Scotty, I wasn't successful bringing up your site on Safari to schedule a time.  I'm having printer problems (HP Officejet J4680 All-in-one).  I changed the cartridge, but ink is inking out most of any printed text.  The printer is a year old and out of warranty.  I need clear printed text for K-1s for my CPA, so this problem needs a fast fix.  Have you encountered this problem and have a solution?  Do you suggest I purchase a new printer?  I'm available this Sunday from noon on.
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One thing you may want to try is doing a head cleaning.  In the settings menu there is a tools area most likely that will have a command telling the printer to clean and align the print heads.  The problem is that this process will often take lots of ink on it's own.  If you ARE in the market for a new printer you may want to consider the Photosmart Premium 310 or 410 models from HP.  For less cost the Photosmart Premium All-in-One is also good.   They have a new technology that works well with iPhones and iPad devices.  I know you may not have one of those now but it's good to have just in case one of those comes into your life.  They are also good printers.  Maybe a little fancy but overall easy to use, setup, and manage.  Big touch screens for exactly the reason you dealing with right now.  

Hi Scotty
Do you know of a way to view flash websites on the Mac products?  Is it possible?  I read something about the cloud browse app.
Thanks
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There are a few apps that state they can play flash embedded code from websites within their own app environment. iSwifter and Skyfire are a few to check out. You can also just search for them directly in the app store. I’ve not used either but would guess the experience is not perfect. Use/purchase at your own risk. Reviews are not stellar.

Okay, I need technical help and I'm hoping you can help me.  I have an iTouch that I barely use, but I would like to connect it to my Promethean Board here at school.  Is there any way I can do that?  I know if I had an iPad I could connect it.          Also, I tried to get some apps on my iTouch, but it says:  "This application requires the iPhone 3.0 software update."   How do I get this update?        I would greatly, greatly appreciate your help!

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Now, you need to connect the iPod Touch to iTunes and run the updates.  You'll need to get up to the latest release of the iPod software which is 4.2 I believe at present.  You'll also want to make sure that iTunes itself is up to date.  As far as video out from an iPod Touch, you'll just need the correct cabling.  More info here:  iPhone, iPad, iPod: TV out support
That should do it.

Scotty,

I have a friend who is wanting to know about Anti Virus software for a Mac. What are your recommendations? 
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Don’t bother. I equate it to paying someone to guard your house against a dinosaur attack. One day they may come back but I wouldn’t put any effort into guarding against it for now. The more important thing to consider is to not click on links in emails you weren’t expecting. Those are often fishing scams trying to get personal information.

Scott, hope all is well. I tried to copy a playlist from family member’s iTunes Library housed on her user page. I wasn't sure how to do it at first. I ended up copying over her entire library (I thought it would just copy over differences, kind of like when an iPod syncs). Now i have about 9,000 duplicate songs in my iTunes library. I would be happy to pay you to come and help me efficiently remedy this (hoping there is a way); unless, do you recommend some software that i should consider buying to do this? Obviously, i would want to do this with great care not to remove the songs on my user page  or family’s that we want. Thoughts? Again, happy to hire you if you are interested and available. Thanks,
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There are several pieces of software that claim to remove duplicates. I’ve used iDupe in the past. You set up a set of rules of things you’d like it to compare songs by then you can have it automatically remove one of the duplicates. The process takes a long time so I would suggest run it overnight and expect it to be running the next morning if you have a lot of music. (like over 20,000 songs) iDupe is $8 and worth a try. Here are a few others to check out as well.


iDupe
Dupe Away - The iTunes Duplicate Remover for Mac and PC
iTunes Organizer - How To Get Your iTunes Library Organized

You may also want to first make a playlist of just the duplicated songs by going to File in the menu bar then choosing “Show Duplicates”. Next you’ll select all of those listed then drag them into their own playlist. Maybe call it “dups”. Now you’ll be able to point either of the above pieces of software to scan and work on only that folder versus the entire library. Don’t forget to choose to show all songs again after you’re finished.

I am having two different issues. One how do I get the snow leo. mac osx 10.6. Then I am having the same problem with Imail nothing to do with addresses, things just will not go out. So I am using all the other email s.  anything you can suggest. Also the I pad is doing funny things. The typing is out of sync and also it will just in mid sentence drop down into another line.
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First issue: To acquire Snow Leopard, the easiest thing to do is to purchase it for $29 at the Apple Store, Best Buy or on Amazon.com. It is not available as a download. It must be purchased on a DVD.

With the mail not sending, it sounds like there may be a problem with your outgoing mail server settings. Since you have many email addresses it is a problem more easily handled in person.

Last issue: One possibility could be that your hand is physically making contact with the iPad screen therefore causing the cursor placement to jump to a different area. If you feel this is not the case, then you may want to restart your iPad by holding both the home button and the sleep button up top until you see the red slider. Slide it then after the iPad goes off you can hold the sleep button up top to start it back up again.

Scotty,

ML got the following message in a pop up window when her computer turned on (after sleeping).  Is this a real message? If so, what do we need to do?


SYSTEM REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION
****************************************

ATTENTION ! Security Center has detected
malware on your computer !

Affected Software:

Apple Macintosh 10.6 Snow Leopard
Apple Macintosh 10.5 Leopard
Apple Macintosh 10.4 Tiger
Microsoft Windows 7
Microsoft Windows Vista
Microsoft Windows XP

Impact of Vulnerability: Remote Code Execution / Virus Infection /
Unexpected shutdowns

Recommendation: Users running vulnerable version should install a repair utility immediately

Your system IS affected, download the patch from the address below !
Failure to do so may result in severe computer malfunction.
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Ignore it. It’s a scam. You would not want to click on that link. Most likely a pop up from a website you visited. Nothing to worry about.

Scotty, I have just gotten the iphone and somehow have deleted all the contacts, with a few exceptions, out of my address book on the MAC.
Scott have the Lacie backup as you suggested the last time you were here. We just don't know how to retrieve the contact list
from the Lacie. Have you got a "How to" answer? Please let me know when you get a moment.
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If you were using Time Machine on an external backup drive prior to the loss of data, you can recover the address book. With address book open, go to the menu bar above and select to enter time machine.

Your computer will enter a sort of science fiction view and you’ll be presented with a line of mirror like images going into the background.

Next, you can scroll along the side bar in Time Machine to a point in time where your contacts reappear. Now select all contacts using command+A and choose the restore button in the bottom right corner of the time machine window. Your contacts should now reappear in your current version of Address Book.

The pictures did not go from the laptop to the ipad.  what is the sequence to try and move the photos from the macbook to the ipad?
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You may want to try syncing only certain events of pictures onto your iPad instead of all the picts. The iPad may be having trouble putting all 30 gigs of pictures on at one time. To select certain events, you’ll connect your iPad to your black macbook then go to the Photos tab as shown here:

Select certain events the choose to sync again in the bottom right hand corner of itunes. It may say “Apply” instead of “sync”.

Scotty

I have been considering buying the Panasonic HDC-TM700 camcorder.  It records 1080p/60p.  In reading about it, there are warnings that this cannot be handled by every computer.  What do you think?  Can the iMac handle it?  Specifically, can the iMovie that is part of iLife '11 handle it?

Any thoughts about this camera?  Know anybody who has one?

Thanks for any info.
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I don’t know who has one off hand. But here are some things I’ve found online to help your descision. Overall it doesn’t seem like anyone has reported sluggishness. It does however, look like you have to jump through hoops to convert the video to a usable format.

Panasonic HDC-TM700 Performance and Video Quality
Last paragraph questions iMovie’s ability to handle the specs.

Apple - Support - Discussions - Importing from a Panasonic HDC TM700 ...
contains automator script to help convert files. This thread is based on iMovie 09. Not 11.

panasonic hdc-tm700, imovie - Google Search
just some sample vid edited with iMovie.

Panasonic HDC-TM700 Camcorder Review - Flash Memory - CamcorderInfo.com
discouraging post from a year ago.

Panasonic TM700 Mac Compatibility with TM700 to iMovie,FCP,FCE
One of several video converters available for the Mac.

iMovie '09: Camcorder Support
It’s listed on Apple’s own supported cams page.

Sony HDR-CX550V or Panasonic HDC-TM700? - Page 3 - AVS Forum
Best Mac Panasonic Video Converter-Import HDC-TM700 1080/60p - Playstation 3 Forums

Can you recommend a good hard drive for me to purchase?
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First, you have to have the mindset that every hard drive dies. That’s why backup is so important. I see a lot of drives die every week. It does not matter how old or young they are. They all die. If you believe this then you’ll never lose your data.
You can buy an external drive at any Best Buy for around $100.  Here are a few I recommend:
small (more expensive as you are paying for convenience)
Portable hard drive | USB hard Drive | FreeAgent | GoFlex Ultra Portable Drive | Seagate

larger and more space but not portableDesktop hard drive | External Desktop hard drives | FreeAgent | GoFlex Desk | Seagate

These are both available at Best Buy.

Avoid the Western Digital drives. They usually come preloaded with a separate CD image that is a pain to take off. Their plastic enclosures have a higher failure rate in my opinion.

Scotty
I have a picture that was sent in an email, that I want to print on photo paper. How do I do that? Do I need to send it to iphoto (if so how do I do that.)
Thanks
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You don’t necessarily have to use iPhoto to print. You can just double click the attached picture in email and it should open in preview. Then you can print from there. If you would like to send it to iPhoto you can either just drag and drop the picture from your email into iPhoto’s icon in the dock or you can use the button in Apple’s mail program shown here.

Click and HOLD the save button. You’ll see a choice to add to iphoto.

If you select Quicklook, the pictures or attachments will show in a dark window and you can also add to iPhoto from there as well.

Hello Scotty,
Thanks for the email.  I'm now thinking we should get a new Mac laptop. I saw the eBay prices and it's not worth the savings!   My kids need to do school work on the computer, and I'm no help on the PC.  Can we easily sink the laptop with the desktop? If we download pictures on the laptop or do a Numbers document would that transfer easily?
Thanks for your help!
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So there is no really reliable way to sync pictures from one iphoto library to another. Yes, there is software out there that claims to do it. But it’s not ready for me to recommend yet. Too many problems. So in my opinion, no, iphoto won’t sync but iTunes and other data will. Contacts, Calendar will sync via mobileme. You can use Dropbox to sync files like documents. Pretty easy.

Hi Scotty,
I think Case's apps downloaded onto my phone when it was plugged up to the mac. Is there a way that I can erase them and get my own apps?
Will you let me know.

Thx,
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You can manage what apps go onto your iPhone by first plugging in your iphone and opening iTunes. Next, go to the Apps tab in the top area. From this screen you can decide what apps to keep and what stays on your iphone.

Scotty,

I am looking for a high quality battery for my PowerBook G4. Previous purchases have resulted in batteries that keep a charge for about one hour and last for less than a year. The last one I bought at the online Apple store. Any advice.
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This is a commonly asked questions. For a computer that is passed it’s manufacturing cycle by a year, in this case several years, it’s not a good idea to purchase an Apple manufactured battery because there’s a very good chance the battery would be at least a year old already.

I recommend purchasing a battery from batterytech.com. They manufacture batteries for older computers. I’ve had several clients purchase from them and seemed happy.

Hey Scotty

I went to get a photo today and my iphoto has no pictures in it.  Help!!!!  

Thanks
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There’s a very good chance that iPhoto doesn’t see the library. I would first try opening iPhoto with the option key pressed. You’ll be presented with a dialogue box (depending on your version of iPhoto) that allows you to select the library. By default your iPhoto library resides in your user’s folder in pictures. If you’re using iPhoto 11 (the latest version) it will detect all the valid iphoto libraries on your mac and will list them when you start up iPhoto holding down the option key.

Hey Scotty,
Hope all is well with you. I have a new iPhone 4 and am trying without success to use the airtime feature to play music from the phone on my wireless speakers. I have a wireless network (time capsule). I also have an AirPort Express that is hooked to my ipod player/wireless speakers (Eos) and which I've been using to play music from my mac. I want to do the same thing with the music on my phone but the phone doesn't seem to recognize the airport express. It does recognize my wireless network. I read that I'm supposed to see a little triangular icon on the right side of the iPod play screen but it's not there. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks,
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First, make sure all your updates on both the computer, itunes, and your phone have been run and all software is current. Computer is currently 10.6.6, phone is currently 4.2.1, iTunes is at 10.1.2 as of February 07, 2011. You may also want to check in Airport Utility to be sure that the firmware on both airport devices is up to date as well. 7.5.2 is current as of February 07, 2011. Next, try downloading a new copy of the remote app in the App store in iTunes. Replace that app with the one on your phone by deleting the app off the phone first.

If you don’t have Snow Leopard installed then that may be the issue.

Scotty,

My husband would like to set up a home office in our downstairs guestroom.  As you may recall, we have a cable line in the master bedroom across the hall.  What do I need to do to get strong wireless access in this part of the house?  I know he's going to need another wireless router back there.  Should I have Time Warner come out and take care of it?
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If you already have one of the apple routers then you can pick up an airport express and that will allow the network to be extended into harder to reach areas of your home. The airport express will only officially extend another apple router but as I recall I think you already have that. Time Warner would not have anything to do with your wireless network. Please let me know if you need assistance.

Awesome! I did it and it worked. One more thing- since we got it all fixed- the internet is running really slow. Any suggestions?
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First, unplug both the router and modem. That will start things fresh. Now, check to see what your transmit rate is from your computer. To do this, go to the airport fan icon in the menu bar and hold down option while clicking it. You’ll see this:


If you are using an airport extreme then a transmit rate of anything above 70 is good. If you’re using an airport express, then a transmit rate of 30 or higher is good. (my opinion only)

This gives us an idea of how strong a signal you’re receiving. Next, check out www.speedtest.net and test the download and upload speed of your network.

Here’s a quick chart of what I would say is acceptable for Charlotte as of February 02, 2011:


Here’s what I just got:


If you are below these, then you may want to consider having a conversation with your ISP and hear what they have to say. They’re famous for saying “everything looks good on our end. It must be your computer.”. That is rarely the case.

Lastly, don’t get too caught up with the numbers above. Ultimately it’s how your network feels to you that’s important. You can have 3 bars and the speed is fine. Or you can have full bars and crawling. Nothing’s exact.

If you are using a combination of extreme and expresses, then you may consider moving the express(s) closer to the extreme as they repeat only what they receive.

The Quicken tutorial videos do not work on my home edition of the online tutorial videos. I get a screen that pops up where the video should be, but it is blank. Do you have any suggestions.
Thanks,
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It’s possible that these tutorial videos require the flash plugin. I would suggest updating to the latest version of Flash for Windows or Mac depending on what Operating system you’re in. Get the latest version here.

If you’re using a mac, while you’re at it, you may want to install Telestream’s wmv codec for quicktime called Flip4Mac. It may also solve the issue. Get it free here.

Hey Scotty 
Hope you are well
I'm having problems login into my backend app on my website
 my software guys are sayin it's an issue with my macbook pro
 After login in once using 4 different browsers, I get an error message
 with blank screen.  I was told I may need to reset my I.P. Address
What's your suggestion??
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Well, that’s a little vague and I’m not sure exactly what the problem is but let’s go with their suggestion to reset your ip address. There are two IP addresses at play here. The first is the one given to you by your ISP. Time Warner, ATT, etc... You can find that by going to www.whatismyip.com. The only way to attempt to get a different IP address is to unplug your modem then re-power it. Depending on your ISP, you may get a new IP or your may get the same one. It really depends on the area activity as well as other things.

To reset your actual IP address given to you by your router...this is called your sub network IP address. Depending on the router’s settings, it may be giving out 192.168.x.x numbers or 10.0.1.x if it’s an Apple Router. You can:

go to system prefs/Network.
Select the Airport (if wireless) in the left hand column then select “Advanced”.
Now select TCP/IP
Make note of your IP address then choose to Renew DHCP lease.

It’s very likely you may get the exact same number. There are several ways to go here. You could set your sub network IP address manually or your could go to your router’s settings and address the problem there. There are many choices.

Scotty,

I'm unable to sign on tonight, but am desperately seeking a good system for printing address labels.  Does address book have the ability to do that easily on standard Avery labels? sort alphabetically? use Mr and Mrs?  If yes, what prompts do I go through? I do not want to print directly onto the envelope...
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Yes, address book will do this. It’s a little tricky. What you’d do is assign the Mr and Mrs Smith as a company for each contact. You really don’t want to make Mr. and Mrs. part of the normal name because it’s less convenient when they call you on your phone. It shows as Mr. and Mrs Smith and you’re not sure if it’s husband or wife calling. So the answer is to assign each of your contacts a company name. Then one time a year (when you are printing labels) you’ll switch them to print as companies then back for normal use.