Mikul asks:
Hey, our MacBook’s fan has been running really loud lately. It used to not at all, and now it does 100% of the time, even when we’re not running anything. Also, the battery has been lasting for a lot less time than it used to. Any ideas of what it is or what we could do?
One thing you can check is the activity monitor (if you use spotlight and search for Activity Monitor). Change the little box up top to say “All Processes” and then sort the list by the CPU option. Chances are something like Safari or Firefox is running really high and when you’re shutting the lid to put it to sleep, that process is still running even though you think it’s not, which is why the battery isn’t lasting as long as it used to. If it’s a program that you recognize (i.e. Safari, Firefox, iTunes) you can select it and choose the stop sign looking button that says “Quit Process” and it will fully kill that program/application.
Click here to continue reading about how to fix a loud fan/low battery combo
4 com
Jennifer asks:
This ol’ laptop (Dell) of mine is slowly dying (CMOS battery, CD drive is dead, other wonky stuff). So, of course, I’m pondering getting a MacBook before I head back to Africa in February since I’ll be gone for four months. I guess my biggest question is MacBook vs. MacBook Pro (I like the glowy keyboard in Pro) … but for a basic/average user, do I need what the Pro version has to offer and is it worth the extra cost? I guess the other thing I wonder is would you recommend a refurbished one from the Apple website or stick with a new one?
Click here to continue reading about Which MacBook Should I Buy?
none
If you have been a mac user for long enough time you will know all about the Expose feature. If not then here is a quick review.…
Expose allows you to quickly do the following:
See All the windows you have open,
Push all windows to the side to quickly view just your desktop,
See just windows from the current application
These key commands are some of the most commonly used keys on my keyboard. By default,
F9– Shows All Windows
F10– Shows Application Windows
F11– Shows Desktop
While you can set hot corners or mouse shortcuts (a tip for another post) for these commands, most mac users quickly learnt these keys when they bought their first mac. However, if you have just bought yourself a brand spankin new mac, or got yourself a new Aluminum keyboard you will notice that F9, F10,F11 are now defaulted to “Next”, “Mute”, and “Volume Down” respectively. While this keyboard now included F3 as the new “Expose — Show All Windows” command it leaves the other two commands, most importantly, “Show Desktop” out to dry. Oh sure you can press “Function” and F11 to still get to the “Show Desktop” feature but on both the macbook, and the keyboards have the “FN” key in a very poor location which makes this key not very “short.“
AH, there is a solution.
By default, ⌘ + F3 will “Show Desktop” and Control + F3 will “Show Application Windows“
This actually turns out to be quite ergonomical and sooner than later you will forget F11.
BONUS: Pressing ⌥ + F3 will bring up System Prefs for Expose and Spaces. As well you will find that ⌥ + F12 will bring up System Prefs for Sound
EVER MORE BONUS:
⌘ = Command
⌥ = Option
⌃ = Control
one