One Computer = Multiple Mac’s

Posted by Charlie V.

If you’re like me, when you work at your computer you like to have everything set a certain way. You like windows to open in a certain view, Safari bookmarks to be in place, mail accounts to be synced and your favorite applications placed neatly in the dock. If you’re the only one to use your Mac, you’ll know all of these items above won’t change unless you alter them, but what if multiple people use the same Mac? Does everything have to be mixed together in one convoluted mess? Absolutely not!

Just like in earlier Windows versions many of you are used to, you can enable multiple users on your Mac. In System Preferences, under the System heading, select Accounts. A new windows will open allowing to add and delete user accounts as you please (note: only Administrative users can add/delete accounts). Once you have your desired accounts setup, your Mac automatically creates a User folder for each person to store all of their unique data. I also encourage you to activate Fast User Switching to quickly jump between accounts on the computer. In the Accounts window in System Preferences, select Login Options, and enable Fast User Switching. The current users name will appear on the top right of the toolbar, and when you click on it, you’ll get a list of every user on the Mac. Simply click the desired user and enter their password to go straight to the new account.

Multiple users can also give you a Login screen when you initially startup the computer, which allows users to select their custom account from the beginning, and not interfere with other users settings and documents.

Parents, one more advantage to multiple users is your ability to administer parental controls to your kid’s accounts. You can set computer use times, block websites, monitor their activity, and even pick which applications they have access to! All of these useful features can be found in the Parental Controls window of System Preferences.

-Charlie

Anything can be a PDF

Posted by Charlie V.

Have you ever created a document that you had to send to numerous people? Chances are some of the recipients might not have the application you created your document in, and you also risk the fear of formatting issues between computers, and giving people the ability to alter your content.

There is an easy solution that solves every problem listed, and its easy to do, send a PDF! PDF (stands for Portable Document Format) files can be created in any Mac OS X application that allows you to print. When your document is ready, select File > Print, and then click the PDF ▼ button in the lower left corner. Select Save as PDF, and simply save the file to your desired location. All of your text, pictures, and other data are preserved on the digital page just how you want it, and the file cannot be altered easily by recipients when you send it off!

-Charlie

Part 2:There’s No Wrong Way to Backup!

Posted by Charlie V.

In part 2 of this backup blog, I’d like to talk about a fantastic system recovery application called SuperDuper!. SuperDuper! differs from Time Machine in the fact that it creates a fully bootable backup of your system, which is ideal if you have a dreaded hard disk failure and need to completely start over with a SuperDuper! is a breeze. You can choose to have the application take control and backup as often as you’d like, and the bootable image can be moved as one convenient (although sometimes large) file from one storage media to the next.

One convenient feature is the built in smart updater, which recognizes changes that you’ve made to your system since your last backup. SuperDuper! focuses on these changes, and can add them to your backup image without starting all over, which allows backups to happen quickly, and ensure you that all of your latest changes have been saved securely.

In researching both Time Machine and SuperDuper!, I have found that while they are both backup applications, they are even better compliment applications. Time Machine is great because of its instant search-ability, and its integration into the OS, where SuperDuper! shines at being bootable in case of hardware failure, and gives users that one image file containing all of their backup information.

Whatever method you choose, you’re doing a wise thing by backing up. As I said before, any system backup is better than nothing!

-Charlie

Part 1:There’s No Wrong Way to Backup!

Posted by Charlie V.

While some methods are more detailed than others, any system backup is better than nothing. Whether it’s occasionally burning family photos and your music library to CD or employing a robust backup program, the peace of mind knowing your files are safe when your hard drive crashes is priceless. Notice I said when your hard drive crashes, not if your hard drive crashes; it will happen to everyone sometime, I’ve already fallen victim! Luckily, there are things we can do. Most take minimal time (only minutes to set up), and then run themselves as often as you want. I’m going to touch base on two of the most popular backup programs for Mac OS X users today, Time Machine and SuperDuper. 

Time Machine comes standard with Mac OS X.5 Leopard, and is by far the most elegant and easy to use backup system I’ve ever come across… once it was set up. You need to be aware of the system requirements before using Time Machine, including an external hard drive (big enough to hold all of your system files), Airport Extreme (if you want to backup wirelessly) and obviously, Leopard.

Once you have all the required items for Time Machine, and have your external backup hard drive mounted on your desktop, simply start the application in System Preferences [System Preferences > Time Machine > Turn switch to ON]. You can set time machine to backup as often as you’d like, and the advantage to this application over other backups is the ability to view archived documents on the fly without mounting any old disk images, and you can even search your backups with Spotlight! All of this data storage can fill up fast, so I recommend buying the largest backup hard drive in your budget (You can find 500GB hard drives for under $150!). You can set Time Machine to not back up certain files and folders if you wish through system preferences, which can save a great deal of time and hard disk space, but when it comes to back up files, the more the merrier! Next time, I’ll discuss a popular ‘clone’ backup system, SuperDuper.

-Charlie