Troubleshooting Your MacA Joe On Tech Guide

Joe Kissell

This book is for sale at http://leanpub.com/tym-joeontech

This version was published on 2016-09-20

ISBN 978-0-9785740-7-9

This is a Leanpub book. Leanpub empowers authors and publishers with the Lean Publishingprocess. Lean Publishing is the act of publishing an in-progress ebook using lightweight tools andmany iterations to get reader feedback, pivot until you have the right book and build traction onceyou do.

© 2015 - 2016 alt concepts inc.

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Also By Joe KissellTake Control of Dropbox, Second Edition

Take Control of Your Passwords, Second Edition

Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac, Second Edition

Take Control of Your Paperless Office, Second Edition

Take Control of Your Online Privacy, Second Edition

Take Control of Upgrading to Mavericks

Take Control of 1Password, Second Edition

Take Control of iCloud, Fourth Edition

Take Control of Apple Mail, Third Edition

Take Control of the Cloud

Take Control of FileVault

Take Control of Beta Testing Yosemite

Take Control of Automating Your Mac

Take Control of Upgrading to Yosemite

Digital Sharing for Apple Users: A Take Control Crash Course

Take Control of Security for Mac Users

Take Control of the Mac Command Line with Terminal, Second Edition

Backing Up Your Mac, Second Edition

Take Control of Keynote

Maintaining Your Mac

Take Control of Upgrading to El Capitan

Are Your Bits Flipped?

Speeding Up Your Mac

Take Control of Parallels Desktop 12

Contents

Read Me First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1What’s New in Version 1.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

A Note to Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Introduction: Don’t Panic! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chapter 2 Prepare for an Emergency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Acquire a Secondary Startup Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Get a Disk Repair Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Set Up Another User Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Consider Purchasing AppleCare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Think About an Insurance Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Find Extra Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Have an Accessible Copy of This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Read Me FirstWelcome to Troubleshooting Your Mac: A Joe On Tech Guide, version 1.1, published in September2016 by alt concepts inc. This book was written by Joe Kissell and edited by Caroline Rose.

Macs are easy to use, but they can experience problems like any other machine. When somethinggoes wrong with your Mac, use this book to figure out how to get back up and running. It teachesyou basic troubleshooting steps, how to solve numerous common problems, and what to do if youencounter a novel problem with no apparent solution.

Copyright © 2016, alt concepts inc. All rights reserved.

Updates

Minor updates to the electronic versions of this book will be free, and major updates will be availableat a discount to anyone who purchased a previous version. Check for updates using the link at thetop of the About This Book chapter.

Basics

Here are a few basic concepts that will help you read this book:

• Links: All blue text in this ebook is hot, meaning you can click (or tap) it, just like a link onthe web. When you follow a link to a different part of the ebook, you can return quickly towhere you were by using your ebook reader’s “back” feature. For example, in iBooks in iOS,tap the “Back to” link in the lower-left corner of the screen, or in Preview on a Mac, chooseGo → Back or press �-[.

Many of the URLs are shortened (like alt.cc/abc¹) to make them more compact and easierto type, especially for anyone reading this book on paper. These short URLs automaticallyredirect you to the original target destination.

• Menus and preferences:Where I tell you to choose a menu command, I use an abbreviatedformat. For example, “Choose File → New Folder” means “Choose New Folder from the Filemenu.” Similarly, I use the → notation for navigating to panes, tabs, and other views, especiallyin Preferences windows: “Go to System Preferences → Security & Privacy → General.”

¹https://alt.cc/abc

Read Me First 2

• Finding System Preferences: I sometimes refer to settings in System Preferences that youmay want to adjust. To open System Preferences, click its icon in the Dock or choose Apple� → System Preferences. When the System Preferences window opens, click the icon of thepane whose settings you want to adjust.

• Path syntax: This book occasionally uses a path to show the location of a file or folder in yourfile system. For example, the path to the Terminal utility in the Applications folder’s Utilitiessubfolder is /Applications/Utilities/Terminal. The slash at the start of the path tells youto begin at the top level of the disk. Some paths begin with ∼ (tilde), which is a shortcut forthe current user’s home directory; for example, if my username is joe, my Documents folderis at ∼/Documents, which is another way of saying /Users/joe/Documents.

Note: If you’re running 10.12 Sierra or later, macOS gives you the option to move your Desktopand Documents folders to iCloud Drive. (You can enable or disable this in System Prefer-ences → iCloud by clicking the Options button next to iCloud Drive and selecting or deselectingDesktop & Documents Folders.) When this feature is enabled, ∼/Documents no longer points to/Users/your-username/Documents but rather to iCloud Drive/Documents.

• User Library: The user’s Library folder (∼/Library) is normally hidden. To see it in theFinder, hold down the Option key and choose Go → Library. From there you can navigate toany subfolder of ∼/Library.

• Disks, drives, and volumes: When I use the term disk, I’m referring generically to a datastorage device, which could be a hard drive, an SSD (solid-state drive) or other solid-statestorage, or a Fusion drive (which combines a hard drive with solid-state storage). Each disk(of whatever sort) contains one or more volumes, which appear in your Finder as disks. Yourstartup volume is the one your Mac boots from—named Macintosh HD by default.

• macOS vs. OS X: Apple called its desktop operating system “Mac OS X” from 10.0 Cheetahthrough 10.7 Lion; it was “OS X” from 10.8 Mountain Lion through 10.11 El Capitan; and asof 10.12 Sierra, Apple’s term is “macOS.” For simplicity, I mostly stick with “macOS” in thisbook, except when referring to specific older versions.

What’s New in Version 1.1

This book is based on an earlier title of mine called Take Control of Troubleshooting Your Mac,whichwas last updated in 2012 and has now been retired. With the kind permission and cooperation of thefolks at Take Control Books, I “adopted” that book in 2015 and gave it a new title, a new look andfeel, and totally updated content.

Version 1.1 includes the following changes from version 1.0:

Read Me First 3

• Made minor text changes to reflect compatibility with macOS 10.12 Sierra• Added a note in Reset NVRAM or SMC about disabling Find My Mac• Revised Keychain (Seemingly) Forgets Passwords to suggest a new procedure now thatKeychain Access no longer includes a Keychain First Aid feature

• Updated the list of Continuity features in Continuity Features Fail to include capabilities addedin Sierra

A Note to ReadersThank you for purchasing this book. If you find it helpful, you’re sure to enjoy the articles, videos,and other resources at Joe On Tech (joeontech.net²). Joe On Tech is all about improving yourrelationship with technology. As such, the site won’t bombard you with ads and other annoyances.You’ll just find quality information, supported mainly by the sales of books like this one.

This book is one of four I’ve written that involve keeping your Mac healthy and fit. Inevitably, theyall overlap somewhat, but they have different emphases:

• This book is about solving problems that prevent your Mac from operating properly. Itincludes basic troubleshooting procedures, ready-made solutions to common complaints, andtechniques that can help you diagnose and treat issues the book doesn’t cover specifically.

• Maintaining Your Mac (alt.cc/mym³) focuses on preventive maintenance: avoiding futureproblems, reducing clutter, making your Mac easier to use, and monitoring its ongoing health.

• Backing Up YourMac (alt.cc/buym⁴) provides detailed guidance on protecting yourMac’s dataagainst any potential catastrophe, from theft and fires to simple user error. You’ll learn notonly how to keep your data safe but also, crucially, how to recover all your data if and whendisaster strikes.

• Speeding Up Your Mac (alt.cc/suym⁵) goes into great detail about ways to increase yourMac’s performance, returning it to (or even surpassing) the speed it had when it was new.This includes finding and taming rogue processes, improving disk and CPU responsiveness,installing hardware upgrades, optimizing your wireless network, and many other tasks thatcontribute to overall speed.

I’d like to let you know about future updates to this book, new Joe On Tech guides, and other useful,relevant information. If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for joeMail (alt.cc/joemail⁶),my free, low-volume, no-spam mailing list. You can also follow @joeontech⁷ on Twitter (twit-ter.com/joeontech⁸).

And, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to contact me using the form atjoeontech.net/contact⁹. I look forward to hearing from you.

²https://joeontech.net/³https://alt.cc/mym⁴https://alt.cc/buym⁵https://alt.cc/suym⁶https://alt.cc/joemail⁷http://twitter.com/joeontech⁸http://twitter.com/joeontech⁹https://joeontech.net/contact

A Note to Readers 5

Joe KissellSan Diego, CaliforniaSeptember 2016

Introduction: Don’t Panic!You’ve always heard that Macs are easy to use and less prone to misadventures thanWindows PCs—and that’s true. But they’re still only machines. Sure enough, one day it happens: you encounter aserious problem with your Mac and have no idea what to do. Perhaps, since you’re reading thisbook, that day is today.

Repeat after me: Everything is going to be all right. Now take a deep breath and try again, this timewith feeling! Everything is going to be all right. I want you to believe that. Even if you’re feelingpanicked right now because your Mac is doing something wonky and you’re facing a deadline, Iwant you to set aside your anxiety for a moment.

Almost everyMac problem youmay encounter has a solution. True, some solutions are more elusive,more time-consuming, or more expensive than others, but still: don’t worry. I’ve been solvingproblems with Macs for more than 20 years, and I’m here to tell you that solutions come moreeasily when you have a clear head and approach a problem systematically. That’s what this bookhelps you to do.

Make yourself a nice cup of tea. (Keep the tea away from your Mac, by the way—let’s not add toyour problems, eh?) Close your eyes and think happy thoughts. Then page through this book to learnthe most efficient way to deal with whatever difficulties you may be having.

I’ve seen more than one Mac troubleshooting book that was upward of 600 pages long, andtroubleshooting websites with thousands of pages of suggestions. By contrast, this book makesno attempt to be comprehensive, because merely listing vast numbers of problems and theiraccompanying solutions doesn’t help if you have a different problem or don’t realize how yourproblem is like some other one. What I hope to do, instead, is show you some handy troubleshootingtechniques, provide instructions for solving numerous common problems, and then help you figureout what to do when a problem’s cause or solution isn’t immediately apparent. In other words, Iwant to teach you how to be your own tech support person—to do what I do when something goeswrong with one of my Macs.

Because my focus is on getting your Mac back into working order, I intentionally skip over lots ofbackground information and technical details. So don’t worry if you’re unsure exactly why sometechnique solves your problem. If you’re really interested in the background, some exploration onthe web will probably turn up oodles of detail.

As confident as I am that most Mac problems have straightforward solutions, I must point out thatsome problems can’t be solvedwith a fewmouse clicks or other clever fiddling. If flames are shootingout of your Mac or the screen is in a thousand pieces, you’ll need more help than I can provide here.Even simpler hardware problems, such as a faulty component on your logic board or a busted powercable, may require a trip to the repair shop. And a few—very few—hardware problems are eitherentirely beyond repair or more costly to repair than is worthwhile. Nevertheless, don’t panic. By the

Introduction: Don’t Panic! 7

time you finish this book, you’ll not only know how to solve most problems, you’ll have the toolsand techniques you need to prevent many problems in the first place, or at least to nip them in thebud. And even if you have a problem that requires professional help, following the steps in this bookwill help you talk to a repairperson more effectively.

If you don’t have any problems right now and are merely reading this to prepare yourself for futuremishaps, good for you! You’ll especially appreciate the information in the first couple of chaptersabout preventing problems and preparing for an emergency.

This book is designed to help troubleshoot problems with any version of OS X from 10.9 Mavericksthrough 10.12 Sierra, though many of the techniques also work with older versions and most shouldcontinue to work under future versions of macOS. Use the link in About This Book to check for anynew information or updated versions of this ebook.

Quick StartIf you need an immediate solution to an urgent problem, free to skip right to Solve CommonProblems and see if your symptom is listed there. You may also try the steps in Troubleshoot NovelProblems, following the cross-references to earlier parts of the book where certain procedures aredescribed in detail. Otherwise, time permitting, I recommend reading this ebook in order, becauseearlier sections provide useful background information for later sections.

Prepare for trouble:

• Even if your Mac is healthy now, take steps to keep it that way. Read Prevent Problems.• When your Mac starts acting up, you’ll be glad to already have a toolkit with which you candiagnose and fix it. Learn what you need to have on hand in Prepare for an Emergency.

• Most of the steps you’ll go through when a problem occurs rely on several commonprocedures. Learn how to do these tasks before problems arise so that fixing them will beeasier. See Learn Troubleshooting Basics.

Solve problems:

• If your Mac misbehaves, the problem may be something that many other people haveexperienced (and that’s easily repaired). Start with Solve Common Problems. Or jump directlyto one of these problems—just a few examples from among the 21 issues covered in thatchapter:

– Your Mac Won’t Turn On– Your Mac Keeps Turning Itself Off– Your Fan Runs Excessively– An App Grinds to a Halt– An App Crashes– You Lose Your Internet Connection– iCloud Data Doesn’t Sync Properly

• Not all problems are common. If you encounter something not covered in the previous section,learn how to solve it—or find someone who can—in Troubleshoot Novel Problems.

Chapter 2 Prepare for an EmergencyYou probably carry a spare tire, a jack, and jumper cables in your car (perhaps along with the phonenumber for roadside service). These sorts of basic problem-solving tools are just common sense. Ifyou don’t have comparable tools for your Mac, you’ll be in a pickle if a problem occurs. Don’t getstranded without the means to get back up and running again.

All the items mentioned in this chapter can come in handy when a problem occurs. You might notuse them all, but I’ve used each of them at one time or another, and I’ve found them all to be soundinvestments.

Acquire a Secondary Startup Volume

You can’t replace your car’s oil filter while the engine is running; it not only would be messy butcould potentially ruin the engine. Similarly, some repairs can’t be done when your Mac is runningfrom a disk that’s experiencing problems. In these cases, you must start your Mac from anothervolume. You may also need to start from another volume if your internal hard drive or SSD diescompletely.

Every version of macOS since 10.7 Lion has included a feature called macOS Recovery (or OS XRecovery)—an extra, hidden Recovery HD startup volume you can use in an emergency to performrepairs or restore a Time Machine backup. Macs introduced in 2011 or later, as well as some 2010Macs, also support Internet Recovery (see Start in Recovery), which does basically the same thingbut works even if your startup drive is missing or damaged. In addition, starting with the El Capitanversion, Disk Utility can repair most disk errors even when you run it on the volume you bootedfrom—a neat trick! With those three options, the majority of Mac users already have a suitablesecondary startup volume, perhaps without realizing it.

Note: If yourMacwas released betweenmid-2010 andmid-2011, it might need a firmware update tosupport Internet Recovery. For details, see Apple’s support page “Computers that can be upgradedto use OS X Internet Recovery” at alt.cc/4j.

https://alt.cc/4j

Chapter 2 Prepare for an Emergency 10

Tip: You can also install a Recovery HD volume on an external drive using Apple’s OS X RecoveryDisk Assistant, which you can download at alt.cc/au.

https://alt.cc/au

Despite these alternatives for starting your Mac, however, I suggest having another startup volumeavailable. I say this for several reasons:

• Although the in-place Disk Repair feature in El Capitan and later is handy, it can’t fix everytype of disk error—and, of course, it won’t help you at all if you’re running Yosemite orMavericks.

• Some Macs that can run recent versions of macOS don’t support Recovery or InternetRecovery, and even on a supported Mac these features might not always be available (forexample, if the part of your startup volume that contains the hidden Recovery HD volume isdamaged, or if you’re without internet access).

• If you manually changed your Mac’s partition structure or restored the entire startup volumefrom a backup, Recovery might not work.

• Even in the best cases, the solutions built into macOS don’t let you run third-party disk repairor backup software (which is sometimes essential to solving problems)—and in the case ofInternet Recovery, booting can be extremely slow.

A secondary startup volume can take numerous forms. I prefer an external hard drive with aThunderbolt or USB 3 interface, because it’s fast and flexible and can be used for things other thanstarting up in an emergency (backups, for example). But that’s just one of several options. Be sureyou have at least one of these handy:

• The USB Software Reinstall Drive included with certain Macs

Note: I no longer recommend using startup CDs or DVDs for Macs with optical drives, except asa last resort, because they’re so much slower than every other option listed here.

• A USB flash drive, or even an SD card (for Macs with built-in SD card readers), on whichyou’ve installed a bootable copy of OS X

• A bootable flash drive supplied with third-party disk repair software, such as DiskWarrior(alt.cc/sa¹⁰, $119.95)

¹⁰https://alt.cc/sa

Chapter 2 Prepare for an Emergency 11

• An external Thunderbolt, USB, or FireWire hard drive or flash drive on which you’ve installeda bootable copy of macOS

• Another Mac that can boot into Thunderbolt target disk mode or FireWire target disk mode—assuming both Macs have Thunderbolt ports or both have FireWire ports, and the second Macis running a version of macOS that’s compatible with the first Mac

(To make this work, first shut down the Mac whose disk you want to boot from. Then connectthe Macs with a Thunderbolt or FireWire cable, start the Mac whose disk you want to bootfrom, and hold down the T key on that Mac’s keyboard until you see the Thunderbolt orFireWire icon. For more about target disk mode, read Apple’s support article “Transfer filesbetween two computers using target disk mode” at alt.cc/ar¹¹.)

• A second internal drive or a second partition of your main startup disk with a bootable copyof macOS

Note: A second partition is less useful for troubleshooting, because it doesn’t enable you to solveproblems that affect the entire disk.

If your secondary startup volume already contains a bootable copy of macOS, you’re all set. But ifyou’re using another disk or partition, you must first install macOS on it. You can do this in any ofthe following ways:

• Clone your internal drive. Using backup software designed for this task, make an exact copyof your main startup disk on the secondary disk. Tools that work well for this purpose includeCarbon Copy Cloner (bombich.com¹²) and SuperDuper! (alt.cc/s0¹³).

• Install macOS directly. In many cases you can run the macOS installer, selecting yoursecondary disk as the destination.

After setting up your secondary startup volume, be sure to test it to verify that it is bootable; youdon’t want to find out that it’s not working after your main drive dies. Read Start Up from AnotherVolume for more details.

A Little Something ExtraIf you want a truly complete troubleshooting toolkit, consider adding a few optional items to helpwith certain specific problems:

• A spare keyboard andmouse: If your input devices aren’t working, it’s hard to do anything

¹¹https://alt.cc/ar¹²http://www.bombich.com/¹³https://alt.cc/s0

Chapter 2 Prepare for an Emergency 12

with your Mac—including troubleshooting. Even old, cheap, or used input devices are goodenough for emergency use. Wired USB input devices are best, in case the problem you’rehaving involves Bluetooth.

• Extra cables: When you’re troubleshooting network problems, a spare Ethernet cable ishandy. When peripherals malfunction, an extra USB or FireWire cable can help you ruleout a bad cable as the cause. As a bonus, a Thunderbolt or FireWire cable can be used tonetwork two Macs together if they both have Thunderbolt or FireWire ports.

• Batteries: If you use Bluetooth devices or other wireless accessories, have a spare set ofbatteries available. Batteries have a way of dying at the most inopportune times!

Get a Disk Repair Utility

Over time, almost all disks (including SSDs) develop minor errors that can cause your Mac to behavebadly. The specific causes and symptoms are numerous, but when disk errors occur, your only optionis to use a utility that’s specially designed to examine the disk at a low level and repair the problem.(In some cases, you must run the disk utility from your secondary startup volume. See Run DiskRepair Utilities for further instructions.)

Apple includes a basic disk utility called (you guessed it) Disk Utility with macOS. It’s found in/Applications/Utilities as well as on the hidden Recovery HD volume. If you’ve cloned yourstartup volume or installed macOS directly onto another disk, you already have one disk repairutility ready to go.

I use Disk Utility frequently, because it’s a quick and easy way to solve a number of problems and isconsidered to be extremely safe. But some disk errors are too complex for Disk Utility to repair and,unfortunately, such errors are not uncommon. So I recommend, if at all possible, having a seconddisk repair utility available—one that can pick up where Disk Utility leaves off. In my opinion, onlythree are worth any serious consideration:

• DiskWarrior: This utility from Alsoft is my favorite because it can solve some problems thatno other utility can (alt.cc/sa¹⁴, $119.95). It’s been around for over 20 years and has only gottenbetter over time. If you can buy only one disk utility, get this one. DiskWarrior ships on a flashdrive that you can use to boot your Mac (although you may need to run an included app toupdate it, depending on your Mac model).

• Techtool Pro: Micromat’s flagship repair utility not only repairs disks but also checks yourRAM, video card, and other hardware components (alt.cc/27¹⁵, $99.99). Techtool Pro includesa feature called eDrive that’s somewhat like Recovery, in that it lets you boot your Mac froma hidden volume to repair it.

¹⁴https://alt.cc/sa¹⁵https://alt.cc/27

Chapter 2 Prepare for an Emergency 13

• Drive Genius: Prosoft Engineering’s Drive Genius doesn’t have the same long history as theother two candidates, but it has a solid feature set and can repartition hard disks withouterasing their data (alt.cc/24¹⁶, $99). Drive Genius’s BootWell feature enables you to create astartup volume to be used for repairs.

Any of these apps can also be installed onmost types of secondary startup volume, such as a bootableduplicate or a flash drive on which you’ve installed macOS.

Set Up Another User Account

Your home folder (/Users/your username) contains all the files that are specific to your account,including not only your documents, pictures, and music but also preference files, caches, and certainkinds of application support files and system add-ons. If you’re the only person who uses your Mac,you may have only one login account and therefore just one home folder.

Regardless of how many users your Mac has, I suggest setting up an account to use solely fortroubleshooting. That way, when a problem arises, you can easily switch to the other account—whichwill have default settings for everything—and see whether the problem still occurs. If it doesn’t, youknow the cause is to be found somewhere in your home folder, and you can begin narrowing itdown from there.

To set up a troubleshooting account, follow these steps:

1. Go to System Preferences → Users & Groups.2. Click the lock icon, and enter your username and password.3. Click the plus button just below the list of accounts.4. Enter the requested information: Full Name, Account Name (a short version of your name,

such as your initials or first name only), and Password, and optionally enter a password hint.

Picking a PasswordYour troubleshooting account won’t do you much good if you can’t remember its username orpassword. So pick things you’ll remember. Something as simple as “Test User” for the long nameand “test” for the short name is fine.

Because this new user has administrative privileges, the password should be as secure as the onefor your own account—an easy password (like “test”) puts your Mac at risk. My advice: set the samepassword that you use for your normal administrator account to make it memorable yet secure.

1. Choose Administrator from the New Account pop-up menu.2. Click Create User.

¹⁶https://alt.cc/24

Chapter 2 Prepare for an Emergency 14

Consider Purchasing AppleCare

The AppleCare Protection Plan is essentially an extended warranty you can buy for a new Mac.Normally, Apple offers a one-year limited warranty on its computers, including 90 days of telephonesupport. AppleCare extends the warranty (and the telephone support) to a full three years.

Depending on which equipment you purchase, AppleCare can cover certain peripherals (such asdisplays and AirPort base stations; some restrictions apply), and for desktop Macs it even includesonsite service in most areas. The cost for AppleCare depends on your hardware; it ranges from $99(for a Mac mini) to $349 (for a MacBook Pro).

I can’t emphasize strongly enough what a great idea AppleCare is. In the course of one year, mymother, my wife, and I all had faulty iMac logic boards replaced—at no additional cost—thanks toAppleCare; without it, themachines would have been out of warranty andwe eachwould have spentmany hundreds of dollars for the repairs. If you don’t live close to an Apple Store or an authorizedrepair center, Apple will send you a prepaid shipping container in which to return your laptop forrepair.

You can purchase AppleCare when you buy your Mac, or any time before your initial one-year warranty expires. You don’t have to buy it from Apple; some resellers, such as Amazon(amazon.com¹⁷) and Expercom (expercom.com¹⁸) often sell it for less. Because it provides notonly hardware repairs but also (usually) competent telephone tech support, I heartily recommendAppleCare to everyone buying a new Mac.

Think About an Insurance Policy

There are some serious computer problems—such as theft or accidental breakage—that no amountof troubleshooting can fix. To protect your investment in cases like these, consider buying a specialinsurance policy just for your computers.

You may already have homeowner’s or renter’s insurance that covers your Mac in the event of fire,flood, or burglary. But read your policy carefully, since you may be surprised to learn that manycommon types of loss are usually not covered—things like accidental damage or theft from a car.(And, in cases like these, your Apple warranty or AppleCare plan is of no use either.) Policies gearedspecifically for computers can fill that gap.

True story: A number of years ago, I was carrying a Mac laptop in a padded laptop bag. The bagslipped off my shoulder and hit a rock, and the Mac’s display cracked. Because I had a computerinsurance policy, though, I saved hundreds of dollars on the costly repair—even after factoring inthe deductible and the cost of the policy itself.

Safeware (safeware.com¹⁹) is the best-known source for computer insurance in the United States.The company offers a range of policies that cover desktops, laptops, mobile devices, and peripherals.

¹⁷http://www.amazon.com/?tag=joeontech-20¹⁸http://www.expercom.com¹⁹http://www.safeware.com/

Chapter 2 Prepare for an Emergency 15

Although Safeware now focuses on business and education customers, you can still apply forindividual coverage if you know where to look (alt.cc/5o²⁰) and are willing to pay rather highprices. Another option is SquareTrade (squaretrade.com²¹), which covers hardware failures and canoptionally be extended to cover “accidental damage from handling”—but does not cover theft, fires,or other types of damage. In the UK, computer insurance policies are available from companies suchas CompuCover (compucover.co.uk²²).

Find Extra Help

Last but not least, figure out whom you can call or email for advice when you can’t solve a problemon your own (even with this book).

Phone a Friend

You may have someone in your existing circle of contacts who knows a thing or two about solvingMac problems. But if your go-to person is a friend or family member (in other words, someone whodoesn’t charge for their services), I have three additional pieces of advice:

• Don’t start with a problem. Ahead of time—when your Mac is working—ask your friendif he or she is willing to field occasional tech support questions. You might even invite theperson over to dinner to get acquainted with your setup in advance.

• Don’t abuse free help. Even the most knowledgeable and generous friends can get annoyedwhen requests for help are too frequent or too time-consuming.

• Return the favor.As someone who has provided more than his fair share of free tech supportto friends and family, I can’t tell you howmuch it improves my attitude when someone returnsthe favor in even a small way. I’ve had people invite me out to lunch; offer accommodationswhen I’m traveling in their area; lend me their car for a day; and send me coffee, chocolate,CDs, and other thank-you gifts. Small gestures like these are good for relationships as well asyour Mac’s health!

You’re my friend, aren’t you, Joe?I always include my contact information in my books, and countless people have written to makecomments, ask questions, or suggest new topics to cover. That’s wonderful—I enjoy hearing fromreaders, and I do my best to reply as quickly as I can. However…

Occasionally a simple inquiry, especially when it has to do with a troubleshooting issue, turns intoa lengthy series of messages. I’ve even had strangers email or phone me—at all hours of the dayand night—begging me to help solve a problem that appears to be related in some way to a book

²⁰https://alt.cc/5o²¹http://www.squaretrade.com/²²http://www.compucover.co.uk/

Chapter 2 Prepare for an Emergency 16

or article I’ve written. I don’t mind answering brief questions, but I don’t have the time to providetechnical support to everyone who asks. So I hope you’ll understand that I must decline to offerpersonalized troubleshooting assistance.

Ask at a User Group

At Mac user groups all over the world, ordinary folks meet to learn about the latest products, findbetter ways of working, and help each other solve problems. I’ve been an active member of severaluser groups over the years, and I frequently give presentations at user group meetings (usuallycovering topics I’ve written about in one of my books). Most user group meetings are open to thepublic, and some offer additional benefits for paid members. To find a user group in your area, seealt.cc/48²³. (That page also lists groups that meet only online.)

Find a Consultant

If you don’t know anyone who’s a Macintosh expert and don’t have a local Mac user group, neverfear. Thousands of independent consultants make their living solving Mac problems. These folksmay not be able to perform certain kinds of hardware repairs (see Go to the Source, below, if that’swhat you need), but they can fix most Mac problems you encounter.

To find an Apple-certified consultant in your area, search the Apple Consultants Network site atalt.cc/av²⁴. Of course, lots of highly competent professionals offer Mac consulting services withouthaving gone through Apple’s certification program. You can often find such folks in the Yellow Pages(remember those?) or by searching the web.

Go to the Source

Some problems (particularly hardware defects) require special equipment, software, or trainingthat only a certified Mac repairperson can provide. When that’s what you need, choose one of thefollowing:

• An Apple Genius: If you live near an Apple Store, you can talk your problems over with anApple-trained expert at its Genius Bar. The advice is free, but if your Mac needs repairs andis not covered by a warranty or AppleCare, you’ll have to pay for parts and labor. You mayneed to make an appointment to speak to a Genius; call first or visit the store’s webpage if indoubt.

²³https://alt.cc/48²⁴https://alt.cc/av

Chapter 2 Prepare for an Emergency 17

• AnApple Authorized Service Provider: If there’s no Apple Store nearby, seek out a computershop that’s authorized to provide warranty (or AppleCare) service on your Mac; they’realso the best (that is, most dependable) choice for out-of-warranty service. You can searcha directory of AASPs in the United States at locate.apple.com²⁵; for AASPs in other countries,visit alt.cc/aw²⁶.

Have an Accessible Copy of This Book

One last little detail: When it comes time to solve problems, you may not be able to use your Macat all, so if you’re reading this ebook on your Mac, you won’t be able to refer to it. For this reason,if you have a second Mac, an iOS device, a Kindle, or some other gadget that can display ebooks, besure to keep a copy of this book there. If not, consider printing the remainder of this book.

Note: For advice on moving a Joe On Tech ebook to an iOS device or Kindle, consult alt.cc/4a.

https://alt.cc/4a

²⁵https://locate.apple.com/²⁶https://alt.cc/aw