Recommended Mac Technical Support Guides

In the spirit of technical and IT equality, we now offer some Mac tech support guides that you can run to if you need support for your MacBook. Since most guidelines and advice seem to center on Microsoft users, most especially with Windows and Office, this is a rundown on how you can get official and efficient support if you are a MacBook user.

http://support.apple.com/manuals/

If you’re a Mac user, where else can you get the support you need than from the official site itself? To save you time browsing through the pages, you can immediately go to the support manuals. Almost all Mac products are covered including Quick Start Guides for the iMac, Mac Mini, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro. Complete guides are provided for all iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch using iOS 8.1. User guides can be downloaded in PDF.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac

For Mac users who need to use a compatible Microsoft Office suite for their Mac computers, then this guide is for you. It guides in installing and how to use the Microsoft Office 365 specially made for Mac computers. Options are given in selecting either the Office 365 Home for families or home use or the Office 365 Personal for work. The guide introduces you to using Word 2011, PowerPoint 2011, Excel 2011, and Outlook 2011 on your Mac computer. One Note for Mac is also specially made for Mac users. There is complete support that includes instructional ‘how-to’s’ and downloads, how to purchase, activations, and product helps.

https://www.apple.com/support/mac-apps/

Naturally, if you’re a Mac user then you’ll be using a lot of Mac apps, and this guide site gives you the support you need for these. You’ll find complete resources and content options, up-to-date programs, and even a boot camp on how to install Mac apps or how to purchase from the Mac App Store. You’ll find such apps as Safari, Quick Time, iPhoto, iMovie, Mail, Messages, iBooks, and the like all covered by this guide.

https://www.apple.com/support/itunes/

What’s a Mac user if they don’t use iTunes? Everyone listens to music and Mac users are exclusively hooked on iTunes since most pirated MP3’s, MP4’s, and other music formats not from iTunes won’t run on Mac computers. Every support you need for iTunes is in this guide, and of course, you get to download your music from here as well. The guide completely covers accounts and billing, installation and updates, downloading, sharing and managing content, and even syncing and transferring content.

http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/support/

The Parallels Desktop for Mac lets Mac users run both Windows and Mac OS X applications side-by-side in complete compatibility to each other. All you need is to follow this guide and there are even detailed guide questions that you can follow.

Some Habits that Can Make Your Computer Run Better and Protect It Online and Physically As Well

It’s been proven that bad habits can be made worse by technology. So, instead of getting used to these bad habits, and invite bad things that may happen to your computer, you can use technology to break these bad habits and create good habits. When you get used to these good habits, you'll soon see the results of a computer that runs better and protecting it both from online attacks and physical deterioration.

Never leave equipment in plain sight

This is one habit you should practice, because very often, people have the bad habit of leaving their computers in plain sight while taking their coffee orders or going to the bathroom. It doesn't take long for someone at a nearby table or near the window to react to the temptation and snatch up your laptop. This is a non-techy and no brainer habit that will keep your hard-earned computer safe.

Not cleaning your equipment

Here’s another non-techy no brainer for you; always get in the habit of cleaning your computer, especially your laptop, at least once every 6 months. Dust and grime is the worst enemy of computers because it will prevent the fans inside to function properly, heating up the inside, clog optical-drive mechanisms and other moving parts, and will cause internal damage.

Always back up data

Notice that the first and second tips are non-techy and practical, since most tips given are technical in nature. Now, this one is the most ignored until something happens to the computer, and after the crash, you wish you had backed up your important files. Get into the habit of backing up your data; you can use cloud-storage systems, or do it physically by using external disks, adding another hard disk to your PC, or burning your data onto CD’s or DVD’s.

Using different passwords and frequently changing passwords

Here’s a habit that can't be emphasized enough; in this age of hacking and identity thieves, you need to get into the habit of having different passwords for every online account you have, including social media sites. Not only that, the passwords need to be really hard to hack; your birthday or wedding anniversary just won't cut it because these can be easily figured out. Also, change your passwords at least every 6 months.

Never fail to update

Software updates are released and very important because it’s a way for developers to add features, fixes bugs, and plug security holes. More importantly, operating system and security software updates keep equipment stable and secure. Even if updates are automatic, you still need to reboot. Rebooting is also important because it refreshes the system while properly reflecting everything that was installed or updated.

Don’t open up or respond to spam

Make it a habit to go over your spam folder and delete everything without opening or responding to anything. This is where the most viruses and malware hide, and when you open the links or respond to the spam, you leave your computer open to cyber-attacks.

If you follow these good habits, you'll not only prevent your equipment from being attacked or hacked, but you’ll extend their lifespan as well.

Common Types of Errors That Can Cause Your Computer to Crash

A crashing computer usually occurs when the hard disk drive fails to function properly and information stored on your computer can no longer be accessed. This can be fatal, especially if the information that needs to be accessed is from the operating system. Hard disk failures that lead to crashes for a number of reasons can range from hardware life expectancy to human error.

Not using a proper UPS

Electricity is not a steady and uninterruptible supply because it can be disrupted by power surges, power fluctuations, electrical storms, and power outages. A sudden shut down due to a power cut can damage the hard disks and later cause the computer to crash. Consider investing in an UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) as this will give you a few minutes to properly shut down should electrical power be suddenly cut.

Allowing for Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old, it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. Another cause of overheating through human error is by not allowing enough air flow around the CPU, particularly at the back portion where air is sucked in to cool the CPU and the hot air is blown out. One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU.

Software

A common cause of a computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. To avoid this problem, properly install any software by strictly following its installation instructions.

Printers

Not many people are aware that human error caused by printers can cause a computer to crash. The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file. This is called a postscript file. Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer, which can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer’s performance. If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognized, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up using a cold boot will restore the printer's default settings.

Viruses

Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. The human error here is when the user doesn’t install an anti-virus or anti-malware software, or if the software isn't updated regularly.

Computer crashes can destroy your hard disk drive in an instant, and recovery of important information may be difficult. Backing up your data, and using simple preventive techniques can save you from the headache of a hard drive crash.

Android Apps that Help You Relax and Concentrate

For most people, the day is composed of meetings, deadlines, chores, and what not. This everyday routine can become very stressful and may affect ones effectiveness and productivity. In this crazy world, there are moments when you just want to sit back and relax; gather your thoughts and be inspired.

For some, having the right kind of sound can relax their mind, find their center, help them focus, zone out distractions, and get their adrenaline pumping to finish what needs to be done.

Ambient sounds can add a level of comfort to the environment to help you relax and concentrate. Whether it is listening to the rain while you sleep, having a crackling fire while reading a book, or listening to the sound of waves crashing to the shore while you work. But since not everyone is fortunate enough to live near the beach, or can't control the weather, we can always rely on artificial means to recreate these sounds.

Here are some Android apps that provide ambient sounds to help you relax and concentrate.

Ambiance

Ambiance is said to be an environment enhancer app that helps you create the perfect ambient environment for you to relax and focus by playing different sounds in the background. It contains over 2500 exclusive ambient sounds for free and has over 8 million sound downloads. You can choose from the usual sounds like wind chimes, rain, and waterfall; to urban sounds like airports, shopping centers, and bars. In addition, Ambiance allows you to download only the sounds you want in order to save memory space. Furthermore, it allows you to create custom sound mixes and playlists, as well as associate each with a specific task.

You can download Ambiance at the Google Play Store for only $2.99.

Ambio

Among all ambient apps, Ambio has arguably the best visual. Its user interface is sleek and modern — perfect for any Android device. It has a hundred high-quality sounds to choose from. You can even create your own unique mixes using sounds and music from your SD card. What's good about Ambio is that it allows mixes to keep playing even when the app is running in the background.

Ambio is available for free at the Google Play Store.

Relax Melodies

Relax Melodies is one of the best and most popular sleep aid apps in the Android market. It comes with high-quality white noise sounds and music melodies, including customizable mixes to help you relax and concentrate. Relax Melodies is the ideal app to induce sleep and create a relaxing mood. It also works great when doing yoga. With its 46 sounds and music, you can use it whenever you please. Its colorful user interface is user friendly, arranging sounds on strings to make switching from one sound to another very straightforward.

Some might look down on Relax Melodies' smaller sound selection compared to other similar apps in the market. However, it is perfect for people who do not want to choose from a large selection.

Relax Melodies is available at the Google Play Store free of charge.

White Noise Concentration

White Noise Concentration is another app that promotes sleep and helps in relaxation. Unlike other similar apps, White Noise Concentration does not have any themes, nor does it have thousands of sounds to choose from. It boasts on its simplicity and of its use of white noise to help insulate the brain and enhance concentration. However, this app is not for everyone since it is only limited to white noise.

White Noise Concentration is available for free at the Google Play Store.

Nature Sounds Relax and Sleep

Nature Sounds Relax and Sleep is an app that is very similar to White Noise Concentration in the sense that it only provides nature sound effects to help you relax and concentrate. There are no musical instruments and white noise to choose from. All you have is pure nature sounds.

It has 6 good quality nature sounds to choose from, which includes thunder, ocean sounds, bird sounds, rain, night in jungle, water sounds, waterfall, and nature.

Nature Sounds Relax and Sleep is the ideal app for relaxing and promoting sleep, since nature sounds is well-known in calming the mind. Not only that, nature sounds relaxation technique is used in anger management, cardiac health, depression therapy, general well-being, headache therapy, high blood pressure, immune system support, insomnia therapy, pain management, and stress management.

The apps' user interface is very basic, with its straightforward menu that is used for switching between sounds.

You can download Nature Sounds Relax and Sleep for free at the Google Play Store.

 

Tools That Will Help You Check If a Website is Safe for Browsing

There are mixed opinions when asked whether the Internet is still safe. Some would say yes, while some will say no. There are hundreds of thousands of websites out there but you can't tell whether a particular website is safe for browsing or not. There are widespread links on some sites that may lead you to spam websites, install malicious software on your computer, steal confidential information, and so on. Even if you have a good antivirus program installed, you can still not be sure whether the link you're about to click is safe or not.

If you would like to practice extra caution and find out whether a website is safe to go to, check out below some useful tools that you can use to help you keep safe on the Internet.

Norton Safe Web
This is a simple and easy-to-use online tool that lets users find out whether a certain website is safe for browsing or not by simply entering the URL of the site you want to check. The Norton Safe Web tool will generate a complete threat report for you. The tool will scan the website for eighteen different types of threats, which includes viruses, malwares, Trojans, downloaders, remote access software, information stealers, and others. For more information about this tool, visit the Norton Safe Web support site.
Web of Trust (WOT)
Another popular utility that helps users find out the reputation of any website on the Internet. Web of Trust add-ons are available for different browsers that shows the trustworthiness of any website right inside your browser. Users can even rate different sites using WOT to help other users stay safe online. To use this utility, simply enter the URL in the field provided at the upper-right corner and it will display the detailed report about the site. It is recommended that you install the WOT browser extension to find out the authenticity of any website.
Online Link Scan
If you just want to know whether you should open a certain website or not, choose Online Link Scan. This service will scan the website for viruses, malware, spyware, and Trojans. It uses other online tools such as AVG, Google Safe Browsing, etc. to check the authenticity of any website. After entering the address of the website you want to check, wait for the service to show the results. For more information about this tool, visit the Online Link Scan website.
McAfee SiteAdvisor
The McAfee Site Advisor is another handy tool that also performs analysis whether the site you want to visit is free from any threats or not. To use it, locate the text box named View a Site Report on the right sidebar, where you will enter the website you want to be checked, and then click on View Report. The utility checks the website for email test, download tests, online affiliations, and annoyances. The email test checks the site for any spam emails when the users sign up on the website for newsletter or any other purpose. The download test checks the site's downloadable files and determines if they are trustworthy. Online affiliation, on the other hand, pertains to the linking practices of the website like advertisements, etc. And lastly, the annoyances test the overall website and check if there are any pop ups or anything that will make the website difficult to view and navigate. If you want to know more about this utility, visit the McAfee Site Advisor website.

Top 5 Best File Managers for Android Devices

Having an open operating system has its advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is it allows users to access the phone as a mass storage device, which makes file transfer a whole lot easier. File transfers between Android devices and a computer is as simple as plugging in a USB cable and launching your computer's file manager. If you know how to root your device, you can even get access to the core system files. This has been a major benefit Android has over Windows and iOS. However, you wouldn't be able to take full advantage of this perk if you do not have the right application. Here are five of the best file managers apps you can install on your Android device.

AntTrek Explorer File Manager

AntTrek Explorer is advertised to be the most intuitive, useful, and simple to use file manager in the Android Market. It is highly customizable allowing you to change to different themes and it comes with double panels for a more convenient file management. Like any other file manager app, it allows you to browse, copy, paste, delete, rename, send, zip, unzip over Linux-file entry. Also, it allows you to seamlessly move and copy files with the Drag and Drop Anywhere feature.

AntTrek Explorer is available for download for free at the Google Play Store.

Astro File Manager

Astro File Manager is a file explorer app that allows you to organize, view, and retrieve all of your photos, videos, music, and documents. It helps you manage all your files regardless of where they are stored, whether in your Android device, cloud, or in your computer. With Astro File Manager, you will be able to perform broad searches across all locations as well as perform very specific file searches based on the file name, size, location, etc. Furthermore, it allows you to transfer files from one cloud to another with a simple copy or move/paste, without having to download them first.

What makes Astro differ from the rest is its tight integration with Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, SkyDrive, and even Facebook. Another major plus is its built-in backup and task killer, which enables you to easily back up apps and kill tasks or processes that drain your battery life.

Astro File Manager with Cloud is available for download free of charge at the Google Play Store.  

ES File Explorer File Manager

ES File Explorer is one of the most popular file managers for Android devices. It is a free, full-featured file and application manager app that allows you to delete, rename, share, search, and cut/copy/paste folders to different destinations. ES can also function as task killer, download manager, cloud storage client, FTP client, and LAN Samba client. It is compatible with Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Box.net, Sugarsync, Yandex, Amazon S3, and Ubuntu One. It can also provide access to photos, videos, music, documents, and other files on your Android devices and your computers. It has a built-in ZIP and RAR support and can function as cache cleaner and autostart manager by deleting junk files that take up valuable storage space.

ES File Explorer File Manager is available for download at the Google Play Store free of charge.

OI File Manager

OI File Manager is an app that allows you to browse your SD card, create directories or folders, and rename, copy, move, and delete files. It can also show a list of files with thumbnails for images, send files via email, and act as an extension to other applications to attach files. What's great about this file manager app is that it is very simple and very easy to use. A simple copy and paste is all you need. In addition it does not eat up a lot of memory (1MB) and it runs smoothly on any Android device.

You can download OI File Manager for free on Google Play Store.

X-Plore File Manager

X-Plore File Manager is another dual-paneled file manager in the Android Market. Its dual-directory user interface allows you to easily copy and paste items between two folders by swiping left to right. X-Plore File Manager includes the ability to share and view files through the built-in viewers for text, video, and photos, and manage multiple files at once. It also includes Wi-Fi, SSH, and FTP file transfer as well as provide access to cloud servers such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.

X-Plore File Manager is available on Google Play Store free of charge.

Top 5 Perfect Laptops for Gamers 2014 Edition

Gaming laptops are not defined as good enough performance. They're about screaming fast speeds, delivered via a combining power of the fastest processors and most powerful graphics cards you can pack in something that's portable. The very best gaming notebooks can play almost any "memory hungry" titles without breaking a single sweat.

A superb gaming laptop should also offer a high resolution display that absorbs you in that 3D world, as well as speakers with booming sound. Other vital factors include a comfortable backlit keyboard and a hear-turner design, not to mention attractive customizable lighting effects that will complete the package of an ultimate gaming experience. Check out some of the best gaming laptops you can buy in every size and price range.

Overall Best Gaming Laptop
Alienware 17	It's now more powerful and just as gorgeous. Some of the significant upgrades integrated into the Alienware 17 includes a faster Core i7 processor and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 880M GPU. The laptop's sexy chassis, colorful 1080p display with wide viewing angles, and awesome keyboard lighting effects continue to create awe, not to mention its superb audio system. All in all, the Alienware 17 is confident enough to provide the ultimate combination of design, audio, and power among other gaming laptops around. Price range from $1,399
Best 17-inch Gaming Laptop
ASUS ROG G750JZ-XS72	This laptop is a sure looker, especially for those car enthusiasts, as this beast sports a part Lamborghini and part stealth fighter design. The ASUS G750JZ packs the new Nvidia GeForce GTX 880M GPU, which is currently the world's fastest laptop graphics card. In addition to that, the notebook is also armed with an Intel Core i7 CPU, 32GB of RAM, 1 TB hard drive, and dual 256GB SSD in RAID 0. Price range from $2,999
Best 15-inch Gaming Laptop
MSI GS60 Ghost	MSI's GS60 Ghost is one of the lightest and sleekest gaming notebooks in the world, weighing only 4.2 pounds and sporting a slim 0.78-inch profile. It also features a 15-inch 1080p display is so cool, you'll think you've been sucked into that first person shooter. Its 1920 x 1080 display delivers all the visual satisfaction we can expect from an MSI panel. The company will also offer a 3K edition laptop that features a 2880 x 1620 screen. Its colorful backlighting is pretty bright, allowing you to easily type in dim settings. Overall, the MSI GS60 Ghost provides lightweight portability with powerful graphics, fairly good battery life, and a lovely wide-angle 1080 display resolution. Price range from $1,799
Best Portable Gaming Laptop
Razer Blade 14	Razer didn't stop at having the world's thinnest notebook -- it sharpened the latest Blade model to a fine edge with some relevant updates. The new Blade 14 still retains its predecessor's stunning design, but adds a QHD+ 3200 x 1800 touchscreen display and Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M GPU graphics card. This portable gaming laptop is a perfect example of power, portability and beauty -- having one will make you feel like a winner. Price range from $1,999
Best Budget Gaming Laptop
Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p	Gamers looking to buy a powerful system without breaking the bank will find a lot to love in the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p. This notebook comes loaded with a fast Haswell quad-core processor, dual Nvidia GPUs in SLI configuration and a 1TB drive to install all of your Steam games with still having extra room to spare. You'll surely appreciate the bright and crisp 1080p display and JBL speakers. Overall, you won't find a better gaming notebook at an affordable value than the IdeaPad Y510p. Price range from $870