of thing only a lot simpler and easier to use!

Apple Mac & PC Differences

So, What Is The Difference Between A PC & A Mac Then?

After using OS X on my MacBook for over a week now I have noticed that it is significantly faster than a similar spec’d Windows laptop.

My MacBook is also a lot quieter than any PC laptop I have ever used.  I assumed that this was due to the hardware, but after playing around with Boot Camp (this allows you to dual boot your Mac computer with Windows), I noticed that my laptop became noisy when Windows XP was installed.

Windows always seems to be up to something so you constantly hear either the CPU fan spinning up and down or the hard disk drive ticking away.  I have Windows Vista Ultimate Edition on my Dell desktop computer and one of the first things I did was to turn the indexing off, as the constant clicking of the hard disk drive was so annoying.  I foolishly thought this was due to the hardware, but my experience with my new Mac has taught me that this is not necessarily the case.

So why is XP/Vista so noisy? God knows, you could argue that it’s because it’s indexing everything on the hard drive to make finding things quicker – Mac OS X does this and I’ve never heard such a quiet laptop for a long while!

The out-of-the-box experience is better than most Windows based computers as pretty much everything I could ever need was there waiting for me to start using it!   I can play DVD’s, edit/create movies and even organize my photos using a fantastic application called iPhoto (what a great piece of software) and even automatically backup my whole computer using Time Machine without spending another penny.

The only software I did purchase was Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac and the only reason I did this is because whether we like it or not, Microsoft Office is the most likely office suite to find installed on a computer in the business world and it’s this world that I work in.

The time it takes to power up my MacBook and let the Operating System finish loading is about the same time as the PC laptops I am used the using.

However, once OS X has loaded you can start using it.  On a Windows computer you can’t as it has to load things like anti-spyware and anti-virus as well as umpteen different programs that sit on the taskbar and it’s these programs that mean you have to wait longer on a PC to start using it than on a Mac.

Even copying data to and from a USB hard drive seems quicker on a Mac!  OS X just seems to use the hardware better than Operating Systems like Windows XP and Vista (although I must say Vista is quicker at this than XP is).

So in a nutshell, I have to say that there is a significant difference between Windows and that of the Mac OS – without a doubt in my mind, the Mac OS is far, far better and with the new updated ‘Snow Leopard’ version of OS X promising even faster performance on a Mac, I can’t wait for the disk to land on my doormat!

Why On Earth Have I Purchased A Mac?

If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago what I thought about Apple Macs I would have told you about our recent purchase at work. We had an Apple Mac turn up and after I had put Office 2008 on it I went on the internet, found the ToysRus logo, printed off several copies and everywhere on the box where the Apple logo was, I stuck the ToysRus logo over the top!

I even stuck one on the back of the desktop unit! In other words it’s nothing more than a very expensive toy!

To this day (including now that I own one), I would say they are nothing more than an over-priced status symbol. Everything you can do on a Mac you can do on an IBM Compatible PC such as Dell or HP/Compaq – and at a lot cheaper price to boot! (As time passes and I get to know more about Macs this current thinking may change)!

So why have I brought one myself then???

Simple, there are 2 types of hardcore computer users, one lot are IBM Compatible PC users who hate anything Mac and don’t want anything to do with them and the other lot are Mac users who despise anything Microsoft based and think Macs are the best things ever!

As a IBM compatible PC guy I have spotted a niche in the market and I’m going to learn about Mac’s from and IT Technical Support point of view as well as ‘proper’ PCs!

I looked at the price of a course and the cost of a laptop and saw that a proper course was more than a laptop cost so I decided to get a laptop and learn things that way.

Within 24 hours of having my new MacBook I have already upgraded the hard disk drive by swapping it out for the large 320GB SATA Hard Disk Drive that I removed from the USB hard disk drive that I had recently purchased for backing up my work on.

I used Time Machine to backup all my files at the click of ONE button (not millions like you would have to on a Windows based machine), I then re-installed OS X (learnt pretty quickly how to partition a drive) and then restored from my Time Machine backup.

After re-doing the OS Updates I was then fully back up and running without any issues what-so-ever.

Upgrading the hard disk was a much simpler and easier task than that of a Windows based PC so I’m starting to see some of the advantages of using Macs…

I Have A Confession To Make...

Not in a million years did I think I would say what I’m about to say…

Despite only having a Mac for literally a matter of days, I have no choice but to take back everything I have ever said about Mac’s.  I’ve tried my hardest to make it go wrong, I’ve tried to pick fault with it – yet whatever application/feature I try (and no matter what I do) I end up being impressed.

I have to say purchasing a Mac has got to have been one of the best ideas I have ever had!  Simple, complex, versatile, technical, non-technical, easy, fast and fantastic! These are just some of the words that can describe Apple Mac’s!  Simple to use, as complex as you want it to be, versatile because right out of the box it can do almost anything! Technical enough for the IT Professionals yet so easy to use anyone can quickly start using all their features!