Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mac and internet

How can I tell if someone is trying to hop onto my wireless signal?

invisible ink — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:46:16 -0800

I have a MacBook Pro running OS 10.6.1, and an Airport Extreme Base Station. Is there a user-friendly way to see if someone is trying to use my internet connection or hack into my network? I live in a large apartment building, and am curious to see if anyone has tried to hop onto my wireless signal. Thanks in advance:-)

Apple Airport Extreme or Express?

invisible ink — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:13:34 -0800

What is the difference between an Apple Airport Express Base Station, and an Airport Extreme Base Station? I have a tiny 500-square foot apartment. All I want is to be able to surf the web wirelessly. Can I go with the cheaper Express Base Station? Why is one cheaper than the other (in other words, what can the Extreme do that the Express cannot)?

Help me connect!

scarylarry — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:02:01 -0800

Help me connect to my girlfriend's wireless network! My lovely girlfriend has a closed wireless network set up at her house (it requires a WPA2 Personal password to access and it's hidden from Airport's network scan). I have the network name and the password, and I've joined through Airport. I get full bars, but no actual internet connectivity whatsoever.

Neither my girlfriend nor I are particularly computer-savvy. We're not sure if maybe she needs to give my computer special permission from hers, or what. I don't know if this matters, but we both use Macbook Pros--she's running Leopard and I'm running Tiger.

Thanks so much.

Choose Details in OS X

reenum — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:43:43 -0800

Mac OSX Filter: How can I change the details displayed for files in a directory while in list view? This may be a really easy question, but Google has failed me thus far.

When I used XP and viewed directories as lists, I could go to View and then click on 'Choose Details' to pick which file info I wanted displayed.

I can't seem to figure out how to do this on Mac OSX.

The reason I want to do this is because I listen to a lot of podcasts, and the title in the file info is often more instructive than the filename.

Is there any way to 'Choose Details' on Mac OSX?

How can I transfer files quickly from my Mac to my friend's Mac?

ichthuz — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:56:54 -0800

How can I transfer files quickly from my Mac to my friend's Mac? We aren't on the same network so it would have to be over the internet. I know I can send files through messaging services like Skype, but they seem to be really slow (never over 100kbps). I'm looking for something like the discontinued product Tubes, which was like the file transfer function in most messaging programs, but it was optimized for sending files, and would basically go as fast as your internet connection will let it.

How to make the Mac play nice with my Sansa?

reenum — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:44:49 -0800

How to sync Macbook with a non-iPod MP3 player? I have a Sansa e250, and I love it. I also love my new Mac. However, I've been having a small issue with syncing music onto the Sansa.

On my old Windows machine, I used to have a Sansa folder on my hard drive and then would just sync both folders each week using a program called Allway Sync, which removed listened to MP3's and added on the new stuff I'd downloaded that week.

With the Mac, I can't find a similar program, possibly due to the dominance of iTunes.

So, Hive Mind, is there a program or method I can use to get this functionality on my Mac?

What do I need to look at when buying a new laptop?

reenum — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:28:05 -0800

I'm in the market for a new laptop. Should I get a PC or Mac? What specs are important for me to look at when making a decision? My Toshiba Satellite A65 seems to be on its last legs, so I think I'm getting a new laptop.

In researching, I've become confused as to which specs really matter when looking at a computer.

Here's what I would use it for:
- E-mail, IM, and Web
- Watching DVDs
- BitTorrent
- Word processing and spreadsheets
- Tracking my finances
- Some music creation (mostly breakbeats)

I've seen some places say that I need as much RAM as possible, others stress the importance of a large hard drive, yet others say I need the fastest processor.

Also, any recommendations as to brands that are more reliable than others?

Please help!

Macbook wireless signal appearing and disappearing at random, wtf is going on?

Happy Dave — Sat, 09 May 2009 02:16:40 -0800

Mac, wireless, bizarre behaviour. I share a wireless connection with other people, and every two or three days the connection on my Macbook does this very odd thing. Okay, so this is a bit of an odd one, with some strange wrinkles that may or may not matter. Here's the deal:

- I live in a small, close-knit community in South London. One of the guys here used to work for a local council as a flash developer, so his flat is wired for corporate grade broadband. Being the all-around great guy he is, he's daisy-chained a load of wireless routers together through the shared loft space of the building we live in, and for the princely sum of £20 a year, I get 8Mb (or better sometimes) broadband. I know, right?

- The router that I use, No 3, has had it's fair share of problems. It kept crashing or disappearing from our router lists (there are a good half dozen routers, some belonging to the communal system, some to individual flats). The guy who runs the system replaced this router with a new one, and gave us a USB stick with the new WPA key on it.

- I entered this WPA key on my Macbook, my wife's iBook G4 and my xBox 360. Both the iBook and the 360 now connect fine, rock solid connection with no problems.

- Here's where it gets weird. Everything worked fine on my Macbook for a few days, then one day I closed it to go and do something else. When I came back, I was still apparently connected, but couldn't get any pages to open. Then I noticed the wireless signal would appear, full bars, for 3 or 4 seconds, then disappear (no bars or one bar then no bars) for 5 or 6 seconds, then reappear. Pinging google.com or any other site through Terminal got a 'no internet connection' message.

- Here's where it get weirder. I've tried a bunch of things to fix this intermittent and incredibly irritating problem:
* Removing Router3 from my list in the Network Preference pane, then re-adding it
* Deleting my 'login' keychain to remove the WPA key, then re-adding it
* Trashing the preference file for Internet Connection

Sometimes, after doing all of these things and restarting, I'll get a strong connection back (usually 4 bars). Sometimes, it won't work. And sometimes, it seems not to work, but I close the laptop in annoyance and, when I come back to it the next morning, it's working fine.

This is driving me up the wall. I can't restart the router because I don't have physical or wireless access to it, and the fact that all the other internet-connected things in my house are working fine with it points to that not being the problem. I think I maybe have a corrupt or unneccessary keychain file somewhere that is pointing to the old WPA key for the previous router (there's a WPA key for Router3 in the 'System' keychain that I can't delete or otherwise remove).

What on earth is going on here?

Why does my Airport connection drop every evening at the same time?

meerkatty — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:41:43 -0800

Every night this week my Macbook has stopped connecting to my Airport. Why? How can I fix this? Original Airport base station, circa 2002. Macbook.

Never had a problem with this equipment and have been using this same Airport in this same apartment for seven years. Now this week my connection to the Airport stops working around the same time every evening but resumes working a few hours later. Not an internet problem as I can connect via cable.

What's going on? And you should talk to me like I'm complete idiot. I can work computers by plugging them in and that's about it.

PC won't recognize my HD.

reenum — Mon, 04 May 2009 07:14:21 -0800

My computer is having problems with recognizing capacity of hard drives or recognizing the drives at all. I have an old Dell desktop tower. It has a 1.8 Ghz processor and 384 MB of RAM. I use it mostly to store my music and surf the web, so it doesn't need to be top of the line. It has a 40GB drive, and a second hard drive my dad installed.

On Friday, I tried to replace the existing second HD with a 250GB drive. When I started up the unit after replacing drives, the computer wouldn't boot. It kept asking for a boot disk.

So, I swapped the original drive back in. As I was putting that drive back in, I noticed that it has a listed capacity of 120GB. However, when installed, the computer shows it as being a 40GB HD.

I'd like to have more storage on my computer. So, is there a way for me to get this PC to recognize the full capacity of the 120GB HD or to boot up with the 250GB HD?

Speed suck

zenpop — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 11:26:54 -0800

Recent Mac software update crippled my online speed/connection. The other day I allowed the Software Updater to run on my iMac. Included in the OSX update was some sort of Airport tweaking as well. Now my connection to the internet has slowed considerably. I've posted 'help' questions on Apple's website and MacFixit. No one answers. I've rebooted both the computer and the cable modem, and router. Nada.

Anyone here have any suggestions? Can I 'undo' the update that happened to Airport in that update? (No, I don't run Time Machine on my computer).

Thanks

Facebook, delicious and flickr not loading!

carofowler — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:30:12 -0800

My facebook, delicious and flickr aren't working, but all other sites are fine. What's wrong and how do I fix it? I have been trying for over a week to use my facebook account unsuccessfully.

I use Firefox 3.0.5 on a MacBook although I have also tried on Safari 3.1.2.

Usually, I am able to sign in and arrive at the home page successfully. Then, when I try to go into any other page, the page won't load and I get a "failed to open page" error or "page load error - connection interrupted" or something of the sort.

Clicking on links in my email to posted pictures or messages also doesn't work and the page will not load. I have tried deleting all facebook cookies, all cookies, restarting Firefox, restarting the computer and nothing has worked.

My account is working fine on other computers, but since it doesn't happen with any other site, this must be an issue with Facebook AND my computer.

Also, my delicious account won't load either. I tired on Safari and the home page loaded but none of the other pages and I get "connection interrupted" as well.

When I try logging into flickr (through the Yahoo! sign in page, which is where flickr redirects you when you click to sign in) i get sent to a blank page: https://login.yahoo.com/config/login_verify2?

These sites work fine when I sign in through other computers and all other sites and the internet in general are working fine on my computer. I have also tried deleting cookies for these. For delicious it works and allows me to enter the home page, but then I still can't access any of the other pages.

Does anyone know what is going on and how I can fix it?

Thanks!

Why does this online game keep crashing my browsers?

tzikeh — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:01:17 -0800

It's called Equilibria, and it's a simple java-based game that has one tiny drawback. After a few rounds, my browser crashes. I've tried dropping down to "normal" instead of "challenge", I've tried both Safari 3.2.1 and Firefox 3.0.4. I'm on a Mac OS 10.5.5 with 3GB of RAM. As far as I can tell, there is no reason for this. I've only managed to get up to level 6 before my browser dies; my average is level 3.

Anyone have ideas or similar experiences they've solved?

Why can't I listen to conference calls on Yahoo Finance? (using Mac Safari/Firefox)

b_thinky — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:44:41 -0800

Why can't I listen to conference calls on Yahoo Finance? (using Mac Safari/Firefox) Here is a link of all the day's conference calls. When I click to listen to the audio, my browser goes to a new page and attempts to load the media. Media plays, but all I hear is some light static for a couple seconds, followed by a click - then it goes dead.

This happens in all the calls I try to listen to, whether using Safari or Firefox. Also I tried AOL finance and can't listen there either. I tried upgrading Windows Media player but still no luck. I cannot download the file - only streaming is available.

Can someone suggest a solution?

How do I get Kubuntu running under Parallels on my Mac to see the internet?

jeffreyclong — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:11:51 -0800

How do I get Kubuntu running under Parallels on my Mac to see the internet? I am a new Parallels user. My Mac came preinstalled with Windows XP under Parallels and it sees the internet fine. I just created a Kubuntu virtual machine. It boots fine, but I can't use the internet with it. I get a "could not connect to host" when I type any address into Konquerer. I played with the Parallels network settings, setting it to airport, default, host only, and shared. Nothing works. Is there something I need to do inside of Kubuntu to get it to work? Anything else I need to do in Parallels to make it work?

Thanks

Is my macbook screwed or just my wireless?

nunoidia — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:16:08 -0800

My macbook can't find my wireless connection. It was working perfectly for the past three weeks, but now it won't connect (I've only had teh internetz for those three weeks). I connect using plusnet (in the UK), through a D-link DSL-2640B adsl modem/router, on my almost two year old macbook (running leopard). I have tried resetting the router and airport on my mac; all that happens is that about half a minute after I turn airport back on, the mac finds my router for about 5 seconds, then drops the connection, and can't find it again. I don't think it's the router / wireless actually being pants, as both my iphone and my wii can connect to wireless just fine.

I'm a little stumped, short of thinking that the airport card is dying a death, does anyone have any ideas of what to try, or confirmation indeed that it's time to get a new mac? (on a separate point my screen has started flickering annoyingly again when running off battery, as it did three months after purchase, and I am loath to spend the money to fix it if it's time to get a new computer). I am out of ideas. Oh, in case it matters I am connecting through WPA-PSK and am not broadcasting my SSID

Sorry if this has come up already, I did a search, but couldn't see anyone with the exact same problem I have.

Diagnosing intermittent connectivity problems

ottereroticist — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:03:11 -0800

I'm experiencing intermittent periods (several hours every couple of days) where web pages are extremely slow to load and/or hang while partially loaded. How do I figure out what's causing the problem and fix it, ideally without wasting a lot of time on the phone with my ISP? Specs:
Mac OS X 10.4.11
Firefox 3.0.1 (Safari 3.1.2 and iTunes 8.0 are also affected)
Netgear mr814v2 wireless router with 64 bit WEP encryption
Motorola SB5120 cable modem
Comcast internet service

Thanks for any clues, Internet superfriends!

WiFi to router, but no further?

cameradv — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:55:47 -0800

My daughter has an iBook G4, running OSX 10.5 (Leopard). She's in Argentina, and having issues with the wireless connection. I need a little MetaFilter brain power: She can connect to the router in her apartment (she rents a room), and she can access 192.168.1.1, and gets router login prompt. But she can't get out to the Internet. She put OpenDNS IP addresses in the DNS entries for the wireless card.

She has limited control over the hardware in her apartment. It appears to be a Dlink DWL 800 AP plugged into a Tenda TEH800S switch, with a Zyxtel 645 Prestige ADSL modem connected too.

Other people in her apartment allegedly can get out via wireless. And there's no indication that there's any WEP or WPA protection. the AP is set to channel 6.

Why does Skype not want to take calls?

arniec — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:15:11 -0800

Important Skype Issue! I primarily use Skype for voicemails, however I am getting lots of complaints that Skype's line is busy. Every time I open Skype the preferences are set to only allow calls from people in my contact list. I keep setting them to allow calls from anyone and they keep going back to only accepting calls from people in my contacts list. Sometimes these settings reset while Skype is still open. I have not yet been able to determine a pattern. I know that every time I open Skype it's set to only take calls from people on my contact list, and I think that when I make calls it resets as well.

I have contacted Skype's technical support 10 days ago and they have not responded at all... I've Googled to no avail. This is extremely frustrating as I am a recent convert to Mac and I took Skype with me, but I never had these problems on my PC.

I do have Ecamm's Call Recorder for Skype installed, but I can't find any reason why it would be changing my settings.

Help! Please!

Help! No internet in Windows on a Mac

backwords — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:37:28 -0800

Running Windows on my Mac and having some internet woes... I am running Windows on my Mac through VMwareFusion. I am connected to the internet fine on the Mac side, but on the Windows side I can't connect at all or the connection is really slow. This just happened in the last couple of hours and I haven't changed anything in Windows.

Any ideas how to fix this?

When I check in Windows it says that I am connected, but websites don't come up and more importantly the software I need for work isn't connecting.

How come my dialup connection in OS X (10.5.x) is so crappy?

jammnrose — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:58:16 -0800

WTF? Dialup on my MBP (OS X 10.5.x) is all wacky. Dialup provider? External USB Modem? Phoneline? Dialup under Leopard is all funky. Upload forms (e.g. posting a picture) do not work under any browser. SSH shells are way too slow. FTP doesn't work (connects fine, but upload is broken/always timesout). Sometimes I'm still connected but I don't get any replies from servers/DNS etc.
10.4.x worked fine, still slow, but not as many problems.

I was away at college for a while (also when I got 10.5). After I've been back is when I've had the problem.

Could this be a problem with 10.5.x or could it be my ISP getting crappy? Problems with the phoneline or house-hookup?
I'm using a MBP with the External USB Modem.

I found a few apple-forum posts with some similar issues with the USB Modem, but mostly system hangs, which is not the case here.
I just have a general sh*t connection.
I've also tried tweaking the TCP settings which don't seem to help.

Are there any tweaks or fixes out there for this sort of thing?

Mom, meet Mac! You'll LOVE it, it's SO simple...

dpcoffin — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 12:12:40 -0800

Mom's FINALLY decided she'll get a computer. I'm gonna help, so it'll be a MacBook. I know there's been a lot already here on this topic, but... ...since this means I'll be upgrading to 10.5 myself as well, I'm looking for ideas specific to this spiffy new world. I'm of course also combing the net for articles on this and buying some Leopard manuals, so I'm here mainly for links, tips and anecdotes from anybody who's recently been over this exact ground.

Details:
She's a vigorous, sharp, but distinctly OLD-world 84, still running her own Montessori preschool, and for years now has been very vocal in her disapproval of computers for all manner of reasons. 5 recent minutes with PhotoBooth and Mail on a shiny new iMac miraculously changed her mind, at least for keeping in touch and penning her memoirs...

She's on one coast; I'm on the other. I'm shipping the MacBook to her after I set it up. We'll both have .Mac accounts and broadband, so I'm interested in video Chats and remotely controlling her desktop when showing her stuff/fixing things. And I've never done either before...

She says she just wants to write and do email, and is scared of the mouse. I have no idea how, or IF, she'll take to actually learning to use and customize the Finder, etc., so I'm planning to record some how-to videos and put 'em on her desktop. I'm also streamlining her Mac with preset Spaces for auto-launched Mail, Pages, Safari, creating a few Pages templates, and maybe adding in LaunchBar for easy keyboard automation (without explaining to her what it is...), and...wondering what else I might do. Got any cool thoughts on how I can maybe use Automator and/or some other keystroke-creation utility to automate basic texty/searchy/sendy things she'll want to do? Should I maybe make myself the Adminstrator? I want to keep everything DIRT-simple and totally stumble-proof, at least initially.

She's VERY suspicious of the Internet, both culturally and ethically, but I'm sure she'll learn to love it eventually as a great big replacement for her 1911 Britannica and her Home Book of Verse. But I'm DREADING her first brush with porn spam or pictures... Might some kind of "parental" controls or other filters prove useful? Never used these either...

Many thanks in advance for all comments!

How do I keep my computer connected to the internet for longer?

lazy robot — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:32:46 -0800

How do I keep my computer connected to the internet for longer when it is idle? I have a Mac osx. I have dial-up. When I am on the internet, if I leave the computer idle for more than 10 minutes, the internet disconnects. I've poked around, checked out 'system preferences', and haven't found anything to change this setting.

Better Browser for the Mac

jdroth — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:59:14 -0800

I need a better browser for my Mac. I use a MacBook Pro 17". For the past year, I've been using Safari as my default browser. I like it swell except that it crashes all the frickin' time. I've installed SAFT, which allows me to restore my browsing sessions, but still -- it's a pain. Last weekend, I moved over to Firefox in the hopes that things would be improved. That's not going to work. What's with the delays for nearly every action? Ugh. (No extensions installed.) I don't yet have Leopard, but am willing to upgrade if Safari 3 offers a marked improvement in performance. What can I do to improve my web browsing experience? (Session restore is a must. Undo closed tabs is nice.) As a tag-on, I would love to know if there's anyway to restore sessions in BBEdit. Though my MBP is fairly stable, it does freeze sometimes. Worse, it has a bizarre habit of restarting itself sometimes when the lid is closed. I typically have 20-30 BBEdit documents open at once, including some that have not been saved.

SOCKS proxy on OS X. What a bunch of ocks.

armoured-ant — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 02:02:37 -0800

I'd like to use certain, specific applications over a SOCKS proxy on OS X. Is this possible? Skype on the Mac, for example, doesn't have proxy settings built in. Is it possible to channel anything Skype does through a proxy, while running everything else over my normal internet connection?