Troubleshooting

After upgrading to Mountain Lion, some OS X users have run into what appears at first glance to be a DNS-related problem in which they can't access certain Web pages. While most Web connectivity seems to work just fine, when accessing special pages like HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) connections the connection times out, resulting in programs like Safari claiming the server could not be contacted.

If you are having this problem, then try copying the server URL from your browser or other application and pinging it directly in the OS X Terminal using the following command:

ping www.… Read more

The latest versions of OS X integrate a number of personal data services that can be accessed by various applications. For example, if you have a Twitter account set up in OS X, you can then have various programs send tweets to this account or otherwise interact with it. Though convenient, this does need to be secured, so Apple invokes management of this service through a central privacy framework, which you can interact with both in the system preferences and in the command line.

When a program requests access to your personal data, the system will first present you with … Read more

As with many other Unix-like systems that have a BSD interface, OS X includes a fully Unix-compliant terminal that can be accessed with a Unix shell in the included Terminal utility. This feature allows for a relatively powerful way to access and modify system settings to customize and troubleshoot the system.

As with the rest of the system, this command-line interface is by default limited by standard permissions restrictions so only administrators may access system files and only users may access their own files. To get around this, the sudo command is commonly invoked to execute commands as another user, … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer Mac-related questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week, readers wrote in with questions about managing DVD collections in a central networked library, a missing or malfunctioning "purge" command in OS X, and options for archiving photos from an iPhoto library. I welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: Managing DVD collections in a central networked library MacFixIt reader "brunnerr" asks:

Modifier keys for Mac systems are the Shift, Control, Option (Alt), Command, and Caps Lock keys. The commands triggered by combinations of these keys can greatly speed up how you use your computer, but it can slow you down again if you switch to a keyboard with an unfamiliar layout.

While most Mac keyboards have these keys in the same relative locations, so you don't have to change your typing habits, there are situations in which you may end up using something different, such as if you take a laptop to the office and plug in whatever keyboard you … Read more

Some Mac users are finding that some of the latest MacBook systems from Apple are sometimes showing drastic drops in graphics performance, which are particularly notable when playing graphically intensive applications like video games.

While at first launching the game will show the expected smooth performance, it may suddenly drop to a very low frame rate and be essentially unplayable. Usually when systems drop to low frame rates it suggests they are being overworked for some reason and are struggling to make the computations necessary for smooth gameplay, and as a result will usually be relatively hot as the graphics … Read more

iTunes 11 is the latest version of Apple's music player and management software, but if you have upgraded your iTunes installation to this latest version you may find that some of the statistics regarding your library are not being updated.

Whenever you play a song in iTunes, the program keeps track of the number of times the song has completed playing, how many times it is skipped, and when these events occurred. This information is stored in the library and used to help determine how to build automatic playlists from the songs you prefer, among other functions.

After upgrading … Read more

Apple's built-in Calendar application in OS X is a convenient calendaring tool to have; however, its default method of entering calendar dates may be a bit cumbersome by first appearances.

When you first enter an event in Calendar, you select the calendar you wish to use and then double-click the date on which to create the event. You can then title the event accordingly. By default this action creates an all-day event that will further need to be refined by editing it to adjust its time frame. While those who use Calendar may find this somewhat acceptable though a … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer Mac-related questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week, readers wrote in with questions about managing custom services in OS X, RAM prices for MacBook systems falling dramatically over the past year, and resetting a forgotten administrator password without admin access and without an OS X installer or recovery disc. I welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: Managing custom services in OS X MacFixIt reader Francis asks: