home and office computer support for D.C., Virginia & Maryland
I recently upgraded a client’s computer from an old spinning hard drive to an SSD (solid state drive) to make the machine much faster. A simple disk clone did not work for Windows 7 to make the disk bootable. To make Windows 7 boot properly, the SID (Security Identifier) had to be updated. This is done easily using Paragon Partition Manager by just checking off the option to change the SID after performing the disk copy.
If you’re looking to sync files between computers, BitTorrent Sync is a great free solution. Previously, I always recommended Dropbox, which is still a great service, especially because it is simple and it keeps a copy on the Dropbox servers, providing extra redundancy. But if you just want computer-to-computer sharing for a couple or many computers, BitTorrent Sync takes out the middleman. It’s fast, encrypted, private, and secure. It’s a great way to move very large files or to create a backup of your files on another computer. Dropbox is sometimes slow and has had security breaches.
BitTorrent Sync is still listed as experimental, but already is quite usable.
The new Logitech Easy-Switch Keyboard
Step 1 – Create a new Service for iTunes Next Track via automator
Launch the Automator app and create a new Service. In that service, Run AppleScript and select no input for what the service receives. The AppleScript tells iTunes to go to the next track. Save the service as iTunes Next Track. You can create a new service and do the same for iTunes Previous Track. It is exactly the same process except change the AppleScript “next track” to “previous track”.
Step 2 – Define the Keyboard Shortcut
Your new Services should appear under Keyboard Shortcuts in System Preferences. They are at the bottom of the Services list. Here you can select the shortcut and then enter the keyboard shortcut you want to use. In my case, I chose to use “option command =” because the = key also has a + on it so + to go next track and – to go previous track. You must choose this shortcut wisely or it may not work. If an app that has focus has the same shortcut, it will overrule this one so you need to choose something that doesn’t seem present in the apps you are using. That’s part of why I had to use “option command” because just one of those with = is already in use in some programs I use.
Fortunately, the play/pause and volume buttons are still there so those don’t need to be re-created on the Logitech Easy-Switch Keyboard. Even though I now have to hit 3 keys at once instead of just the next button, the Logitech Easy-Switch Keyboard is the best wireless keyboard for the Mac.
We reviewed the following docks that feature lightning connectors for the iPhone 5:
There’s a decent WiFi scanning tool built into Mac OS X Mountain Lion. This can be helpful when trying to diagnose interference issues based on channels and signal strength. It’s a bit tricky to find. Go to your hard drive, then the following folders:
System – Library – CoreServices
Then click on the app “WiFi Diagnostics”. Then a window pops up to help you create a diagnostic report. I ignore that and just click on the top menu:
View – WiFi Scan
Then you’ll see this handy program:
If you use this program a lot, you can drag it to the desktop or your Applications or Utilities folder.