The Tech Bench

Looking for a quick and easy way to free up some disk space on your Mac? The ClearDisk app may be just what you’re looking for.

This simple app does a great job of finding unused files on your Mac and removing them. Temporary files, unused language packs, old backups and more are tagged and displayed for easy removal.

While there are a lot of apps that do this sort of thing, ClearDisk is well laid out, simple to use and a good value at $1.99.

This is also a great way to get more space out of your new Mac SSD upgrade.

ClearDisk – For OX 10.7 and later. $1.99 on the Mac App Store.

MyService now has new Toshiba 1TB 2.5″ 5400RPM SATA hard drives in stock.

These new drives are faster (54000rpm vs. 5200rpm) than previous models.

These drives are now thin enough (9.5mm) to fit in all models of MacBook, MacBook Pro and Intel Mac mini.

We have these drives in stock and are available as a full service Mac upgrade or for direct purchase.

The next version of Apple’s desktop operating system, OS 10.8 Mountain Lion, is slated for release this summer. While full details and release date are expected to be announced at the World Wide Developer’s Conference starting on June 11th, here’s what we now so far:

Features

Apple is billing this version of OS X as “Inspired by iPad” and from the preview that’s exactly what we’re seeing. Built-in system-wide integration of notifications across apps, tighter message and twitter support and more control over the apps that you can install. Here’s a quick summary of what we see as the 3 features with the most impact.

Messages – This takes iChat and gives it the full iOS treatment. You’ll be able to more easily send unlimted chats and texts to other Macs, iPads, iPods and iPhones. Support for FaceTime video calling and other message services like AIM and Google Talk are included. While nothing here seems revolutionary, the tight integration across the Mac and iOS platform could really open up more live communication happening while you’re working on your Mac. You can download a beta of the messages app here.

Notification Center - Background notifications from Apps that send you updates even if the app is closed. The same idea as Growl, just built-in to the OS for easier adoption among users. These are the same kind of notifications that are now available in iOS. For example, you might receive a notification pop-up that someone uploaded a picture of you on Path or sent you a message.

Gatekeeper - Sounds a little authoritarian and it is. This feature is designed to keep malicious software of your Mac. Your Mac will notify you if you want to only install “approved” apps from Apple. This also means that apps which aren’t malicious but aren’t “approved” from Apple will get flagged. Same double-edged sword we’ve gotten use to on the iOS side.

System Requirements

There’s not an official set of requirements yet but OSXDaily has a good list of what we can expect.

Looks like 64 bit Core 2 Duo or later support will be required to run OS 10.8 Mountain Lion. Most Macs from 2008 on should be good.

Availability

Availability should be announced at WWDC but rumors are that Mountain Lion may be available at the start of summer (maybe the conference itself) rather than the end of summer. Most likely OS 10.8 will be download only (no USB option.)

You can checkout Apple’s Mountain Lion page for more details and to download the developer’s preview (although you may just want to wait until the official release at this point.)

The Flashback trojan has so far infected more than 500,000 macs.

To see if your Mac is infected (and to remove it if it has) you can download this free app distributed by F-Secure.

Highly recommended.

[ F-Secure ]

If your 2010 15-inch MacBook Pro is experiencing freezing or loss of video, you may qualify for a free screen replacement.

This quality program is only for 2010 15-inch MacBook Pros that fail a certain display test. You may qualify for a replacement even if your standard Apple warranty has expired.

As an Apple Authorized Service Provider, MyService can test your MacBook Pro to see if it qualifies for the screen replacement and perform the service.

From Apple’s Support Site:

Apple has determined that a small number of MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010) computers may intermittently freeze or stop displaying video on the built-in display or on an external display connected to the MacBook Pro. In this situation, you may also see a restart warning message before the video is lost or the display turns black or gray. Affected computers were manufactured between April 2010 and February 2011.

Note: If your 15-inch MacBook Pro is not experiencing any of these symptoms, you do not need to contact Apple.

MyService can service affected 15-inch MacBook Pro computers free of charge until two years from date of purchase. Apple will provide further extensions to this program as needed. This worldwide Apple program does not extend the standard warranty coverage of the affected MacBook Pro.

[ MacBook Pro Repairs & Upgrades ]

One question we hear frequently from customers is “do I need more RAM?” It’s a pretty straightforward question, and the answer is a resounding “maybe”.

There are a few places where more RAM is vital. If you’re upgrading your operating system to something more recent, like OS 10.7 Lion, you’ll need at least 2GB of RAM. Actually, 2GB takes you to the minimum requirements, but 4GB may be a better fit. If you’re upgrading to meet a system requirement it’s not a bad idea to go a little bit above what you need to give yourself a little breathing room.

Do a lot of photo editing? Video editing? Play a lot of WoW? If you play with iPhoto or any part of the Adobe suite often you’ll want to think about increasing your RAM. Some software products require you have more RAM than your machine might come with out of the box.

As a rule of thumb, the harder you’re making your Mac work the more likely you are to get a boost from more RAM. If you’re using your Mac primarily to write term papers or check email and FaceBook then you probably have enough RAM. If you’re the family photographer or cutting the new video for your band then you may want more RAM. Is your Mac your work machine? Ok. If you’re using it for your bookkeeping then you’re probably good on RAM. But if you’re using your Mac for graphic design work then a RAM upgrade may make you happy.

RAM’s a good opportunity to juice up your Mac for the things you need it to do. But Apple’s products are already pretty powerful straight out of the box, so if you’re happy with your Mac don’t worry too much about it.

[ Mac Memory Upgrades ]

We stumbled across a piece of history the other day, thanks to Letters of Note. It’s a letter from Bill Gates to Apple’s 1985 CEO John Sculley. Gates thought Apple was too locked down, hardware and software, and would benefit from opening up and licensing it’s software to other companies to create “Mac Compatible” products.

Apple didn’t listen to Gates, obviously, and we have the world as we know it today. As an Apple fanguy/girl it’s worth reading for a peek at the world as it could have been.

[ Letters of Note ]

We’ve added three new models of refurbished Macs to the MyService Store. All units are in stock and carry a 6 month MyService warranty.

MacBook 13″ – $599

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
New 13.3-inch Display
New Top Case & Keyboard
New Display Bezel & Rear Housing
2GB 667MHz DDR Memory
160GB 5400 RPM HD
8x Double-Layer SuperDrive

MacBook Aluminum – $749

2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
13.3-inch Display
2GB 667MHz DDR Memory
160GB 5400 RPM HD
8x Double-Layer SuperDrive
OS X Lion

iMac 20″ Aluminum – $899

2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
20-inch Display
2GB 667MHz DDR Memory
320GB 5400 RPM HD
16x Double-Layer SuperDrive
OS X Lion

Here are the latest Apple Technical White Papers. They provide a basic overview of deploying and managing Macs in the enterprise.

 
Strategies and Best Practices for Evaluating and Deploying Mac in the Enterprise

Supporting Mac Users: The Self Support Model

Best Practices for Integrating OS X Lion with Active Directory

Best Practices for Deploying and Managing Macs with OS X Lion

Symptom: Random freezing or loss of video when waking from sleep

Mac Type: Thunderbolt MacBook Air Mid 2011 and later

Likely Cause: Often times random freezing, kernel panics, etc. can be attributed to issues with the RAM. When the unit goes to sleep it saves the current state in the RAM and when it attempts to wake up, it accesses that RAM. That’s why if the RAM has an issue, the machine may not wake from sleep.

The MacBook Air picture below failed the ASD (Apple Service Diagnostic) when attempting the “wake from sleep” test. With the MacBook Air, the RAM is built into the main logic board.

Solution: Having the logic board replaced by an Apple Authorized Service provider (like MyService) should resolve the issue.

MacBook Air failing the ASD (left) and then passing the ASD (right) with a new logic board.

[ MacBook Air Service ]