Utilities

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In Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard you can get detailed connection info at the click of a mouse button.

1. Hold down OPTION and click on you AIRPORT icon in the menu bar.

It provides you with your Airport card's MAC Address, channel, RSSI (signal strength), and the Transmit Rate at which it is connected to your router.

Very handy for troubleshooting!!

BONUS TIP: Try this on your Bluetooth Icon.

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Backup your data before you upgrade to Mac OS X Leopard 10.5. In fact, even if you aren't upgrading to Leopard -- Backup Up Your Data!!

Everyone uses their own solution, but here are a few recommendations. Some are free, some cost some $$, but each have their own set of unique features. Find a solution that works for you and fits your needs. READ MORE »

Full Drive Clones

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NOTE: Sorry for the missing images. This is a result of lost files from our backup.

In our continued coverage of getting ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Leopard, today we have a few tips for cleaning up your computer. If you plan on doing an upgrade, instead of a clean install, It's a good idea to clean up some of the stuff you don't use on your Mac. Stray applications, preference panes, maintenance scripts, etc. Taking care of business first gives you some trouble repellent.... READ MORE »

It's a good idea to keep sensitive data inside an encrypted disk image -- especially if you are a notebook user. With OS X, standard read/write disk images take up all of the disk space you allocate to them initially during creation, but with a sparse disk image, you can create an encrypted disk image that will only grow in size when you add files to them.

Let's get to it:

1. Open 'Disk Utility'.

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Mac OS X comes with a free mathematical graphing program, Grapher. It comes with several pre-defined graphs and equations that you can simply plug your own numbers into and watch it work it's magic. You can even create animations that you can save & share with others.

I'm no math expert, but you can play around with the examples, and if you know what you are doing... it's a very powerful tool. READ MORE »

Many of you received new Macs during the gift giving season. Some of you are waiting until Macworld to buy. Once you have the new system in hand, migrating your accounts & respective files, apps, etc., is a breeze with the built-in Migration assistant.

In this 'Best Of' edition, follow our quick tutorial on how to do it. READ MORE »

If your Macintosh is covered under an Apple Care agreement, you qualify for a free copy of Tech Tools Deluxe, from Micromat. READ MORE »