Computer Repair Articles

Apple is constantly working on improvements to OS X that will allow future Macs with high-resolution Retina displays to show higher quality images.
New feature is hidden within the OS X 10.7.4 update issued on Wednesday. It is a Retina-display-caliber icon for Apple’s built-in TextEdit application. The highest-quality version of the application’s icon in OS X 10.7.3 was 512-by-512 pixels.Now,after upgrading to 10.7.4 its resolution has been doubled!

Another significant change is the size of the icon – it grew from 209 kilobytes in OS X 10.7.3 to 1.7 megabytes in 10.7.4. TextEdit icon has also grown to 1,024-by-1,024 pixels.

Sizes of some other applications have also grown,for instance the Address Book – from 279 kilobytes to 484 kilobytes,another app is Dashboard – from 130 kilobytes to 226 kilobytes.Anyways,those apps do not feature Retina display 1,024-by1,024- pixel icons.

Apparently,the growth of pixels in application icons suggests that Apple is going to release new Macs with ultra-high-resolution screens,a lot like the Retina displays currently found on the iPhone,iPad and iPod touch. New iPad by Apple holds 3.1 million pixels onto its 9.7-inch display,giving it a higher resolution than a high-definition 1080p television.

Apple has been making improvements to OS X in order to prepare for long-anticipated Retina display Macs for quite a while now. Some application icons have included 1,024-by-1,024 pixel icons since OS X 10.7 Lion was in beta,like the App Store and LaunchPad.

The discovery has been made that Apple’s OS X 10.7.3 update for Lion added more high-DPI user interface elements.Different cursors were upgraded to higher-resolution versions,like the pointing-finger cursor for browsers,the camera cursor for taking screenshots and the “grabby hand”.

Last year,Apple added HiDPI models to OS X Lion,but they were only accessible by installing Xcode.
Double-resolution icons can also be found in various applications in the developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion – Apple’s next generation operating system,which is coming out this summer.

Last year’s report claimed that Apple is planning to release a new MacBook Pro with a 2,880-by-1,800-pixel Retina display this year.That would be exactly twice the resolution of the 1,440-by-900-pixel display currently found on the 15-inch MacBook Pro.

Lacking space on your iPad,iPhone or iPod Touch?If you realize that you are running low on space,we have a few tricks that may help you to manage your files in order to gain some storage space on your iOS device.

1. Regularly remove photos and video
In case you use iCloud and have Photo Stream feature turned on,all the pictures and videos,taken on an iPhone are going to be synchronized to the iPad automatically,and vice versa.One picture can easily reach up to 2MB in size and videos can approach hundreds of MB -therefore,with just a few hundreds of pictures and videos you can easily lose a lot of your precious storage space.The best solution to that is to regularly backup your photos and videos on your computer and then delete them from your device.Another tip is to sign up for a paid iCloud account – that will ease the local storage burden.

2. Delete all music
Keeping music on the iPhone or iPad is unnecessary,so you might as well do yourself a favor and remove all the music and then set up and use iTunes Home Sharing to play music from a computer while at home or the office.Another good idea is to sign up for a service like iTunes Match when on the go.This service lets you play music from your iTunes library from anywhere,thanks to iCloud.Apps like Pandora,Spotify,Rdio,SoundCloud and others are great ways to stream your music to iPad or iPhone without wasting precious storage space on your device.

3. Find where storage is being used and clean up
It is really easy to figure out how much storage space is available in iOS;same screen tells you which apps are taking up the most space.If you find a really huge source,it might not be a bad idea to remove it.

4. Delete completed games and unused apps.
Some apps are just huge!Games may approach up to 2GB in size.So,if you already beat the game and no longer play it – why would you want to keep storing it on your device?Delete all finished games and unused apps to free up the space for the new.Keep in mind,that every app you buy is free to redownload again in case you need it.

5. Delete watched videos
HD video eats huge amounts of space.One HD file may range from 500 MB to several GB!Make sure you delete movies,TV shows or video podcasts after you’re done watching them.

6. Choose standard definition videos
Following the previous tip,if you have an iPhone or non-retina display iPad – choose standard definition videos over HD.This will help you to save a lot of storage space.Most people won’t eve notice the difference on smaller or non-retina display anyways.
This setting may be found in iTunes,when connected to a computer,under “Options” just check the box next to “Prefer standard definition videos” and standard definition content will be prefered over HD.

Basically,you should never run out of space on an iPhone or iPad,whereas in an iPod touch case with tons of music,videos and apps it is quite easy to max out.Thanks to iCloud,and some simple app management practices it is so easy to get by on 16 GB or less space.

Is it possible to format your hard drive or USB jump drive to be compatible with both – a Mac and Windows PC?The answer is Yes!And it is really easy!We will talk you through the process in a few simple steps.Formatting a drive erases all data contained on it,so back up important files before you proceed to actions.

1)Launch Disk Utility,found within /Applications/Utilities.
2)Connect the drive you want to format for dual compatibility to the Mac.
3)Click the drive name on the left side list in Disk Utility,then click the “Erase” tab.

4)Click the pulldown menu alongside “Format” and select “MS-DOS (FAT)”.
5)Optionally,give the drive a name.

6)Finally,click the “Erase” button to format the drive for Mac and Windows PC compatibility.

This procedure doesn’t take too much time,though,the time taken will depend on the size of your drive.
The file system that you’re going to end up with is compatible with all versions of Mac OS X,Windows 95,98,XP,Vista,7,even Windows 8 – it’s one of the most efficient and widely recognized system formats.FAT is an ideal system to use USB drives and external hard drives within environments with multiple operating systems.The only downside here is that files on the drive are limited in size and they can only be up to 4 GB maximum.In case you need single files to be larger than 4 GB,you may use exFAT instead,but you’ll lose some compatibility with older versions of Windows and OS X.
Be aware that the Mac-only formats are typically not readable for Windows machines,but if you only want to use the drive on Mac,it’s better to format for Mac OS X use only,using the journaled file system.

It might not be an easy task to determine the fake MacBook battery from original one.The producers of the fake batteries have been practising a lot and got to the point where the stuff they make looks a lot like the Apple product.Sure thing though,if you sit both – original and fake – batteries on the table next to each other,you’ll see the differences and,most likely,you’ll be able to tell,which on is a fake.But,when you take the battery out of its packaging – it might be challenging to tell if that is a genuine product.Both batteries have identical part numbers and writing on the body.Although,there are a few ways to distinguish the original battery from a fake one.

First of all,when you are looking for a replacement battery – analyze the prices many sellers offer.If you find a battery at a price that is way lower then the other ones – you might want to pay some extra attention to it since it’s likely to be fake.Your first rule is really simple – the lower price you get – the higher chances are to get a fake.

You need to be really cautious,unless you’re buying a battery from someone who has a spare one and doesn’t need two.Any dealer that says they sell the original MacBook batteries at an unbelievably low price is,most likely,will hook you up with nothing more but a cheap fake.This is one of those cases,when “lower the price – better the deal” might not be the best solution for you.
Here is another way of learning how to tell fake MacBook battery from original one.When you take it out of the box,you may notice some differences between your old and new batteries.Authentic MacBook replacement parts look identical to original ones,whereas fake ones sometimes have some odd spelling in writing,rough edges,not clear printing.
The new battery should install into your MacBook as easily as the old one did.If you have to force it in or it won’t fit – you’re likely to have a fake battery in your hands.You also need to check the internal information.Check out your System Profiler.There should be an information on the manufacturer,serial number.If either of these two is missing – that is another evidence.
Following these simple instructions you can prevent your Mac from getting damaged by the fake battery.

Everything was fine and your life seemed perfect until this happened.Yes…your Mac quit working.There might be a few reasons why this happened.

If you didn’t do anything dangerous(like dropping it or pouring water on it etc.)then it is very likely that your Mac’s not working for one of these reasons:

1)First of all,make sure that the charger is functioning properly and the green indicator is working.If the green light on the charger plug doesn’t work – try to plug your MacBook in with another charger.

2)During the last charging process some sort of a controller mistake occurred (for instance,there could be a short-circuit in the charger plug).This problem can be solved really easily – first thing you need to do is unplug your laptop from the wall outlet.Then,take out the battery(you can find the instructions on battery extraction on our site).Hold down the Power button for 1-2 seconds,put the battery back in,press the Power button and turn your MacBook on.This set of actions should turn the safe shutdown mechanism off and let your laptop work again.

3)Previous shutting down process hasn’t been executed properly and now the system cannot boot.In this case you are going to need a minor system recovery.The best solution to that would be taking your Mac to the authorised service provider,this procedure will not take long.

4)MacBook has been overheated.Unplug it and let it cool down for about an hour and try to turn it on again.If it will shut down again in awhile – you need to clean up the cooling system.

5)MacBook does not react to any of your actions and won’t turn on at all – most likely,the wiring within your computer has got broken,or there might be even more serious issues.In this case,your only solution is to take your laptop to the repair center.

In case you dropped your laptop,it is most likely that your hard drive is damaged;it might also be your RAM – it could have popped out of it’s socket.

If your MacBook refuses to turn on after you spilled water on it – there’s been a short-circuit.The timing here is crucial – try to take your laptop to the repair center ASAP in order to get rid off the moisture within the computer.

There’s been a lot of talks and comments about last week’s Trojan malware attack and the ways to solve the problem.If you figured out that the best decision for you would be to wipe your system and start over – here is how you do it without erasing your data

Sync and back up
First thing you need to do is make sure your system is adequately synced to your Cloud-based services(iCloud,Google,Yahoo,etc.)in order to make sure all your calendars and contacts are saved.Another good idea is to go to Address Book,iCal, and other programs that you use regularly and export calendars,contacts and other data to a flash drive or other separate storage medium.These actions will let you restore some of those items without relying on sync services to manage them for you.Also,make sure your system is backed up.Use a cloning tool or Time Machine to back up your files,or copy all the folders from your home directory to an external hard drive.Do that for every active account on the system by logging into each and executing these actions.

Deauthorize or unregister applications
Some applications,like iTunes etc. have authorization and registration features for viewing and managing content,so be sure to deauthorize these features before you proceed to erasing your system as you might run into problems when configuring programs again.Some apps only allow a certain number of computers to be authorized to a specific account,that’s why,in order to avoid further issues with authorization,make sure you sign out all of your apps.

Format the drive
Reboot the system to the OS X installation DVD for OS X 10.6 or earlier (hold the C key at startup with the DVD in the optical drive), or reboot with the Command-R keys held for OS X 10.7. When the OS X installer loads, select your language and then open Disk Utility (available in the Utilities menu if it’s not presented in a Tools window).
In Disk Utility, pick your boot volume and then use the Erase tab to format it to “Mac OS X Extended (journaled).” This process should be fairly quick, and when done should leave you with a blank hard disk.

Reinstall OS X
Quit Disk Utility and then open the OS X installer. Do not choose any option to restore from backup. Follow the onscreen instructions to select your newly formatted hard drive and reinstall OS X, and then wait for the installation to complete.

Create a new account
After OS X is installed it’ll ask you whether you’d like to copy data from a backup or from another computer.Instead of doing this create a fresh user account for yourself(you can use the same account name and other info.)

Update the system
Next step is the system update.Go to Software Update (in the Apple menu) and update your system to the latest version.Execute this operations several times until no more updates are available.

Deactivate Java
Often Java is not needed to run applications in OS X,so,unless you have specific need for it – turn it off.The latest Trojan Flashback malware attacks were directed onto Java vulnerabilities.Even if you do need Java – it is better to start with it disabled.
Here are two main ways to manage Java in OS X.The first is via application-specific settings,such as preferences for Safari,Firefox and other Web browsers,where you can disable the Java plug-in and Java management(don’t disable JavaScript though).Doing this will ensure certain programs do not use Java and that should be enough to prevent Java from getting affected by the malware,for the most part.In order to prevent inadvertent uses of Java by programs you should open Java Preferences utility in the Applications/Utilities/ folder and uncheck the listed Java runtimes to disable them.If you get a warning about needing to install Java while opening Java preferences,then that means that you don’t have it installed and you don’t need to do anything.In case you do need Java installed on your system make sure you get the latest Java update and consider disabling it in Web browsers.

Restore your data from backup
Next thing you want to do is to copy your data back to your system from your backups.Using Apple’s Migration Assistant tool might not be a good idea since it will restore files and application that may have been affected by the malware.That’s why,instead of doing that copy your files from your Documents,Movies,Music and other home directory to their respective locations within your user account.
Now you can set up iCloud ot other sync services in the system preferences,launch Address Book,Mail,iCal and other programs you use that you need to configure with your accounts.In case you’re missing your contacts and calendars,you can re-import them from the manual backups you previously created.

Reinstall applications
The final step after restoring your accounts is to reinstall the apps you use.Since your previous apps were backed up before you started this procedure,avoid restoring them or opening because one of ways the Flashback malware affects your computer is directly via those programs.
Instead, use the backup as a reference for which applications you previously had and reinstall them from their installation discs, the Mac App Store, or other means by which you originally obtained them.
After you installed your applications,make sure you to fully update them and then configure them according to your preferences.At this point your system should be back to a usable state and you should be able to work with it just the way you did before reinstalling.If you find you’re missing something,like fonts,sounds or other files that you apps need – you can access them from the global library folder from the backup.
The final thing to do is protect your Mac from further infection.While disabling Java is one step,another very important one is installing a good firewall that would scan download folders and scan the whole system either once a week or once a month.

Before replacing the battery on a Mac,make sure that you really need it to be replaced.People often think they need to replace the battery if the charge doesn’t last as long as it used to.However,if the battery lasts long enough for normal use,you can keep the old battery.In case,if the charge length keeps dropping – it is likely the time to replace the battery.Once you got that figured out you need to find a replacement.There are quite few options on the market.Obviously,the best option would be a battery from Apple.Using other batteries can void your warranty.

First thing you need to do is shut down your MacBook completely.Then let it sit for about 30-40 minutes just so the internal parts have time to cool down.Then take out all the cords,leave the power cord in though.Make sure it’s not plugged into the wall outlet.Flip your MacBook upside down;you might want to lay down a layer of soft cloth(a towel or a blanket)in order to prevent the screen from getting damaged.Turn your Mac over and sit it down on the soft surface.
Your next step is to take the old battery out of your Mac.You will find a grooved notch on the battery latch.Turn that latch clockwise 90 degrees(use a coin to do that).This should release the battery.Extract the old battery out of the bay and set it aside.

Touch the metal surface in the battery bay with your finger – this will discharge any built-up static charge.It is important to get rid of static build up during this process.Put the new battery into the battery bay.Press it into place and turn the battery latch back into place.Now you can plug the power cord back in and turn the computer on.This is how you replace a MacBook battery,as simple as it is.

This procedure is not something you need the help of professionals with,as long as you follow these simple instructions.

In today’s modern times, almost everyone has a computer, but unfortunately, not everyone knows how to repair their computer system. Even small PC repairs can be frightening for many computer users, but these common computer repair tasks really don’t have to be that complicated.

There are many quick computer repairs that essentially every PC owner can do. If a computer owner has a bundled app called PCKeeper, these fixes are quite easy to do. The following are only five of the fixes that one can do with PCKeeper, illustrating that you don’t need to be a professional to repair your system. Continue Reading »

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Some folks think that to maintain computers you need to be a PC expert, but that simply isn’t the case. Every computer user has the capability to maintain their PC. Companies like computer Insignia offers several items that can help you maintain and update your PC, and there are several products such as PCKeeper that can make this process easy as can be for users of all levels.

The following are some helpful tips to help you keep you maintain computers in your household. It doesn’t matter what computer insignia is on your system, the following advice can help users of all level with their PC, especially because all of these things can be done with a product like PCKeeper or MacKeeper. Continue Reading »

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There are lots of PC problems that a computer user can encounter. These can be caused by infections and other malware, software conflicts, time and much more.

Often when the average computer user finds that their system is having difficulties, regardless of what is causing it, he or she may often take their computer to a professional. This can be very costly, and those who cannot afford this may let their PC fall by the wayside.

Computer repair does not have to be expensive. It also need not be complicated. There are many system fixes that the average computer user can do themselves to  help repair their system and fix common errors that most PC owners will encounter sometime in the lifetime of their system. Continue Reading »

Tags: antivirus, computer repair, pc, protection, security