Apple’s Mighty Mouse is a good mouse in my opinion. Some people really like it, some people don’t. One of the main complaints I have heard is that the top scroll ball becomes inoperable over time due to the collection of gunk. Dirt and grime from our fingers can collect on the little ball causing the sensors to stop functioning.

Cleaning the scroll ball is really a snap. Simply lay a sheet of plain white typing paper on a sturdy, smooth flat surface. Turn the mouse upside down and with light pressure, move your mouse in a circular motion with the ball against the paper for about a minute. Don’t press too hard – you don’t want to damage your mouse. You’ll start to see little lines of gunk appear on the paper as the scroll ball is cleaned.

After a cleaning, your Mighty Mouse should be mighty once again!

Apple has released Mac OS X 10.5.7. This update is recommended for Mac OS X Leopard versions 10.5, 10.5.1, 10.5.2, 10.5.3, 10.5.4, 10.5.5 and 10.5.6. It includes general operating system improvements that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. This update is now available via Software Update or the standalone installer from Apple. You only need to use one of these methods to update your computer.

As usual, I will be testing this update and will report findings and install recommendations in a few days.

For what’s new in 10.5.7 and tips for installing, please continue reading…..

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Have you seen the recent commercial where “Lauren” was given $1000 to find a real computer and then settles on a PC?

MacNutsAndBolts friend, Mac guy extraordinaire, and all around Apple Junky, PeteZ, put this together which shows a slightly different side of it. You have got to see this.

Brilliant!

Check this out. The owner of the blog 411Zone.net has posted an update to his latest creation. Pretty cool!

Click here to read the full story>>

Apple sent an email earlier today to it’s MobileMe members announcing the discontinuance of it’s .Mac HomePage service.

In case you missed it and have a .Mac HomePage, I have pasted the contents of the email here:

From: “MobileMe”
Date: April 9, 2009 4:53:09 PM EDT
To: MobileMe member
Subject: Important information regarding .Mac HomePage.

MobileMe Account Notification

Dear MobileMe member:

On July 7, 2009, the .Mac HomePage web application will be discontinued. As of this date, you will no longer be able to create new pages or edit existing pages using HomePage. Any pages you’ve already published will remain live at their current web address for as long as you like. If you need to make changes to your existing pages, please do so before July 7.

Instead of HomePage, we recommend the other sharing features of your MobileMe membership. With MobileMe Gallery, you can share photos online directly from iPhoto or the web application atwww.me.com. And using iWeb on your Mac, you can create custom websites and blogs and publish them to MobileMe.

We apologize for any inconvenience this change may cause. For more information, please read this FAQ. And thank you for being a MobileMe member.

Sincerely,

The MobileMe Team

There is plenty of tech talk out there right now about a computer worm called Conficker. The level of damage this worm is supposed to do on April 1st is dependent on which article you read. The one thing we do know about Confiker is that it DOES NOT infect OS X.

Conficker.C, a variant which surfaced earlier this month, reportedly shuts down security services, blocks computers from connecting to security Web sites, and downloads a Trojan. It also reaches out to other infected computers via peer-to-peer networking and includes a list of 50,000 different domains, of which 500 will be contacted by the infected computer on April 1 to receive updated copies or other malware or instructions.

Although Confiker does not pose a direct threat to OS X, Macintosh users could experience some residual issues such as network slowdown and the inability to access certain websites.

This is way too good to pass up. Our friends at MacAttapp have posted a whole slew of Mail plugins and add-ons. From enhanced rules functionality to spam management to Address Book add-ons, there’s something for everyone. They’ve even posted a few items for Eudora users!!

View all of these incredible useful tools at MacAttapp.com

Since the release of Mac OS X 10.5.6 last week, I have been running it on several machines problem free. There have been a few reported issues, but nothing that isn’t fixable. There was an issue with Mail quitting unexpectedly, but Apple immediately provided an update to correct it. There have been numerous improvements, most notably an increase in overall performance. Windows Media (video) now plays correctly in Mail. From what I’ve seen to date, I feel confident in recommending this update.

Apple has released Mac OS X 10.5.6. This update is recommended for Mac OS X Leopard versions 10.5, 10.5.1, 10.5.2, 10.5.3, 10.5.4. and 10.5.5. It includes general operating system improvements that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. To update to Mac OS X 10.5.6, use Software Update or the standalone installer from Apple Downloads. You only need to use one of these methods to update your computer.

As usual, I will be testing this update and will report findings and install recommendations in a few days.

For what’s new in 10.5.6 and tips for installing, please continue reading…..

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A little over a week ago, Apple posted an update to a previously published support document which recommends the use of virus protection for Mac OS X. This document updates a previously published Apple support document which recommended virus protection. It was published in June 2007.

What’s interesting (but certainly not surprising) is the incredible sound of hyperventilation being generated by PC tech writers proclaiming the revelation that Apple Computer has finally (FINALLY!) admitted that Mac OS X is not immune to malware. Some of these pundits have even gone so far as to gleefully claim OS X is as unsecure as Windows. Wow! Does misery crave company or what!

Case in point is a CNET article published yesterday addressing the topic with the opening line of “In what appears to be a first, Apple is recommending that Mac users install antivirus software.”

Really? Just out of the blue? A first? What about the June 2007 support document? If the CNET so called “Tech Writer” would have done just a bit of research…..

I do not run nor do I recommend virus protection for OS X. If you wish to purchase and run it, Apple offers a few choices in the support document. I have attached both the latest document and the original from 2007 for your viewing pleasure:

UPDATE: Apple has since removed this Support Document from its website

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