Apple stuff - Mac, iPad, iphone

[Rush2112]

I recently replaced the router we had with an Airport Extreme, and jolly pretty it is too, and faster than the old Linksys, so far, so good.

Trouble is the HP C4580 that was running happily and wirelessly refuses to talk to the AE unit and if I want to print anything, I have to reinstall the blessed thing each time. The scanner function won't initialize (sic), and it's all driving me nuts.

I have updated software which claimed to have new printer drivers and I have also been the HP site and downloaded what should be the latest drivers from there but to no avail.

Any thoughts anyone?

I know these things are essentially disposable and a new one will be as cheap as chips but I won't have time this weekend to go and get one.

[mixture]

Check the settings on your HP C4580 match your Wifi settings (e.g. wifi network password and encryption level etc.)

[Rush2112]

Check the settings on your HP C4580 match your Wifi settings (e.g. wifi network password and encryption level etc.)

Thanks - but I am not sure I can find that(!)

[mixture]

Manuals - HP Photosmart C4580 All-in-One Printer - HP technical support (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?cc=uk&dlc=en&lang=en&lc=en&product=3418707&)

(I'll come back and update this with a page number once i've had a quick flick through)

Edit:

The information around page 19/20 (user guide) shows how to print a page showing the current configuration and how to access the network configuration menu on the printer.

[Rush2112]

Cheers for that, I will give it a bash!

[crewmeal]

I made the above disk yesterday and reformatted my Macbook Pro and it all worked out very well. After having saved all the necessary files, photos, music and movies, I recon on saving 51,000gb of hard drive space. It runs smoothly and faster too.

The whole process took around 1.5 hours from start to finish.

[mixture]

51,000gb

What do you store on your disk ???? :eek:

[crewmeal]

Mainly movies and music, but I have a feeling a lot of it was copied in itunes and downloaded elsewhere.

sorry a slip of the 'pen' 5100 gb:ugh:

[aviate1138]

I am sure there are some real Mac Aces on here so I wonder if there is a solution to my problem?

When clicking on the Finder Icon in the Dock with the "View" set in the "Columns" I get [from left to right]
a column with all my Devices listed and then to the right a column listing all the relevant files [which can be expanded to allow for long file names].

Are you with me so far? Good.

If I then close that particular window if I return later and reopen it the column listing the files has contracted to its original narrow width and the long filenames are once again partially obscured. This can be very annoying.

Any solution as to how I can keep the relevant column widths as desired rather than the unwanted default setting?

Thanks in advance. :)

I am on Lion 10.7.1 but various friends on Leopard/Snow Leopard have the same problem.

[Foniac]

Wouldn't class myself as a Mac ace... but here you go :P
If you hold option down and then drag the width of the column to your desired setting it'll save it :)

[aviate1138]

Kieran - thank you so much! I could have sworn I tried that but I obviously did not! :rolleyes:

I'm not telling my pals who told me so they will think I'm a Mac Ace! :)

[Foniac]

Haha.. go for it! :D

There's a lot of hidden shortcuts like that. They just need hunting out! :D

[mixture]

There's a lot of hidden shortcuts like that. They just need hunting out!

Not really, the majority are listed here (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1343).

However.... there's also some fun you can have with Spotlight, for example :

Want to find photos taken at an iso lower than 400 ?
iso:<400

Want to find documents with more than 10 pages ?
pages:>10


Depends on the available metadata, but you can get a full list of options to play with using the following command :
mdimport -A

[ChristiaanJ]

Question from a non-Mac-user....

"Herself" uses a Mac-book, with OS-X

Since several days she suddenly finds herself with a small photo of herself (about "avatar-size") in the top right hand corner of every e-mail she writes (using 'Mail').
She has no use for this feature/bug, and would like to get rid of it.

She has been 'playing' recently with something called 'PhotoBooth' (?) and the photo was probably taken at that time by the camera in the Mac-book (as confirmed by the background of the photo).
However, she has no memory of having clicked on anything that would have inserted the photo in her e-mail template.

She's tried 'Apple Support', but they want to charge 57 euros for an answer.... :ugh:

Does anybody here have an answer to this riddle, and a solution for getting rid of the photo?

Christian (PC user)

[mixture]

She's tried 'Apple Support', but they want to charge 57 euros for an answer....

Surely a (free) post on the Apple website under their Support Forums would have sufficed for such a simple question. Either that, or a Google. :E

Anyhow, here's the answer you're looking for....

How can I remove my photo from messages in Apple Mail? | Mac|Life (http://www.maclife.com/article/how_can_i_remove_my_photo_from_messages_in_apple_mail)

[ChristiaanJ]

Surely a (free) post on the Apple website under their Support Forums would have sufficed for such a simple question. Either that, or a Google.From what 'herself' said, she'd tried both, without finding a clear answer. Don't blame me....
Anyhow, here's the answer you're looking for....
How can I remove my photo from messages in Apple Mail? | Mac|Life (http://www.maclife.com/article/how_can_i_remove_my_photo_from_messages_in_apple_mail)It didn't work exactly as it said on the box... but after a bit more 'cleaning out' of various related odds and ends, the photo is now gone.
So, many thanks! PPRuNe at its best.

CJ

[mixture]

ChristiaanJ,

Don't blame me....

Have covered this in my PM.

For the public record, in short.... sorry. :cool:

[alpha-b]

Hello fellow flyers

I'd like to know if it's possible to have FSX with the new PMDG installed on the macbook pro?knowing that apple has windows for mac,any compatibilities.Any help is appreciated

[captainpeter]

Hi,
FSX can be run on a MBP using 'BootCamp'.
Steps required are:

Set up BootCamp using the instructions provided by Apple .(this basically creates a second partition on your drive)
Install WindowsXP on this new partition
Install FSX.


If you hold down the option key at startup you can choose to boot into MacOS or Windows.

[alpha-b]

Hey captainpeter
Thanks very much for the help,but by using the Bootcamp i can exclusively run it on apple if i want,or only on windows side?Will there be any graphics issues?Thanx for the help

[DozyWannabe]

Windows only I'm afraid.

There won't be any graphics issues. Apple has been using commodity PC hardware for their Macs for some time now. These days a Macintosh computer is simply a standard Intel PC running Apple's operating system rather than Microsoft's.

[captainpeter]

There are 3 ways to run windows apps on Apple hardware.

BootCamp: you choose the OS when starting the computer. Native performance for both OS's.
Virtualisation: (using VMware Fusion, Parallels Desktop, ..). Windows runs like an application in a window of MacOS - which is very convenient for productivity apps but often too slow for games.
WINE based: (using CrossOver) Emulates Windows (i.e. no Windows installation necessary). You only install the PC Application and CrossOver fakes the necessary Windows parts around it to make it work.


Only #1 works with FSX.
#1 & #2 work with FS2004

I would use option #1 with a small Windows partition of 10 GB if FSX is the only MS app you would like to use.

[BusyB]

I have raised this before and took it to an Apple Genius bar in SFO last month. Problem still remains.

Basicly, Mail freezes as far as receiving emails once it has been selected and has downloaded any messages. After this download it will not download any further messages however long it is left. It then will not shutdown. I select quit, the mail page goes but the account page appears and I have to use Force Quit to close it. Next start-up exactly the same happens. This has happened since installing Snow Leopard.

The Genius bar were helpful, reloaded mail, checked my macbook, said my hard-drive was a little slow but OK. Still have the mail problem.

Can't find any suggestions or tips anywhere so a few more ideas would be appreciated. I'm thinking I might need a new hard drive.:confused:

[mixture]

Hi BusyB,

Are you using IMAP or POP3 protocol to retrieve email in Mail ?
What version of OS X are you running ?

[BusyB]

Hi Mixture,

IMAP and 10.7.1

:{

[le Pingouin]

Maybe it's choking on one particular malformed/corrupt e-mail? Any chance you can download & then delete all the e-mail using another mail client, computer or a browser interface?

[mixture]

Maybe it's choking on one particular malformed/corrupt e-mail? Any chance you can download & then delete all the e-mail using another mail client, computer or a browser interface?

It's IMAP not POP3 le Pingouin, therefore protocol only downloads headers by default unless configured otherwise.


BusyB...

For testing purposes, could you perhaps try another mail client such as Thunderbird to see if the problem can be replicated there. At least then we can determine whether it's on your mac or your ISP.

[BusyB]

Following LP's thoughts I tried but failed to export my emails to Outlook so had a look at my mailboxes. I deleted the RSS files and Mail now Quits normally. I'll monitor it over the next few days and see if it keeps behaving.

Thanks for your suggestions guys.:ok:

[SpringHeeledJack]

Greetings fellow macsters. I checked the software update app yesterday and it showed 2 updates ready (should I so wish as normal). I decided to go ahead with them and pressed download. The 2 files comprised of approx 250mb and I would expect with my highly contentioned (?) line to take 15mins to download that as per normal, however it jumped straight into a verification/installation phase and they were in the system within 3mins.....This leads me to suspect that Apple have started to 'pre-load' available downloads and just wait for the user to say yes by pressing the nice blue button, whereas before the user had to agree before anything would download. I have changed nothing in the last while on the mac, so this is why I am of the mind that Apple has changed the process. Has anybody else noticed this ?


SHJ

[mixture]

SpringHeeledJack,

Yup, as of 10.7.x, it can now pull and notify.... rather than just notify and pull on demand.

If you go to your Software Updates System Preferences, you will see an appropriately labeled checkbox (only two to choose from, so I'll leave which one as an exercise to the reader ... :E)

Bear in mind that it only downloads and doesn't install.... so you're not actually risking anything by letting it do that

[SpringHeeledJack]

Thanks Mr Mixture, I thought that I was imagining it for a moment. Did Apple inform 'us' of this change or did it just happen along the way ?

Secondly......Would one of the experts here please be so kind to explain to me in simple terms what is the purpose of empdaemons and what do they do exactly ? Thankyou!


SHJ

[mixture]

Did Apple inform 'us' of this change or did it just happen along the way ?

Think it just happened. But then it is quite a minor feature really, because it only downloads them, doesn't automatically install them which would be a more major thing.

empdaemons

Where did you find that term ?

A daemon in a computing sense is a background process. Traditionally the processes end with the letter d to reflect this (e.g. sshd).

They do a variety of useful things on a Mac, e.g. whenever you print stuff, cupsd takes care of that (point your web browser to localhost:631 (http://localhost:631) .... cupsd will say hello ! ), launchd takes care of startup processes etc. etc.

Therefore my guess is that an empdaemon is something along those lines ? But let us know the context of the question as it's not immediately clear.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Thanks for the answers. When using the internet, just reading a basic webpage I noticed the router lights flickering away like crazy and wondered what it was, so checked the processes and there at the top using 20.3% was 'empdaemon' and after googling it (and not being any the wiser) decided to ask here :) I'm curious because it was obviously doing some communicating with..whom/whatever and as I was just reading a static text page there seemed no reason to be a busy bee working hard in the background, especially for a few minutes.



SHJ

[le Pingouin]

empdaemon would appear to be associated with Elmedia Player. CPU usage doesn't equate to download activity & elpdaemom appears to be a known CPU hog so is probably just sitting sucking up cycles.

[Firestorm]

As a new convert to Mac (two weeks now, and, Man, it feels GREAT) there are lots of things to learn about how to use it, and to get the Microshyster out of my brain.

All in all the Apple and Mac side of everything works really well, and I have no issues with anything. Out of the box it just works, and really well (I can't compare with what went before such as Snow Leopard and so on) but Lion is working for me.

The problems come when I try to use Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac. It all looks good when you spark it up, but then it starts playing silly beggars. For example when I imported contacts from the old Outlook contacts, and added some birthdays to the contact cards. I expected to see them in the calendar, but not so lucky. So I added a 'reminder' which showed the birthdays in the calendar, but all a day early. I think the problem was a difference between the computer's time zone (I am Z+3 at the moment, and the default time zone in the appointment card). But even turning time zone off didn't help. So after several wasted hours I gave up on Outlook. ICal works well though.

The reason for trying to make Outlook work is that I have (ducks to avoid flack for being stupid) a Windows Phone 7... Live and learn: windows phone 6 was pretty good: the assumption that 7 would be better was just plain wrong. I don't think that wp7 works with Mac at all: I am not too bothered.

I hope to be able to contribute her at least a little bit, and thanks to all have left some ideas already!

[crewmeal]

Not sure if this helps, but when I went from Windows to Mac using both 'Outlooks' you had to convert everything to a pst file before Mac outlook would read it. This included calender events and contacts At the time I was using outlook 2008 for Mac and now I use outlook 2011 and transferred everything without a problem.

Maybe this link might help

Import a .pst file from Outlook for Windows (http://mac2.microsoft.com/help/office/14/en-us/outlook/item/c1746130-ebef-4312-aa95-950ae8623bf9)

[MacBoero]

When I create events in Outlook on my work PC, sorry I don't have Office on a Mac to compare, but the reminders for events are always earlier than the event itself. For meetings at specific times, the default is a reminder 15 minutes before. An all day event, like a birthday, the default reminder period is 18 hours before the event.

[reivilo]

Hi guys I'm looking for B737-700/800 CBT software to run on a Mac. Any advise where to get it from?
Thanks

[mixture]

CPAT and run it in VMware/Parallels/Bootcamp.... your choice.

[IO540]

I am looking at a Sonicwall TZ100 router which does SSL VPN too.

This is to replace some Draytek 2900 routers which do PPTP VPN only.

Sonicwall do not reply to questions, except via their forum and the access to that is done using a product serial number ;)

Their FAQ (http://www.sonicwall.com/us/support/2213.html?Browser=firefox+7.0.1&FormURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sonicwall.com%2Fus%2Fsupport.html&keyword=ipad+vpn) says

>Overview / Scenario:
>
>User will connect to the SonicWALL SSL-VPN portal from IPad and tries to launch bookmarks like RDP, VNC, fileshare, Citrix...etc, but will fail to connect. Generally, all MAC Desktops or Laptops use Java as they do not provision ActiveX component on their browsers. In this case of IPad, Apple does not support Java and hence we get an error while trying to access any of the services which is mentioned above. The access will be limited only to URL resources.
>
>Again, please do note that Apple DOES NOT provision Java on IPad and since there is no alternative, we will not be able to launch the above-mentioned services.
>
>Workaround/Resolution: Not Available as Apple does not support Java on IPad.

I do not understand what that means.

At the simplest, a VPN gives you (at the client) a network connection (an IP).

Applications like RDP (I am interested only in RDP, or also PC/Anywhere if the client is a windoze XP laptop) just connect to that IP.

What does lack of Java got to do with that?

If one could not use RDP with the Ipad SSL VPN, what is the point of products like this (http://www.mochasoft.dk/iphone_rdp.htm) (being an IOS developer they do not do much replying either ;) ).

If the Ipad SSL VPN does not provide a straight "local network" IP, then almost nothing will be able to use it.

[jayteeto]

I am just about to holiday in Florida and I am going to treat myself to an I-Pad2 for $499 (£325ish). Does anyone know if the $499 is a walk out the door price, or are taxes added???????

[mixture]

IO540,

SSL VPN products use java/active-x tools in order to enforce endpoint security.

That is, requirements that sysadmin specifies prior to allowing access to resources (e.g. anti-virus software present etc.).

Surely you've read the manual for your aventail box ? The above is a basic operating concept. :E

The obvious work-around to your problem is to configure your normal packet-filter / proxy firewall to allow the RDP port. Ensuring of course that you take appropriate security precautions, as RDP exposed directly to the outside world is not recommended (and there is a virus doing the rounds at the moment that exploits this fact, even if it does somewhat rely on dictionary attacks).

Second option might be to switch vendors and get a Juniper box instead (see YouTube demos of Junos Pulse etc).

[Mike-Bracknell]

The newer Draytek routers do SSL-VPN if you require (alongside PPTP/IPSec)

I have 1 Sonicwall as a legacy device at one of my customer sites. Can't wait to get rid of it - it may be reliable, but it's not great from a usage POV.

[IO540]

as RDP exposed directly to the outside world is not recommended

Sure, which is why one would run RDP only via a VPN.

If one cannot get the VPN up (e.g. lack of password) then one will not reach the internal network on which the RDP server is sitting, surely?

Are you saying there is an issue there, e.g. the Ipad is prone to connecting without the VPN being up?

That is certainly a problem in a normal "travelling laptop" scenario where you open a VPN to your office (e.g. to check your POP email securely) but if the VPN connection drops, the email client will happily carry on making the access without the VPN ;)

With a browser one can force VPN-only operation.

The newer Draytek routers do SSL-VPN if you require (alongside PPTP/IPSec)

I am trying to get rid of Drayteks. We have some 2900s here and they work fine but VPN stuff is very buggy. And the seg.co.uk support forums suggest that the new Drayteks are little better.

but it's not great from a usage POV.

Are you able to elaborate?

[Bushfiva]

taxes added

[jayteeto]

Thanks for that. :ouch: To save the cost of a call, any idea how much?

[Mike-Bracknell]

I am trying to get rid of Drayteks. We have some 2900s here and they work fine but VPN stuff is very buggy. And the seg.co.uk support forums suggest that the new Drayteks are little better.

Are you able to elaborate?

I have been deploying 2820s now for a few years and have one here at home. Very solid VPN reliability, but a PITA to configure with no meaningful logs.

If you want to go upmarket a tad, the Fortigate products are very good.

[mixture]

Sure, which is why one would run RDP only via a VPN.

Indeed. Or one of the Microsoft perimiter security software solutions.

If one cannot get the VPN up (e.g. lack of password) then one will not reach the internal network on which the RDP server is sitting, surely?


If that's how the sysadmin has configured your perimiter, yes.

If VPN has been configured as your only way in, then that wil be your only way in.

Are you saying there is an issue there, e.g. the Ipad is prone to connecting without the VPN being up?

The iPad (or any other device) can only connect to what you have opened up on your network perimiter. Don't open up the VPN port and it can't connect to that either.

That is certainly a problem in a normal "travelling laptop" scenario where you open a VPN to your office (e.g. to check your POP email securely) but if the VPN connection drops, the email client will happily carry on making the access without the VPN

Only if your sysadmin has configured such a fallback mechanism.

With a browser one can force VPN-only operation.

As above.

[spannersatcx]

tax is different from state to state, when I was in Seattle it was around 10% could be more or less, google will probably tell you.

I nearly bought one when I was there, but when you add the cost of a power adapter (£26) and you can't just take it back should it go wrong, didn't seem worth the £40 saving, yes I know it has a warranty, far easier to take it to the shop you purchased it from.

If you are looking at a 3G sim card one, they are locked to the provider, AT&T or Verizon, so another reason not to buy it.

some peripherals were cheaper, cases etc.

[IO540]

If VPN has been configured as your only way in, then that wil be your only way in.

AIUI, if you have a standard NAT router, then the only way in from the outside will be

1) Via any open ports (and then there has to be a machine on the internal LAN, on the port-forwarded IP, which does something with the packets, e.g. a web server on port 80)

2) Via a VPN (comment as above - e.g. an RDP server)

3) Via some way which hacks NAT. I don't know of any such method, but possibly one might get in via a port which was previously opened by some internal machine accessing some external resource.

That seems to be the default position, anyway.

With PC/Anywhere, some people opened up the two PC/A ports in their routers, and relied on the PC/A authentication etc for security. I have always thought that was a stupid idea, because a hacker could just forget PC/A and feed all kinds of malformed packets to that machine; all kinds of such hacks have been developed.

The iPad (or any other device) can only connect to what you have opened up on your network perimiter. Don't open up the VPN port and it can't connect to that either.

I think you know far more about this than I do...

What I was getting at is the example I gave, where a VPN failure will result in the app trying to do plaintext logins (pop3, ftp, htaccess, etc) over an open network.

There is no easy way to stop that, because of the usually indeterminate way in which different apps fall back onto whatever network connection happens to be available.

If the RDP client on the Ipad can be forced to use only a VPN, that is OK, but what if not? VPNs are notoriously unreliable, especially on a GPRS/3G connection. The ither week I was in Greece, on a Cosmote 3G SIM card (2GB for 7 days), which disconnected you every few minutes. So the VPN will bomb after a few mins, and whatever app you are running over it may retry the login...

[Paris Dakar]

jayteeto,

Mrs PD bought an Ipod from the Apple store at the Millenia Mall, FL in Feb this year and the tax was 6%.

PD

[jayteeto]

Ta, any apple store worldwide will deal with faults so its a go still at 6%

[mixture]

Can't you claim the tax back at the airport ?

[Shunter]

Agree re VPN reliability on 3G. Proper pain to have to constantly reconnect.

On jailbroken devices you can install stunnel, which allows you to connect like this:

iPad Client App -> localhost:12345 -> SSL tunnel -> server:54321 -> localhost:3389

Completely transparent, on-the-fly encryption with PKI access control (ie. only certs cut from the CA referenced by the server will be allowed to initiate an SSL connection).

The guff referenced above re Java/ActiveX is in regard to "clientless" VPNs (Citrix Access Gateway is a good example) which use a browser plugin instead of a standalone client.

[mixture]

AIUI, if you have a standard NAT router, then the only way in from the outside will be .... 1/2/3


Indeed, you are quite correct.

Re:1 ... My favourite tool of the moment for that sort of thing is TeamViewer....
Re:2 ... Agreed.
Re:3 ... I believe you're thinking about UPNP or similar

result in the app trying to do plaintext logins (pop3, ftp, htaccess, etc)

True, although most have the option to mandate encrypted comms.

If the RDP client on the Ipad can be forced to use only a VPN, that is OK, but what if not?

Two factor authentication. Then even if your "password" leaks in plaintext, it's single-use only and only valid for 60 seconds or so anyway.

VPNs are notoriously unreliable, especially on a GPRS/3G connection

Agree with you on the latter,but not the former.

Would be tempted to point out that even on the latter, it's not the VPN that's at fault but the network technology.

VPNs are great. Although you'll generally get best stability from hardware implementations rahter than software on your local machine. Boxes such as Juniper's firewalls can ping and automatically reconnect to an alternate VPN endpoint if the primary goes down with minimal downtime.

It also depends what your VPN is connected on and to. If it's a flaky, rate limited, packet shaped ADSL connection then of course you'll have issues.

Personally I'd take IPSec VPNs over SSL VPNs any day ! :cool:

[mutt]

If you are looking at a 3G sim card one, they are locked to the provider, AT&T or Verizon, so another reason not to buy it.
You are correct about Verizon as they don't actually have a sim card, it's built in. AT&T Ipad's are not locked to that sim card. I have purchased 3 of them from the USA, no problems with any.

Jayteeto..... you have to ask yourself if its worth buying without a 3G connection. When you get back home you can get a PAYG sim card.

Mutt

[spannersatcx]

I stand corrected about AT & T, and no you can not claim the tax back, there are only a couple of states in the US where you can, but not Florida.

[mutt]

Released today (afaik). In the process of downloading it, extremely interested in seeing how iMessage works, could this be a Blackberry Message replacement?

Mutt

[MacBoero]

It was actually released as an update on the 12th, the iPhone 4S was released today (14th).

I downloaded an installed on the 12th, and thankfully didn't suffer any of the problems some people experienced with the extremely busy servers timing out. It take 3 hours to do my iPhone 4, but the iPad and the wife's iPhone 4 were a lot quicker.

Quite a nice update:
(a) I like being able to get to the camera from the lock screen, and being able to use the volume + button for the shutter. Incidentally it is possible to use the volume + button on the headset too. So some enterprising people could surely wire things up for long distance remote shutter release.
(b) Notification centre is a huge improvement. When you have a lot of apps using notifications in iOS4, having to clear down dozens of notifications before being able to use the phone for anything was a tad annoying. You couldn't go back and see what notices there were, as once they were dismissed they were gone forever.
(c) Remote syncing and backup over Wifi is great too. When I go to bed, I plug the phone in to recharge, and it looks for my Mac and starts to backup automatically. I don't have to remember to periodically connect the thing to iTunes and back it up.

There's quite a few changes in there, but I'll let people discover some for themselves.

In the meantime iOS5 will tide me over until my contract finishes and I can decide whether to go for an iPhone 4S or hold out longer for an iPhone 5.

[Paris Dakar]

jayteeto,

Though I suspect they are price-fixed by Apple - you could see if Walmart have any offers on the I-Pad when you're there? We got PD Jnr a super saving on an Acer laptop from Walmart (the one behind Medieval Times on the 192) a few years ago and when I asked about any warranty issues they said not a problem - just take it to your local Asda or contact Acer UK!

[Gomrath]

AT&T Ipad's are not locked to that sim card. I have purchased 3 of them from the USA, no problems with any.

Jayteeto..... you have to ask yourself if its worth buying without a 3G connection. When you get back home you can get a PAYG sim card.
One thing to be aware of AT&T's 3G frequency channel is not the same as the 3G channel used in the UK etc.
I have this problem when I use my BB in the UK with a local PAYG Sim - it has to step down to a lower common denominator (less speed).

Also - don't you have to declare the goods on entry to the UK as it is more than 300 pounds in value?

[mixture]

the extremely busy servers timing out

Things were quite busy yes.

The graph below is not from the download site, but from downstream somwhere in europe. See the lonely spike on the graph on the Wednesday ? That's the IOS5 downloaders doing their stuff... imagine multiplying this by X locations and you can only guess how busy Apple (or more likely Akamai) was !

http://www.lonap.net/mrtg/lonap-total-week.png





(For people visiting this thread in a month's / year's etc. time, the above graph will be irrelevant as it is a weekly graph and so will have been refreshed .... so if you visit this thread after Week 41 of 2011, you won't understand what I'm on about !).

[Lord Spandex Masher]

"Am I missing something?" he asked naively.

If I have iTunes downloaded onto my iPad why do I still need to use my PC to sync and update/download things - wifi or not?

[mutt]

You can download APPs directly, or magazines books music etc..... However following the release of IOS5 you can now backup your Ipad to a cloud which gets away from having to use a computer at all. A new Ipad2 will start and work without ever syncing with a PC.

Nice touch.

Mutt

[Lord Spandex Masher]

Thanks Mutt, I get that. What I don't understand is why the iTunes wifi sync needs my pc to be available. Surely if I download iTunes onto the iPad I can sync it directly? Or would that be too simple?!

[mixture]

Lord Spandex Masher,

Sounds like you're getting your spandex in a twist for no reason.

WiFi sync and iCloud are two separate things. It sounds like you're getting them confused.

My understanding (from reading stuff, have not yet had a chance to experiment) is that WiFi Sync is there simply to give you the possibility to replace the need for a USB cable. Hence it's obvious that you need iTunes on a PC to use it !

iCloud is the whole backup/download thing based in the Apple cloud, and that, by the sound of things, is what you should be looking at.

My understanding is that it is Apple's goal is to move away from the PC/Mac iTunes requirement towards a cloud model, where everything is pushed to/from a cloud. So even if what you want in terms of functionality is not available right now (considering they've only just publicly launched the cloud), it will be available reasonably soon.

[jayteeto]

Thanks for all the replies, you have been very helpful. I plan to give the 3G a miss because I can get a MiFi hub from 3mobile that will work with my laptop as well. The customs and excise website quotes a figure of £390 of other goods including perfume. The saving will only be about 40 quid, but that's better in my pocket. Apple warranties and backup are worldwide, I've already been there!!

[IO540]

The 3G version has the real GPS. That is very useful, for many people. I would not buy the non-3G Ipad.

[Bushfiva]

Location-based services on the wi-fi only model may be a bit ropey in the UK, since it has no GPS: it relies on the quality of the wifi location database for positioning. I'd probably go for the 3G version: even without putting a SIM card in to enable 3G, you still have access to the GPS features of the 3G chipset (apart from the "a" in "a-GPS").

[MacBoero]

I think the key to helping Lord Spandex Masher is to explain that iTunes on the Mac or PC is NOT the same as iTunes on the iPad. The Mac/PC iTunes can do pretty much everything the iPad iTunes can, but not vice versa.

[Load Toad]

Updating my iPhone took about 45 min - 1hr. Mostly painless - a couple of issues wondering where some music had gone and some duplicated files / apps but basically just needed to check which boxes were checked / unchecked in Settings. As usual many of the changes are things that intuition sorts out - simple example - the way the phone 'zooms' now.

[Mike-Bracknell]

Somewhere in Europe.......being somewhere in Docklands employing a certain person? ;)

Go on, tell me you were downloading it to update your myriad of Apple merchandise ;)

(although I must admit I like the idea of the iWatch)

[mixture]

somewhere in Docklands employing a certain person

No, I know I'd get thrown off the PPRuNe gangplank for doing that ! ;)

The graph is from the Docklands, yes, but it's from it's one of the peering points there (LONAP). Of which a company with which I am involved is a member, and I also know one of the LONAP directors well.

Other than that, per PPRuNe policy, my lips are sealed. :cool:

Go on, tell me you were downloading it to update your myriad of Apple merchandise

I know.... sometimes I reckon I ought to get more closely involved with Apple just to benefit from a discount perk.

Anyhow, I'm vendor agnostic.... for example, my current phone is a Blackberry, not an iPhone. (Although I am HATING the Blackberry with all its bugs etc !)

[IO540]

Does IOS5 do anything about the behaviour of WIFI versus GPRS/3G, where if the signal levels are both fairly weak, it can't quite decide which one to use, and the result is long disconnections / IP changes etc which terminate VPN etc connections, web sessions, cause pprune to log out ;) etc.

The Apple-suggested fix is to disable one or the other, manually.

Windoze doesn't have this problem. If you have both WIFI and 3G concurrently, both connected, it seems to prioritise them so WIFI gets used all the time it is present.

I also read in some US forum that IOS 5 wipes all application config. Is that true?

[The Nr Fairy]

"I also read in some US forum that IOS 5 wipes all application config. Is that true?"

Not in my case - upgraded in about an hour / hour and a half, mostly due to 22Gb of music transferred.

All apps / configs worked as they have before the upgrade.

[crewmeal]

ios5 gives you the option of backing up from itunes or icloud. (That's if you backed your iphone before you downloaded it)

I've also read that icloud crashes when uploading content to it. I'll leave well alone until that's sorted. Probably because iphone users were uploading at once on the 12th Oct.

[IO540]

The upgrade went OK for me too.

However, I still cannot get HDMI output working. It worked (via a 3rd party Ipad to HDMI adaptor) for about half an hour, then stopped. A different adaptor did not help and neither did the firmware upgrade. There is a fair amount of stuff on google about this, but no solutions. There is no obvious config on the Ipad which might control whether the screen (Iplayer etc) is copied to HDMI or not.

[Firestorm]

A different Mac problem.

I had BBC Iplayer Desktop working well on my MacBook Pro, including the thing where it downloads programmes that I wanted to watch rather than streaming them. And then it completely stopped working. I got the "unexpectedly quit" message and that has been the end of it. I went through the uninstall, and reinstall process, including uninstalling Adobe Air (which is the core of the iplayer system as I understand it), and still I only get the "unexpectedly quit" message.

I have OSX Lion installed, as it was when I first downloaded desktop about two weeks ago, and I haven't changed anything about the os, or the configuration since then so am at rather a loss to understand the problem or correct it. Any suggestions will be welcomed! the only explanation that I can think of is that (there might have been) an update to Adobe Air which Iplayer desktop and OSX Lion are not ready for in some way.

[mixture]

Can you consistently replicate the unexpected quits, or is it an occasional/intermittent problem ?

If consistent, open up Application -> Utilities -> Console and watch that for messages that come up at the time when you get the unexpected quits.

[Firestorm]

The fault is consistent, Mixture. There is a very long list of codes and fault messages, and a caption that says that the problem message is forwarded to Apple, os I think that I will just have to wait a while for it to be fixed. I will try another clean install in a week or so and see if things have been solved.

I can still stream programmes which really is fine. I will be back in the UK soon so will be able to record them on the DVD recorder at home in the normal way.

[Firestorm]

Having done a bit f reading about the problem I think it is a problem with the Adobe update of AIR to 3.0 which doesn't work with OSX 10.7 It has been nearly 2 months since the problem appeared, and it would seem that I am not the only person having a problem, but it seems strange that adobe haven't got to work on it. Never mind!

Otherwise loving the Mac life :)

[Mac the Knife]

Mac backing up to WD World Edition automagically with Time Machine over network. Has worked fine for ages.
Casually had a look - no backups done for 2/12!!!

Time Machine simply says “Making backup disk available”, then silently stops doing anything.

It is caused by a broken database for the timemachine share, SSH into the box and issue the command: rm -rf /DataVolume/.timemachine/.AppleDB

You may need to repair the sparsebundle afterwards - no big deal.

WD World Edition NAS + Time Machine = "Making backup disk available" (http://denmarkin.tumblr.com/post/5994968698/wd-world-edition-nas-time-machine-making-backup)

“Making backup disk available” taking forever – Time Capsule Solution! » chimac.net – Stuff worth knowing about (http://chimac.net/2009/10/07/making-backup-disk-available-taking-forever-time-capsule-solution/)

WD_Backup share not available (TimeMachine looking... - Western Digital Community (http://community.wdc.com/t5/External-Drives-for-Mac/WD-Backup-share-not-available-TimeMachine-looking-at-MyworldBook/td-p/9296)

Mac :ok:

PS: What happened to the Mac thread?

PPS: There are various esoteric problems with the WD MyBook that require quite a bit of command-line magic to solve. Better solution is to dig out an old PC, and use FreeNAS ( FreeNAS 8 | Storage For Open Source (http://www.freenas.org/) ).

[mixture]

As a side note, I've found certain hard drives need a firmware upgrade before they will reliably work with time machine.

This is nothing to do with Apple, but due to the fact that some drive manufacturers enable a sleep mode on their drives.... and hence drives can disconnect from the host computer in the midst of a backup if they suddenly form the opinion that they've been inactive.


PS: What happened to the Mac thread?

Mac users never have any problems, that's why the thread is so quiet. :E

PPS: There are various esoteric problems with the WD MyBook that require quite a bit of command-line magic to solve. Better solution is to dig out an old PC, and use FreeNAS ( FreeNAS 8 | Storage For Open Source ).


Or you could just buy a better hard drive in the first place....:E

[john_rogers182]

Any one recommend me a good gps for my ipad for the uk please?

[mixture]

GPS is a worldwide standardised signal, therefore anything you consider "good" in your home country will also be good in the UK.

[Carbon Bootprint]

I presume the OP is referring to GPS software for the iPad. Whilst I have no experience with other GPS software available for iDevices, I am quite pleased with the TomTom app for Europe (which includes the UK, whoopee!).

It's a bit pricey for some tastes but one as long as one uses the same Apple ID it can be used on iPhone, iPod and iPad. Personally, I use the it on the iPhone for walking routes (and occasionally in hire cars, since my car has an OEM unit). With a suitable vehicle mount, the iPad would probably be quite satisfactory in a vehicle.

[Agent86]

If you own a Wifi Ipad and wish to have GPS data, Buy a Dual XGPS150.

Connects via Bluetooth. Excellent GPS coverage.

I have a 3g iPad ..(ie built in GPS) but use the Dual GPs inflight with the receiver stuck on a non heated window....reception (and iPad battery life) is much better
Details from Amazon

[Dick Fisher]

I run ADSL through a D-Link DSL-G604T router/modem, and to this router, I have connected a wireless extender system that distributes the signal through the mains around my home.

Although my i-phone has discovered the extended wireless network and connects to it, my ipad won't. It sees the wireless network as available, but prompts for a password. Neither the password for my wireless network, nor any other password used on my network will allow it to connect.

Needless to say, I have tried resets of the network, the router and the Ipad, but to no avail. I suspect that this is something simple to resolve, but it has me beaten!

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

[Airborne Aircrew]

Did you just hit <Enter> when prompted for the password?

[Dick Fisher]

Good thought! Unfortunately, the "join" button is greyed out until after eight digits have been entered.

[mixture]

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2573446

[johnnyfreud786]

I bought a ipad a month ago, now I took ipad vpn connection from a company through online payment. I am trying to establish connection to remote server but It’s denying and ping replying through full speed. I am not able to connect can anyone tell me a way to connect it.

[mixture]

now I took ipad vpn connection from a company through online payment

Did they specify it would work with iPad endpoints ? Do they provide technical support ? What did support say ?

[Bell_Flyer]

I've migrated from MobileMe to iCloud a month ago and am disappointed at the loss of iDisk and the Photo Gallery.

I thought one of the ideas of cloud computing is to be able to access any type of file from any computer in the world. Now this feature is discontinued. MobileMe was supposed to be "Sharepoint for the rest of us".

Does anyone know of any rival systems I can subscribe to so I can still have my photo gallery AND iDisk features?

Lion is a GREAT operating system!:D

Tks,
BF

[mixture]

Bell_Flyer,

Try post #5 on this forum thread ? (N.B. Have not tried myself, just the result of a Google...)

MacRumors Forums - View Single Post - Will iCloud ever provide storage like iDisk? (http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=14167310&postcount=5)

[The Many Tentacles]

BF - would something like DropBox work for what you're wanting.I don't know if you'd get all the iDisk features, but you would be able to access what you need once you've uploaded it

[Bell_Flyer]

Thanks Mixture and TMT!! I am outback the next few days and will try that when I return to civilisation and fast internet.

I dabble with GIS information (very big files). With iDisk, I can click on the file in the cloud (Mobile Me cloud that is), click on sharing options and send a URL to the people who need to download it together with file password if necessary and a short message. I think with the Drop Box I will have to give them login details to my cloud so they can drag the doc down to their machine. I will test this next week and report back.

Thanks for your input.:)

[pistulaza]

Googe is offering the same for free!

[Bell_Flyer]

Mixture and TMT - tried the link and it works well. It is good as a personal cloud backup.

Unfortunately it is not a 'share point for the rest of us' hence you can't share big files or pics with friends (unless you give them your login and password to iCloud).

Google features ain't as good as MobileMe, unfortunately.

thanks anyhow.
BF :)

[MCR01]

iPad purchased and having (unfortunately) registered my French address during the "Set-up" procedure the iTunes (and much else) assumes I am fluent in French. How do I either re-register or change the language to English? Please keep any advice simple, many thanks.

[The Nr Fairy]

Settings -> General -> International -> Language

Et en francais . . .

Reglages -> General -> International -> Langue . . .

[MCR01]

Thanks NR; already done all that; "itunes" still in French though! Any other ideas? Will turning off "Location Services" help?

[MacBoero]

iTunes will be registered using the Apple ID account you set up. If this was done using a French address and credit card, this might be what is tying iTunes to the French store. I don't know if changing your account details to a UK address and UK credit card will do the trick, or whether you'd need to create a new account using UK details and deauthorising the ipad from the old account and authorising it to the new one.

[cavortingcheetah]

Apple update 10.7.3.

This has apparently caused significant internet connection and internet share errors for Apple computers. You might want to have a look at the downsides of this before downloading. There's a fair bit of stuff on the internet. Easiest way to correct the problem seems to be to go back in time and/or reinstall Lion OS X if that is what you're running. Hope the 10.6.8 for Snow Leopard has no jinxes.

[mixture]

cavortingcheetah,

There was a delta 10.7.3 update that had a few issues. However within a few days of its public release, Apple replaced the delta with a rollup update (only real downside being the larger file size).

I've been running 10.7.3 on a couple of my macs for a while now and have not seen any internet connection issues.

[crewmeal]

The talk now is about Mountain Lion. Anyone know what to expect?

[fmgc]

It's getting close to an iPad!

Apple - OS X Mountain Lion. Even more innovation comes to the Mac. (http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/)

[cavortingcheetah]

mixture...
Thank you for that information and I shall investigate further. The Apple Store at Core Centre Johannesburg has had several customer complaints on he 10.7.3. I haven't a clue why it might be a problem in Johannesburg. I'll probably stay undownloaded until I head up north and get somewhere near a Genius Bar.

[vctenderness]

I have an iPad 2 and have found that I have two problems when using this forum.

Firstly it does not seem possible to paste quotes in the same way as on a pc. By that I mean cutting the 1 at the end of the url.


Second is that the smillies don't work, it seems, on the iPad.


Anyone got a solution?

[mixture]

Are you using the web browser version or the "app" version ?

A quick google suggest the former might show some bugs if the PPRuNe admins have not applied the relevant patches to fix the problems in the forum software.

[vctenderness]

I have the app but usually connect via google.

The smillies puzzle me most as on the other sites I use they work fine.

[Bell_Flyer]

Is anyone out there experiencing Safari crashes on their iPads? I've searched the apple forums for a cure - but no seems to have a solution that doesn't include my having to 'downgrade' a revision - something I am loathe to do. Thanks. :{

[jimgriff]

Greeting,
I have been using the calendar on my IP2 for a while now- very handy.
But as of this morning it does not allow me to add events and comes up with the followingmessages:

Cannot save event- that event does not belong to that event store.
and
Cannot save event- no calendar has been set.

I dont think I have messed about with settings etc
Any advice please?

[Spurlash2]

Solution HERE (http://www.utilitap.com/weekcalendar/faq.php?item=ios5saveevent), possibly, I know not ipad, but might work.

and HERE (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3413815?start=0&tstart=0)for various other methods.

[jimgriff]

Sorted- many thanks!

[mutt]

Imessage Beta is available for MAC's, google it and you will find it on the Apple site, not the store. This is the Beta version, the non-Beta version comes out this summer with their new software - Mountain Lion.

Enjoy

Mutt

[rgbrock1]

This morning, for the first time in its history, Apple Inc. shares topped $600!!!!

Wow!

I can very well remember back in the dark days of Apple Computer when share prices were around $12/share!

Amazing feat.

[mixture]

Indeed, and achieved through their hard work and determination in bringing quality product to the market.

[The late XV105]

And a fantastic marketing department for engendering such a slavish fan-boy culture.

[mixture]

Seriously XV105, give it a rest.

Apple puts a significant amount of R&D effort into developing both hardware and software platforms.

Why do you think none of their competitors come even close in terms of product adoption ? Its simply because they can't' afford (or don't want to spend) the same amount of money on R&D.

As you well know XV105. In IT, marketing only goes so far.... the manufacturers eventually have to put their money where their mouth is and deliver the goods. Apple does that very well. Their platform and industrial design is light years ahead.

Believe me, I'm no fan-boi. I've spent enough time working in the murky depths of the IT industry to be able to see through all the hype the vendors throw out and recognise a quality product when I see one.

[Ancient Observer]

I do not wish to knock their products. SWMBO is addicted to her ipad. It is a real neat product. If I could afford any Apple stuff, I'd possibly buy it.

I do wish to knock their tax policies and their pricing. They pay virtually NO tax in Europe, anywhere. None. De nada. Zero.

They flog stuff for USD 800 that costs them much less than USD 80. All the profits are taken through tax mixing in Holland, and "taxed" in Ireland - which roughly translated means they are not taxed as Ireland have yet to tax any of the big Yank firms for any dollars earnt outside Ireland. From there, the untaxed loot goes to the Caribbean. It might get taxed if they take it in to USA, so they only move it carefully, when it suits them, and not the revenue.

Anyway, my chief gripe is Tax. None of Facebook, google or Apple pay their fair share of taxes, anywhere.
They have zero integrity.

[Sprogget]

All that^^^^.


Nice products are one thing. Greedy pricing, brainwash marketing creating legions of fondleslab fanbois & a hugely aggressive legal ton of bricks ready for any dissenter is another matter.

[Milo Minderbinder]

Shares at a record high
Massive cash pile
Anyone checked when they last paid a dividend?

Something does not add up

[Airborne Aircrew]

And a fantastic marketing department for engendering such a slavish fan-boy culture.

Exactly.. Anything "iX..." is the victory of marketing over good sense.

[mixture]

Anyone checked when they last paid a dividend?
Something does not add up

Nope. Just prudent management.

Incase you hadn't noticed, some of those unable to compete with Apple have decided to try their luck at launching frivolous patent lawsuits. Apple needs a bit of spare cash to put up a firm defence.

Apple also has a tendency to like to do a bit of M&A activity and buy the occasional company or buying up some IP when an opportunity arises (Nortel).

Nothing wrong with being cash rich.

Nothing wrong with not paying dividend either, and incase you hadn't noticed, Google, Amazon, Ebay, Microsoft and Dell don't pay one either.

[Milo Minderbinder]

Microsoft does actually pay a quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 / share

But overall it just shows how the public have been taken for a ride by all these IT companies. Companies that profitable, refusing to pay part of those profits to their shareholders, is a con

[mixture]

Microsoft does actually pay a quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 / share

ooohh... big deal... 15p .... who here has the few thousand Microsoft shares that you would need to make the dividend received a remotely meaningful amount ?

As I said, not paying dividends is no bad thing, especially as your average Joe investor doesn't hold enough shares to get a meaningful amount of money out of dividends anyway.

[Sprogget]

ooohh... big deal... 15p .... You know, if you're going to be supercillious with other people, then you should expect the appropriate opprobrium in return for:

Incase you hadn't noticed, some of those unable to compete with Apple have decided to try their luck at launching frivolous patent lawsuits. Apple needs a bit of spare cash to put up a firm defence.
Do you actually know how much cash Apple is sitting on? Either you don't in which case you are ignorant, or you do in which case your attitude needs a kick in the nuts.

BBC News - Apple holding more cash than USA (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14340470)

[Ancient Observer]

Sprogs
We must stop agreeing like this . People will talk.

That cash is not held in the US of A. It is mainly held in the Caribbean where no tax authorities can get hold of it.

That amount of loot would buy whole countries, and all of New York's lawyers are for sale at much cheaper prices than that !!

They can do whatever they want with divis. The shareholder buys knowing their policy. However, evading the taxman like they do causes you and I to pay higher taxes.

[mixture]

Sprogget,

The underlying fact is that simply hunting dividends will lead you to miss many investment opportunities where dividends are either not paid or are paid, but are fairly meaningless to the average punter because they don't hold many shares anyway. Total return is what matters, not just your meagre dividend income.

Dividends are like the icing on the cake...sure they're nice to have, but you shouldn't throw your toys out of the pram just because chef served you a delicious cake but with no icing.

That's the point I was trying to make even if I perhaps didn't quite phrase it in the best way first time round ! :cool:

Anyway, what has this whole thread got to do with "Computer/Internet Issues & Troubleshooting" ? Money and investing has an inherent tendency to create strong opinions, all no doubt equally valid to one extent or another, but where the chance of 100% agreement is minimal. So how about we shake hands, put this thread to bed and resume normal service on the usual techie content of this part of the forum ?

[Ancient Observer]

Mixture,
I am sure that we are all grateful for your techie contributions here. I certainly am.
I won't reply to your point about divis. I'll agree to disagree. For most co.s, divis are important. For others, they are not.

Your point that this is the techie patch is well made. I'll shut up, now.

[Guest 112233]

OK Microsoft have more than a few strings to their bow. Remember Windows Server and the phone operating system I cannot remember the desig there) - But is the emerging uncertainty over the direction of the forthcoming Windows 8 operating system starting to make the professional investors look at their Microsoft holdings?

Remember there's somthing like 1.3 billion PC.s worldwide. they are not all using Windows but am overwhelming proportion > 85 % from memory: are.

[mixture]

CATIII-NDB,

Problem is, most people just look at "PCs" and forget about how embedded Microsoft is in the business and government worlds. Microsoft are not going anywhere anytime soon.

I see no reason to sell Microsoft shares. Even if they are unlikely to soar any time soon, they are equally if not more unlikely to ever dive substantially. Hence making a nice stable platform for those who like going after dividends or just want a stable rock in their portfolio.

[Guest 112233]

I know; but the world gradually started to move away from MS when Vista (an interim O.S) was realeased onto the world. I'm on XP (SP3) typing this but I use Linux in one form or another fot 60% of my work now.

I have used Windows 7 which I like but H/W updates are a few years away from me for a while.

[mixture]

CATIII-NDB,

Indeed. I agree with you. XP SP3 was a great OS. Vista should have NEVER been released. Windows 7 is what Vista should have been, and so therefore hopefully Windows 8 will reflect the true next generation Microsoft set out to create all those years ago.

Lots of people fail to understand Apple and the OS X platform and are apparently only capable of throwing childish "fanboy" comments out in Apple's direction, but it's my platform of choice at PC level for myself. None of the Linux lark comes anywhere near the refinement of OS X, and Apple's hardware is top notch.

On servers .... a decent BSD or Linux release. But sometimes there's no escaping Windows.

[crewmeal]

OK so the new ipad 3 is out. A great piece of kit and well worth the wait. But what a hassle to get one. Calling a certain Apple shop here in the UK to ask if there are any available is like asking to be be let in the Pentagon. Why do Apple have to be so top secret in telling you the chances of buying one from a shop are good, or not. Some snotty girl told me it was not company policy to let customers know about stock levels. When I pointed out that I would have to travel from the sticks her reply was 'tough' you have to take your chance like everyone else. I really cannot see the problem in being told yes we have plenty or no there are only a few left......

Thank goodness for the likes of Argos. You choose your product online and find which store has it, reserve it, pay and collect it.

[maliyahsdad2]

You can't create hype and demand if there are plenty floating about.

[mixture]

crewmeal,

Is there a reason why you need one "right now" and can't wait a couple of weeks for the launch demand to die down (or just order online via the Apple store).

If you think about it, Apple just want to ensure a fair, level playing field on a first come, first serve basis. The potential problem with telling people about availability is that you'll get the eBay brigade turning up to buy a handful of units to resell at inflated prices on the aforementioned auction website.

I suspect therefore that the "policy" only applies around the launch period, and that post-launch they'll probably be more than happy to tell you about availability.


maliyahsdad2,

I'm getting rather sick and tired of childish comments on here from people who can't manage to say anything else about Apple other than regurgitating the same old "fanboy", "hype" rubbish they've heard down the pub.

I appreciate you probably don't work in the IT industry and hence look at things from a consumer point of view (and a one-sided biased consumer at that !). But those of us in the industry can't help but recognise that a lot of hard work and effort has gone into making top quality products.

Choice of computing platform is like the traditional topics of religion and political party allegiance. They all have good and bad points, and they all have an inherent tendency to create never ending arguments. As with the latter two items, the best course of action with computing is also to keep schtum rather than stand on your silly little soapbox sounding like a madman in the belief that you're right and those who follow the other side are mistaken.

[Flying Serpent]

I didn't see anything childish or contentious in Maliyas post. It's a standard practice for certain companies to 'stir' demand by being a bit coy about stock levels.

[crewmeal]

Mixture - The main reason I wanted one was for a birthday present. However this particular present is now settled in Jordan and working well as I type. It was all about timing in this instance.

Yes you're right perhaps I should wait for the all the hype to die down before purchasing a new product, which I normally do. Again the Daily Mail highlighted people buying ipads and selling them on for grossly inflated prices and I saw one for sale on fleebay at £100 above the recommended price. No doubt the scammers will be working in overdrive to get their grubby paws on one.

[spannersatcx]

or just use something like ipad stock checker (http://www.ipad-stock.co.uk/default.aspx)

[SpringHeeledJack]

I've always wondered what the point is of getting "the first" device in such examples, with people camping out on streets for days for the honour. Of course most are quite young and the kudos of having the currency of the moment elevates them for a few days/weeks within their peer group, but then....Better to wait a few weeks when the crush and madness has gone and buy the dream, with all the beta/testers having weedled out the faults ;) There is no doubt that Apple have developed some game changing products enveloped in uebercool form that are for many simply too enticing to ignore.

I came to computing later than most, except for learning Fortran and Cobol years before :8 and bypassed the in between stages of personal computing dominated by Bill Gates et al and straight into Apple. I'm happy with what I've used and experienced and thus far, their customer service has been second to none, especially when done in person at a Genius Bar. Where it's all heading who knows, but up until now they haven't put a foot wrong in broad terms. Each to their own and when all is said and done they're only things whatever manufacturer and OS.



SHJ

[Load Toad]

People here in HKG (including mates who are usually level headed) are going daft (again) over getting The New Apple Shiny thing first. Phuq 'em.

Wait a few days & the demand from the flock of wannabees will die down & you will be able to get the Shiny Thing and app & sync to your hearts content.

I like Apple products, but strewth - it's just a 'puter and very soon New Shiny Thing will just be another clitoris.

[coldair]

I like Apple products, but strewth - it's just a 'puter and very soon New Shiny Thing will just be another clitoris.



:confused::confused::confused:

[Milo Minderbinder]

Something to initially fondle, then later treat roughly, and eventually trade in for a newer prettier model

[Background Noise]

I guess I'm a bit of a sucker for Apple products - having resisted the onslaught for years. But it has its compensations. When my iPhone 3gs played up (after installing ios4) the Apple shop staff were very helpful and that, combined with my apparent product ownership (they have history of all my purchases even though many were bought as presents), got me a brand new phone despite being out of warranty. I discussed the secrecy thing with the staff at the time and they said that they never knew ahead of time when new stuff was coming out. Sometimes unmarked boxes of stuff would arrive in the warehouse but to open them would risk their jobs.

Recently i bought a case for the new 4S, which was advertised as fitting both that and the 4, but which didn't quite fit the newer model - we now know that they have slightly different button positions. The telephone help desk refunded the money but also said that, as it was relatively low cost item, he wouldn't waste my time returning it. Maybe i've been lucky but I can't fault their service.

[Ancient Observer]

There is an absoloutely WONDERFUL (German speaking, but language is irrelevant) video available on you**** which asks a dad how he is doing with the latest ipad. I won't tell you what he is doing with it. it is brilliant.

[Slasher]

I remember when I could've bought up a crapload of unloaded
Apple shares at 15 bucks a pop. I never ever thought that mob
would catch on the way it has. BIG BIG mistake. :(


Anyway, my chief gripe is Tax. None of Facebook, google or Apple pay their fair share of taxes, anywhere.

Probably why they can afford R&D rather than some bloody
useless government squandering it all on socialist garbage.

[Load Toad]

Clitoris...every @#$% has one.

[TWT]

I don't own any Apple computing products but probably would if I didn't have a work supplied W7 laptop.Friends tell me they're excellent and I have no reason to doubt them.I have noticed though that everything Apple gets feverish coverage in the media,massive amounts of free front page advertising.I guess that's a result of their very clever marketing department.I thought the following take by a German 'artist' was interesting:

Shot in the hard-drive: Artist destroys Macs, iPhones and iPads | Smartphone News & Reviews | thetelegraph.com.au (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/technology/smartphones/shot-in-the-hard-drive-artist-destroys-macs-iphones-and-ipads/story-fn5tbzvc-1226303882291)

[maliyahsdad2]

As if by magic.....

BBC News - Apple to pay dividend and buy back shares (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17434328)

[mixture]

See... I told Milo Minderbinder not to worry himself about a temporary lack of dividends...... :E

[peterh337]

There is virtually no unique technology in Apple products, so the "high R&D spend" story is nonsense. I've been in electronics since the 1970s...

They are good at producing stylish stuff, at a level of build quality which is up with the best in consumer IT gear (though IME definitely not up to the level of say Lenovo), and they market it very cleverly to make the items very desirable.

Fashion breeds fashion and once the bandwagon got rolling they kept it rolling. But it could come to a halt... look at where Myspace is now, for example. Fashion icons come and go. Apple is like Facebook.

Apple products are nothing that any technologically capable company cannot make. For example the Samsung 10" Galaxy tablet is virtually the same as the Ipad, with the apparent differences being just the O/S, and IOS implements the finger gestures better.

And the Iphone is actually a pretty crap phone. Even a £10 phone from Asda is a better phone. At home we have an Iphone4 (which frequently fails to work for inexplicable reasons, and has already been replaced once under warranty) and an Ipad2 (which is mostly OK but has weird wifi issues, along with seemingly many others, and Apple have also replaced that under warranty when its HDMI output was found to be dead). That's a 100% failure rate in our household, reducing to 66% if I count the Imac I bought for my son who lives away.

Steve Jobs was by all accounts a thoroughly nasty character whose nastiness no doubt contributed to the polarisation of views on the company.

Apple use their massive power to shaft Chinese subcontractors into making the stuff for tuppence while they make a few hundred $ gross profit on every one. Of course, nobody is now going to bomb the price so all the other smartphone makers are now playing the same game and milking the market for all it will pay (currently).

Their appstore is full of banal crap. About 99% of the 200,000 or so apps perform no useful function. This becomes obvious when you start looking for something... and the stupid partitioning of apps and their private data means one has to buy multiple similar apps just to do one job.

I would not buy Apple shares because I cannot see the upside. They have no unique technology. They have a slick O/S but that is "just software". They are selling because they are fashionable, not because they are somehow excellent compared to anybody else.

[mixture]

peterh337,

I made my point clear on another thread.

Why can't we seemingly go a day without someone taking pot shots at Apple.

Look, every company has skeletons in their closet. The choice between Apple and PC or whatever is up to you and you alone. No need to start haranguing others with your viewpoint (which is somehwat incorrect by the way).

There is virtually no unique technology in Apple products, so the "high R&D spend" story is nonsense. I've been in electronics since the 1970s...

You might have worked in electronics, but that one statement surmises the fact that you've never worked in IT.

OEM components are one thing, but I think you substancially fail to realise how much work and effort goes into combining the software and hardware into one final polished product.

And that's before we start talking about QA, support and all the rest.

Its an expensive business.

Apple use their massive power to shaft Chinese subcontractors into making the stuff for tuppence while they make a few hundred $ gross profit on every one.

Oh, right... and your beloved Lenovo or Samsung don't do that do they ? They make stuff in the US or Europe do they ? :ugh::ugh:


Seriously... I can't be bothered to waste my time typing a response.


Take a chill pill peterh337.... infact take two !

[Sprogget]

Why can't we seemingly go a day without someone taking pot shots at Apple.Another way of looking at that is an intolerance of any view that is not paralel to your own. Why should people unquestioningly accept Apple as the great tech saviour? Diversity should be celebrated, not decried. I challenge everything in my life, I see no reason not to do the same with Apple.

[mixture]

Sprogget,

I am not intolerant of others. I'm involved in the IT industry, it wouldn't do me much good to only be promoting one brand !

What I am intolerant of is people spewing out the same old heavily negative tripe about Apple without actually being able to back it up with hard facts.

Its always the same old rubbish based on personal perceptions with no evidence.

That's what I dislike. I couldn't care less whether people prefer to buy Samsung over Apple for their own use or their business's use .... whatever meets their own needs, desires and requirements.

Look. I know Apple very well. But I also know the other vendors very well (even better in some cases)..... its a fact that the IT industry is a box-shifting industry and therefore they are all largely as bad as each other to a certain extent. However Apple do push out quality product, and I'm not saying that from personal belief, I'm saying that from comparing it to other gadgets their competitors push out. "Fanboi", "hype", "screwing supply chain" and all the usual terminology thrown at Apple.... it's not confined to Apple !

[Milo Minderbinder]

From a repairability point of view, Appple kit is awful. it looks pretty, but try taking it apart to replace a failed drive. For instance a Mac Mini has to be assaulted with pallette knives to safely open it. As as for a unibody.....aaargh

And what I really object to is the way in which apple insists on total control
On an ipad or iphone you can only install apps from people it likes,
And everytime you buy a book or newspaper or other media online - 40% or more of the cost goes to Apple. That doesn't happen with M$

[M.Mouse]

I have to agree with mixture.

I own both Apple and PC machines. I don't particularly like quite a lot about my Macbook Pro but I do not feel the need to argue that all Apple products are rubbish, they are not. Some things about my Macbook I hate, some things I think are very good. Equally, but less so since W7, I can say the same about PCs!

Apple products are undoubtedly stylish and their presentation is second to none. I do find Apple's ability to not only maintain their prices at very high levels but also to do so across the world quite extraordinary. I also find the fervent obsession displayed by some about Apple products as nauseating as it is weird.

If people dislike Apple so much then don't buy their stuff, I actively don't buy anything associated with Rupert Murdoch but I don't feel the need to shout about it.

Horses for courses in the same way people are happy to drive cars I wouldn't be seen dead in.

[peterh337]

I don't have a problem with any of this, but I must disagree with the assertion that Apple has some sort of technological leadership.

It simply does not.

It uses much the same chips as everybody else uses, or the same chips as are available to any other high volume consumer IT producer.

The rest is software, as they say :)

And IOS is the slickest implementation of the "finger interface" currently out. The degree to which this is important depends on what you use the device for. For the simple usage probably intended by Apple i.e. multimedia consumption, this slickness is key to getting the sales.

In every other way, IOS is a pig. A very inflexible, one trick horse. But I can see why Apple did that. If somebody could email you an MP3 with DRM protection, and you could then email that attachment to somebody else, Apple could not have got all those media vendors to come on board.

In some specific ways, the IOS devices are poor.

As a phone, the Iphone is poor. I happen to think that a phone should work like a phone, with a decent reception, etc. It also has weird bugs e.g. incoming GSM texts are OK but incoming calls do not make it ring (reproduced in the shop, too, resulting in a swap). You can throw half a dozen phones on the table in any marginal signal area and you can be sure that the Apple one will be the first to stop working.

For data, the wifi implementation is problematic - see the ~100 page thread on Apple's own "community" from people tearing their hair out with (mostly) the Ipad2 and a large variety of what Jobs would call "edge cases"; basically a load of existing wifi routers and access points. This is a bit of a hot issue in IT, with "Ipad compatible" firmware updates being quietly issued, but you won't get these for a bit of hardware which is no longer supported, which is basically anything over a year old. And the phone has problems determining connectivity between GPRS/3G and WIFI, often resulting in no data access at all. Of course this cannot be reproduced in the shop because they use Apple or specific Cisco APs.

The GPS works well on the ground, with GSM assistance, and is crap without it (e.g. in the air). It has been compromised for low power and has a rubbish Kalman filter, and the API is crippled to not reveal the satellite constellation to the app. The app has to guess whether it is getting real reception, by looking at how the estimated position error figure is varying.

Apple have the best designed app shop whereby you can buy multiple IOS devices and download the apps you have bought into all of them, while paying only once. This is kind of possible with Nokia but is difficult at best. And much as I detest Itunes (whose windows implementation must be one of the worst apps written in the last 10 years) it does actually do a full backup/restore which cannot be done with e.g. a Nokia, or with any device which is not backed up by an online app shop which knows your identity (to keep a lid on bootlegging). However its "sync" is horrible and it's easy to wipe out stuff by mistake.

I don't think discussing these issues is "pro fanbois" or "anti fanbois". I could have written similar stuff on any predecessor, right back to early PDAs some of which were only just usable in narrow applications (e.g. running TomTom in a car holder :) ) and it is no suprise that smartphones have killed the PDA business.

Apple have been astonishingly clever in the way they have created the massive fashion following. Good visual styling, good PR, a high street presence which nobody can even approach.

But a technology leader? No.

Nothing is perfect. I have a Nokia 700 (chosen largely for its small size while doing "everything" the bigger smartphones do) and that has a collection of issues. The finger interface is nothing as slick as IOS. But at least it delivers GSM, GPRS/3G and WIFI connectivity without issues, and is "open" in as much as all the parts which you need to get to are accessible with file browsers, which makes file management possible. And it has cursor keys on the keyboard :) :)

[mixture]

If somebody could email you an MP3 with DRM protection

Yawn. :ugh:

iTunes went DRM-free in January 2009 with DRM fully phased out by spring.

As a phone, the Iphone is poor. I happen to think that a phone should work like a phone, with a decent reception, etc. It also has weird bugs ....

Nonsense. All "smartphones" are vulnerable to "bugs and weird issues". The Blackberry 9900, for example, is ghastly, truly horrendous both in terms of software and its radio implementation .... its the nature of software that the occasional bug exists, and Apple have a lot fewer than many others I could care to mention, plus they do work hard to fix them.

For data, the wifi implementation is problematic

Haven't had much of a WiFi issue myself. And anyway, what do you expect ? For them to test their stuff with every single device on the planet ? They have to draw a line somewhere in terms of QA and then fix bugs as they come up with the others.

However its "sync" is horrible and it's easy to wipe out stuff by mistake.

Don't know how you managed that, I've never had an issue.




Anyway peterh337, I think we'll have to agree to disagree on your point of view. I still don't feel you are looking at things in a rational and unbiased manner.

[Milo Minderbinder]

Apple does it again
Apple users complain new iPad prone to overheating - IT News from V3.co.uk (http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2161866/apple-users-complain-ipad-prone-overheating?wt.mc_ev=click&WT.tsrc=Email&utm_term=&utm_content=Apple%20users%20complain%20new%20iPad%20prone%20 to%20overheating&utm_campaign=Daily%20News%20190312&utm_source=v3%20Breaking%20Technology%20News&utm_medium=Email)

"Scores of disgruntled owners of the new iPad have complained that the tablet is prone to overheating and are considering returning the device just 72 hours after it went on sale"

[KBPsen]

-and also here.

Apple misleading customers on warranties. (http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=20781)

"Consumer groups in eleven countries have written letters to national regulators asking them to put a stop to Apple's misleading advertising on product warranties". "Apple has already been fined $1.18 million in Italy".

[mixture]

Milo/KBPsen,

I can't believe you lot are still sitting up in your ivory towers thinking your vendor of choice can do no bad and that Apple is some big bad monster.

I can probably find hundreds or thousands of examples of non-Apple vendors ending up with similar headlines.

Hardware defects happen, curious contract terms happen ..... get over it and move on with your life ! (I suspect you'll find many other manufacturers with worse warranty terms than Apple).

Anyway, as I said, I'm wasting my time trying to persuade you lot to look at stuff in an unbiased and rational way. So this is going to be my last post on the matter, you lot can continue to rant away on your little soapboxes ! :cool:

[pudoc]

Apple is a industry leader. iPad is the number 1 tablet, iPhone is the number 1 phone. There are no tricks. Millions of people can't be wrong.

Android are in fact changing their software to match that of IOS because they know Apple are onto a winner.

Apple may not be a technology leader, but they have changed the way we think about technology. Kind of an revolution.

Not an Apple fan boy either, I have a HTC. My HTC is better spec wise than the iPhone, but it doesn't gel together with Android and HTC have added their own UI on top of that making the whole phone laggy and basically crap. Let's not forget all those horrid default apps you can't remove. Apple software and Apple hardware gel very very well and because of that they have the upper hand over any higher spec device.

I do have a Macbook though, and I will never ever go back to a PC or any other OS again.

Apple aren't the great honest company they appear to be, but take a look at Microsoft. They get slagged off left right and centre all over the internet.

[KBPsen]

If only I could find a free soapbox.

[ORAC]

just bought an Ipad 3, mainly to use SkyGo to watch the football and F1.

Anyone know if there's an App to set up a UK proxy service so that SkyGo will work when outside the UK?

[Firestorm]

As ever, google is your friend, as I'm sure you know. I used my private network.com (might be .co.uk) whilst in Latvia, and it worked well. I know that some of my mates used different VPNs. Mine was very easy to set up, and cost about £5 per month.

[Milo Minderbinder]

take a look at The UK Proxy VPN Service for Expats from SimplyExpats.net (http://www.simplyexpats.net/)

I've never used it, but it says it can work with iPads

[Milo Minderbinder]

"Apple is facing criticism from customers who bought the new Ipad only to find that its Wifi connectivity apparently is not up to scratch.The company's support forums are ablaze with angry Ipad owners who, having finally got their hands on its latest tablet, find that they cannot get a decent wireless internet connection.
Source: The Inquirer (http://s.tt/1808I) (Angry users bite Apple over poor WiFi on the new Ipad - The Inquirer (http://s.tt/1808I))"

[SpringHeeledJack]

Whilst doing a scan through my laptop yesterday it came up with the unwelcome visitor in the form of a Trojan Horse.......I was both a little suprised and unhappy at the prospect. Anyhow, it was isolated and securely deleted. A friend who works for Apple said that "oh yeah we get customers coming in all the time with these 'issues' and it's a scam of sorts..." You download a demo version of a scan/checker and voila! there you have something that needs the full version to prevent in the future.

Any views from the worldly wise ?



SHJ

[Bushfiva]

Well, do more research before downloading random stuff...

[SpringHeeledJack]

:} In general I don't download much at all that might be dodgy, or at least appear to be. It seemed to have been buried in an RSS feed in the Pubsub folder within the Library folder of the user account and was called FlashBack Trojan Horse 2.0a..... I haven't been a victim of any financial shenanigens and the photos of me and the donkey haven't gone on line :suspect: :), so perhaps it was a wasted effort.



SHJ

[727Man]

http://streamvia.com

£10 for 3months same subscription works on Windows, Mac, Ipad and Iphone

[ORAC]

Thanks.

On an unrelated issue, over the last weekend I found I couldn't log-on to Pprune using my MacBook at home using Safari.

When I tried to log-on Pprune came up with an incorrect password error message. I went through the rigmarole of changing it a couple of times, same thing. Cleared out the cache, cookies etc - same problem.

I can log-on fine using Firefox on the same machine, problem is only with Safari. No changes made to the set up between the time it worked and when it didn't.

Any ideas?

[MacBoero]

You might need to remove a saved password entry for PPrune from Safari's autofill function.

[bnt]

I don't have a Mac, but my landlady has two of their notebooks, and occasionally asks for my help. Recently she had problems with applications such as Safari just not starting at all, so I looked in to it, and I thought I should report what I found in case it helps anyone:

MacBook Pro, about 5 y.o.
OS X Tiger 10.4.11. Yes, I know, and so does she, but her "Mac guy" does that kind of thing. If he can be contacted. I suspect he may be replaced by me at some point in the future.
Microsoft Office 2007 for Mac, up-to-date.

The basic problem had happened before and was known: the hard disk drive was completely full, with 0KB free, and that stops e.g. Entourage from starting with an obscure error about caches. She had previously removed unnecessary applications and archived photos, but it kept happening. To find out where the space was going, I persuaded her to let me open a terminal and run a few commands such as "df" and "du". (I'm a Linux user, and it's all UNIX anyway.)

I found that her Caches folder was taking up a several GB of space, and after some online research, I found that some subfolders could be safely removed. Safari cache, for example. After that and a couple more application removals, there was about a GB free and she could work ... but the disk was thrashing, and we could see the free space dropping like a plane after a bird strike.

More digging commands, and I could see that there was over 1.5GB in an Entourage cache folder. This was an index that Entourage was creating of all her mail. Of which there was plenty, and that was what was filling up the hard drive. It's a setting that Entourage has that indexes mail so it can be found by Spotlight, the OS X indexing system.

She never used Spotlight seriously, she said, so I turned it off in Entourage preferences, and that deleted its index - freeing up almost 2GB of disk in minutes. Then turned Spotlight off entirely and deleted the index (more terminal commands).

So the machine's a lot happier without all that indexing thrashing the disk and filling it up. Turns out that the Entourage Spotlight indexing process is so dumb, it will completely fill up the hard drive to the last byte, which stops Entourage from loading at all. :=

And if anyone wants to tell me I didn't do things "the Apple way", well ... this problem wasn't Apple's fault, and (in any case) I'm not a Mac person, I only care about getting things to work. Sorry ..! :8

* three if you include the PowerMac G3 laptop in the attic!

[Milo Minderbinder]

Thats interesting With just a change of names, you could have been describing the problems with the "Findfast" indexing in Windows 98 !

[mixture]

bnt

OS X Tiger 10.4.11.

Had you been using 10.6, or even better 10.7, you wouldn't have had the majority of problems you've just described. :cool:

Spotlight in particular, for example, has seen major improvements since 10.4 !

[Frelon]

On an unrelated issue, over the last weekend I found I couldn't log-on to PPRuNe using my MacBook at home using Safari.

When I tried to log-on PPRuNe came up with an incorrect password error message. I went through the rigmarole of changing it a couple of times, same thing. Cleared out the cache, cookies etc - same problem.

I can log-on fine using Firefox on the same machine, problem is only with Safari. No changes made to the set up between the time it worked and when it didn't.

Any ideas?

This is interesting, because with my new iPad it will give me the same incorrect password error message when I try to login to PPPune. No other forums are affected, only PPRUNE.

Only on iPad, not on my PC running Firefox.

[Senior Pilot]

On an unrelated issue, over the last weekend I found I couldn't log-on to Pprune using my MacBook at home using Safari.

When I tried to log-on Pprune came up with an incorrect password error message. I went through the rigmarole of changing it a couple of times, same thing. Cleared out the cache, cookies etc - same problem.

I can log-on fine using Firefox on the same machine, problem is only with Safari. No changes made to the set up between the time it worked and when it didn't.

Any ideas?

This appears to have been fixed with this weeks update to Safari, and was caused by a bug in the previous Safari update about 12 days ago :hmm:

[PPRuNe Pop]

JUST in case you have not seen this.

'Rude awakening' for Mac users as cyber attack infects 550,000 of Apple's 'virus free' machines | Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2125496/Rude-awakening-Mac-users-cyber-attack-infects-550-000-Apples-virus-free-machines.html)

PPP

[green granite]

It was always a misconception that a Mac was immune to attacks, it was mainly due to the relatively low numbers not making it worth while for the hacker.

[mixture]

It was always a misconception that a Mac was immune to attacks, it was mainly due to the relatively low numbers not making it worth while for the hacker.

It's still a much better platform from a virus point of view than Windows by a million miles. The chances of you getting infected on Windows remain substantially higher and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Simple fact of the matter is that you do not need antivirus on a mac if you follow basic maintenance steps and common sense when on the internet. I have checked all my macs for the presence of that virus, on none of which I run an AV, and have not found it.

So can we please take the journalistic hype with a pinch of salt. Yes there is something to be aware of, and yes you should exercise caution (whether using a mac or any other computer). But the fact of the matter is that the underlying security posture of the mac platform remains broadly unchanged, and so the world is not going to end tomorrow !

[Senior Pilot]

The new attack was spotted by Russian anti-virus vendor Dr Web.
'We conducted research to determine the scale of spreading of Trojan BackDoor.Flashback that infects computers running Mac OS X,' says the Russian antivirus vendor.

Anyone else spot the vested interest? :=

[Saab Dastard]

I'm not saying that there isn't an element of vested interest, but I for one would hope that AV vendors are those most involved in research and investigation into virus threats, and thus be among the first to discover and publicize them.

SD

[le Pingouin]

Not to mention that 600,000 infected systems would make a nice little bot net.

[Bushfiva]

Antivirus company warns of virus. End user wags finger at "vested interest". Sigh. Sometimes, you have to accept information for what it is: information from a source that might actually have a clue.

[mixture]

I for one would hope that AV vendors are those most involved in research and investigation into virus threats, and thus be among the first to discover and publicize them.

In this instance little research was needed as this exploit is not Apple specific, but actually exploits a bug in Java. Apple subsequently rolled out a Java patch on the 2nd of April.

However, yes, worth keeping an eye on the vendors blogs. The F-Secure blog, for example, is quite a good one. Well respected AV vendor and the blog is fairly independent in its writing style.

[Milo Minderbinder]

what it really proves is the need to keep software - and especially operating systems - up to date and fully patched.
Apple actually patched the vulnerability some time ago - the fact that machines are still infested is due to the users failure or inability to install the patch.
And thats a problem that exists with ALL operating systems

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Simple fact of the matter is that you do not need antivirus on a mac if you follow basic maintenance steps and common sense when on the internet.
So that's just like Windows then. No AV on this box, not needed.

[mixture]

So that's just like Windows then. No AV on this box, not needed.

I wouldn't put it quite like that.

You see, whilst OS X's heritage can be readily traced back to BSD UNIX, the same cannot be said for Microsoft Windows.

As a result, as well as being greater in number, the scope of vectors for Windows viruses are deeper too. This somewhat mandates having something running to give you a helping hand in keeping an eye out for things.

If we take the rather nifty example of the infamous Duqu. That was delivered in a Microsoft Word document (although could have easily been any other document format supporting embedded fonts, e.g. a PDF File) that used the Microsoft Windows font parsing engine as a vector for remote code execution.

This gives you an idea of just how on the ball you need to be if you're planning to run windows without AV (although admittedly, Duqu is not the best example from an AV point of view... but that's because it's said to be written somewhat more competently than your average virus).

[Milo Minderbinder]

So that's just like Windows then. No AV on this box, not needed.

I've just handed back to the customer today a Windows machine that "didn't need antivirus". It was given to me to sort out because all the files on the single hard drive had vanished. The machine would still boot into windows, but that was it. No A/V on it because ";it had never been needed".

So what did I find?
1) A rootkit
2) The entire contents of the drive had a "superhidden" attribute set - this had to be removed (tedious)
3) The entire contents of the drive had all user permissions and ownerships removed - so blocking access. These had to be restored
4) The entire drive contents also had the "hidden" attribute set - this had to be unflagged before any more checks could be done
5) Now a number of restrictive policies appeared whiich blocked file access - these had to be removed
6) the next stage found another rootkit, trojans, keyloggers and a couple of browser hijacks. By now I could get at her files (research thesis and supporting docs) back these up and finally nuke the machine. A tedious and expensive job, which cost the customer dearly. And she found the hard way that Windows computers DO need antivirus software.


And before anyone asks, no the contents of the drive were not visible under Linux. I booted the machine with Knoppix and nothing was visible.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

I imagine that your customer did not follow the "if" part of mixture's post ("if you follow basic maintenance steps and common sense when on the internet") and had only picked up on the "then" part (then you don't need AV).

(I do have AV on the laptop which sometimes connects to the internet without going through a stealth mode NAT router, or at least not one under my control. Using a stealth mode NAT router which I trust, with only trusted boxes on my side of it, counts as "common sense when on the internet" to me.)

[Gonzo]

I'd imagine too that the 'average' Windows user is actually more security aware than the 'average' MacOS user, it is certainly the case in my circle of family/friends/colleagues etc.

I wonder how much of that is down to Apple telling everyone that they don't need to think about security?

[pudoc]

A good Mac anti virus is MacKeeper. But Apple are releasing their own Mac anti-virus this summer.

Never had a virus on my Mac though. Never used Safari, but Chrome does a pretty good job of not letting you access websites that could possibly be infected like in the report.

[hellsbrink]

It's still a much better platform from a virus point of view than Windows by a million miles. The chances of you getting infected on Windows remain substantially higher and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Again, because of the numbers involved. Same as with Android phones v iPhone (or Windows phone, or Bada, or what Symbian exists nowadays). Quantity of users is the biggest draw, as well as the open source OS.



Simple fact of the matter is that you do not need antivirus on a mac if you follow basic maintenance steps and common sense when on the internet. I have checked all my macs for the presence of that virus, on none of which I run an AV, and have not found it.


Simple fact is that at least 500,000 mac users don't have that common sense approach and, honestly, would be the same as windows users who think that the AV that came supplied with their PC is all they need and have never updated something that was only good for 3 months. As the number of users grow, along with the "users" that should have a keyboard lock fitted and only bought the Apple as it's "fashionable", that proportion will grow and lead to something even more attractive to those with bad intentions.

This ain't the first virus on a Mac OS, and it certainly won't be the last. Your "Windows Experience" is on it's way.

[390cruise]

Hi

I have a brand new I pad, and want to load some manuals that are on disc and on my laptop.

I have tried to transfer them to the I pad by sending them as E mail attachments. On arrival it is easy to open and view them, but no options to store them.

The guy in the Apple store said all I should do was down load the I Books app and it would give me the chance to store the manuals there. It does not!!

These manuals are in pdf format, and no, I do not want them stored in 'The Cloud' any more than I want them in my garden shed.

While I have Apple experts attention a second question, a clever guy sold me a Bamboo Stylus with lots of talk of how good it is. It came with a 'quick start guide' which tells me how to personalize it,that it works with an I pad, its spec and a address of their web site but no clue as to how to use it. The web site tell me in glowing terms how good it is, but still no clue how to use it. The box suggests downloading the 'Bamboo Paper' app, can't find it. The guy in the apple store says it does not do anything.

Why does anyone have a stylus?

390

[DuneMentat]

I can highly recommend GoodReader for reading PDF and other docs on the iPad. It also reads big files very nicely.

[graemew]

I like Perfect Reader.
To save your PDFs just tap the screen and in the top right will be options for saving to various apps/places.

[Markfire]

Hi

You can get an external cd/dvd drive to connect to the ipad to load stuff.

regards

Mark

[MacBoero]

If you install the Apple iBooks app (free), the Mail app will include the option to transfer the PDF to iBooks when you open them. Once in iBooks, they stay on the bookshelf.

[First.officer]

I always used iAnnotate for reading my .pdf ops manuals.......more than happy to show you next time I see you MB ?! Or give me a call !

F/o

[Nige321]

This ain't the first virus on a Mac OS, and it certainly won't be the last. Your "Windows Experience" is on it's way.

Not quite. What hasn't been pointed out is that this is NOT a virus, it's a trojan horse. To be infected you have to go to a suitably infected website, be asked to 'update' or download the Flash plug-in, accept that request, ignoring the fact that you haven't gone to the Adobe website, and download and install the plug-in, ENTERING YOUR SYSTEM PASSWORD to do so.:ugh:

You are quite right, there always have been Mac 'viruses' and there will be more, but the Mac is still by miles the safest way to connect to the internet, and probably always will be.

The next major MacOS system update (OSX 10.8) will make life even harder for the hackers... Gatekeeper (http://www.apple.com/uk/macosx/mountain-lion/security.html)

[Gonzo]

Nige, I thought the later iterations of FlashBack didn't actually need the password?

[Nige321]

Nige, I thought the later iterations of FlashBack didn't actually need the password?

That's a new one on me, I've never installed it...!

The point remains, don't install software or updates on a request from a website... Mac or PC!

[390cruise]

Thanks to everyone who made good suggestions.

The end result was a modified version of the solution from MacBoero and indeed 'the guy in the Apple store'.

The modification was after opening the PDF to push 'Open in Safari',
once opened in safari there is an option to send to I books.

I failed in all attempts to go direct.

390

[MacBoero]

That's odd. The iPad must behave differently to the iPhone then, because I have just checked the iPhone mail app again and once you open a PDF attachment, you can hen send it to iBooks. Safari is not involved.

[MacBoero]

I've just checked on my iPad and if you touch and hold the preview of the PDF in the email and a pop up menu appears with:
Quicklook
Open in "iBooks"
Open in...

[Guest 112233]

Just to clarify your post re Stealth routers - I take that to mean that your router does not actively block ports but instead does not reply to uniniated incomming requests - If so I'm doing the same.

I think that the Mac community (and linux in time) will have to follow the same precautions that Windows users have done in the last 10 years or so.

To anyone reading this: there are sites that check the stealth status of your router (that's not the same as your computer by the way) - try putting "checking the stealth status of your home router" into any of your favorate search engines (without the quotes).

The resuls may require a bit of work to clarify but you will be a happy user in the long run.

I have learned the hard way.

CAT III

[mixture]

CATIII-NDB,

You can also set up the Mac to operate in stealth mode. Have a nosy around your system preferences.

[Milo Minderbinder]

"there are sites that check the stealth status of your router"

Best known is Gibson Research

Home of Gibson Research Corporation (http://grc.com)

[Milo Minderbinder]

two items of note on "The Register" today

First is that Apple have released a tool to remove the "Flashback" trojan
Apple finally deploys Mac Flashback Trojan terminator ? The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/13/apple_releases_flashback_removal_tool/)

second is that another OSX/java trojan has turned up in the wild
Yet another OSX/Java Trojan spotted in the wild ? The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/15/new_osx_backdoor/)

[Lon More]

Anyone with a simlocked iPhone s may be interested to know AT&T will now unlock them.
Call 1 800 222 0300 if outside the States. and go to the mobile phone option. You need the 15 cipher IMEI number, best to say the phone was a gift, and expect the call to take some 25 minutes.

If the phone is elligible to be unlocked you'll get a case number and expect to receive an e-mail with further unlocking details (requires iTunes on your computer) For some reason it takes several days to get this info (I was told to expect it on the 26th) but best of all it's free.

[ITman]

Can anyone advise the limitations of using Parallels and Win 7 on the latest iMacs. There now seems to be several versions of the small screen iMac, CPU and disk storage which is the best system to go for.

Sorry for what may seem very basic questions but considering moving to Apple but still need to run Win applications.

Thanks

[MacBoero]

Depends on what you want to do with it...

If you thinking of playing Windows based 3D games, then forget it, use W7 in Bootcamp. If you are just going to use it for less demanding tasks, e.g. office applications and the like, then Parallels will be fine.

I use Oracle VirtualBox to run a Windows XP virtual machine on a quite old MacBook Pro, and it is OK. I have Bootcamp installed with a copy of Windows 7 for more demanding applications, but rarely do I use it.

[ITman]

Mainly for big spreadsheets and MS Access database applications, no games at all. So would run Office as a Windows App, also would want to CAD drawing. I suspect I would need to increase the RAM from the 4MB to 8MB.

[le Pingouin]

I'm not sure running a CAD program in a virtual machine (VM) is a terribly good idea. You take a performance hit because you're running it virtually and the graphics "card" in the VM is almost certainly considerably less capable than your real one. Think 3D work. These are just general observations on using VMs and not specific to Parallels or Mac.

As you mention the more RAM the merrier because whatever amount of RAM is used by the VM is no longer available to the host system. How much RAM does your Windows PC have? Add a couple of GB for OS X to keep running comfortably and there's your answer.

If you want to buy a Mac by all means do but wanting to run all that Windows software says to me you really should be doing it on a Windows system. VMs are great for occasional light use but not so good for regular heavy lifting.

[ITman]

Many thanks for all the good advice, I really wanted move away from HP desktops they are fast but reliability sucks they just exceed the 3 year extended warranty and die so real pain doing a new build. Currently have 4MB of RAM with 1MB of RAM on the graphics card. Seems like I may need to find another vendor for the CPU box, it would have been nice to break free from Windows...... Thanks for all the advice.

[Milo Minderbinder]

"Currently have 4MB of RAM with 1MB of RAM on the graphics card."

Thats the kind of spec of a 486-based PC from around 15 years ago.
If you are really trying to run a CAD program on that, no wonder there are problems

[ITman]

The problems are HDD crashes and power supply failures, point taken on config of current dead box which is a Quad core CPU, bearing in mind your comment the iMac would perform no worse..

If I went for more RAM 16MB seems to be the limit I sense I should be in a similar performance bracket. Having done some video editing looking at the Mac software will this be as good as the current (high end) offerings that are available and by this I do not mean MS Movie Maker and similar software..

[ITman]

"Currently have 4MB of RAM with 1MB of RAM on the graphics card."

Thats the kind of spec of a 486-based PC from around 15 years ago.
If you are really trying to run a CAD program on that, no wonder there are problems

Oh dear should be GB and not MB total brain failure...

[mixture]

Seems like I may need to find another vendor for the CPU box, it would have been nice to break free from Windows......

and

Mainly for big spreadsheets and MS Access database applications, no games at all. So would run Office as a Windows App, also would want to CAD drawing.

Other than MS Access (which can probably run quite happily in a VM) all the other software is available on Mac ? So you can break free if you're willing to relicense.

[Milo Minderbinder]

What video editing software are you using?
If its one of the offerings from Edius or Adobe, don't even think of using a VM

[ITman]

I am currently using Vegas Movie Studio

[ITman]

I have no issue with purchasing Mac versions of the software, I did a little research on the Mac version of Excel and the functionality is not as rich as the Win version. I could be wrong however but my understanding is that there is no Direct X available on the Mac which poses a problem if you are using drop down down and list boxes or any other Excel objects which are used in the Win versions in spreadsheets.

[Milo Minderbinder]

"I am currently using Vegas Movie Studio "

Then don't even think of virtualisation
Performance hit will be too high
You need all of those four cores and memory of the current machine and more

Go and have a chat with this company Welcome to David Vincent Clarke Ltd (http://www.dvc.uk.com/)
They are specialists in systems for video editing. In the UK they are probably the specialist


PS I have no connection with them, except to have seen / supoportred several of their machines in use, And when I say chat - I mean just that. Ringo and the other chaps there are very helpful

[ITman]

Many thanks Milo you have been very helpful as have the others who addressed my query.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Just like that....I was using it as per usual, nothing out of the ordinary, put the mac to sleep and when I returned Safari just sits there, unable to connect to every website that is tried. I reset Safari, I emptied the cache, I restarted, and I even deleted the '.plist' so that it could rebuild again and all to no avail :ugh: I'm running 10.6.8 and have all the updates added. Strangely the only Safari page that works is the 'Safari extensions', but any attempt to go anywhere else just brings the grey page with 'cannot connect to server blah blah'. All other browsers work fine, Skype, Google Earth etc etc.

Any ideas chaps ?


SHJ

[AppleMacster]

SHJ,

Can you get other browsers to work? Firefox? Opera? You would be able to establish whether it's related to the system or peculiar to Safari.

You could open Console and see what errors relating to Safari it's bringing up.

Of course, try Repairing Disk Permissions in Disk Utility, too.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Thankyou mr macster

Yes, I'm currently on Firefox, working fine (though without any of my bookmarks!). I also did a verify disk and disk permissions and all seemed A-ok. It leaves me puzzled to be honest as I was using it as I ever do and there was no indication of any problems....Any other ideas, please let me know and I'll check in later on today :ok:


SHJ

[AppleMacster]

You could try a Safari reset.

Firefox should be able to import the bookmarks, assuming the bookmarks file associated with Safari isn't corrupted; I've had that happen once. Luckily, they were backed up.

Console can be quite useful in showing what the problems are.

[SpringHeeledJack]

I had a perusal through console, but faced with a wall of data, even in and around the event, I decided to go and see a genius :8 at an Apple store who might cut through the confusion. However, after much faffing around announced that it seemed to be a user account problem and that I should do a back up and then do an erase/restore of the whole OS! As I'm the only user and there was no and seems to be no problem otherwise it is all a bit strange to be honest. It's so rare that I ever had a software problem I find myself being somewhat annoyed...


SHJ

[mixture]

SpringHeeledJack,

Have you tried setting up a new user account and using that for a couple of days to see if it's any better ? You may just have a corrupted user profile.

[SpringHeeledJack]

I've set up a new user profile and Safari is working again, though without my one million and one bookmarks! As to how my user profile got corrupted beats me :confused: It would be nice just to delete my user profile after transferring all data across to the new one, but I'm sure that would just transport any corrupted data over to the new profile ?


SHJ

[mixture]

SpringHeeledJack,

Profile corruption on OS X is rare, but it does occasionally happen (normally if you've a fair bit of software installed and you've done upgrades to newer versions of OS X)

Fortunatley for you, OS X is BSD based (although I admit, the following concept can be used in Windows too !).....

Simples.... now you have a working profile.....

(a) For your files and general clutter, just give your new user permission to access your old user's home directory then you can continue to access that like you would any other folder......

1/ Apple-N
2/ Apple-Shift-G goto "/Users" (no quotes)
3/ Apple-I on the folder corresponding to your old user
4/ Add your new user to the sharing & permissions list and give yourself full (read & write users)
5/ Close the info window
6/ Drag the folder to the shortcuts bar on the left for ease of access in the future

(b) For you safari bookmarks.....

1/ File -> Export bookmarks on your old user
2/ File -> Import bookmarks on your new user

[Algy]

Running OS-X on Macbook Pro with latest Acrobat Reader and browsers.

All of a sudden...whenever browsing to a page which is a pdf, none of the content is displayed. The link appears to open but just white space where the pdf document should be.

A page like this for example http://www.easa.europa.eu/certification/docs/deviation/Temp%20Deviation%20D-28%20A400M%20Unnoticd%20Speed%20Brake%20Autoretrctn.pdf

In some cases Save Link works and I can then view the pdf on the hard drive (and all my pdf files are working fine in A. Reader). Also, Quick View in Google works when available.

Tried reloading A. Reader.

I'm baffled. Any ideas???

[luca321]

Hi,

I want to buy Oxford's "Essential GCSE Maths and Physics" package (OATmedia Products (http://www.oatmedia.com/proddetail.asp?prod=EMP12%5F)), but I can't work out if the software will work on my new Macbook Pro.

Can anybody help me? :uhoh:

Thank you,

Luca!

[Milo Minderbinder]

Algy

which web browsers have you tried?
do they all give the same problem?

However, try this from another forum

Go to /Library/Internet Plug-Ins
Move the Adobe PDF Viewer plugin to the Trash.
Restart the Mac.

[Bushfiva]

Luca, From the link you posted, they're Windows products.

[mixture]

luca321,

Do you have Parallels / VMware Fusion running on your mac ? The products might work fine under an emulator.

[luca321]

No, I haven't! Are Parallels or VMware Fusion worth buying? Do they let me access all window's programs?

[MOSTAFA]

Any help greatly appreciated.

Working on putting a large set of FRCs on my IPad using the 'Numbers' App.

Basically most sheets are just simply Jpegs of the real thing (about 200). I then had to create all the warnings cautions' on a sheet. Now I would like to touch a cell on this page and get it to direct me to the corresponding Jpeg sheet. I can do it on excel but somehow the same does not work on the numbers app. Any numbers experts out there?

[Air Soul]

Have you tried creating the spreadsheet you want in Excel, then opening it in Numbers?
I've done this with some relatively complex spreadsheets (difficult formulae and embedded charts) and they work well.

[le Pingouin]

luca321, another option is Virtualbox, which is free:
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

I use it on Linux and it works well.

With any of the virtualisation software (Virualbox/Parallels/VMware) you need to bring your own copy of Windows and install it in a virtual machine (VM). You can then install Windows based software in the same VM.

[Agaricus bisporus]

Having finally had it with poxy Vista I've done the deed and got a (used) macBook Airbut am struggling to do much more with it than surf the net. Previous owner reloaded the OS as a fresh installation and I've downloaded the latest updates. This thread looks superb but it is so big it is hard to find what I need, no doubt its here somewhere! Bear with me!

Although I am supposed to have ilife (its automatically there, right?) there is no word processor except a toy thing called Text Edit and no photo management programme, shouldn't I have iphoto? If I do its not in the dock - how do I find it? Why wouldn't it be there? I have looked everywhere I can think of but no joy. Is this the best prog for basic photo management and filing - I don't mess with them so simple filing is about all I need.

Which word processor is recommended?
Is Firefox an improvement on Safari?

I can import MS Word files from my PC but can't open them - aren't .doc /.docx files compatible - I thought they were?

Ipad. I want to sync my ipad 2 with the new macbook but it tells me that I can't sync with two computers and must delete the content of the ipad before I sync it with the (empty) macbook. I want to sync the ipad up to the macbook. Can I? Esp keen to get diary/calendar datail across, either from the ipad or the old PC where it is in Outlook format. How to?

Best way to transfer data between PC and MAc? Wireless? Bluetooth? (Can't make them pair)? Currently the only way that's worked is an ext hard drive but that's a bit clunky tho I can live with it.

Any must have progs I should know about?
Any online resources that will help a mac newbie to break the ice?

Scuse the dumb questions - this is all very new!

[mixture]

Agaricus bisporus,

Welcome to the Mac world, and congratulations on making the switch.

Although I am supposed to have ilife (its automatically there, right?)
See "Restoring iLife applications after Internet Restore of OS X Lion" here (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718)

Which word processor is recommended?
Try the stuff that comes with iLife first.

Is Firefox an improvement on Safari?
No, its a bloated memory-hog. Safari is great. But hey, it's a free download, so you can try it out if you want.

I can import MS Word files from my PC but can't open them - aren't .doc /.docx files compatible - I thought they were?


Get iLife on there and you'll probably find this question answers itself.

Best way to transfer data between PC and MAc? Wireless? Bluetooth? (Can't make them pair)? Currently the only way that's worked is an ext hard drive but that's a bit clunky tho I can live with it.

You should always have a backup on external HD anyway.... :cool:

Crossover ethernet cable (or standard ethernet cable via your internet router) between the two. Then enable the appropriate option on System Preferences -> Sharing (I think it's the "File Sharing" one you want).

Any must have progs I should know about?


Don't clutter up your computer with other people's junk. :E

What sort of stuff do you like doing ? e.g. Photo editing ?

Any online resources that will help a mac newbie to break the ice?

MacOSX Hints (hints.macworld.com) for neat tips and tricks
Macworld Forums (Forums - Apple Discussion, Macworld Chat - Macworld UK (http://www.macworld.co.uk/forums/))
Some random little website called PPRuNe :E

I'll try to dig up some more beginner sites too...

[Agaricus bisporus]

Thanks very much Mixture - just what I needed.

But...That procedure to reload ilife just doesn't work. I get my desktop every time...

[Background Noise]

You won't necessarily have iLife - it comes with new machines but not with OSX when purchased separately and who knows what the previous owner has done. However, you can get the individual apps through the Mac app store, which you should have with Lion. 'Office' types apps are not in iLife anyway, they are in iWork, but they too are available separately.

If you need/want to run windows software you can do it from within a 'virtual machine' but for that you need the virtualisation software (e.g. VM Fusion or Parallels) and Windows itself. These are mac programs which allow you to run windows. Alternatively, you can use bootcamp, which does come with your OS, (you will still need a copy of windows) - this allows you to boot your macbook air into either OSX or Windows.

[MacBoero]

I use Oracle VirtualBox, which runs Windows XP well enough for the odd task that requires Windows. I even tried Windows 7 on it, and that works, but is noticeably more sluggish as it is far more demanding on the virtual machine.

Whether or that is all worth it, depends on what Agaricus bisporus is going to use the machine for.

TextEdit is actually more useful than many people give credit for. I use Office 2010 on Windows at work, but I can prepare a lot of the text at home in TextEdit, because it can read and write MS Office .DOC and .DOCX files. It is certainly good enough for basic home correspondence and document writing. Compatibility is not perfect, so complex Office files imported into TextEdit may lose some formatting though.

As for transferring you iPad have a read of this : https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2431472?start=0&tstart=0

PCs and Macs can file share over a network, but it can be difficult to set up. I have encountered Windows machines that refuse to mount Mac shares and vice versa, even when settings are identical to other working pairs. My preference is to use external drives, but make sure they are FAT32 formatted for maximum compatibility. NTFS is OK for a one way transfer from PC to Mac, as the Mac can read NTFS, but won't write to them. NTFS is preferred if you need to transfer very large files, i.e. over 4GB.

[Agaricus bisporus]

Great info guys, thanks.

iCal question.
How do I assign colours to calendar entries? There are various screenshots on help and guides showing entries in all sorts of colours but I can't see any reference how to do this.