Using Microsoft Word with Yosemite

[besserglik]

Hi again.

My Mac model is MacBook Pro 15-inch early 2008 with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Memory is 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Following your indications, I've installed Tweak and Tuneup and also the OnyX.app, although when I click on the OnyX app all I get is a window indicating that "OnyX.app can't be opened because it is from an undentified developer" and apparently my security preferences "only allow installations from the Mac App Store and identified developers." But I'm pretty sure I downloaded the app from the App Store.

So far the computer has remained about as sluggish as ever - usable, but a bit of a pain given the waiting time required for things to gear up. Would Tech Tool Pro and/or Disk Warrior really make much of a difference? I'm a bit loth to splash out to buy one of these when I'm increasingly inclined to trade the damn thing in and buy a new computer. And why am I not able to get anything from the OnyX app?

What is an SSD and how do you replace an internal hard disk with one? Is it like a heart transplant where you have to open the thing up and remove something physically and replace it with something else. Or is it something external? It all sounds a bit too techie for me, though I'm willing to give it a go as long as I don't have to handle a screwdriver.

Finally, another area of inconvenience that has arisen since I upgraded to Yosemite is the fact that I now appear to be able to open PDF documents. Attempts to open these give the result "You can't open the application Acrobat Reader 5.0 because PowerPC applications are no longer supported". Is there a simple way round this?

Thanks for your help.

 

[honestone]

OK, a couple of things. First of all, I've not had any issues launching Onyx, even though I did not download it from the Apple Store. (I got the latest version from here: http://www.titanium.free.fr/onyx.html). But, if you are still having trouble, you can change the "Allow apps download from" to Anywhere in the Security and Privacy Preference pane.

Secondly, whether you keep your current machine or purchase a new one, it would still be a good idea to obtain Tech Tool Pro and/or Disk Warrior. Either product can be very, very helpful in 1) diagnosing hard drive issues (plus other diagnostics on other parts), and 2) maintaining the "health" of a hard drive/SSD. By the way, when you installed Tweak and Tuneup, did you run its' Optimization routines? Tech Tool Pro has Volume and File optimization routines, and I did use them in the past when I had internal hard drives. (For SSDs, only File Optimization is needed. It is not recommended to run Volume Optimization on an SSD).

Third, SSD stands for "Solid State Drive". They are much faster than a "normal" hard drive, and especially the slower 5400 rpm drives. But, since you feel uncomfortable using a screwdriver, then installing one inside your machine yourself is not an option.

Next, you are way behind with the version of Adobe Reader. Here is a link to download the latest version (V 11.00.10:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/73/adobe-reader

(By the way, is all the software you use up to date? That site, www.macupdate.com, is a good one to visit frequently and see if there are any updates for software.

From what you describe, it sounds like the internal hard drive could be going bad. As it is, assuming the drive is the original one, it is now more than 7 years old, and hard drives do not last forever. So, here is what you need to do to try to determine the health of the drive:

1. Boot your machine to the Recovery HD partition. Assuming one is there (normally gets created by an OS installation/upgrade), this link tells you how to do that:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

From there, as the link says, you can Verify and Repair connected drives using Disk Utility (Disk Utility will be one of the options on the menu you'll see after booting to the Recovery HD partition). When you do that, do a Verify and Repair Disk at the "top"level for your hard drive, and then do a Verify and Repair Permissions, and a Verify and Repair Disk at the "partition" level, that is, your "main" partition which contains the OS, all your applications, data files, etc. If the machine responds better after that, great.

2. Assuming Disk Utility was able to repair the drive "as best a possible (this is where it could be better to have either Tech Tool Pro or Disk Warrior), and assuming you have an external hard drive, use the free version of Super Duper! to make a bootable backup/clone of your "clean/cleaner" system onto the external drive. You can get that from here:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/13803/superduper

Try all that first, and report back on the results.

 

[honestone]

I need to clarify a couple of things. First, after you get Onyx to run, go through its' cleaning and maintenance routines. Not sure if it will help much, but it's worth a try.

Secondly, as I said, the Recovery HD partition usually gets installed with an OS installation/update. I have, though, read of instances when that does not happen. It is, on installation, a hidden partition. So, if you want ti confirm that it got created on your machine, launch Disk Utility, then just click on the Debug menu (it's located right next to the last Menu item, Help). After you click on it, near the bottom, you'll see a choice for "Show every partition". Just click on that, and you'll either see it or not on the list of devices in the left column. In my case, my main partition is called Macintosh SSD HD, and there are three other partitions on that drive listed. One of them is Recovery HD.

If the Recovery HD partition is not there, there are a couple of ways to re-create it. The one I prefer is the use of a third party, free program called "Recovery Partition Creator". It does, though, require the presence of the file entitled "Install OS X Yosemite". Typically (and assuming it is not gone), it is located in your applications folder, but it does go away after one does an installation of Yosemite (the same is true for Mavericks). That is why it is always a good idea to have a copy of it somewhere else, on your hard drive and/or on an external drive. If it is not present, you can download it from the Apple Store for free.

In any event, it does take some time for the machine to boot to that partition. I just tried it on my Mac Mini with a fast Samsung Pro 256 Gig SSD as my primary drive, and it still took a "fair amount of time" (for any disk maintenance/repair tasks, I prefer to use the eDrive feature of Tech Tool Pro. Once in while, I will use Disk Warrior). So, for your hard drive, it will most likely take longer.

Also, for using SuperDuper!, you'll first need a partition on your external drive for that purpose. It will need to be at least as large as the primary partition on your internal drive, but I would make it about 20% larger. So, if your primary partition is, say 100 gig, make the one on the external drive 120 gig. You can use Disk Utility to have that additional partition created on the external drive.

Finally, whether you get your current machine running fine, or purchase a new one, I strongly suggest you follow a Disk Maintenance/Repair/Back-up strategy. It will save you quite a bit of grief, you machine will run better, and it will last longer. And, if you use SuperDuper! (Carbon Copy Cloner is another good product that does the same thing), you will have a bootable, full backup, and it is a snap to recover from that backup. I can tell you for a fact that it twice "saved my bacon", so to speak. There are numerous tools for doing that. Myself, I use Onyx, Tech Tool Pro, and SuperDuper! (paid version) for that, and I run them every Saturday for both of my machines. Of course, in between Saturdays, I am constantly cleaning off unneeded files/folders (most of that is deleting unnecessary EMails in Outlook (I also permanently remove those EMails from Outlook as part of my weekly Saturday tasks)), and checking www.macupdate.com for software updates.

 

[besserglik]

Thanks for your notes on maintenance. I'll be following your advice even though I've recently acquired a new iMac. And as regards the ageing MacBook Pro, I'm wondering whether it might be worth replacing the hard disk drive with an SSD before selling it on.

However another issue has arisen as a result of the upgrade to Yosemite. During the transfer of data from one computer to the next, I realised that during the upgrade to Yosemite I seem to have lost a lot of my old emails. On the MacBook Pro I had several thousands of mails dating back to 2006 or so, which I was keeping as an archive, containing a record of meetings and addresses from that earlier period. I now find that the emails only go as far back as 2010.

Is there any way I can recover the earlier emails that I had access to when I was using Snow Leopard? I've been into the Mails Lost+Found and V2 files in the Library and can find no trace of them. Is there perhaps a way of finding them using Time Machine, for example?

 

[besserglik]

Oh and a supplementary question: since the Yosemite update, every time I try to open a PDF document by clicking on the icon, I get a window informing me I "can't open the application Acrobat Reader 5.0 because Power PC applications are no longer supported". I can open them via Preview, but there must be a better way. What do you advise?

 

[honestone]

First of all, did you download the latest version of Adobe Reader, like I mentioned above? In case you have not, here is a link to download the latest version (V 11.00.10):

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/73/adobe-reader

After you install it, that should solve your issues with opening PDFs. (You'll need first to completely remove the prior version).

Secondly, just to confirm, do you use Outlook as your EMail program? That is the one I use, and I would suspect you could recover those EMails from a Time Machine backup. What you would try and find is the last, good Main Identity folder for Outlook. However, any subsequent EMails since the backup of that folder would not be there. Unfortunately, I do not use Time Machine at all.

 

[besserglik]

Feedback on the above: I followed your instructions regarding the update of adobe-reader and sure enough, the PDF problem went away.

Secondly, on the sluggish MacBook Pro I had the hard drive replaced by an SSD as per your recommendation and it's now like a new computer. I wish I'd done this from the outset. I probably wouldn't have involved myself with a Yosemite update or bought a new iMac. Hey ho.

And now a problem that has nothing to do with Yosemite. Apologies for posting it here but on this thread I've had excellent advice and am hoping for more.

A week ago I had a liquid incident (coffee meets keyboard) with my MacBook Air. A visit to my local Mac repair shop determined that the mother-card had not been affected, and by means of replacing the keyboard normal servce was resumed. Except for one thing: internet connection is now dreadful. I can't work out what the problem is.

Internet connection has not broken down completely. Occasionally it connects with my home router (a Livebox, as I live in France) and attempts to download a web page; it almost invariably fails. However away from the home, it establishes wifi connections without much difficulty in public places such as cafés or my local Mac repair shop - sometimes a little laboriously, but it does connect. At my local library which provides internet access via a portal where you have to register, connection to the internet is virtually instantaneous.

At home, however, it's a dead loss. I've tried everything. I've rung the local ISP amd they're adamant there's nothing wrong with their service. I've deconnected and reconnected the router several times. But almost every time, although the router is received, the Airport utility failes to establish a connection with the requested website. And the odd thing is, this malfunction appears to affect the other computers that use the same router - the new iMac (on which I'm writing this) and my wife's MacBook Pro. Internet connection on both these devices is pretty well faultless - except when the MacBook Air is switched on and the Airport utility is attempting to establish an internet connection. In that case, even the other computers fail, or are barely able, to connect with the internet.

I've opened the Airport utility on the MacBook Air and I have the latest version, it seems (v. 6.3.5). However I'e noted that even when the computer is receiving the base station signal, the colour indicated underneath the Network symbol in the AirPort utility window remains (most of the time) at orange, rather than green indicating internet connection. Fow what it's worth, I also upgraded from OS X 10.10.2 to OS X 10. 10.3, following advice from my local Mac repairer, but that does not seem to have made any difference. The computer has no problem connecting with internet via Ethernet. But wifi connection is what I need.

Any suggestions?

 

[honestone]

First of all, It does not sound like you are using an Airport Base Station. Is that correct? If that's the case, then the Airport Utility is not helpful. You need to use the Network preference pane to help manage the connection.

Secondly, typically the connection to the internet at home, via one's ISP, involves two devices, a modem and a router. You stated that you have a Livebox router. Do you have a modem also? Assuming that is the case, you should try (with the MacBook Air off) disconnecting the modem and the router. The sequence from there (how long to wait, which device to turn on first, etc.) can be ISP-dependent. For my ISP (Comcast), here are the instructions:

1. Shut down your computer.
2. Unplug the cable modem from the electrical outlet.
3. Wait 10 seconds, then plug the cable modem back into the electrical outlet.
4. Unplug your router from the electrical outlet.
5. Plug your router back in.
6. Wait 30 seconds, then turn your computer back on.

But again, your ISP might be different. By the way, those instructions are from Comcast's site. Hopefully, your ISP has a site with similar information. If not, then you'll need to call them.

 

[besserglik]

First of all, It does not sound like you are using an Airport Base Station. Is that correct? If that's the case, then the Airport Utility is not helpful. You need to use the Network preference pane to help manage the connection.

Secondly, typically the connection to the internet at home, via one's ISP, involves two devices, a modem and a router. You stated that you have a Livebox router. Do you have a modem also? Assuming that is the case, you should try (with the MacBook Air off) disconnecting the modem and the router. The sequence from there (how long to wait, which device to turn on first, etc.) can be ISP-dependent. For my ISP (Comcast), here are the instructions:

1. Shut down your computer.
2. Unplug the cable modem from the electrical outlet.
3. Wait 10 seconds, then plug the cable modem back into the electrical outlet.
4. Unplug your router from the electrical outlet.
5. Plug your router back in.
6. Wait 30 seconds, then turn your computer back on.

But again, your ISP might be different. By the way, those instructions are from Comcast's site. Hopefully, your ISP has a site with similar information. If not, then you'll need to call them.

Thanks. There's no separate modem that I know of. The puzzling thing is that the router works for the other two computers but not for the MacBook Air. But I'll take my lead from you and shut down the computer and disconnect EVERYTHING that can be connected and wait a few minutes and see what happens.

 

[honestone]

From doing a google search on "does a livebox router have a modem inside?", apparently some (maybe quite a few?) such devices have a modem inside also. So, that would explain why you only have 1 device.

Hopefully, the shut down/wait/turn on process works.

 

[besserglik]

Unfortunately, no. I left the router disconnected and all computers turned off overnight and this morning tried a little experiment. I put two computers side by side. My MacBook Pro accessed the internet immediately. The MacBook Air failed to access it at all. I switched to my neighbour's router (as I indicated earlier, he's authorised me to do so), with the same results - immediate access via the Pro, but nothing more than a turning circle with the Air. (As I have noted earlier, the Air does SOMETIMES seem to be able to access the internet via other people's routers, eg in cafés, or the Mac repair shop. As to why there should be this difference, search me).

I'm convinced the problem lies within the computer itself, perhaps with the AirPort utility (it's notable that internet connection via Ethernet is faultless). Has the utility been damaged? Has one of the parameters been changed? Can the fault be removed without opening up the computer again? For the moment I'm completely in the dark.

 

[honestone]

First of all (and to repeat), you are not connecting to an Airport Base Station, and thus the Airport Utility software will not help at all. This link explains how to use AirPort Utility:

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1664?locale=en_US

Again, this issue has nothing to do with the Airport Utility software.

Secondly, try that experiment again, ie, having the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro side by side, and both accessing the internet through a WiFi connection. Then, in System Preferences, open the Network Preference Pane for each machine. The settings should be exactly the same. That is, WiFi should be highlighted, the "antenna symbol" should be blue, and the Network name needs to be the same. You can also see that antenna symbol at the top of the screen, right next to the speaker symbol. In fact, when you click on that, you should see a list of Network names, with the one the machine is accessing having a check mark next to it.

 

[besserglik]

First of all (and to repeat), you are not connecting to an Airport Base Station, and thus the Airport Utility software will not help at all. This link explains how to use AirPort Utility:

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1664?locale=en_US

Again, this issue has nothing to do with the Airport Utility software.

Secondly, try that experiment again, ie, having the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro side by side, and both accessing the internet through a WiFi connection. Then, in System Preferences, open the Network Preference Pane for each machine. The settings should be exactly the same. That is, WiFi should be highlighted, the "antenna symbol" should be blue, and the Network name needs to be the same. You can also see that antenna symbol at the top of the screen, right next to the speaker symbol. In fact, when you click on that, you should see a list of Network names, with the one the machine is accessing having a check mark next to it.

I've checked the Network Preference settings. They're identical on each of the machines. And yet the Pro provides internet connection with no difficulty. The Air provides none. There has to be a reason, but I can't work out what it could be.