Filed under: Features, Troubleshooting, Ask TUAW
Ask TUAW: Silencing iPhone notifications, remote control a PC, printing over the internet, and more
Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we've got questions about controlling a PC over the internet, silencing iPhone email notifications at night, replacing a MacBook Pro SuperDrive with a hard drive, printing over the internet, setting iCal as the default calendar, and more.As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Leave your questions for next week in the comments section at the end of this post. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions.
Jacob asks
Every morning, and sometimes more often than this, iCal pops up with "Would you like to make this the default calendar program" (or words to that effect). How do I stop what is I assume Microsoft Entourage daily deciding to change this setting? (I rarely even run Entourage, so I assume the setting is being changed by something that runs on startup).
I suspect what's actually happening is that the preference is not sticking because the iCal plist is not being saved properly. So try this: Go to ~/Library/Preferences and move the com.apple.iCal.plist file to the Desktop. Now restart iCal and it should ask again if you want it to be the default. When you check yes this time it should stick (hopefully).
You might also try installing the RCDefaultApp Preference Pane and selecting iCal as the default application for ical URLs.
Will asks
On my iPhone... whenever I get an email, my phone beeps, and vibrates. The problem is, that I receive emails constantly, 24x7, and even if I flick the switch on my iPhone, and turn it to vibrate, it constantly vibrates all night. Currently, just prior to going to bed, I go into 'Preferences' and disable the push for the exchange email, and make the imap email, only fetch manually. Then in the morning, I switch it all back. This is quite clumsy, and takes up to 5 minutes, to navigate through it all. In addition to this, I often forget, and subsequently don't receive my notifications until morning. Do you guys have a better solution, or am I the only person in the world who doesn't read their email all night!
Unfortunately, the iPhone does not have a native setting to do this. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to turn vibrate off in silent mode in the iPhone Sounds Preferences. If this is the last thing you do before you go to sleep when you pick up the iPhone the next morning that preference screen will be the first thing you see and you can just flick the switch.
Interestingly, if you dock the iPhone into an audio device it will apparently silence notifications, but still allow the phone to ring. That might be another solution for you.
Christian asks
I would like a way to do a remote screen sharing with my parents PC. I have a MacBook Pro and constantly need to help with the most mundane tasks that would be much easier to simply do than explain.
While you can certainly use Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection to do this, that would require some setup on your folks' end. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to use a web-based service like LogMeIn or GoToMyPc. I'd probably try LogMeIn Free first since, well, it's free. You can also set up a VNC-based solution, but that would require even more complicated setup on your parents' end. It's also easy to set up screen sharing with Skype.
Alexis asks
Yes, check out the OptiBay Hard Drive from MCE Technologies. From what I can tell, the model for your MacBook Pro starts at $179 for a 250GB hard drive and goes up from. It also comes with a USB 2.0 enclosure that you can put the SuperDrive in for use as an external drive.
mail@v1q.net asks
Can you recommend a replacement battery for a non-unibody Macbook Pro 15'?
Given the possibility of problems with non-original batteries, I would really recommend getting your battery from the Apple Store. That said, there are third-party batteries available, like these from FastMac that claim improved battery life over the standard Apple batteries.
kingdavidd asks
I have a unibody macbook (late 2008) running os x 10.5.8 I'm trying to decide if i should by the 24" LED cinema display for my macbook or get one of the new 21.5" imacs ($300 cost difference). what would you recommend i go for? And how can i use the new 21.5" mac as a secondary display for my macbook?
As far as I know, there is no way to use the 21.5" as a secondary display except through the rather kludgy VNC-based application called Screen Recycler. Only the new 27" iMac can be be used natively as an external display (the Mini DisplayPort on the 27" is bi-directional; the 21.5" only has output).
Frankly, if I were you I'd probably just go for a non-Apple external monitor with a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter (or cheaper generic).
Frank asks
I want to be able to print from my house to my parents house. Is there a way to connect a printer to the Time Capsule and share it over the internet using bonjour? I have them connected with the usb cable. I have also set up an account at dyndns.org.
What you need to do is set up a VPN with Bonjour support. Probably the easiest way to do that is with Share Tool ($30 for two computers). While I haven't used it myself, if you install it on both your Mac and a Mac at your parents' house it should allow you to access the Time Capsule-connected printer over Bonjour as if you were connected to your parents' Time Capsule network.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jay said 1:07PM on 11-19-2009
kingdavidd Why not use screen sharing over your network via finder? I do this all the time
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Nick said 1:15PM on 11-19-2009
Re: Will's question... why not just disable new email notification?
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Drifter71 said 2:11PM on 11-19-2009
Or don't sleep with your phone in the same room.
christophercjensen said 1:17PM on 11-19-2009
Re: "OptiBay Hard Drive from MCE Technologies"
What would removing the superdrive and putting in one of these do to the warranty of my 13" macbook pro?
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THJ said 2:50PM on 11-19-2009
If you brought it in to the Genius Bar with the second HDD installed, Apple Care will not service it. If you reinstall the optical drive prior to the repair (and don't destroy anything in the process, then you should be fine, but IANAL
bwreitz said 1:18PM on 11-19-2009
Will: In Preferences>Sounds, just turn the toggle for "New Mail" to OFF.
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Sean said 1:19PM on 11-19-2009
For Will, how about just putting the phone in airplane mode.
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majorapplesauce said 1:21PM on 11-19-2009
I have a mid-2007 MacBook running Snow Leopard. I find that over the course of a week I'll lose 6-9 GB of available disk space that I can reclaim with a reboot. It's like there are temp files or something building up that a reboot automatically cleans up. How do I find these and reclaim the space without a restart?
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Jonathan said 1:56PM on 11-19-2009
@kingdavidd - Mat's right about LogMeIn. It's free for personal use and you can install it on your parent's computer and then access it whenever you need to. Another option that I like VERY much and use pretty often is TeamViewer (teamviewer.com). It does require people to go to the site and click on "Join Session" to get connected but the plugin is super small and connections are fast and easy. It's great because it's free for personal use and can be used to connect to ANYONE's computer really fast. Then it's just like you're sitting in front of their machine no matter if it's Winblows or Mac - it's the defacto remote support tool in my toolbox.
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Drifter71 said 2:14PM on 11-19-2009
Agreed on LogMeIn. I use it with my parent's computer 900 miles away. As long as their computer is on, I can log in and it's mac to PC. Works perfectly.
lanejasper69 said 3:00PM on 11-19-2009
And it gets through firewalls. You can also setup your own password in prefs so you don't have to ask the person on the other end what it is. (It'll show user defined OR a diff password) either will work. Teamview is much faster than logMeIn and the file transfers, speed etc. are amazing. I Love it, on all my friends and families macs and pcs so I can be tech support for the whole damn family!!! LOL
Brett said 10:42AM on 11-20-2009
I use LogMeIn Free constantly. I've got it installed on my Mac Mini, Macbook (unibody 2008), XP laptop at work, my dad's Vista desktop, my sister's XP laptop, and my brother's XP desktop.
At any time I can make any changes I want between any of the machines. My dad/sister/brother needs help, no problem. I have a file at work that I need from home, just log in and email it to myself. I want to set my Mini to download and convert a video file, just log in throughout the day to check the status.
I can't recommend LogMeIn enough; though I gave the free trial of the Pro version a whirl and easily decided it wasn't worth the cost.
Unknown said 2:29PM on 11-19-2009
I'm using a MacBook Pro with Leopard. I get really annoyed when applications in the background immediately jump to the front for attention when I am in the middle of something else. For example, I like to launch apps (especially slow to load ones like Photoshop) in the background while I read email or web pages. But usually once they load, they jump to the foreground uninvited, sometimes several times after I try to go back to whatever I was originally doing.
Is there any way to kill a program's ability to do that? It gets especially bad when I'm launching several programs at once while trying to concentrate on something else. Maybe I'm just a control freak…
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Patrick Doyle said 3:17PM on 11-19-2009
I have an early 2009 MacBook. I have been thinking about getting a wireless keyboard and and magic mouse for it. If I were to do so, what are the chances I could share these (on an occasional basis) with a Linux based PC?
Alternatively, if I were to buy a wireless keyboard and mouse for the Linux box, could I use them with my MacBook?
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Richard said 3:07PM on 11-19-2009
I'm looking at buying a new Quad Core iMac but I'm disappointed at the limited hard drive options available from Apple.
Is there any performance to be gained by using a fast Firewire 800 Drive to boot from and then using the internal drive as backup? I was thinking about a GRaid drive from G-Technology.
I'm mainly using my Mac for Modo, Photoshop and Final Cut so I can definitely take advantage of extra speed but can't really justify a Mac Pro for my home computer.
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lanejasper69 said 3:07PM on 11-19-2009
I sleep with my iPhone because I use Ambience (runs with screen off too) to sing me to sleep to sounds of just about anything from waterfalls, ocean, subways, drums, lions etc. you name it they have it. very cool. anyway.... I turn off all notification sounds before bed, email, sms, etc. etc in the settings pane until I wake so I'm not bothered during sleep. I forward calls to the house phone at night for emergencies. I also turn of push at night too. There is an app that allows you to do this too (scheduled notification silents et.c) but I can't remember the name and believe it requires jailbroken. Anyone remember it?
Thanks
Lane
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Jason said 4:50PM on 11-19-2009
One of the features I miss most from years of using Nokia phones was timed profiles. If you didn't want to be disturbed at night, you could set the phone to the silent profile, and tell it to expire at 7am, for example. I have to wonder if Nokia holds a patent for this feature, because I don't think I've ever seen it on another phone.
Apple should really make it possible to change or turn off the incoming e-mail tone altogether, while still vibrating for incoming e-mail, and allowing the phone to ring audibly for phone calls.
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mofuzz said 5:10PM on 11-19-2009
how bout just TURNING THE FRICKIN PHONE OFF for the night?
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George said 5:15PM on 11-19-2009
Hi guys,
here's one I haven't found the answer to yet - with the new 27-inch iMac, I understand that if you buy two you can hook them up so that the second iMacs screen becomes an extension of the first screen. So you would be using the second iMac as an additional monitor.
However, my question is, is it possible to put mac os x server on the second iMac and have that running as a machine on one's network, at the same time as it's screen being used as an extension to the first iMac?
Thanks.
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nikster said 6:00PM on 11-19-2009
I have a SSD and a 500GB HD in my MacBook Pro. MCE is too expensive IMO, you can just get a caddy from newmodeus for about $40. It fits perfectly in my unibody MacBook Pro 17".
There is much more information, and other options, in this thread, but the newmodeus caddy is the best bang for the buck, for sure. Doing it even cheaper is possible (some even did it with a few wires and duct tape) but if you are going to mod your $2000+ machine you might as well make sure it's solid.
See here for the whole thread:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=680228
And here for the newmodeus caddy:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=7730192&postcount=18
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