02-01-2010, 12:29 AM

hello, im new to the mac world. i just purchased my white unibody macbook last tuesday. i haven't had any problems with it until now. ive looked everywhere online and nobody seems to have straight answer for any of these problems.
1. my youtube is unbearably slow, is it really a os x problem?

2. tonight my aim ichat disconnected me, then i lost all wifi connection completly and couldn't get it back for a good while. it was as if none of the wifi in my area existed. my ichat has disconnected me twice and i have restarted my computer quickly to aviod loosing my entire wifi network.

3. now, my internet is just as slow as my youtube, its freaking me out, i don;t want to have paid this much money to have something wrong with my mac. ive been loving my mac since i got it.


can anyone help? or having the same problem? are these problems my mac, or the wifi?

info: im on verizon dsl, using safari, this all happened after i took my mac elsewere and tried logging onto another wifi network.

02-01-2010, 12:48 AM

Originally Posted by anyaderosa

1. my youtube is unbearably slow, is it really a os x problem?

Welcome, and congratulations!

No, YouTube should not be unbearably slow at all. If its slow loading, that could be an internet-connection issue. Your other issues would tend to make me think in that direction.

Try this:

1. power down the router, the modem and the computer. Unplug the modem and router.
2. Leave them alone for about a minute.
3. Plug them back in *in this order* - modem, then router, then power up the computer.

That should clear up any issues if the root cause was the modem or the router.

Another thought: have you encrypted your wifi network? Is it possible someone is leeching your signal?

02-01-2010, 01:13 AM

i don't think ive ever encrypted my wifi, what exactly does that mean? how do i do that?

02-01-2010, 01:18 AM

Originally Posted by anyaderosa

i don't think ive ever encrypted my wifi, what exactly does that mean? how do i do that?

Well, let me start by saying that I do not know for a fact that this is your problem.

If you live within 150 feet of other people, however, I would suggest that you do it.

"Encrypting" means assigning a level of security to your wireless signal so that others cannot use it without your knowledge. Its one thing if a neighbour "borrows a cup of internet" to check their email real quick, but too many jerks out there will just plot their filesharing programs on an open signal and suck up every bit of bandwidth they can get.

Your wifi router's manual will step you through how to set up security on your wifi signal (every manufacturer has a slightly different procedure). I suggest using WPA2. If you don't have your manual, there's probably a downloadable copy on the net (just google your router's make and model #).

02-01-2010, 01:33 AM

OK with a mac book you will be doing a bit of roaming i assume - so why not get sorted now and set up a location for the place u use the most home or Uni whatever. Go into Sys Prefs/Network/Airport/advanced and choose locations edit. When u add the new location and then select that per pic here, make sure that in those settings for that Location your ISPs DNS numbers are showing up, if not then add them per this. Should make make your surfing much better. Leave Location -Automatic for coffee shops etc.