Finally got a Mac! But a few problems

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Finally got myself a Mac, MBP13. So far the experience has been great. Surfing the web is great, no problems there. I have a few problems/concerns though:

I tried setting up Mail but can't seem to get it to work. I think this has to do with my settings but am still working on it. It won't 'get mail' and if I make and send a new message it just shows the grey spinning thing next to 'sent' on the left. I think it's an issue with connecting it to my mail account. It will do this forever and mail won't close unless you force quit. Still working on the mail issue...

My second and bigger concern is with iphoto. I loaded a bunch of my pics to it and it seemed to work fine but then it shows the spinning beach ball. From what I've read the beach ball is a sign of a major problem.

Secondly if I try and close iphoto when it is working, it shows a message saying iphoto is saving important information and gives the option to save later. Even if the blue bar goes all the way the program doesn't end unless I click save later.

I don't know if this makes any sense(I hope so). Any help would be great. It took me a long time to make the switch to Mac and it's almost getting frustrating dealing with these issues. I was trying to avoid these kind of problems which is why I switched.

Thanks

PS-maybe I should clear out iphoto and start again?
 
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Spinning beach ball is probably a signal that you've got lots going on, and not enough fire in the oven to cook it. In other words, you might need more RAM.
 
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So if I wait long enough the beach ball will go away when everything gets done? Or is it a sign that it's freezing up?

Maybe I jumped into iphoto too deep trying to download all the pics from my pc; it should handle it, once folders download the pics show up. I tried running just iphoto and the backup drive I'm taking the pics from and it eventually tosses me the beach ball...only 3 windows open.

I'm going to try surfing the web tonight and see if any problems occur without opening iphoto.

I also noticed the finder is always open, I'm guessing that is normal.

It's got 4mb ram, the old pc had 0.5mb so this should be a big improvement.
 
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Yeah finder stays open. It's the equivalent to windows explorer.
 
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I also noticed the finder is always open, I'm guessing that is normal.

Yeah finder stays open. It's the equivalent to windows explorer.

From Wikipedia:
The Finder is the default application used on the Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems that is responsible for the overall user-management of files, disks, network volumes and the launching of other applications. As such the Finder acts like the shell on other operating systems, but using a graphical user interface, and is described in its 'About' window as The Macintosh Desktop Experience. It was introduced with the very first Macintosh computer, and also existed as part of GS/OS on the Apple IIGS. It underwent a complete rewrite with Apple's switch to a UNIX-based OS in Mac OS X.

The Finder is the first program a user interacts with after booting a Mac (and potentially logging in), and as such it is responsible for the general look and feel of the machine. One should be careful to distinguish this from the actual GUI of the machine, which is really provided by particular services within the operating system (eg, WindowServer). One could compare it to Windows Explorer in Microsoft Windows, the Tracker in BeOS, Nautilus in GNOME, and Dolphin or the file management aspect of Konqueror in KDE.
 
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Open up activity monitor while running your computer. When your Mac freezes up, open up activity monitor and see if there is an application hogging your resources (most likely RAM).

Whenever my computer slows up, I run OnyX and it becomes perky again.
 
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Thanks for the input guys. I spend a bit of time each night on this new Mac so it will take me a bit to get it figured out.

What's the best way to clear out iphoto? Should I just select and delete everything?
 
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Well I've had my mac for a year now and I love it. Once my initial iphoto issue was resolved I had no further problems. It still works as well and fast as the first day I got it; never had a pc that gave me so few problems after a year of daily use.

Anyhow just an update, haven't been on here for a while.

Tbone
 
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chas_m

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Yeah, I don't think the problem is iPhoto; I think you're not giving it enough time to build its database (you mention you imported a lot of photos). Next time, try just walking away for let's say an hour, then come back and see if that's given it time to work through its issues.

As for Mail, try deleting your account in Mail and starting over (letting the "wizard" guide you). Make sure you know your incoming and outgoing server addresses and your email password. If you'd like to see what's going on while Mail is doing it's thing, press command-zero (0) to see Mail's activity monitor.
 
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2011 MacBook Air, i5 27" IMac, 2010 21.5" IMac, 2010 Mini, 2011 13" MBP, IPhone 4, Airport Extreme
Yeah, I don't think the problem is iPhoto; I think you're not giving it enough time to build its database (you mention you imported a lot of photos). Next time, try just walking away for let's say an hour, then come back and see if that's given it time to work through its issues.

As for Mail, try deleting your account in Mail and starting over (letting the "wizard" guide you). Make sure you know your incoming and outgoing server addresses and your email password. If you'd like to see what's going on while Mail is doing it's thing, press command-zero (0) to see Mail's activity monitor.

Chas_m,
hope you realize you replied to a post that is almost a year old :p He actually added a post today that said everything was resolved and his mac was running great
 
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ok....alternatively you can always save these photos elsewhere in your harddrive if you are facing the problem of beachball thats what i did....and thanks for onyX....
 
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Can someone tell me what onyx is and does?

I have resolved my issues; the iphoto problem was resolved by an apple tech over the phone. We ended up clearing out the whole iphoto library, resetting it and starting all over. I made lots of backups along the way in case things went sideways again but never needed them.

Overall a great mac experience but still need a pc for a few odd things.

Tbone
 
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A multifunction utility for Mac OS X which allows you to verify the Startup Disk and the structure of its System files, to run misc tasks of system maintenance, to configure some hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock, QuickTime, Safari, iTunes, Login window, Spotlight and many Apple’s applications, to delete caches, to remove a certain number of files and folders that may become cumbersome and more.


all in all it works as a tune up for mac i suppose
 
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Thanks, can it be downloaded online for free?
My mac works so well and coming from a pc I'm cautious of installing anything as it often causes problems. I've also heard of flip for mac but have not added it either though thinking about it. I don't want to end up causing problems. I'll be sure to back up before doing any changes.

Tbone
 
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Apple - Downloads - System/Disk Utilities - OnyX

right now installed onyx...what i understand is it
verifies then fixes disk permission
then cleans the cache internet logs etc to give some disk space
then there are utilities which i am not sure off
then there is automation and
parameters : where u can restore defaults...this gives a whole lot of things to be done just like advanced control panel for system preferences...

but i am not going to do anything until i know it off completely

install mplayerx for starters it is better than perian and link provided hosts numerous softwares picked up by staff of apple browse through it
 
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21" iMac * 2.8 Ghz Intel Core i7 * 16GB 1333 Mhz DDR3 * 1TB HD *AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512 MB
Onyx is a pretty reliable application. I'd say that there is less junk software for Macs than there is for Windows. I use it regularly. And yes, it's free.
 
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i went through it but need time to familiarize myself then will use it definitely..although how is cleanmymac?
 
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I installed and ran onyx, it says that the startup volume(?) needs to be repaired. Says to start up and go to disk utility. Then it popped up a window asking for admin password. Not sure what it's trying to do and if it's safe. Does the mac osx disk utility do this itself? Is onyx just initiating something that I could do without it?

Hope this makes sense, if not I'll try and explain it better. It says repairs are needed but not what's actually wrong.

Thanks
Tbone
 
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Back to my old 2.2GHz C2D MB after selling my MBP and wondering what my next Mac will be :)
Ok, if you are getting this message, then here is what you need to do.

Quit Onyx.
Backup using time machine.
Now, put in your install disc, and restart your Mac.
As soon as you hear the chime hold down the 'C' key until you see the spinning gear.
Once the language screen has loaded, select the language and click continue.
Wait a few seconds, and you will see a menu bar appear at the top of the screen.
Select utilities, and then disk utilities.
Select the HD at the top of the left column, and select repair disk.

After this is done, quit disk utility, and select restart.

Now, run OnyX again, selecting the automation tab, and select everything except for rebuild 'spotlight index' and 'display of folder content.'

Let us know how it goes.
 
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Well I did what you said and repaired the disk.
The details listed the following problems:
invalid volume file count
incorrect number of thread records
missing directory id's

All was repaired successfully.

Ran onyx, restarted again and it seems ok.

Thanks
 

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