Apple Computer

It just started yesterday, randomly, I'd hear the sound of it turning on at it must have happened like 3 times in the morning. It varies.

Now it's happening a lot more. URGH.


So is there any way to find out wtf is going on, to delete stuff on my computer that is suspect or I no longer use? I need it to be simplified.... I am a complete novice with computer stuff.

Also, I now have an external hard drive. How can I make sure I save everything I want on it - is there a way to make sure you have every image, document, video, etc? Will I need to save programs on there too?

And how do I save bookmarks on my firefox just in case?


Help me save my computer! It's a 10.6.8 and I've had it for a few years... but I believe it's savable.


THANK YOU!

I'm moving back to China on Monday, and I'm looking for a cheap, or free, VPN that works in China. I have a PPPoE   connection, and run Mac OS X. Do you guys have any recommendations? 

Much thanks.

my cats decided to walk over my macbook before i had a chance to shoo them off and i am faced with a infuriating problem. my computer trackpad and keypad do not respond and the caps lock button does not light up. i am using an external keyboard and mouse for the time being that is working well but as i use the laptop for school i need to be able to just access the keyboard/trackpad that exists on the laptop. if it matters, the computer is a macbook, about three to four years old running leopard. is there any combination of keys they could have clicked to do such a thing? i saw something pop up but by the time i got them off it was gone. there has been no liquid or hardware malfunction or bulging battery like other issues i had googled. any help would be much appreciated!

i downloaded an app or program that was supposed to autosave when i closed my laptop as i was working on a project and my battery was going to die and i wanted to ensure that all of my files would be there when i started again. however now this same program is interfering with regular usage of my computer as it interferes with me putting my computer to sleep now by simply closing the top by keeping everything running and refusing to respond when i press the power button. i have to end up turning it off and on again (which defeats the purpose of why i installed the app in the first place). i looked in my apps and i can't find it in the list so i am completely at a loss of what i downloaded and how to get the god forsaken thing off. im a broke college student so i cant afford to get the genius bar or geek squad to work on it.

some characteristics:
when i start up my computer from sleep (it works on occasion) it flashes to a gray screen and shows the progress load horizontally. IT IS NOT THE SAFE MODE PROGRESS BAR but another one that is individual blocks and one lights up after another as it loads i was told that this app would mean it would take a few moments longer to start up and it wasn't supposed to be a defect.

I'm sure that if you are an Apple fan, you've already seen John Gruber's link to this, but http://thingsappleisworthmorethan.tumblr.com/

Happy Friday!

I'm curious to know how the new security model in OS X Lion will affect the future. Specifically, I'm questioning Entitlements and Sandboxing.

This isn't a question of whether or not these are good ideas. Rather, this is a question of best guess of what will happen in the future.

I'm curious about things like Python. My company makes a small Python App for emergency situations with out web-based software. This includes reading and writing to the file system.

Our app has no entitlements, namely because it's just Python code and we don't do any Cocoa wrapping. When the Mac App Store requirements that all apps have to be sandboxed and list their entitlements go into effect, I wonder if Apple will roll out an update to the operating system and say, "this is how we do security from now on and if your application doesn't meet our security model, it won't run because it's not secure."

I have mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, I think it's great for making consumer's machines more secure. Less rogue code and all that rot. On the other hand, it's going to make development a living hell for a lot of developers, methinks.

I also wonder if such an update should come out for Lion if the same update will be released for either Leopard or Snow Leopard. My thought would be not Leopard as it is two generations behind the current OS. Snow Leopard all depends on how long Apple wants to support an older OS.

So now I open it up to Apple developers to speak their minds on this topic and perhaps generate thoughts where previously there were none.

x-posted

I've been considering running Windows on my MacBook Pro and just wondered if anyone had any advice, suggestions, etc. I was looking specifically at either Bootcamp or Parallels. I'm running Snow Leopard OS X 10.6.8. Thanks!

I recently upgraded to the 10.6.8 and the iTunes 10.4 and now my iPod won't sync.  I get the message ""Attempting to copy to the disk <iPod name> failed. The disk could not be read from or written to."  then another message "iTunes coult not cupy "BOOK'S NAME" to the iPod becasue file could not be read or written."  Although this is a audio book I had on the iPod before.


I tried to reinstall iTunes as well as restore the iPod, now all I have is a exspensive paperweight.


I also can't eject the iPod, when I try all it does it restat the syncing prossess, takes a hour or two then give the same Attempting message.


I thought I'd ask here becasue it's obviously something to do with the software update becasue I've never had a problem synicing before I updated.





EDIT: I forgot to mention that the iPod I have is the 160GB

So, I'm working on a writing project, and I decided to do it in my copy of Apple 'Pages' instead of Neo_office (which won't update anymore unless I pay them a 'donation' that isn't) or my copy of Circus Ponies 'Notebook' which I used last time and had problems with hard copy results from.

Pages is annoying me as I have found a Flaw. Something it should do, which other WP have done since, say Win 95. It won't let me insert a graphic and flow the text on one side of the graphic, but insists on using the entire height of the graphic across as white space for what it does.

Really.

I want a paragraph of text to the left of the graphic, and the graphic to the right, and the graphic is a maybe 2" tall.... but it makes the rest of the way across in to white space. There's nothing in the docs to fix this, it's how the silly program works.

This is JUST as annoying as the lack of tools in WP to do internal hypertext Links inside a document (something the overpriced Adobe Acrobat has been doing since 1990 or '91). Why?
I should not have to pay half my mortgage payment to a software company to do a basic function like these. It's crazy!

I saw this via John Gruber's Daring Fireball, and thought it merits discussion. I don't want to start a flamewar, but I do want to put an alternate viewpoint in people's conscience.





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