Tech Tip of the Day: How to network a Windows 7 PC to a Mac running OS X Part 3: Accessing the shared files

Description: This guide will walk through two different ways of accessing the files on your network: Accessing the files on your Mac from your Windows 7 PC and accessing the files on your PC from your Mac.

Accessing Mac files from the PC

1. Click Start and select Computer.
   
   
   
   
2. In the Address bar at the top, type two back slashes and the IP address of the Mac noted
   earlier and press Enter.
   
   
   
   
3. A box asking for user credentials will pop up. Type the user name of the Mac and enter the appropriate password then click OK.
   
   
   
   
4. Browse to any files you wish to view or transfer to the PC from the Mac.
   
   

Accessing PC files from the Mac

1. Click the Finder icon in the dock.
   
   
   
   
2. On the left side of the Finder window, click the name of your PC.
   
   
   
   
3. The connection will fail. This is due to invalid credentials. Once the connection fails click the
   Connect As... button.
   
   
   
   
4. Enter the User Name and Password for the user account on the PC and click Connect.
   
   
   
   
5. Browse the shared folders and transfer files as desired.
   
   

For more assistance contact Technical Support click here.

Tech Tip of the Day: How to network a Windows 7 PC to a Mac running OS X Part 2: OS X Setup

Description: Now that the Windows side of things is set, this guide will walk through how to set up OS X on the network.

1. Click the Apple button in the upper left then select System Preferences.
   
   
   
   
2. Within System Preferences select Sharing under the Internet & Wireless heading.
   
   
   
   
3. Click the Options button in the Sharing window.
   
   
   
   
4. Make sure both Share files and folders using AFP and Share files and folders using SMB (Windows) are checked along with the current account and click Done.
   
   
   
   
5. Select which items are to be shared on the left including File Sharing.
   
   
   
   
6. Make note of the IP address of the Mac listed for future reference listed in this window.
   
   
   
   
7. Click the + below Shared Folders to add any additional folders to be shared.
   
   

Now both the Windows 7 machine and the OS X machine are set to share files and folders on the network. Check out our third and final article in this series for a walkthrough on how to access files between the two computers.

For more assistance contact Technical Support click here.

Tech Tip of the Day: How to network a Windows 7 PC to a Mac running OS X Part 1: Windows Setup

Description: Windows 7 introduced users to the Homegroup for networking and file sharing. Homegroups make things much simpler when networking multiple Windows 7 machines, but what if you want to have a computer on the home network that isn't running Windows 7? Better yet, what if that computer isn't running Windows at all?

This series will walk through how to network a Windows 7 PC to a Mac running OS X for the purpose of file sharing. The series begins with Windows 7 network settings. Before you begin, make sure the Mac and the PC are both connected to the same network. You may also need to temporarily disable or create an exception in your firewall to allow sharing.

1. Click Start then select Control Panel.
   
   
   
   
2. Click Network and Internet.
   
   
   
   
3. Click Network and Sharing Center.
   
   
   
   
4. On the left side of the window, select Change advanced sharing settings.
   
   
   
   
5. Within the options window, select Turn on File and printer sharing and click the Save changes button. Close the options window.
   
   
   
   
6. Click Start, then select Computer.
   
   
   
   
7. Browse to the folder you wish to be shared, right click on the folder and select Properties.
   
   
   
   
8. Within the properties window select the Sharing tab and click the Advanced Sharing button.
   
   
   
   
9. Check the box for Share this folder and click OK
   
   

Repeat steps 6-9 for any additional folders you wish to be shared on the network. The next part in the series is setting up the Mac for file sharing in Part 2.

For more assistance contact Technical Support here.

How to change energy saver settings in Mac OS X

Description: This is a how-to article for Mac OS X on the topic of changing the energy saver/sleep mode settings. This is primarily useful if the settings have changed, or if there is a specific need.

1. Close any open programs on the Mac.
2. Click on the Apple Icon in the top left corner of the screen, then choose System Preferences.
   
   


3. On the new System Preferences window, choose Energy Saver
   
   


4. If this is a MacBook or MacBook Pro you can choose between changing settings for when it is running on Battery or when it is running from the Power Adapter
   
   


5. Change the slider bars to the appropriate times, and check the appropriate options below. If you want to set it to Defaults, use the Restore Defaults option in the bottom right.
   
   


6. Once completed you may click on the Lock icon in the bottom right to prevent any further changes without entering the password.
   
   

For more assistance contact Technical Support here.

How to add a keyboard shortcut to change the input language in Mac OS X

Description: This is a how-to article on the topic of adding a keyboard shortcut to change the input language to Mac OS X. This would be useful if you need to type in any language other than English.

1. Close any open programs on the Mac.
2. Click on the Apple Icon in the top left corner of the screen, then choose System Preferences.
   
   


3. On the new System Preferences window, choose Keyboard
   
   


4. At the top of the Keyboard window, choose Keyboard Shortcuts
   
   


5. On the left, choose Keyboard & Text Input
   
   


6. In the middle, check the box next to Select the previous input source
   
   


7. Note that a caution symbol will appear, and a message notifying you that there are conflicts. To resolve these conflicts, click on the Spotlight group on the left, or whichever group has the yellow caution symbol.
   
   


8. In the middle, verify that the item with the caution symbol is not used regularly and then uncheck the box to resolve the conflict.
   
   


9. Once that is done the conflict is shown as resolved, and the corresponding keyboard combination can be used to change keyboard input languages.
   
   

For more assistance contact Technical Support here.

How to enable or disable auto-hide on the Mac OS X dock

Description: This is a how-to article for Mac OS X on the topic of enabling or disabling the auto-hide feature on the Dock.

1. Close any open programs on the Mac
2. Click on the Apple Icon in the top left corner of the screen, then choose System Preferences
   
   


3. On the new System Preferences window, select Dock
   
   


4. On the Dock window, check or uncheck the "Automatically hide and show the Dock" option to your preference.
   
   


5. The setting is automatically saved. Close the window to complete the walkthrough.

For more assistance contact Technical Support here.

How to format external drive on Mac OS X

The following article describes the process required to format an external drive on Mac OS X.

1. Connect the external drive cable to the computer
2. From the dock at the bottom of the screen, select Applications
   
   


3. Select Utilities
   
   


4. Select Disk Utility
   
   


5. From the left side of Disk Utility, select the external drive you want to format
   
   


6. Select Erase to show the format utility
   
   


7. To select the file system, click the drop down arrow beside the Format: prompt
   • If you intend to use a drive only on a Mac, use Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
     
     
   
   
   • If you intend to use a drive on both PC and Mac operating systems, use MS-DOS (FAT)
     
     
   
   
8. Enter a name for the drive
   
   


9. Click Erase to begin formatting
   
   


10. Select Erase to confirm formatting the drive
    
    


11. Once format is completed, the drive will appear on the desktop with the name entered in step 8
    
    


12. Once drive is seen on the desktop, it is ready to store files

For more assistance contact Technical Support here.