Unable to send mails using Mac mail

In the scenario where you are able to receive mails but unable to send it because the Send button is grayed out or is completely inactive. Try those steps out, this has worked many of my home users.

Launch Mail.

Go to the Mail menu & choose Preferences.

Click on Accounts in the Preferences window. 

Open the Account Information pane.

Here could be the first reason, that the "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)" pop-up menu could be set to "None". Change it and select your server from the "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)" pop-up menu.
These steps should work, so run a test & see if you are able to send the mails.

If this did not work then the problem should be in the settings of your SMTP server.

Go to the Mail menu & choose Preferences once again. 

Click on Accounts in the Preferences window & select your account from the left side.

Click the Account Information pane.

Here in the "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)" pop-up menu, choose Edit Server List.

Check the correct SMTP server asking your service provider.

Click the "Advanced" tab.

Verify the details like the port, authentication, user name, and password settings also matches to what your Email service provider has supplied you.

Once done save it and retry, this should work.

If still it tries to play with you, then delete the account and reconfigure it. Make sure you have all the details with you before you delete the account. Ask your service provider that do you have to select SSL option while configuring the account.

Use MobileMe to set a passcode remotely on your iPhone

One of the fact of life is we keep losing and getting things. If unfortunately you ever miss your iPhone somewhere you can lock it using your MobileMe account. This is one of the safest investment that you can make. Just to remind you about MobileMe, this is not just a security application, but it is perfect combination of office and personal tools. It has push Email, push contact, push calendar and inbuilt photo Gallery for iPhone and iPod touch. Also, it has many more features, visit Apple official website for more information.

Lock your iPhone remotely
Once you realize you haven’t simply misplaced your iPhone at home under a pile of laundry, you may want to protect its contents until your iPhone is safely back in your hands. Just sign in to your MobileMe account and remotely set a four-digit passcode lock to prevent people from using your iPhone, accessing your personal information, or tampering with your settings.

Official Mac applications for downloading

Here are some applications that might increase value in your work. Get a trial version and see if you like it. Most of them are for official purpose.

 

Slices
Slices is an application that allows you to split and combine files. With Slices you can email large documents, as well as fit very large files onto CDs, memory sticks and other writable media. And, like SlidePad, Slices is free!

Learn more | Download

---

SlidePad
SlidePad is a powerful, convenient note-taking application that allows you to unobtrusively take notes without ever leaving your keyboard. And SlidePad is free!

Learn more | Download

---

Parachute
This is a versatile, powerful backup tool that allows you make automated backups of your files. With Parachute you can select files individually, set your own schedule and backup to both local disks and remote servers.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

---

Renamer
Renamer gives you to option to rename and number many files at once. If you've every tried to rename a large set of files by hand and thought "there must be an easier way", then Renamer is for you.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

---

MainMenu
MainMenu is a powerful maintenance tools to keep your Mac running like new, packed in a slick and simple interface. Improve application performance, make searching faster and speed up your disk access quicker. All that and more is just two clicks.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

---

iArchiver
A must-have tool for anyone working with archives. Safely backup your files with iArchiver's built-in encryption support. Open all the popular archive formats including RAR, StuffIt, DMG, 7zip and of course Zip. And convert easily between archive formats, such as from RAR to Zip.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

---

Sponge
You're running out of disk space? You want to clean your hard disk to free up some space and get rid of the clutter? Sponge is a tool to keep your Mac clean and tidy. With Sponge you can reclaim your disk space by safely removing applications, finding large files and directories, and tracking down and deleting duplicate files.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

---

ResizeMe
ResizeMe is a lightweight, incredibly easy-to-use batch image editor that allows you to create drop shadows, add a "shiny table" reflection effect, add text watermarks, convert, resize, crop and rotate thousands of your images and photos at once.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

---

Yum
Yum is your ultimate recipe and cook book manager. Add your favorite recipes, organize them into categories, assign them ratings, print them with custom layouts, create shopping lists from the ingredients, and many more features.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

---

Family
Family is a genealogy application for Mac OS X that allows you to map out your family tree visually, associating images and files with each person and telling each person's story.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

---

Dragoman
Dragoman batch converts image, photo, music, sound and archive files. It supports the popular image file formats JPEG, PDF, TIFF and PNG, as well as digital camera formats from Canon, Kodak, Sony, Nikon, Olympus and Fuji cameras.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

---

iCombiner
With iCombiner you can merge multiple images into a single PDF document. iCombiner can merge all the popular image formats, including PDF, TIFF, PNG, JPEG, GIF, Postscript, and many more.

Learn more | Download | Buy Now

Source: Creativebe

Install MySQL Database on a Macintosh

 

MySQL is a popular, free database server with dozens of books to teach you the ropes. In the past you had to install MySQL with the Macintosh Unix command line interface but more recent versions can be up and running in minutes.

• Download the MySQL package installation. MySQL is in varying stages of development, including alpha and beta releases, so make sure you download the most stable version for your Mac. Make sure to select the download for your platform (Intel or PowerPC) and version of OS X.
• Double click on the DMG file. A disk image will mount on your desktop. If you download a TAR compressed file (which contains files and folders), you downloaded the wrong installer.
• Run both the MySQL installer and the MtSQLStartupitem PKG files. You may have to enter your administrative password. Select your internal drive as the destination disk.
• Drag the file MySQL.prefPane to your user library folder. It should be placed in the subfolder "Preference Panes." Open your System Preferences to confirm it's there.
• Restart your computer. MySQL won't run until your system reboots.
• Open the MySQL preferences by double clicking on the MySQL icon. If the server isn't running, you will see a message saying the server instance is stopped. Click "Start MySQL Server" to launch the server.
• Connect to the server from your database management utility. This could be a web site, a web development program with database management capabilities or a freeware utility.

How to copy a DVD & burn it on Macintosh

 

If you want to share your party video with your friend and have only one copy of the DVD then this guide will help you to create an image file and then you can burn as many DVD you want later on.

• Insert the DVD that you have in the Macintosh CD/DVD drive. The CD/DVD tray does not eject like it would in a PC.
• When you see the Finder, click on Utilities. Choose the Disc utilities choice on the menu.
• Click on the DVD to select it.
• Click New and then from whatever the DVD was named in the previous step. Choose that from the file menu at the top of your screen.
• Enter the new file name from the master DVD. Make it something easy to remember for your new DVD on the Macintosh.
• Click the burn image in the disk utility screen. Watch the dialog box on the screen to see your DVD burning progress.
• Insert a blank DVD when prompted during this process.
• Now click the Burn button to complete the burning process for your DVD.
• Once you have created the image and saved it on your Macintosh, you will only need to insert a blank DVD, open the disk utility and click burn from the image you created in the first few steps.

Passwords missing in the new Keychain

This could happen after creating a new Keychain

This generally happens when you are in a network and the password is changed by an admin or helpdesk remotely using the server or AD. This scenario arises when your domain password is expired and you cannot do it yourself and you call your helpdesk to do it for you. Once you set a new Keychain on your Mac, you might not get the old saved passwords.
If this happens all you have to do is, go to saved preferences files and find the new keychain.plist fiile and move it to the desktop and the old file which is now renamed as oldkeychain.plist should be renamed as keychain.plist.

Just those two simple steps will surely bring all your old passwords in the Keychain database that will use your new passwords.

How to speed up your Mac?

Simple steps to increase speed of your Mac. These changes will not make any harm to your machine and can be tried by anyone who is not even too tech savvy.

 

1. Rebuilding your desktop is recommended once a month. This can be done by holding down the Command and Option keys while you restart your Mac. Keep the keys pressed until the computer asks if you want to rebuild the desktop. Click OK.

2. Also remove the fonts you never use. (The process is to open the Fonts folder in the System Folder and simply drag the fonts to Trash).

3. Open the Extensions Manager control panel and turn off system extensions that you don't need.

4. It is always recommended to add RAM if your computer takes a long time to open programs and slows down when working with multiple programs or large files.

These small steps would definitely increase the speed of your Mac.