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How to Set Up a Free iChat Account

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iChat is Apple’s FREE video chatting software. You can use it to talk and video chat with anyone who has a Mac. (Use Skype to talk with PC users.) All you have to do is create a free identity and you’re ready to go!

When you open iChat for the first time it will ask you to put in your account name. If you have a MobileMe account, click on the word AIM and change it to “MobileMe” then type in your information, along with your password and click Done.

If you don’t have a MobileMe account, click on the word AIM and change it to “mac.com” and then click Get an iChat Identity.

Fill in all of the boxes, accept the agreement, click Done and you’re set up to iChat.

Now you just need to add the Identities of the people you want to chat with.

If you’d like to try it out, Add me to your Buddy List by clicking the PLUS sign at the bottom of the Buddy List window. My iChat identity is mactoschool@mac.com

The next time you see me online, click on my name and we can chat!

Getting the Most Life Out of Your Batteries

When dealing with the batteries in your laptop, iPhone, iPod, etc, the general rule is, use it or lose it. This means that, even if you never take your laptop away from your desk, you should unplug it from the power source and run it on the battery so that the battery gets used.
Many of my clients ask if they should completely drain the battery regularly. Older computers and older portable phones used a different kind of battery that required this. Apple offers specific instructions to maximize the lifespan and battery life for your particular computer and iPod battery on their website. Check it out and get into the habits that they recommend.
www.apple.com/batteries

Printing in Black Only

If you’d like to print something in black and white only, it’s called printing in grayscale.
1. From the File menu, choose Print
2. Next to the current choice under the number of pages to print (it may say Layout, or the name of the current program), click to reveal a menu of choices
3. Choose Quality and Media
4. At the bottom of the window, put a check mark next to Grayscale

Tips and Tricks

Seeing More Print Options

If you no longer see choices for printing, like how many copies and which pages to print, just click the triangle next to the name of your printer to reveal all of your options.

Open at Login

If you turn on your computer and always open the same programs when you start, consider having the Mac open them for you. In the Dock, click and hold down on the icon of the program and choose Open at Login. If you have programs that mysteriously open when you turn on the computer, you probably have accidentally chosen this option. To turn it off, click and hold on the icon in the Dock and reselect Open at Login to remove the checkmark.

Taxes Are Easier with TurboTax

It’s coming on tax time already and if you don’t want to spend hours adding and re-adding numbers, get Intuit’s easy-to-use TurboTax program. Just answers the interview questions, fill in the numbers and the work is done!

iPhone Signatures

When you send an email from your iPhone or iPod Touch, the words “sent from my iPhone” automatically appears at the end of the email. To change this setting, from the Home screen, touch Settings, touch Mail, Contacts, Calenders, scroll down to Signature and choose. Delete the existing text and, if you want, type your own automatic text.

Changing Your Downloads Location

Leopard automatically saves all downloaded files in the Downloads folder, a new icon on the Dock. If you are more comfortable finding recent downloads on your Desktop, you can change this.

1. In Safari, under the Safari menu, choose Preferences.

2. Click the General button.

3. Where it says “Save Downloaded Files to Downloads Folder” click on the Downloads Folder and choose Other.

4. In the left column, click on the Desktop.

OR, if you use Firefox:

1. From the Firefox menu choose Preferences.

2. Click on the Main button

3. In the Downloads section, next to Save Files To, click on Choose and select Desktop from the left column.

Clear Out Your Inbox

Many of us receive weekly emails from companies that we no longer want to read. You can Unsubscribe to the emails. Scroll down to the bottom of the email and look for the word UNSUBSCRIBE. Follow the directions to remove your email from their list.

Automatic Email Addresses

Why do incorrect email addresses pop up when you are addressing an email, even after you have corrected or deleted them in your Address Book? Mail stores a list of all email recipients and includes them in the list of addresses that pop up when you begin to address an email.

To clear out this list, in Mail, under the Window menu, choose Previous Recipients. Names with an icon of an address card are already in your Address Book. You can click on any name and click Add to Address Book. You can also remove names from this list.

To Properly Forward An Email

1. Open the original email

2. Click the Forward button in the Toolbar

3. In the body of the new message, HIGHLIGHT and DELETE all of the new text that appears above the original message, including all email addresses

4. To address it to more than one person, make sure your cursor is in the BCC field (not TO or CC) so that everyone’s email address remains private. (If you don’t see a BCC field, Click on the View menu and choose View BCC Header)

June 2010