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Our Weekly Utilities Update report is a list of all the updates for many Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. While utilities can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our main focus in this column is to bring you those that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems.… Read more

When I am asked the question "Which is more secure, Mac or PC?" I find myself stumbling around for a response because I don't have a clear-cut answer. I use both. And I use antivirus software with both.

So I decided to conduct an informal survey of a bunch of security experts and see what they had to say in the hopes that people can use the information to help them come to their own conclusions.

Before I provide quotes from the 32 experts who participated in the survey, along with edited comments from an interview with … Read more

Some Mac users are reporting that the latest Apple Security Update, (2010-001), is causing extremely slow start-up times and poor performance or crashing for several programs, including Skype, Firefox, and Photoshop CS3.… Read more

There are a couple of bootup warning signs that may occur with the Mac OS, the most common of which is the folder with the blinking question mark, which means a valid start-up disk has not yet been found. Another error that may occur is the universal "prohibitory" sign.… Read more

The Mac platform is seeing a number of new users, with many of them being switchers from Windows. For these people, once the system has been set up the question of what to do next may come to mind. Apple provides quick access to the Web, e-mail, and other services with built-in applications, but a few people have wondered how to go about getting the most of their Mac and learning the system.… Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature from MacFixIt where our editors answer questions e-mailed to us by our readers. It has been a while since we issued an installment of "MacFixIt Answers," but we hope to bring it around more frequently. This week we have questions on the difference between firmware and software, managing the boot chime volume, and changing the default background in OS X.… Read more

Unfortunately for iPhone owners, it appears that features included in the new Apple iPad OS won't be compatible with Apple's phone.

According to Engadget, Apple's updated human interface guidelines describe new User Interface(UI) elements, split view and popovers as "iPad-only" features. Though this shouldn't come as a surprise since those UI elements were built for larger displays, it may mean that developers are going to have a tough time making some apps work on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

Even more interesting is the fact that the new SDK shows support for … Read more

Hello, iPhone fans. We know that you're tingling with excitement at what Wednesday's Apple event will bring. Sure, the elusive tablet should grab the spotlight, but the iPhone may show its face during the infamous "one more thing" portion of the program. Will it be a new OS or will we get a whole new iPhone? Or maybe, just maybe, the iPhone will finally free itself of its AT&T shackles.

Unfortunately, we don't know what will happen until CEO Steve Jobs (we figure he wouldn't pass up this opportunity) takes the stage. And since plenty of speculation abounds, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to say what we'd like to see. After you've read our wish list, be sure to add your own in the comments. … Read more

We have been covering a problem where people using networked backups for Time Machine are able to run the first few backups just fine, but then the backups start failing with an "Error 109" that claims the backup disk image could not be accessed.… Read more