My Software Has Problems

Update All Software - Before anything else, check that your software is fully up to date. Check your Apple software by clicking on the Apple icon (top left hand side of your screen) and then navigate down to Software Update, click on this and following the onscreen instructions fully update your Apple software. For all other software you will have to check the manufactures websites for updates, or try the help menu from within the software itself, a lot of these will have menu items where you can check for updates.

Fix Permissions - When software is installed using Apple's Installer application (this is not the same as copying a application from a file you may have downloaded and simply clicked on and dragged into your applications folder) the installer keeps a bill of materials which lists all of the files installed and their original permissions. If these permissions are changed due to software malfunction or user modification the application may operate slowly, malfunction or quit unexpectedly.

To fix permissions that may well fix the problem, first click on your desktop so that you can see the Go menu item along the top of your screen. Click on Go then navigate down to and click on Utilities - this will open up your Utilities folder. In this folder find Disk Utility, double click on the icon to open. On the left hand side of Disk Utility you will see your Macintosh Hard Drive, click on this and then click on the Repair Permissions button found to the centre of the screen. The repair may take some minutes.

Try Safe Mode - If the above does not help, you should boot your machine into Safe Mode. This will force a check of your systems directory, load only the required kernel extensions, disable all fonts other than those in the System\Library\Fonts folder, trashes font caches, disables automatic login and disables all startup items and login items.

1. Turn off your Apple Mac, wait a moment then press the power button.

2. Immediately after you hear the startup chime, press and hold down the Shift key on your keyboard. Keep this pressed down until you see the spinning gear startup icon.

3. You will eventually see you login window (even if this has been disabled) with the words Safe Mode under the Apple Icon.

If all seems fine with your software after booting into safemode, try restarting the machine normally. If your problem still persists it indicates that an item that is in you Account Login items (Go to System Preferences and then Accounts), or a newly installed font may be causing problems with the software.

Reset PRAM - If your experiencing problems that possibly relate to:

You should reset your PRAM. To do this turn off your computer, then prior to turning it back on, locate the following keys: Command (Apple Key), Option Key, P and finally the R key. You will have to hold these four keys down just after you turn your machine back on, at the point when you hear (or should hear) the Apple startup chime.

If you can successfully hold down the Command, Option, P and R keys just after your turn on your machine, and keep them all held down until you hear the Apple startup chime for a second time - this will reset your PRAM.