Ongoing New Apple Owner Questions

[mkrishnan]

I figured my question would fit right in here. I have a desktop from August and I havent saved the image file, i just pulled the picture from somwhere and applied it as a desktop. So, how can I save the picture im using as my desktop so i can FINALLY get a nice new background without losing my current background forever?

Thanks a bunch!

How did you set the image as a desktop without saving it anywhere, on a Mac? Check and see if the picture is, in fact, in your Pictures folder.

If you used Firefox, I guess it might have an option like that... but I'm not sure where it'd be saved. Any chance you know what it might be called? The file is somewhere on your computer. You could spotlight for it if you know what it's called.

Otherwise, try spotlighting for kind:image, and show all results, sort them by date, and look for one that fits around the time of when you found this desktop.

 

[Claudia]

How did you set the image as a desktop without saving it anywhere, on a Mac? Check and see if the picture is, in fact, in your Pictures folder.

If you used Firefox, I guess it might have an option like that... but I'm not sure where it'd be saved. Any chance you know what it might be called? The file is somewhere on your computer. You could spotlight for it if you know what it's called.

Otherwise, try spotlighting for kind:image, and show all results, sort them by date, and look for one that fits around the time of when you found this desktop.

Well I do use firefox. When I go to switch a desktop it shows my current desktop as blank in the display menu. I also searched for the background and cant seem to find it so I guess I'll just have to lose it forever. oh well. thanks for all of your help.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Maybe it's not lost forever...

Just tried using Firefox to set the desktop image. Didn't seem to save an imagefile anywhere... but, it did make a file in my ~/Pictures folder called image.php... hmmm... suspicious... more so since it was a binary file... so I renamed it to image.jpg (since it apparently was a jfif file) and it opened just fine in preview...

See if you have a similar file in your pictures folder.

 

[Claudia]

Maybe it's not lost forever...

Just tried using Firefox to set the desktop image. Didn't seem to save an imagefile anywhere... but, it did make a file in my ~/Pictures folder called image.php... hmmm... suspicious... more so since it was a binary file... so I renamed it to image.jpg (since it apparently was a jfif file) and it opened just fine in preview...

See if you have a similar file in your pictures folder.

Hm, so I looked around and while I did find some pictures I never knew existed on my harddrive I didn't find my current background anywhere, it just doesn't make any sense. I wonder if im looking in the wrong picture file? Is that possible? I also did a spotlight search on my harddrive and didnt find it ;/

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I found it, not as an image file, but called image.php in my users Pictures folder: Macintosh HD > Users > yourshortname > Pictures > image.php

 

[Claudia]

I found it, not as an image file, but called image.php in my users Pictures folder: Macintosh HD > Users > yourshortname > Pictures > image.php

Yea, still can't find it :[[[ do macs' have a hidden file/folder option? is that why im not finding it?

 

[mkrishnan]

Yea, still can't find it :[[[ do macs' have a hidden file/folder option? is that why im not finding it?

Not really. Finder doesn't show files or folders that begin with the character "." but that's basically it.

Did you try using spotlight to search for "image.php"?

 

[Advance The Man]

I'm considering http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7622851&ref=39&loc=01&type=product&id=1130986053087&ref=10&loc=01 for an external hard drive. I've been editing/saving home movies on my PB and it zaps the gb's! This one is a LaCie Big Disk 500GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive. Any opinions on compatibility or price? It states it will work.

What advantage are the firewire external hd's?

Will I be able to simply save all of my home videos on the hard drive - then simply plug it in the PB and it will just work? I've never owned an external hd before.

 

[Eidorian]

What advantage are the firewire external hd's?

Will I be able to simply save all of my home videos on the hard drive - then simply plug it in the PB and it will just work? I've never owned an external hd before.

You can boot your Mac off of a FireWire hard drive and the transfer speeds are greater overall. I have a USB 2.0 and I think it's just fine. I love advocating FireWire but USB 2.0 is fine for recent Macs.

 

[Advance The Man]

Anyone know if the current Apple models will run the upcoming MS Vista? I still have several consequential programs that do not support Apple.

 

[robbieduncan]

Anyone know if the current Apple models will run the upcoming MS Vista? I still have several consequential programs that do not support Apple.

They may be able to run Vista under BootCamp although this might require a BootCamp update. If you do not need 3d acceleration then Parallels have announced that they will support Vista in a future release of their VM software. VMWare are also expected to support Vista in their upcoming Mac version.

 

[Advance The Man]

My laptop turns on automatically at 6.30am everyday - don't recall ever setting this up or even knew it was possible. How do I turn this feature off?

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Look in System Preferences -> Energy Saver -> Schedule (button on the bottom right of the window).

 

[Advance The Man]

Thank you -

Anyone have heat from battery underneath the PB 17"? I was surprised to see only the 12 and 15" on recall list. I thought for certain the 17 would too.

 

[Advance The Man]

Questions:

How do I secure my wireless router where no on else can use it - encryption I suppose? There is an area to use a password, but currently I don't have that set up.

How do I hide my router's SSID?

How do I hide my IP address while online?

 

[mad jew]

The method is different for each router so maybe have a look through your manual. Hiding the wireless router and not broadcasting the SSID are what you should be looking for. As for hiding the IP address, I can't imagine why you would want to do this, let alone how it could be done. I guess you could unplug your modem but then the internet would get pretty boring.

 

[Advance The Man]

Thanks I'll take a look at the manual. It's a linksys.

Sounds crazy, but I've found times where I want to hide my IP.

The method is different for each router so maybe have a look through your manual. Hiding the wireless router and not broadcasting the SSID are what you should be looking for. As for hiding the IP address, I can't imagine why you would want to do this, let alone how it could be done. I guess you could unplug your modem but then the internet would get pretty boring.

 

[Advance The Man]

Wireless Networking Security??

I have successfully setup my Linksys wireless router to be 'secure' with a passord. It is hard wired to a Window desktop computer. When I now select this wireless router from my Apple laptop, it asks for the password. I enter it and it says...
"The password you entered is not corect for the AirPort network "xxxx".

Please help, I have now completely made my laptop inaccessible to the internet.

Thank you.

 

[mkrishnan]

"The password you entered is not corect for the AirPort network "xxxx".

Okay, so I am guessing that you are using the WEP security standard? 99% of the time, this has to do with the way your router is creating its password in computer-speak from your text password.

Several options:

(1) Change the router password to be the correct length

(2) When you connect to the network and are asked for a password, changing the "wireless security" option to WEP 40/128 ASCII (the third option) or get the Hex password from the router and change it to WEP 40/128 HEX (second option).

(3) Try entering your password with a "$" in front of it (no quotes).

 

[Claudia]

over a year later

You know I did do a spotlight search, and I did search through my pictures folder and there was nothing! absolutely nothing! in fact I still have the same desktop from August...I don't understand why I can't locate it. I used the feature in firefox that just says "apply as desktop." I don't know why I can't find it....

How did you set the image as a desktop without saving it anywhere, on a Mac? Check and see if the picture is, in fact, in your Pictures folder.

If you used Firefox, I guess it might have an option like that... but I'm not sure where it'd be saved. Any chance you know what it might be called? The file is somewhere on your computer. You could spotlight for it if you know what it's called.

Otherwise, try spotlighting for kind:image, and show all results, sort them by date, and look for one that fits around the time of when you found this desktop.

 

[whooleytoo]

You know I did do a spotlight search, and I did search through my pictures folder and there was nothing! absolutely nothing! in fact I still have the same desktop from August...I don't understand why I can't locate it. I used the feature in firefox that just says "apply as desktop." I don't know why I can't find it....

I just tried it in Firefox here (2.0.0.1 on OSX 10.3.9), and here too it saves the image to the Pictures folder even if that isn't my selected download folder.

The image isn't named 'image.php' though, rather it's the name of the original image on the page.

 

[Advance The Man]

I swear my PB didn't used to do this...when I close the PB and reopen it, I have to manually pick my wifi to use the internet or check email. Seems it used to just stay on and I wouldn't have to do this. How do I keep it on all the time? Thanks

 

[mad jew]

It wouldn't have stayed on because network connections are lost when the machine falls asleep. However, it should automatically reconnect if the settings are correct in the Network pane of System Preferences. Double click on AirPort and tell us what the default join option is.

 

[Advance The Man]

Thanks, I figured out how to set it up once I went into system preferences. It's working again!

It wouldn't have stayed on because network connections are lost when the machine falls asleep. However, it should automatically reconnect if the settings are correct in the Network pane of System Preferences. Double click on AirPort and tell us what the default join option is.

 

[mad jew]

Excellent work mate.