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#1
19th February 2023, 08:19 AM
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Rigs Is Back With More Uninformed Laptop Questions
And I trust you, people I have never met in real life, more than I do some random website.
I need a new MacBook. This will be my third laptop purchase in my life. No, I'm not switching to non-Apple stuff. Yes, the prices are outrageous. I've now heard of Back Market but the more they tell me they're legit, the more askance I view them... And since I live my life out loud on social media, I posted about this on FB and an old HS friend (we've stayed in touch) has just purchased himself a new MacBook and is interested in selling his old one to me. All well and good, but I don't know what to do next. I have QUESTIONS: 1. How does the seller go about deleting/wiping his Macbook so that I do not have his stuff? Honestly, I'm worried about viruses and porn. Before you come at me, you need to know that I have zero p0rn on any of my laptops (all 2 of them); have never accessed any p0rn on any of my laptops or online, ever. This makes me something of an anomaly, but it is nevertheless true. No, I don't care what you're doing online regarding p0rn (as long as it's not child pron), but see no reason why the choices you make should also be made by me. So, yes, I am concerned about p0rn files, mostly because they apparently also bring viruses with them. 2. How can the buyer be sure that #1 has been taken care of without offending the seller? 3. And this is probably a very stupid question, but I didn't pay attention the last time I bought a new laptop (in 2012) and my old contents were uploaded onto my new MacBook in the Apple store. No doubt a moral failing on my part... But how does one go about transferring the contents of one laptop to another? Even I did end up purchasing a laptop from Back Market, I'd still have these same issues, mostly #3. I humbly await your answers. TIA. 
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#2
19th February 2023, 08:24 AM
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If I were as worried as you, I'd take both of the laptops to an Apple store and have them wipe the old one and transfer the stuff from the new one. It'll cost a bit but it will be done correctly.
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#3
19th February 2023, 08:42 AM
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While it is not true that there are no Mac viruses, worrying about them is a lot like worrying that if you step outside of your house, you'll be trampled by rampaging zebras.
I have owned and used Macs since 1986 (the heydays of System 3 on a floppy!) (Fat Macs before the Mac Plus came along!) and I've toted PowerBooks and MacBooks out and about into and onto all manners of networks and systems and opened an extremely wide variety of files and navigated to lots of web sites, including the shady ones of multiple flavors of shade (yes including p0rn). In all that time the only malware that has ever infected my computers was the nVir virus. I've encountered some other Mac-native infectious critters such as the Autostart Worm without being hit by them personally, but even including every single evil buggie I've run into on friends' and customers' and colleagues' computers, I've encountered less than ten cases of malware over the course of 35 years. The likelihood that you're going to inherit an infectious bit of code from a secondhand Mac is vanishingly small. (hajario's advice is good, though. The Apple Store folks will be happy to give you an officially pristine boot drive and transfer all your files and settings for you).
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#4
19th February 2023, 08:51 AM
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I concur with @hajario. Book time at the Genius Bar. They are really super helpful.
IIRC you're in Chicago. There's one store on Michigan and another at the 800 block on North Ave. Two in the suburbs as well. Should you try to do it yourself, Migration Assistant is your friend. BTW, how old is the one you're thinking of getting? Is it a MB Pro or Air? Some years were not good for MB Pro.
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#5
19th February 2023, 10:54 AM
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If you REALLY want to be sure, take the two laptops in, have them REPLACE the hard drive on the new one with a brand new fresh one that doesn't have even the possibility let alone the actuality of Someone Else's Child Pr0n on it, then do a reinstall of the OS and mirror your old computer onto the new one. This will be the spendiest option but also the one that gives absolute peace of mind. You might even have the old wiped drive installed into an external case so you have extra storage available, like for a non-networked backup drive for pics and documents that you absolutely cannot risk losing. That way, even if your laptop gets stolen or falls in the pool you have your important files backed up and you can even keep that drive in your safe so it's even fireproof. That's if you're a paranoid suspenders AND belt person.
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#6
19th February 2023, 12:47 PM
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Wow. Lots here and I understand every other word.
So, I can take my current MacBook Pro (2012) to the Genius Bar with the other Mac that I did not purchase from Apple directly, and they'd still be willing to help me? That's amazing and, if true, restores my faith in people. I dunno the age of the used Mac. Asked him; awaiting reply. I understand what you're saying Smarty and it's smart. Not sure I'd need to do it. Didn't mean to go on and on about the pr0n, I am just envisioning the worst wherein I go to do something and suddenly (instead of a giraffe) there's nekkid peeps doing nekkid things. Wildly implausible perhaps, but I've had wildly implausible things happen to me my entire life... I do appreciate you all weighing in. I'll keep you posted.
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#7
19th February 2023, 01:28 PM
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I have a 2014 Mac mini as my media computer, hooked up to the TV. It stopped working a few months back.
I'm fairly good with Apple products, but all the usual resets failed me. So I booked time at the Apple store. Went there, they hooked up a diagnostic thingie and sure enough, something didn't work. They wanted to keep it and said they'd text me when it was done. The next day I got a text, went there and could pick it up, free of charge. They certainly didn't have to do that, and the warranty is long gone. I talked to the service guy and he readily admitted that it was goodwill that I was certain to tell people about (doh!). And also that he thought it should have at least a couple of more years in it. So yeah, expensive machines, but if one can afford the upfront, the cost spread out over the years makes it a better deal than almost any PC.
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#8
19th February 2023, 02:40 PM
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Quote:
I wouldn't even rule out their willingness to help with old old hardware, it's just that they don't necessarily have the familiarity. Less than 3 months ago I bought a used vintage-2018 MacBook Pro off eBay and needed to roll the OS back from Big Sur (MacOS 11) to Mojave (MacOS 10.14). They did it for me, didn't charge me a nickel, were very helpful. It took them two tries to get it right (something got lost in the notes and they instead upgraded it to Ventura the first time) but you can't beat free and helpful.
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#9
19th February 2023, 03:21 PM
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Quote:
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#10
19th February 2023, 03:28 PM
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My laptop is from 2014. Still works fine and when I have issues, I don't need to go to a genius bar to get it fixed. Windows Laptops are generally much easier to work on. Bonus, it was a Win 7 laptop when new and I was able to legally upgrade for free it to Win 10 around 2018. Apples aren't especially better than PCs they just have a cult of personality around them.
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#11
19th February 2023, 03:36 PM
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I've had some nice interactions with the folks at the Genius Bar, but the last time I went in with my laptop (I had gotten some kind of weird message about my battery that I no longer recall--I'm helpful that way), they said that at some point soonish, my MacBook Pro's battery would start to swell and it'd be a good idea if I replaced the laptop with a new model.
I see the sense in that, and have heard tell of this swelling battery horror, so 3 months later, I'm starting to look around. Thing is, mine still has a DVD /CD player slot, which I will miss. I have transferred many a music CD from my actual collection that way... My friend has to charge BOTH of his older Macs to see how old they are. He says he has an Air and a Pro, but that the Pro is older than the Air, so who knows. I'm not going to spend money on even a used MacBook from 2015... Right now I'm having another problem with my current laptop, but I have to go do other things, so will leave you all hanging. Okay, real quick. I've tinkered with the Display settings (not that there's much to that) but cannot make the new Spoutible page display the way my Twitter and FB do. IOW, Twitter and FB both have the 3 columns and I can navigate them no problem. Spoutible is HUGE, so HUGE I can't access the far right hand side of the screen with my cursor, so can't "like" things or follow people. The only way I can get Spoutible small enough to fit on the whole screen is by choosing the Default for Display in my MacBook Settings, BUT that means when I hit the green expand button, I lose my navigation menu at the top of the screen. I cannot tell you how much anxiety that engenders in me. And moving the cursor up to the very top of the screen only results in me regaining that menu occasionally. I wish I could pin it somehow. Right now I am typing in a small window, instead of using the whole screen, because of this oddity. Since the other websites work okay in my preferred settings, I assume this is a Spoutible thing, but how could it be? Tis another computer mystery for me... I can adapt and remember to keep battering the cursor against the top line of the screen, but should I have to do that? It seems odd. Thoughts? Will check back probably tomorrow. Thanks!
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#13
19th February 2023, 05:52 PM
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I'm pretty sure that A) They sure could just replace the battery with a new one; B) But given the age of the ailing laptop, something else is apt to fail soon and then who knows what's next, and the hardware may even soon become obsoleted by some OS update or whatever; and C) In any event, they'd rather sell somebody a new laptop than a replacement battery.
Not being directly involved, I'm guessing that B) is more relevant than C), but perhaps my optimism in that regard is misplaced. Also, P.S. to Rigs: You can snag an external optical drive for cheap pretty much anywhere, and you should! Hell, buy two, they really are cheap these days. (As long as you don't buy them from Apple.) Last edited by mjmlabs; 19th February 2023 at 06:45 PM.
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#14
22nd February 2023, 01:10 PM
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Quote:
Anyway, update: old HS friend's MacBook is from 2014 which is silly. So, back to new Macs. And they may or may not be a cult of personality, but I know myself: at this point, it does not pay for me to change systems. Everything I own is Apple. I bought them initially because I kept hearing about viruses and PCs. And now here I am. I have a really sweet used iPad that I got for $300 back in the day. I use it on plane trips and sometimes around the house, but since I have an iPhone 13 now (because my very old iPhone 6 that I loved literally fell apart--the back fell off and the innards became outnards), my phone does a lot that the iPad does. I got my first MacBook for grad school; my father gave me this one as a graduation present, which was darn nice of him, but now it needs replacing. I use a Dell laptop for work. MEH. It's kind of a PITA. And even at work, they've now dumped Windows Office Suite for Google Suites, and unless you want to hear a lady curse like a sailor, do NOT ask me about Google Suites. It sucks. I digressed a bit there, but my point is that I don't buy Apple products often. So, I'm off the Apple Store this weekend. This has been a spendy month for me. Front brakes being fixed as I type. But then it's done and I can go back to whining about something more interesting. 
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#15
25th February 2023, 06:30 AM
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I dont have anything to add other than...
LOL (regarding #1)
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#16
25th February 2023, 07:17 AM
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I was a manufacturing engineer for cutting edge electronics for the better part of 30 years. There is effectively no such thing as “planned obsolescence”, at least not in the way that most people think. Products are designed to a certain spec and price point that the marketing folks believe will sell well. That’s it. We don’t plan to make shitty things that will fail at some point.
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#17
25th February 2023, 11:18 PM
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It's easy to wipe a computer. Even a me can do it. Transferring is easy if you know how to do it and have the right stuff, so I am told. I find the attempt creates swearing. I'd go with Hijaro's suggestion. Do not abandon your disk-based stuffs! You can still get an external CD/DVD drive. It's a flat box about the size of a CD, and you connect it to your computer when you want to play a CD or DVD. Not sure how long these will be made. Last edited by stormie; 25th February 2023 at 11:24 PM.
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#19
27th February 2023, 04:24 PM
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It's a thing. At some point, parts for the older refrigerator or washer or whatever can't be gotten easily, if at all. Consumerism depends on us replacing, not repairing. It wasn't intended as a criticism. I did not face the Apple Store this weekend. I do need to get there soon. I'll go with the middle of the menu. For what I use my personal laptop for, that will suffice. And good idea re the external CD drive, stormie!
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#21
27th February 2023, 04:59 PM
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Planned obsolesce is the engineers intentionally designing something to fail after a certain amount of time has passed.
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#22
27th February 2023, 08:46 PM
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It may not be the hardware engineers, but somebody is surely designing computers to fail after time has passed: by refusing to any longer update browsers for older systems, if nothing else. That eventually renders the computers unsafe to go online with, even when everything else is working fine (as, IME, it generally is.)
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#23
28th February 2023, 12:22 AM
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My 2014 MB Pro is working just fine. Just yesterday I checked prices on new Macs and YIKES!
To get one with similar specs is $2000. By that I mean the features mine has, that were gone for some years but now thankfully are back: SD card slot, mag safe charge port, HDMI port, 512 SSD. Sure, the new has a much better CPU/GPU, but it's not as if I think my computer is slow. So as long as it works I'm not upgrading. Rigs: Check out the M1 MB Air. It's pretty impressive and a lot cheaper.
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#24
28th February 2023, 03:07 PM
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#25
5th March 2023, 10:47 AM
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I don't know it; I don't want to know it. I probably should know it. I just want it to work, to have adequate memory; for my iTunes to not take me an HOUR to add a song to a playlist (and no, it is not "picnic"; my iTunes is incredibly effed up), and for all my photos and Word docs etc to be there when needed. I see no reason that I need to be some sort of computer guru to be able to purchase a laptop. I am not an automotive engineer and yet I can I buy a decent car. IMO, computerworld has a customer service problem and it's not on the end user end, but that's a different conversation. Not fussing at you, dear Pencil, just grousing.  No worries, Haj. I think perhaps planned obsolescence has broadened in casual use, because I've never heard it used as you describe (and frankly, your description of it is kinda creepy. All I could think of was the old Mission Impossible tape at the beginning of every show "This message will self-destruct") Jeepers!
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#26
5th March 2023, 01:26 PM
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SD card slot. A lot of things have SD cards, e.g. digital cameras. IF you have stuff (pics, songs, video) on something besides your computer, it's really easy to move that stuff using an SD card. MB Pros had a little slot where it was dead easy to take the card from he camera, stick it in the computer and move the files, the same way one uses a thumb drive. And Apple ditched it a few years ago. Fanboys raged. I didn't care because I had my MB and it has a slot for SD cardds. If you don't move data between different physical thingies, this is not important for you to know. Magsafe. Since you have a MacBook, you have a magsafe charger. You know when you attach the charger to the computer it 'snaps' in place. That's because of a tiny magnet that keeps the cable in place. It's nifty, but for some stupid reason Apple ditched it for some years and replaced it with a USB slot. Fanboys raged, I didn't care, since I had my MB with magsafe... It's not important for you know, because it's what you're used to, so there will be no change. HDMI port. With a cheap cable, one can hook up the computer to a tv. Apple ditched that... Well, by now you know how it went. Do you plan to hook up your laptop to your tv? No? Then it's not important for you to know. 512 SSD. This is the hard drive. Apple charges a arm+leg+kidney for memory upgrades. There is no reason for a humongous hard drive. Use an external drive, which also ensures backups, which are important. In any case, if you don't plan of saving a bunch of movies on your computer, then this is not important for you. CPU/GPU. Basically the engine of the computer. Think of it as horse power in a car. The only thing is - computer makers make engines with more power, because that sells computers. So the guys making software think that hey, everyone has more power, so we can add stuff to apps (that no one asked for) and charge for the update. If you buy a new computer today, it will have enough horsepowers for what you need, so you don't have to think about this, because it's not important for you. In my role as ICT on a high school I managed and helped about 600 students and 75 staff. Everyone had their own MB Air. I can reset, re-install, configure a Mac in my sleep. If you need help, bump this thread.
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#27
5th March 2023, 06:01 PM
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That is incredibly helpful, especially the bit about needing or not needing to know. THANK YOU.
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#28
19th March 2023, 07:53 AM
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Okay, folks. I'M GOING IN. I have an appointment to shop with an assistant at noon.
My iCloud has 18.99 GB used out of 50GB. Clearly I am an underachiever (and this makes me wonder why I'm paying Apple 0.99 cents every month for more storage like it said I had to YEARS ago. Maybe that's not what this MacBook Pro can hold, but what is in my iCloud space? That would make sense; I think I had gotten to the point where I had to delete pics in order to store new ones, but can't remember. Geez it's a lot to keep track of, no?) Apple does NOT transfer data, which means I'm screwed and will now have to commit my whole day to this nonsense. Then again, sometimes I've been lucky and stores do in person what they say they will not online or in ads... fingers crossed. PS: I found my external hard-drive and backed up my stuff. Conceptually, I know that to reload it all, this process would work in reverse. In practical terms, I have no clue what to do. I would vastly prefer to just have this MB "talk" to my new MB like it did last time, but don't know if that's possible or if I have the cable that will make that magic happen. I will ask and watch the youngster roll their eyes at me. If I can get back to you all, I will report from the field.
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#29
19th March 2023, 08:15 AM
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a) Carbon Copy Cloner is your friend. It will make an exact copy of an entire hard drive (including being bootable if the original is bootable), or of any subset of a hard drive.
b) To connect any Mac since 2011 to another, you want a Thunderbolt cable. If the old Mac has the old type ports, you want an adapter* for one end of the cable. Then in System Preferences you go to Startup Disk and you should find a button there that says "Target Disk Mode" — click it and it will walk you through booting *that* computer in a mode that makes it behave like an external hard disk, and then you connect that Mac to the other Mac and it will mount the first Mac's disk and you can get to all its files. * the old original Thunderbolt had a D-shaped connector, a form factor called "mini displayport". The modern ones are just skinny little symmetrical ovals. The adapters let you plug in one of the skinny connectors and on the other end is a D shaped connector.
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#30
19th March 2023, 08:15 AM
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Um... the new models I'm looking at... NONE of them have the MagSafe, which I love. It's not a deal breaker, but again, why the change? Also, I'm noticing that the new keyboard is different.
I don't have my new MacBook Pro yet; I'm exploring online. Hmmph. Then again, the price, while still outrageous is $1K less than I expected, so I feel good (?) Consumer behavior is so odd.
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#31
19th March 2023, 11:02 AM
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Thanks, AHunter!
I am back from the Apple store. They will transfer all my data (for free) so yay! It will either be ready before 5pm today or tomorrow. I went with an M2 MacBook Air. It was less expensive than the MB Pro (13 inch), and for what I need, it’s more than fine. And it has the MagSafe! Can’t wait to login in here on it ASAP.
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#33
19th March 2023, 12:03 PM
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Quote:
And I told you the guys working at the store tend to be very chill. Quote:
But my TV stopped working last night, so instead of getting a shiny new toy, I ended up having to get a new TV. Can't you live without a TV? you might ask. Well no, since my TV is my computer monitor. I haven't had a TV hooked up to cable or antenna for about 15 years. It is a better TV. A little smaller, but with much, much better picture. *Computer speak for 'went upstate to live on a farm.'
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#34
19th March 2023, 04:59 PM
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It’s weird to post using my iPad. They didn’t call, so tomorrow after work. It COULD take until Tuesday.
 I am excited, Haj! And Pencil, that’s hard when you get all focused on getting one thing, only to have to swerve and get something utilitarian. Like wanting to buy that cute blouse and ending up with socks…
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#35
20th March 2023, 03:29 PM
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No word yet from Apple.
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#36
21st March 2023, 04:58 PM
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I am back from my trip to the Apple store and have my new computer in hand. I would like to like it, but I have some serious questions, now that I'm setting it up (which is very stressful for me. Apparently I have to have 2 passwords now, but so far the new PW doesn't do anything, but the old one does re iTunes and App store etc)
Nothing is explained to you. Nothing is clear. Intuitive my ass. But the thing that is making me PANIC big time, is apparently my Word and Excel stuff did not come over. There are HUGE international ban symbols over them and when I click on the "banned" icon, Apple takes me to a not helpful popup on their website about 64 bit somethings. So aggravating. I purchased Windows for Mac back in the day. I was sent to the App store and I have downloaded Word, Excel and PP. Don't need or want Outlook. But here's the deal. Apparently they are subscription now? I have to pay $69.99 per year for something I've used for the past 12 years? Somebody help. I'm too tired and fed up tonight to be adult about this. The laptop is nice, but if I can't access MY OWN FILES FROM THE PAST DECADE, WHAT GOOD IS IT? Jesus wept.
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#37
21st March 2023, 05:13 PM
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So I went in and said yes to purchase an individual sub for Office. Am now in "creating license" hell. It wants my PW, which I did successfully set up, but when I go to input said PW, I get a tone (it sounds like "bonk") and no characters display.
Then it wanted me to CHANGE my Apple user PW which freaked me out because this is a Microsoft product from the App store, so I declined. I will have to figure all this out later, but I am PISSED that I have no access to my Excel spreadsheets, which are my budget brain for domestic, and retirement issues, and my Word which has my poetry, blog entries, and half a novel. The only reason I'm not beside myself is because I am too tired.
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#38
21st March 2023, 05:31 PM
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Am back on old laptop. THANKS BE TO GOD MY EXCEL AND WORD STUFF IS STILL HERE. So, I have time to figure this out.
My immediate (cheap) thought was to just put everything into my Google drive. I can use Google sheets with no problem. But.... this is my retirement information. I do not want the risk of it being possibly hacked. Whether it's true or not, I feel safer with all that info in Word or Excel. Is it? I really do appreciate y'all's advice, and remain astounded that folks are just supposed to know this stuff. I'm okay with paying $69.99 for peace of mind (when and if it will ever let me actually do so). I mean, that $6/month. Still mad that I've used it for 10+ years after an initial outlay, but I suppose they found ways to monetize on a more regular basis. If anyone can help with these basic questions, I'd appreciate it. I'm going to take a bubble bath and watch Perry Mason because his world is simple. Thanks in advance.
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#39
21st March 2023, 05:32 PM
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Quote:
 ETA: ah, bubble bath and Perry Mason, good idea!
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#40
22nd March 2023, 02:02 AM
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I'll try to break down and help you with what I can. • Apple is a bit paranoid about passwords; they're somewhat right to be so. The problem with making anything foolproof is that there are so many clever fools out there. Your new Mac has fingerprint ID and so Apple thinks that two factor authorization is needed to keep you safe. My advice: sit down and do the things it says, slowly and methodically. IME it doesn't require two passwords all the time. I just wants to double check you before activating fingerprint ID. In practise that means using your Apple-ID and responding in one more way, e.g. using your phone or email, before you can use fingerprint thingie, which you can use to buy stuff from Apple. Beware - changing password for Apple-ID may, I repeat may, open a whole nother can of worms. Be sure you have access to the email you used when first signing up for A-ID. • As for Excell and Word, this is what MS has to say: Quote:
• Google drive. I have everything on Google Drive. It's as secure as anything else in the damned cloud (old man yelling at clouds!). MS is pushing everything to OneDrive. You can download Google Drive to your computer. I'd also be sure to have an external back up, i.e. a hard drive, and periodically use Apple Time Machine. Another suggestion is to upload all your MS Office stuff to Gdrive (IMPORTANT: make sure to un-check the box where it converts everything to Google format). Put all that into one folder. Download Gdrive to your computer, make sure it syncs with GDrive online. Then use Time Machine to do a safe copy to the external hard drive. Viola presto: you now have three copies of your MS docs.
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#41
22nd March 2023, 06:02 AM
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I know you mean well, and are so kind to help me, but there is so much information in that post, I cannot process it. Seriously, I am in tears*, NOT due to your efforts, but at realizing how much I do not know, and how much I will remain anxious about this until some sort of equilibrium is achieved, which does not look likely. I'm just going to talk and anyone can pick up any strand they want. I am very good at concepts. I struggle with tactics.
Thank you, Jackie. I know I have deep pockets of ignorance here. I'd be more driven to correct that, if I didn't also know that any knowledge I gain is likely to be defunct almost as soon as I learn it. You either have to live in this world or not, from my POV. I choose not. I refuse to deify tech; it's a tool, and since it's a ubiquitous one, it should be navigable and workable for all. Yes, I am a PITA. Did not understand any of the converting/not converting on Google drive. I mean, I DO get that it happens and is possible, and I even have had to convert all my Office stuff to Google for work, so I'm familiar, but not comfortable. I do not wheel and deal in this stuff, and one reason I do it at work with aplomb is because I have an H drive filled with all my Word and Excel stuff as backup. That's not the case here. Here I am relying on a 12 year old dying (supposedly) laptop to retain my records** and if it goes, I'm f*cked. So, this is tightrope walking versus a stroll for me. I certainly did NOT find any of that info re MS subscriptions last night, and honestly it sounds like Henry Ford, "you can have any color you like as long as it's black." I was prompted to change my long forgotten PW with MS 365 last night. Funny, that, because now it does NOT recognize my email (UN) and NOW says I have no account. Odd how I can get to "verifying license" stage last night, but now, "we have never met". And here's the thing: maybe that "license" would never have been verified. I waited 20 minutes of swirling circle icon before bailing, but for someone not versed in tech, I have NO way of knowing if it's me, my error, or their glitch, or what. Lather, rinse, repeat, for every step of the process. Pencil: there are no instructions. Little pop ups appear that want to give me helpful tips on how to edit iPhoto (hardly a priority) and such, but seriously, I opened this new laptop to an absolutely HIDEOUS magenta display, a blinking cursor and a blind box. Guess I should be grateful it took my old login. Ironically, the very first notice I got from Apple on my desktop prior to noticing the whole MS Office debacle, is a software update. Jesus wept. I get that part of this (maybe the whole of it) is because I haven't updated anything since 2012 in terms of MS Office. We used to get updates on Windows all the time at work, but FOR WHAT I NEED MS OFFICE FOR, the updates are not needed. In all seriousness, paper journals and ledgers are looking better all the time. At least they're immutable and accessible.... One last thing: I took time and backed up my hard drive on an external HD prior to purchasing this M2. And what does the backup say in Finder or wherever? "Last backup 2019". WTF? WTF Have no idea where TimeMachine is, how it works, how to access it, what to tell it (I'm guessing it needs yet another PW. Should I try to figure that out on my Old Laptop first, then this one? Does it matter? I don't know. I have to go to work. I will try to subscribe to MS Office later today. Will that make the BANNED symbols go away from my Dock? I hate the way it looks and they make me nervous. How do I make the hideous magenta screen go away/change it? My old laptop just opened up to my desktop, with a lovely picture of Lake Michigan that I took years ago. That IS on my desktop now on the M2, but do I always have to be faced with hostile magenta shite? Hear me well: I will NEVER do the fingerprint thingy. No, that's not me being hidebound and reactionary toward "progress". We had fingerprint-required access to the Pyxis at my RN work for the narcotics in the 1990s. Middle aged white women (maybe all women) have extremely dry skin. I successfully accessed Pyxis 1 out of 3 times without having to resort to wetting my finger or using lotion etc. And even then it was iffy. I am not about to go through that to open my own laptop that does not leave this house. Who the hell do they think we are, James Bond? I can see it as an OPTION, but boy, they really pushed it last night. And there's no "never" option, only "later". So, I deferred all that for "later". Plus, TH has this fingerprint thingy for his non-Apple computer. What happens when he dies? At least Apple asked if I wanted a death delegate, although I think they called it something else. That would have been a whole nother rabbit hole, so I deferred it, but will revisit it soon. You opened another portal of hell for me re the apple mail. All I know is that my "old" Apple mail opens normally on Old Laptop; I have not tried on new. I took a perhaps foolish precaution of emailing myself my absolutely necessary Excels and Word docs last night, but since I used my Apple email, the joke may be on me... In terms of the screen and the actual machine: it's very light, which is nice. The screen is slightly smaller, but that's no biggy. It's certainly much faster (what little surfing I have done), but unless and until I can get this shit figured out, there is no pleasure here. There may well be this time next week, but right now I'm in the waiting room and the patient is in surgery with no feel for the outcome. *I rarely end up in tears with sort of thing. I'm not 7. But it's all so fraught. It's not a video game where you can start over; these are real documents that I rely on daily to organize my life. Yes, the internet works fine (I didn't even have to set up my WiFi, which was nice), but the documentation of my life needs to become stable and accessible. **I've typed for so long I've forgotten why this needed a footnote. Probably not important in the slightest. If I can't get this subscribe to MS Office*** should I go back to the Apple store and have them look at me like I'm a PITA older person who needs to die already? I am venting here; I do not spew all this at a store on the hapless clerk. I would never, but this impatient attitude toward people who just want to learn remains like a lingering fart. It is obvious; it is resented; and it says a great deal about the rise of narcissism and selfishness in our society, but that's another thread. Full disclosure: the 2 young men who helped me buy this M2 were NOT that way. The young woman and the young man from whom I picked up my new M2 were, so much so that I did NOT purchase a new set of earbuds or a new charging cable for my car because I didn't want to spend any more time with them last night. ***I have some confidence that it will work, but will cost me. And why did it recognize me as a subscriber last night (I had to CHANGE my PW for Microsoft Office last night, NOT create a new account. In fact, it would not let me create a new account because it said one already existed. But no more, apparently). If you've read this far, I wish I had a warm chocolate chip cookie for you. You deserve one!
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#42
22nd March 2023, 06:03 AM
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How do you download a Gdrive?
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#43
22nd March 2023, 06:27 AM
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Sorry I overwhelmed you. I will help you in baby steps.
Wait with the MS subscription. I'll get back to you. Download Gdrive: https://www.google.com/drive/download/ On that page is a blue rectangle. It speaks Swedish to me, but it's on the left and shouldn't be confused with the blue rectangle in the top right corner. Click on that, download, install. Once that is done, you'll need to login to Google. They are password fascists too, so prepare yourself. Once that is done, Gdrive should pop up when you open Finder, it's in the left column, along with Desktop, Documents ASF. When you see it. You're done. Take a break, relax. I'll post again in a little while with the next step. This way you can do it at your own leisure. TO OTHERS WANTING TO HELP.
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#44
22nd March 2023, 06:40 AM
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Have recent Apple computers (and possibly also Windows) become unusable if one's not using the cloud?
I've been afraid to update my old minimac for fear of finding something I rely on has become unusable (and also for fear that something will go wrong during the update due to connection problems, see below). I have been updating the iPad, which has so many glitches I never bothered to figure out because most of my storage and work is on the minimac (among other things, some emails won't download properly and even when they do it often loses the content as they age), but which does work well enough for the few things I use it for. I have extremely slow and unreliable internet. The cloud is effectively useless to me. I need to have everything stored locally. I also don't particularly want them in the cloud, or on any program that may change formats without my control. There's nothing particularly sensitive about my info, I just want it under my control.
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#45
22nd March 2023, 08:34 AM
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Regarding MS Office.
I had to fiddle a bit to get to the U.S. site, but here goes. Microsoft doesn't support upgrading your old version to the new. They, as it is with all other money grabbing corporation want you to subscribe. As you've discovered, that is $69.99/year. You can buy a full license for $149.99. You get Word, Excel and Powerpoint, but not Outlook, which you said you didn't want. No OneDrive, which is Microsoft's cloud storage (which you don't trust). For me, it's a no brainer. Even if MS will not support Office 2021 beyond 2026, it's still a saving of a little over 100 bucks. After that, maybe subscription. Maybe. Office 2021 won't stop in '26, though. Recommendation: Buy Office 2021. It'll probably last as long as your current version, so you're good to the early 30's. Link to where MS sells Office 2021. ETA: @thorny locust not for Rigs.
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#46
22nd March 2023, 10:19 AM
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Pencil: You are a blessing in my life, truly.
Figured 1 thing out: the hideous magenta supposedly "cool" screen that comes up initially must be the equivalent of the mountain scene that used to come up after my old MB iOS upgrades (and then I'd have to remember how to get my preferred desktop image back, which took a few times, but I got there). Now when I opened the M2, my lovely pic of Lake Michigan was there, along with all the now inaccessible Word docs I've saved to my desktop because my old MB was so slow, it became painful to have to dig in to My Documents. And thornylocust: that whole thing Pencils spoilered? That happened to me a few years ago. What you are describing is precisely what I want for my financial spreadsheets and password documents: on THIS hard drive; not in the cloud, but I need to be able to email them as attachments. If downloading the Google drive to this machine will do that for me, I can avoid purchasing or subscribing to MS Office at all. I will need to do some research this weekend about this. And Pencil, your post was at exactly the right level for me. I am at the level of "click the blue button". Tedious for the teacher, but vital for the learner. Thank you. I do not think it's paranoid of me* to be concerned that my passwords to my retirement accounts, banking etc are not safe on my personal cloud, any cloud. Maybe I'm wrong, but what a harsh lesson to learn. I do hear you on the hard drive failing, which is why I started backing up stuff in 2019, but I'm not sure that's working as of now, either... I will hold off for now until I can truly look at things closely and calmly. I mean, I am calm now, but I go from calm to high anxiety in about 2 seconds with this stuff. I will commence getting a grip soonest. *not that anyone has said that it is paranoid... 
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#47
22nd March 2023, 10:51 AM
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So - desktop background pic check ✔️
DO NOT SAVE TO YOUR DESKTOP! EVER! OK, this is me being stern. Whenever a teacher came in to me to complain and I opened the computer, if I saw a lot of documents saved on the desktop, I would threaten them with a KA-Bonging. There is a technical reason why you should never, never EVER do that, which I'll spare you*. It's fast, convenient, easy to find, in fact, it's just like putting a piece of paper next to your computer on your desk. It is also a giant resource hog for a Mac, especially as documents accumulate. Without having physical access to your old computer, I can't tell but a reasoned guess is that it slowed down in part due to this. So you created en negative feedback loop: Mac is slow -> it takes time to find documents -> save docs on desktop -> slow it down even more. So, I'll tell you what to do, and what I did whenever I found a user with a lot of stuff on the desktop. Quote:
I still think it might be a good idea to fork up $150 for Office 2021. I'm comfy with Gdrive, but I've been using it daily for 14 years and I trust it. Compared to what Office used to cost, it's a fairly low price for peace of mind; add the ability to work with something you're used to, while easing into another solution. It's your money though, and I'm here to help. It's TV time over here (I'm seven hour ahead of you). I'll be back tomorrow with more bite size solutions. Don't rush it. Take your time. One question though. Is your cell an Iphone? If so, which model, 10,11, 12? If you have an Iphone I'll give you an AP lecture when we're done with the computer. * For those curious (stay out Rigs, technical gobbledy gook):
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#48
23rd March 2023, 04:00 AM
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Google Drive for Mac.
I deleted and downloaded Gdrive again to see how it behaves on installing. During this whole process, my Mac kept prompting me for permission to do stuff; there was for example a prompt asking me to make sure I had downloaded Gdrive from a trusted source, i.e. Google's domain*. Once it's finished installing, there's a prompt to log in to Gdrive. Mine asked if it should open in a browser window (in my case Opera, but it could be Chrome or Safari). Do that and login. Open a finder window. Make sure your finder window has the column layout. To do that, look at the top of the window, in a group of four small icons, the on on the left has four small squares, the next has horizontal lines. You want to mark the third. Gdrive should appear in the left column, under all defaults folders: Photos, Movies, Documents, my files etc. I dragged the Gdrive folder up so it was among the other main folders. If you click once on Gdrive it should show a folder in the first column to the right. Again, my Mac speaks Swedish, but it will be called "My Drive" "My unit" or some such. To the right of the little icon of that folder, there will be a small circular icon. If you click that, it will start syncing all the files you have on Gdrive and store them locally. Conversely, when you save something to the local Gdrive, it will sync and upload that item, so it will now be in two places. *You should never download from 3rd party sites claiming to have your app. ---- General advice about Google Drive for n00bs.
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" when in fact it's stored in another place. Remember that Google is first a search engine. It's almost always quicker to search for a file, as compared to browsing folders.
Linear Mode
