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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Silent Mac?

Are you no longer hearing a new mail alert?

Has your trash sound, delete sound, copy complete sound or other "user interface audio" disappeared?

Do your sound preferences seem to be OK?

Before you restart your system, try this:

  1. Open "Activity Monitor" which is in your "Utilities" folder inside your "Applications" folder 
  2. Search for "coreaudiod"
  3. Once found, click on it so that it is highlighted.
  4. Now, click on "Quit Process" in the upper left part of the window. 
  5. Click on "Quit" in the resulting dialog
VoilĂ !*



*Pet Peeve Alert: Why do people write and say "Walla!" at the end of some kind of revelatory statement? Are they being funny and I just don't get it, or do they have no idea that the word is "VoilĂ " and that the "v" is not silent?

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Trouble viewing PDFs in Firefox?

Last week's hint on resolving Safari's issues with PDF's evoked an outcry from some frustrated Firefox users who were also having problems seeing PDFs in their browser.

Here's one way to overcome Firefox's reluctance to properly display PDFs.
  1. In Firefox, type ⇧⌘A or choose "Add-ons" from the "Tools" Menu
  2. Once that page loads, clcik "Get Add-ons" on the left side of the page.
  3. "Extensions" Tab
  4. Next, type "PDF Viewer" in the search box in the upper right part of the window.
  5. Once "PDF Viewer" appears, click on it, and then click on the "Add To Firefox" button.
  6. When the pop-down window appears, wait a few seconds and then click "Install Now."
  7. Click on the "Extensions" tab on the left side of the page.
  8. Look to see if you if you have an Adobe Acrobat plug-in. If you do, click "Disable."
  9. Quit and restart Firefox.
Navigate to a page with a PDF, and you should be able to see it now. If you can't see the PDF, please let me know what Mac you're using, what version of Safari & Mac OS, and I'll see if I have any other ideas for you!