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Welcome to the MacDoctors Sales & Service Customer Center. You'll find Mac related information that may help you solve your computer problems without bringing it in for a check up. Check out the resources below, and don't hesitate to Contact Us if we can be of assistance.

 

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Repairing Your Mac's Disk Permissions

Tips Mac

When you install new software or update existing software on your Mac, the disk may need it’s permissions repaired. These permissions are what allow your user to open authorized programs and access authorized files. If you’ve been experiencing slowness in your Mac, one of the first things to try is a disk permission repair, here’s how!

 

  1. Shut down any open programs by clicking and holding on the program’s icon on the dock and selecting Quit from the menu that appears.
  2. In the top right corner of the screen, click on the magnifying glass and type “Disk Utility” into the Spotlight program. The Top Hit should be the application Disk Utility. Start the program by clicking on it.
  3. In Disk Utility, select your Macintosh HD from the list on the left side of the window. 
  4. On the right side of disk utility, select First Aid and then Repair Disk Permissions.

 

The process should take a few minutes. When completed, restart your Mac and you’re done! 

Installing & Using Disk Inventory X

Tips

If your Mac’s hard drive is filling up with data and you don’t know why, Disk Inventory X is a great program that will show you what’s taking up the most space! We don’t recommend deleting anything that you’re not sure is OK to delete, and always give us a call if you have questions!

 

  1. Click on this link to download Disk Inventory X: http://www.derlien.com/download.php?file=DiskInventoryX
  2. Once the program has downloaded, double click on the DIX1.0Universal.dmg file in your Downloads folder.
  3. A window will open with the Disk Inventory X icon inside. Click and drag the icon to the Applications folder.
  4. After Disk Inventory X is in your Applications folder, restart your machine.
  5. After the restart, go to the Applications folder and double click on the Disk Inventory X icon.
  6. Select your hard drive and click “Open Volume”

 

The computer will take a few minutes to index everything and show you what’s taking up the most space. You can see the name of the largest squares by putting your mouse cursor over the top of the square.

Resetting your PRAM

Tips

A small portion of your Mac’s memory, called PRAM, stores some settings for startup that can be reset to solve some booting and minor issues you may be having. These settings include your designated startup disk, display resolution, speaker volume and other information. To reset your computer's PRAM:

 

  1. Shut down the computer.
  2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
  3. Turn on the computer.
  4. Immediately press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears. Continue holding the keys down until the computer restarts, and you hear the startup sound for the second and then third time.
  5. Release the keys and allow the machine to boot normally.

 

Resetting PRAM may change some system settings and preferences. Use System Preferences to restore your settings.

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