Frequently Asked Questions...
I’ve heard ’em all!
My job is never, ever boring. Without fail, every week I'm confronted with new and interesting problems and questions, and I savor the challenge of finding a solution to a glitch, or coming up with a metaphor to explain an arcane technical concept in terms that my client can understand.
Below is just the tiniest sampling of questions with which I’ve helped my clients over the years. Forgive me for not including the answers — that’d take forever. :-)
Below is just the tiniest sampling of questions with which I’ve helped my clients over the years. Forgive me for not including the answers — that’d take forever. :-)
Basic
- My Mac/iPhone/iPad says I’m running out of storage space and it's acting very strangely — what can I do?
- I’m constantly being reminded to install upgrades or updates — is it safe to do so?
- How can I keep track of all of my different passwords and accounts?
- How can I get rid of hundreds or thousands of duplicates in my photo library?
- I think I downloaded malware onto my Mac — how do I get rid of it?
- What’s the difference between a left-click and a right-click?
- How do I make my iPhone and iPad stop pinging every time I get an email?
- Why can’t I get on the internet?
- Why won’t my Mac turn on?
- How can I put files into folders?
- Apple changed a bunch of things in the last OS upgrade. How can I get my Mac back to the way I like it?
- Why can’t I get my Finder trash to empty?
- In a list of items, how can I select more than one at a time?
- Can I make my web browser show a different page when I open it?
- How can I print only specific pages in a document?
- Why are my text columns not lining up in Word?
- How can I stop that spinning beach ball from appearing?
- My Mac is completely frozen and unresponsive — what do I do?
- Why won’t my iPhone start up?
- How do I change my printer's ink cartridge?
- How can I deal with all of the spam in my inbox?
- Why doesn’t my iPhone ring for an incoming call?
- What does iCloud do?
- Why won’t my Mac connect to my wireless keyboard (or mouse, or trackpad)?
- How should I clean my screen and keyboard?
- How can I keep my Mac's screen from dimming while I’m working?
- I’m sick and tired of AOL; can you help me switch to a different email provider?
- How can I keep my iPhone battery from draining so quickly?
- My Downloads folder contains hundreds of items; what can I throw away, and what do I need to keep?
- Why are my emails no longer in chronological order?
- How can I automatically add my signature at the end of each email?
- Why is the list of sent emails on my Mac different than my iPhone?
- How can I create groups of contacts?
- How can I import an Excel file of addresses into my contacts?
Intermediate
- How can I make my wireless network reach the far corners of my home?
- Why is my laptop so warm and its fan is running at high speed?
- This file is too large to email; what can I do instead?
- I’m running out of internal storage space; can I move my files to an external hard drive?
- How can I get rid of duplicates in my iPhoto/Photos or iTunes library?
- How can I rearrange the icons on my iPhone/iPad home screen?
- Why is iCloud not syncing my contacts and calendars between all my devices?
- Why does is my Word toolbar missing so many of its buttons?
- Someone needs a photo from me; what does print resolution vs. web resolution mean?
- How can I send an email newsletter to hundreds or thousands of recipients?
- Which online backup service do you recommend?
- How can I monitor what my kids are doing on their Macs and iDevices?
- What are the different options for backing up my iDevice to iCloud and my Mac?
- How can I access files on old floppy and Zip disks?
- How can I protect myself from spam and phishing attacks?
- Which of my Apple IDs is used for which features?
- How can I share a live document online for collaboration with others?
- What kind of digital camera should I buy?
- How can I print my boarding passes on an airline website?
- How can I stop the flood of LinkedIn and Facebook email updates?
Advanced
- How can I merge an Aperture and iPhoto library?
- How can I move my photos from Aperture to Lightroom?
- How can I stop Adobe Reader from wanting to display PDFs in my web browser?
- Why won’t iTunes recognize my iDevice?
- I need to move from Microsoft Outlook or Entourage to Apple Mail & Contacts; how can I transfer my address book and thousands of email messages?
- I want to give my old Mac or iDevice to someone else; how can I securely erase all of my information from it?
- How can I knock out a background in Photoshop?
- How do I create a PDF of my InDesign document for high-quality offset printing?
- How do I run Windows on my Mac?
- How do I build my own blog or website?
- How can I find out the name of a particular typeface, and how do I install it on my Mac?
- How can I organize tens of thousands of photos in Lightroom so I can find them easily by date or keyword or rating?
In conclusion, something to ponder...
“Don’t anthropomorphize computers — they hate it.”
-- Andrew McAfee
-- Andrew McAfee
