Happy 2013, everyone! As our gift to you for a prosperous new year, I am putting together a short list of some of the most common issues and the easiest fixes we have run across this last year. Our ultimate goal is to teach you enough that you don’t need us all the time! We are always happy to help, but here are a couple of things you can troubleshoot for yourselves. These are real issues I have come across… and the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Symptom: “My magic mouse is not working. It will not click and when I move it, the cursor flies all over the screen.”
Diagnosis: I tried troubleshooting this over the phone, but I was not able to correct the problem, so I drove across town to see what was up. Upon sitting at the computer, I noticed that the Apple symbol on the mouse was upside down. The magic mouse does not have a cable or cord coming out of it and it is easy to flip it upside down.
Solution: Make sure your Magic Mouse is right side up by looking for the Apple symbol. Don’t laugh, this happens to everybody.
Symptom: “I received an email from Comcast saying my machine had a ‘Bot’ and to contact them. I called Comcast and they upgraded my support for a bunch of money and then sent me to a higher tier of support where I was told… ‘ I can’t help you’. They had me install Norton Internet Security to protect my system. It popped up a message and now my internet is down.”
Diagnosis: The original email from Comcast was probably not from Comcast, but was a phishing scam or some other internet shenanigans. I often get emails from US Bank, Bank of America, PayPal, eBay, Amazon and any big name company that are not from that company – look for unusual grammar as the dead giveaway. If you call Comcast or Verizon, they are going to say you need to install some sort of Internet Security solution that they can provide, because they get a kickback from said solution provider.
Solution: Do not install any Anti-Virus or Internet Security solution recommended by your Internet Service Provider. They are used to supporting Windows users and do not understand Apple products. On the support visit above, the solution was to disable and uninstall Norton Internet Security because it was blocking this user from accessing the internet.
At this time, the best way you can protect your Apple computers is to run your Software Updates once a week. Apple’s reputation depends on your computing experience be free of viruses, malware, spyware and all the rest of the Internet shenanigans that are out there. Apple’s Software Updates are your first line of defense.
Symptom: “I can’t watch videos online and I get pop-ups saying I need the Adobe Flash Player (or some other plug-in).”
Diagnosis: A lot of online media needs different plug-ins to work on your computer. The two we recommend and install on a regular basis is the Adobe Flash Player for Mac, which allows you to watch Flash-based videos, and Flip4Mac, which allows you to watch Windows Media files (.wmv) in Quicktime.
Solution: Click here for a one page explanation of how to search for, download and install Adobe Flash Player for Mac. The same steps can be taken for most any downloadable utility. The free Flip4Mac download can be found at http://www.telestream.net/flip4mac/overview.htm. If you are ever on a website and you see a small notification that says “Missing Plug-In”, just click on it and it should take you to the download for that plug-in.
Happy New Year!
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