Handbrake is an excellent software tool to make a backup copy of a DVD on your MAC. Christopher Breen over at Macworld.com has an excellent article on how to use Handbrake. http://www.macworld.com/article/142301/2009/08/beyond_handbrake_defaults.html.
Looking for Office 2008 for you Mac? If you don’t need Exchange email support this is the best version to buy.
CustomGuide provides some of the best reference guides for applications that use everyday.
Check it out here: CustomGuide
Ever scan a document to a PDF and it turned out really big? There is a great software tool that allows you to compress that PDF. Check it out here: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/compresspdfworkflow.html
One of the most frequent questions that I am asked is how can I remove spyware or adware from my Windows computer? Windows is susceptible to viruses, spyware and adware so it is important to always have protection in place. One of the first things that I do when ever I am setting up a new computer or when I have just reinstalled windows is to install Anti Virus software. I recommend doing this before you ever connect your computer to the network/internet. (See my article on Anti Virus Software) After you are running some form of AV (Anti Virus Software) I recommend making sure your windows computer is running the latest patches/updates. Click here to check for updates. After you have installed Anti Virus Software and ran the latest Windows updates if you are still being plagued by spyware or adware it is time to look to see if you can use some tools from the net to remove the pesky software. Read more…
A great way to colloborate and share MS Office docs.
Evernote has a good thing going: Cross Platform (Windows and Mac) note syncronization with mobile access from iPhone, Windows Mobile, Web OS (Palm Pre), and Blackberry. Very convenient and very easy to use. They have both a free and a paid version depending on what your needs are. Check it out here.
Airfoil is one of the coolest apps invented. It allows you to take sound/music from your computer and pipe it to any Windows, Mac, or iPhone on your network or in your house. This allows you to play the same music on all your computers throughout your workplace or home. This is one of the least expensive ways that I know to have a whole house music system. Use this in combination with your iPhone remote and you can have a great setup. There is a small charge assoicated with this software $25 (Single License) but it is well worth it. Check out Airfoil here.
I constantly get asked the question, “is there anyway to convert this PDF back to word?” Yes there is and Adobe Acrobat Pro is probably the best way to do it. However, that software is very expensive. Here are a couple free online options. Your results may very. Give them a try and see how they do. Leave feedback in the comments if one worked better for you than another.
Quicksilver is one of my favorite Apps for the Mac. Here is a description from the blacktree website: “When opened, it will create a catalog of applications and some frequently used folders and documents. Activate it, and you can search for and open anything in its catalog instantly. The search is adaptive, so Quicksilver will recognize which items you are searching for based on previous experience. It also supports abbreviations, so you can type entire words, or just fragments of each. When not in use, Quicksilver vanishes, waiting for the next time you summon it.”
As promised in a previous post here is my Quicksilver Tutorial Series. Make sure you have Quicksilver downloaded. You can download it here.
Tutorial 1: Getting Started With Quicksilver
Tutorial 2: Quicksilver The Guide from the Apple Blog
More advanced tutorials to follow shortly…
Awhile back I was asked if it is recommended to run AV software on the MAC. Apple came out with this response: “Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult,” However, when I went to find this original comment on their support website it seemed to be removed. Information week explains their thoughts about this comment. See here. Check out this users question from Apples support site. In my opinion there is no great AV software solution out there for the MAC. I think most of the software out there will probably result in slowing down your computer and will provide little or no help at detecting threats. The MAC OS is still relatively protected in the virus arena. However, with time and with the growth of Apple I imagine that one day soon we will all be running robust AV software on our MACs. In the mean time if you are interested in running an on demand scan the best software out there seems to be ClamXav. A colleague also told me about this product iAntivirus which I haven’t had a chance to look into yet.
To learn more about this subject read this excellent article from Macworld.
Techbargains
