Hello, I'm a new mac user

Hello, I just got a mac and I have a few questions.

1) My internet seems to be a little messed up. When i go to a website it loads forever then says it failed but when i refresh it loads in about 1 second.

2) How do I make it so that my external hard drive can read and write files on both mac and windows. I currently have it set up as my time machine.

This is the mac I have except it is upgraded to 4GB of ram

http://www.apple.com/ca/macbook/specs.html

Thanks in advance : )

Also I love my mac.

couchpotato1159 said:

Hello, I just got a mac and I have a few questions.

1) My internet seems to be a little messed up. When i go to a website it loads forever then says it failed but when i refresh it loads in about 1 second.

Click to expand...

Insufficient data, but I suspect this is not, in sooth, a Mac question at all. Internet connectivity rarely is--I suspect this is a principal reason why so many people become Mac lovers. My typical approach is to start at the bottom layer of the OSI model* and work my way up to the top (with the OS being at Layer 7). So--let's start with physical layout. Are you on a home network? Wifi or hardwired? If so, do you have any issues loading websites on another computer? On a network, do you have an IP address starting with 192.168? If not on a network, you should have an IP address that domaintools.com confirms belongs to your ISP. Though this is a bit harder to clarify, do you have issues only with applications using TCP (web browsers, email clients) or with UDP (streaming music/video) as well? Do you have a third-party firewall? (Note this doesn't count MacOS's built-in firewall or the firewalling effect of NAT on a router) Does the issue exist in multiple browsers? (Try both Safari and Firefox). Do you have connectivity issues with any other applications, such as Mail?

I've tried to make that wall-of-text as comprehensive as possible, but I may have left something out.

*you don't need to know what that is, but if you do, it might help you understand why I've asked the questions I have and in what order.

2) How do I make it so that my external hard drive can read and write files on both mac and windows. I currently have it set up as my time machine.

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I don't think there's any filesystem out there that MacOS can't read and write to. More knowledgeable people: Is NTFS support stable or nay?

It will definitely work on both machines if you format the external disk with FAT32, but FAT32 does not support filesystem permissions, so all of your Mac files will become bereft of them as soon as you move them over. I've never had an issue with NTFS-formatted volumes moving files back and forth between my co-workers' Windows systems and my own Linux box, but again, NTFS support may be a bit more mature in Linux.

A better option is available if you have administrative permissions on every Windows system you want to transfer files back and forth from -- you can install MacDrive on the Windows machines to make them understand HFS, the filesystem used by Mac. Problem is, MacDrive is commercial software and there's no free alternative which supports both reading and writing to HFS drives on Windows. There is, fortunately also a Windows driver for ext2, which MacOS can understand out of the box and supports Mac's filesystem permissions. ext2 is a Linux filesystem, but Linux and Mac both use exactly the same (UNIX) filesystem permissions; I'm not aware of any issues with Macs accessing ext2.

Also, MacDrive conflicts with DaemonTools and Alcohol 120%, so if you need to use either program on your Windows box, that option is out.

Typically you're going to want to bounce the occasional file back and forth between a Windows-based work computer and your Mac, though, and most people don't have admin privileges on their employers' Windows boxes.

Criminy I talk a lot

I am currently using my macbook at home, where I tried using safari both wirelessly and connected to my modem and is pretty much the same using both methods. My other computer which is also plugged into the modem works just fine which is a windows computer also using safari. I have an ip address with 192.168. I have no third party firewall and I have not tried using a different browser. Other applications seems fine.

As for my external hard drive, how would i go about formatting it as FAT32?

Thanks for replying, you sound like you really know your stuff

This forum seems to be a great place to learn about my new mac and the people seem to be very friendly from reading a few posts

For the internet issue, it looks like my first impression was wrong; you definitely do have an Application layer issue, most likely in Safari. I'd suggest downloading Firefox and see if you have a problem with it. It might even be worth having a streaming audio application running in the background to see if you get any skips or stoppages when your web page fails to load. If you have no skipping on streaming audio and Firefox works fine, try resetting Safari to factory defaults. If the problem exists in Firefox or you get skipping...I'm afraid I don't know what could be the issue at fault. Hopefully someone else here who knows MacOS specifically may have more ideas. I'm a Linux guy and have been following procedures that should be effective regardless of OS.

To format your external disk with FAT32, go into your Applications folder in your Mac HD, open the Utilities folder therein, and launch Disk Utility. The option to format is on the "Erase" tab. (It doesn't matter if you forget to plug in the external drive before launching Disk Utility, I've confirmed with a thumb drive that USB drives will pop up in Disk Utility even after it's launched.

The Format Type you want on the Erase tab is listed as "MS-DOS (FAT)"

you sound like you really know your stuff

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: I've been a Mac owner for less than a week. But I'm the learn-by-doing type.

Thank you, I will try that.

thank you, I will try that

Firefox seems to be working better than safari at the moment so i'll try resetting safari to see if it works any better.

I'll try refromatting my hard drive tomorrow cause its almost 2am lol

1 more question
do i have to type in the 2 words everytime i post something? It seems a little annoying.

Yes, to get to the bottom of the internet issue, I would download and try BOTH Firefox and Chrome.

By the way, congrats on getting a Mac. Once it's working properly, you will LOVE it!

couchpotato1159 said:

1 more question
do i have to type in the 2 words everytime i post something? It seems a little annoying.

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Hi there,

If you want to stay logged in to the forum, then click on the "remember me" check box, as show in the screen shot below.

Hope this helps.

I resetted safari but the internet is still slow with some sites such as tsn.ca, nhl.com, and even youtube.
I'm considering just reinstalling OSX, hopefully that'll solve everything

1 thing i forgot to mention was that safari started to slow down after I updated to safari 5. could this possibly be the problem and should I downgrade to an older version?

couchpotato1159 said:

I'm considering just reinstalling OSX, hopefully that'll solve everything

Click to expand...

That's Windows thinking. I guarantee there's an easier way. If it's speed, perhaps try running a test on speedtest.net on both your Mac and your 'Doze box. Bear in mind, though, that a wireless connection will always be slower than hardwired due to RF interference, and tracking down a wifi issue is like nailing Jell-o to the wall. For accurate results, test both computers while hardwired to your router (Or better yet, directly to your modem, assuming that you have separate units)

As for Safari barthing, I'm afraid I'm useless to you; I only use Safari to access one of my gmail accounts, it's Firefox or Chrome for everything else.

I current have my macbook hooked up through a cable so it cant be a wifi problem. I also checked my windows computer and it is on safari 4 so that could very well be the problem.

I just looked in another forum and i found that many people were having the same problem as i was and that the consenus is that safari 5 is the problem. So after I downgrade back to safari 4 I will let you know if it is any better. Thanks for all the advice. I really appreciate it

Rottie said:

Hi there,

If you want to stay logged in to the forum, then click on the "remember me" check box, as show in the screen shot below.

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

I think potato was talking about the captcha that one has to fill out in order to post.

That is indeed what I was referring to. Also I have fixed my internet problem. Everything was better after I downgraded to safari 4.

couchpotato1159 said:

1) My internet seems to be a little messed up. When i go to a website it loads forever then says it failed but when i refresh it loads in about 1 second.

Click to expand...

Have exactly the same problem.

What I did was I went back to safari 4 because safari 5 was giving me problems. Hopefully that will solve your problem. I'm still relatively new to macs as I only got my macbook 2 weeks ago.