If you don't have a Mobileme account, then the sync icon in the toolbar could be quite annoying. In the past, I'd used it to sync my gmail and yahoo mail contacts to the Mac's address book but recently decided to stop doing so. Now, every now and then it reminds me through a pop up to sync my accounts and so I wanted to get rid of the icon. Turns out, it's very simple. Press the command key and drag the sync icon off the toolbar and voila, it's gone. :-)

It's not often that you get recognition for some good work !

If you are tired of using iPhoto and want to launch a specific application when you connect a camera on the Macbook, try out Flexibits for the Mac. Their Camera app is FREE and let's you manage what happens when you connect your Digital camera, iPhone, Digital media reader or Any photo device.

Check out this simple video. Thank you Maclife.

I own a Macbook with Mac OS Version 10.6.4. I was generally browsing and found that Firefox wouldn't connect to the internet. When I checked network settings, it said, "airport has a self assigned IP address and may not connect to the Internet". There is no single solution for this. You have to go through various steps to figure it out, like i did. It took me close to an hour to get my macbook to connect to the internet, so here goes :

1. Open System Preferences - Network. Make sure that Location: is set to Automatic. Click on Airport and then click on Advanced. Select the TCP/IP tab and make sure that Configure IPv4: is set to Using DHCP. If yes, click Renew DHCP Lease.

2. Try running Repair Permissions from Disk Utilities. Open Applications - Utilities - Disk Utilities, select your drive from the left pane and First Aid from the right pane. In First Aid window, select and run Repair Permissions. May not work but it is worth a shot.

3. The firewall might refuse inbound connections from the router. Delete the firewall configuration file, located at /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist and configure the firewall to temporarily allow all connections.

4. Disable the firewall on the mac. If you have another computer connected to the router, open the browser and access the web based setup page (Belkin, Linksys). Change your SSID, restart your router. Try and connect to your mac to the new network. Once you get access to the internet, restore your firewall to its original settings.

The last one worked for me. If you still have issues, go and look up support on Apple's website or various other forums dealing with the same issue. If these don't work, make a genius appointment and take it to the nearest Apple Store.

Once again, I'll point you to the Microsoft Office online help page. Click here.

I'm just going to point you to the Microsoft Office online help page for this one. Click here.

Navigate to Settings - General - Reset and select the Reset Home Screen Layout button and the Home screen will be reset.Please note that the app still exists on the phone, it's only the icon that has been deleted.

Laptop : HP Pavilion DV 6000

OS : Windows Vista Home Premium

Quite a few options to try here.

1. Click on Start - Control Panel - Internet Options - Connections - LAN Settings - Automatic configurations.
    Remove all the check marks you see on automatic configurations and proxy server and Click on OK.

2. Go to Internet Explorer - Tools - Internet Options - Advanced Tab - Reset Internet Explorer to Default.

3. Click Start , type cmd in the Start Search text box, and then press enter.
    Type the following command, and then press enter: netsh winsock reset
    Restart Windows.
    Note : When using cmd in Windows Vista, you might encounter "the requested operation requires elevation".  To work around this,  go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - right click on Command Prompt and click Run as administrator.

4. Uninstall antispyware or Norton Anti-Virus. Unless you know your way around Norton Antivirus, Norton Internet Security or any anti spyware, uninstalling the program might be a better option.

I work at the University of Tasmania, Australia as a part time tech support contact. Once a week, I try and solve queries and problems relating to Windows laptops, Mac books (No Ubuntu so far) and the iphone (Uni does not support any other phone yet). I've dealt with a few of these issues before through my own experiences with my old Sony Vaio laptop (which still works btw), my wife's HP Pavilion and my current Mac book.

I shall list a few queries and the way i got round to solving them, here. There are many forums online and a simple search query will shed light on all the problems discussed here.There is also no guarantee that the solutions provided here will work for you but it definitely is worth a shot.