Tech Tips and News | Emc2 Computer Solutions

How to clean your Mighty Mouse

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f your Mighty Mouse is covered in fingerprints or its surface has become soiled, it can be gently wiped with a clean lint-free cloth. If necessary, moisten the cloth using only water, making sure not to over saturate it. Be aware that the mouse contains electronic components that may be damaged if water drips from the cloth into the mouse via the seam around the scroll ball or around its underside.

The same procedure can be used to clean the scroll ball on your Mighty Mouse if it has become discolored or dirty. Use a clean lint-free cloth lightly moistened with water. Wipe the ball and the surrounding area, making sure to rotate the ball itself to ensure complete coverage. If the scrolling feels rough or if the scroll ball isn't scrolling up, down, or side-to-side, hold the mouse upside-down and roll the ball vigorously while cleaning it to help dislodge any particles that may have collected on the internal hardware.

For a video demonstration, click here.

My Mac Cheat Sheet

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hether your Mac asks you for certain information or you're seeking help from Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP), there may come a time when you need to have access to your serial number, hardware configuration, passwords, email server or internet access information. That's when you discover that you've either forgotten or misplaced this important information.

Don't worry, just refer to your Mac Cheat Sheet. To make your Mac life a little easier, Apple has created this handy cheat sheet to help you organize often-asked and useful information about your Mac. Select the PDF document link below, print it out, fill in the fields with your information, and store the Mac Cheat Sheet in a safe and secure place.

Download My Mac Cheat Sheet PDF

Iced Chip Tips

From our friends at DriveSavers.

Cold weather can wreak havoc on temperature-sensitive drives inside computer games, portable music devices and digital cameras. Condensation and expanding components can lead to drive failure and data loss. If you leave any such items in the car overnight, be sure to let it sit at room temperature for 8-10 hours before powering up!


Top 30 Mistakes Made By New Mac Users When Switching From Windows

  1. Closing an application window, thinking it has quit.
  2. Downloading an app and running it from the disk image.
  3. Creating endless untitled folders.
  4. Using Safari’s Google search to get to a website.
  5. Confusing the concept of wallpaper with screensaver.
Read More...

Mac OS X: About This Mac "build" information

Learn about build versions, such as "Build 8L127," which appear in the About This Mac window and System Profiler.

The build version you see depends on the version of Mac OS X that you have installed. The version changes when you use the Software Update feature to update core system software.

Burning Multiple Times to the Same CD

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enerally, when you burn files to a CD once, you’re done — you can’t burn to that CD again. Unless you use this little trick: First create a new folder and give it a descriptive name (something like “burn baby burn!” Kidding). Now put the files you want to burn into that folder, then go to the Applications folder and open the Utilities folder. Double-click on Disk Utility. When it comes up, go under the File menu, under New, and choose Disk Image from Folder, and then when the Open dialog appears, find that folder with the stuff you want to burn and click the image button. A Save dialog appears in which you can leave the name as is or choose a new name (leave the other controls alone), and then click Save. In a few moments, a disk image of your folder’s contents will appear in the list on the left side of the Disk Utility dialog. Click on that icon, and then click the burn button at the top left of the Disk Utility dialog.

When you click the Burn button, a dialog will appear asking to insert a disc. Do so, and then click once the blue downward-facing triangle on the right side of this dialog to show more options. Click on the checkbox for Leave disc appendable, then click the Burn button. Your data will now be written to that CD. To add more files later, just insert that same CD and then you’ll use this same process all over again, but when you get to that final burn dialog, the button won’t say “Burn” this time, instead it will say “Append” because you’re adding these files to the same disc. By the way, don’t forget to remove the files you already burned to this disc from your “burn baby burn!” folder (and the DMG file it creates) before you make your next disc image.

Mac OS X: About This Mac window provides computer serial number


You can use the About This Mac window to find your computer's serial number when started up from Mac OS X 10.1 or later.

Follow these steps:

Choose About This Mac from the Apple Menu.

Double-click the version text,
for example "Version 10.1".

Your computer's serial number now appears where the version text had been.

Note: Some earlier Mac OS X-compatible computers do not have their serial numbers stored in a way that allows this feature to work.

Lack of this feature on your computer does not indicate any software or hardware failure.

How to change the volume on your Mac without that little sound

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epending on the type of keyboard you have, you may be able to use the volume keys on your keyboard (the ones with a speaker icon) to change the volume of your computer’s speakers. When you press one of these keys, normally you hear the alert sound play to let you hear the new volume. If you want, you can prevent the alert sound from playing when you change the volume.

To turn off the volume keys’ sound feedback, choose Apple menu > System Preferences and click Sound. Click Sound Effects and deselect the “Play feedback when volume keys are pressed” checkbox.

To temporarily turn off the volume keys’ sound feedback, hold down the Shift key when you press a volume key. Not all keyboards have volume keys. If you don’t see keys with speaker icons, you cannot change your computer’s volume using your keyboard.

Where Did That Download Come From?

If you download a file from the web, you can usually find out exactly where that downloaded file came from (including the exact web address) by pressing Command-I when you have the file selected.

Once the info dialog appears, click on the right-facing arrow beside More Info to expand that panel and it will display a Where from header, and to the right of that it will show the exact web address from which the file was originally downloaded.