If you own an Apple MacBook or MacBook Pro we highly recommend LoJack for Laptops be installed on your computer. Also, LoJack can be installed on desktop Macintosh computers as well. Macs are magnets for thieves, so having them protected is a must! When planning for this thing, don’t forget about your backup. Yes computers can be replaced, but your valuable data cannot. If a crackhead looking for quick cash breaks into your place, they will most likely steal your computer and the backup drive that sits next to it. This is a very good reason to also have a “clone” back up hidden in your house, in your safe deposit box, or use an online back up service like Mozy or CrashPlan Pro.

Plus, there are documented stories of Mac users that have had their gear stolen, and used their on-line back up to track down the thief. While the thief is deleting the owns data off the computer he or she is most likely adding their own data. Thieves often don’t know how to work a Mac, so instead of creating a new account, they will just use the existing accounts on the computer. This is a good reason to have an unlocked “Guest” account on the computer. They will add their photos to iPhoto, use iTunes, and nobody can resist using Photo Booth. Also, with Apple Remote Desktop or Back To My Mac, you might be able to monitor your Mac remotely to learn where it is and who has it.

We have had a number of clients who have had their Apple laptops lost to theft this year. This upsets us, so we want to ensure we’re doing all we can to protect your property and your DATA! See our Blog post that lists the serial numbers of Macs and the area they were stolen from here.

We’ve chosen to use LoJack for Laptops for ALL of the MacBooks that are owned by MacMedics. It works well and once it’s installed it’s can’t be removed or detected by the thief who has the laptop.

LoJack for laptops provides theft recovery and remote delete services to protect your sensitive business data. If your laptop were to be lost to theft, you have the ability to track the thief via geo location or IP address reporting, and most likely have your equipment recovered. In situations where your laptop has sensitive data stored on it, you would also have the ability to erase your data remotely, “freeze” your computer, and even have a message displayed announcing the unit has been stolen.

If and when your Apple laptop is stolen, you activate the hidden LoJack software. Once your computer has been reported missing the LoJack team will work will law enforcement to recover your computer. Unlike most other recovery software, LoJack is not a DIY recovery.

It’s also very important to note, that your personal or business data is at a greater risk when it’s stored on a laptop. If your laptop is lost, stolen, or damaged, you could lose your data. It’s extra important that you have a tested and working back up of your data. If you need help setting up a back up for your MacBook, MacMedics has solutions starting at $89.

Contact MacMedics if you have any questions, need to purchase LoJack for Laptops, or need assistance with installing, configuring and testing your backup solution.

Learn more about LoJack for Laptops here: www.macmedics.com/lojack

LoJack for Laptops in the news: LoJack helped recover some computers that had been reported stolen from the Charles County Public School system. Both computers were recovered by using computer keystroke tracking was used to discover the identity of the alleged thief. Read more here.

Update 6/4/11: Since the Mac tracking software “Hidden” has been in the news recently, lots of Mac users have been researching laptop tracking software. LoJack offers some features that Hidden does not, one of them being that you can securely “erase” or “lockup” your computer with LoJack. LoJack does not make pictures available to you and I’m not sure if they even use them or not. This is one of the reasons that it might be wise to have two programs installed. One that you can monitor and LoJack to have professional recovery team do their work from the other side.

Here’s the link to the story that was in the news recently.

Sign up for LoJack for Laptops for Mac here: http://www.macmedics.com/lojack

Still looking for stocking stuffers for the holidays? Here’s an idea: Give the gift of data backup and security for only $89.

This little 320 GB portable USB hard drive comes with a 7-Year warranty.

Don’t forget that new or old hard drives can fail at any time, so it’s super important to keep your data backed up. A mistake that is often made, is that a new MacBook or iMac user will assume that since their new Apple computer is in fact new, they have 6 months of safe computing, where they don’t have to worry about their data. In fact, you have 30 day burn-in period where you are at a slightly higher chance of a hard drive failure in a new computer. This is a myth, and totally unsafe! In fact if you’re an Apple laptop user, you have the increased risk of theft, loss, and accidental damage.

If you’re giving the gift of a Macintosh computer this season, do your new Mac owner a favor and include a back-up drive.

As soon as you start generating data that you care about, you need to back it up! Need help getting started? We can help get your set up over the phone, on-site, in-lab, or via remote desktop support. See our website http://www.harddrivesdie.com for more info on this topic.

MacMedics is Washington, DC & Baltimore’s Original, Independent Mac Shop Since 1989 and we just expanded by buying one of our former competitors, Apple Specialist, macUpgrades of Bethesda, Maryland. Like MacMedics, macUpgrades was also founded in 1989. You can read more about this purchase on our website at http://www.macmedics.com/macupgrades.

Our purchase of macUpgrades now makes MacMedics the oldest Macintosh service and consulting firm in Maryland. MacMedics are Apple Authorized Value Added Resellers and Apple Authorized Service Providers, as well as Certified Members of The Apple Consultants Network. MacMedics has been in business and fixing Macs all over Maryland since way, way before the Apple Store or anyone else. In fact, our headquarters in Millersville AND our location in Lanham are larger than most Apple Stores, and our Mac Service Lab has over 100 feet of bench space.

MacMedics was founded in the Annapolis, Maryland area in 1989 by Dana Stibolt during a time when Apple Service was kind of a side business for Apple Dealers. MacMedics began offering an alternative to the stuffy Apple Dealer mentality of the “Service Department”.

Two things:

1. All Apple service was carry-in only, and generally pretty slow. Plus, it was a burden to our clients to be without a computer for a week, so MacMedics came to you and performed your Macintosh service both quickly and inexpensively.

2. The Apple service warranty then AND now is only 90 days. Nobody else offers a full one year warranty on out of warranty Apple repairs. When you choose MacMedics over the Apple store and other Apple Service locations for your broken Macintosh, you get a 1-year warranty parts and labor on whatever repair you had performed.

MacMedics is the only Mac shop that offers a low-cost extended warranty that includes ALL parts AND labor (for replacing bad parts). For MacBooks, Mac minis, and iMacs, pay just $99 for our Walk In Service Plan and your entire Mac is covered for a year (MacBook Pros and Mac Pros are $149). Also, with WISP, you get two free check ups per year and three phone or remote support incidents. Plus, if your Mac needs service down the road, your repair will be moved to the top of our repair queue for FREE priority Mac service.

With our army of Apple Certified Technicians and Consultants, MacMedics serves the entire Mid-Atlantic region with the area’s largest fleet of Apple loaner/rental hardware. MacMedics also stocks an amazing array of Apple Service parts, new and used Macintosh computers, hard drives, computer memory modules, software, and a TON of other accessories and Apple related items. Plus, with our purchase of macUpgrades we now also have all of their retail inventory at Millersville and Lanham, as well as their own massive collection of Apple Service parts which when combined with our collection, might be the Mid-Atlantic’s largest and most complete Apple Service part inventory. Also, with our combined inventories and stockpile of junked Macintosh computers of all types, we have an enormous collection of obsolete and vintage parts that can be harvested and used to repair a Mac that is too old for the Apple Store to even check in for service.

It’s also important to note that MacMedics is a Maryland based and locally owned company. When you’re working to support locally owned businesses in your community and keeping the dollars in the local economy, don’t forget about MacMedics. There are other Mac companies operating in Maryland that are not based in this state (for instance, the Apple Store is not a locally owned company). It’s also important to note, that MacMedics has had only one owner in it’s history (Dana Stibolt), so unlike some firms, our roots are deep in both the Macintosh community and in Maryland.

If you need Macintosh assistance, help, training, Apple Authorized Service, Apple Authorized Sales, iPhone, iPod, or iPad repairs without the hassle of:

D. Trying to first get an appointment with an Apple Genius, and then not really getting enough time to really pick their brains for expert Macintosh advice.

It’s also important to know that the Apple Store does not perform data recovery. If you think your data is at risk, setting up your computer on the Genius Bar to copy your data, is generally not a good idea. As hard drives fail, they generate heat, and as they generate heat they fail more. We’ll remove the drive from your computer and put it right on our data recovery equipment to try and rescue your data. Our fee for this type of recovery is only $199, for any size, single hard drive. Read more here.

(Plus, as an added bonus ALL Macintosh laptop repairs are performed locally right here at MacMedics. The Apple Store will often send your laptop away for Apple Depot Service where it’s out of your control and their’s)

Our expert Apple Certified employees stand ready to help at anytime. As a two time “Best of Baltimore” designated Mac Repair Shop, we are super proud to be an award-winning Apple Authorized Service Provider and Authorized Apple Value Added Reseller. We’re a great alternative to either buying a new Mac or bringing a sick Mac computer to the Mall. We’re famous for our “Computer Store on the corner” personal service.

MacMedics is also a multiple repeat winner of Apple’s “Commitment To Excellence Award”. In fact, we’re the only Apple Authorized Service Provider In Anne Arundel or Prince Georges counties to win this award according to Apple. MacMedics IS the ONLY Apple Authorized Service Provider and the only independent Apple Authorized Reseller in all of Prince George’s county in Maryland.

The Commitment To Excellence Award recognizes MacMedics for several things, but most importantly for accuracy and speed of Macintosh repairs. There’s a reason that MacMedics is the most frequently referred service firm for tough Mac service cases, like LCD replacements, liquid damage, vintage or obsolete Mac equipment, and Macintosh data recovery. With well over 60,000 in-lab and on-site service cases and our staff’s combined Mac experience of over 200 years, MacMedics IS the place to bring your sick Mac!

Speaking of speed of Apple repairs, nobody is FASTER than MacMedics. In 90% of Apple Warranty or AppleCare repairs that come in for service, we have the repair complete and back in the customer’s hands in less than 24 hours. Not fast enough for you? We have a number of rental computers of all Apple models, so if you’re having a Macintosh Emergency, we have a way to keep things running for you.

We also perform Hard Drive Upgrades (under warranty or not) and expert Macintosh Data Recovery, two things you simply can’t get at ANY Apple Store. Plus, if you do need a new hard drive, we can upgrade the size, speed, and you get a 3-year warranty, compared to like-for-like hard drive swap at the Apple Store, plus there you only get a 90 day warranty.

Come visit either of our TWO fully-staffed and stocked Macintosh Service & Sales locations in Millersville, MD (near BWI Airport 1/10 of a mile from I-97) or in Lanham, MD (1 Mile from I-495/I-95 just inside the Beltway of off Rt 50 and Martin Luther King Hwy.)

Got a problem? Wanna’ talk about it? Just pick up the phone and call your nearest MacMedics office. It’s unlikely that you can get anyone at the Apple Store on the phone, and most other places just send you to voicemail. You will only get voicemail here if everysing phone line we have is tied up (and that does happen).

One other great thing about coming to visit us, is the fact that parking is here is not an issue, and it’s free and 10 easy steps right into our office. So, avoid the soul-sapping search for parking when you’re trying to find someplace to park in Bethesda, Hampden, Fells Point, or at the Mall.

Apple has released Snow Leopard 10.6.5. This is a MAJOR software update and it should installed ONLY if you have a TESTED and WORKING back up system, and that you’re not in the middle of a production deadline.

Our advice for MacMedics clients regarding this update, is NOT to install it right away. We recommend waiting at least a few days before installing it. Also, if you have multiple Macintosh computers that need this update, just install it on one computer to start. If you’re a MacMedics client that we see on a regular basis, we will install this update for you when it has been fully vetted.

URGENT: Every time Apple releases a software update, we see several dead hard drives the next day. Please read our UPDATE WARNINGs page which can be found here, before you install this software update.

The 10.6.5 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:

Improve reliability with Microsoft Exchange servers

Address performance of some image-processing operations in iPhoto and Aperture

Address stability and performance of graphics applications and games
Resolve a delay between print jobs

Address a printing issue for some HP printers connected to an AirPort Extreme

Resolve an issue when dragging contacts from Address Book to iCal

Address an issue where dragging an item from a stack causes the Dock to not automatically hide

Resolve an issue with Wikipedia information not displaying correctly in Dictionary

Improve performance of MainStage on certain Mac systems

Resolve spacing issues with OpenType fonts

Improve reliability with some Bluetooth braille displays

Resolve a VoiceOver issue when browsing some web sites with Safari 5

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4250.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

Here’s a note that one of our clients posted on an on-line review site supporting us. Please see our MacMedics Blog post on why bringing your Mac, iPhone, iPod, or iPad to MacMedics is better than making a trip to the Apple Store in the mall.

“Yesterday I picked up my MacBook from the Millersville MacMedics location (near BWI). You’re gonna’ think MacMedics paid me to write this, but they didn’t.

Here goes: I drive 60 miles each way to take our MacBooks, our iMac, iPhone and iPods to MacMedics if something goes wrong. Mac owners will back me up when tell I you it’s once a year or less. Things like the case chipping, the power cord needing replacement. Once I couldn’t get the chime on start-up and wondered if something was wrong. Ended up being some motherboard and power control thing. And the time my hard drive crashed and burned. They had me from hello. I walked in with my problem, and they spoke Mac to me. Fluently. From then, and each time I go in, whether it’s for a hardware warranty repair, or even a “why’s it doing this?” question, they listen, they help, and they teach. I almost never leave without them passing along a cool website for my Mac. Computer geeks in the best sense of the phrase, really! I bypass (literally) the Apple Store at the Annapolis Mall to get to MacMedics. For me, they do the job right each and every time. Submitted with highest regard. VE”

We just had full moon, and it seems like it brought a ton of new Data Recovery jobs into the MacMedics offices. Spooky!

Now that it’s Halloween, I offer you the perfect metaphor for your Mac’s (or iPhone’s) Back Up. Don’t play “Trick Or Treat” with your valuable data.

When we have clients show up at our Mac Lab with data we can’t recover it just breaks our hearts. We’ve got a great track record for Recovering AND Rescuing data for folks, but there are cases we we can’t help with. We will refer these jobs off to Clean Room recovery firms, and often they can save your data in exchange for fees as high as $2500. But, not all data can be saved, and about 10% of the cases we refer, there’s not a positive result, and that data is gone forever.

As soon as you buy a new Mac, or get an old Mac’s hard drive repaired, you need to have a back up program running. On any Mac that is running Leopard (10.5) or Snow leopard (10.6), use Time Machine! It’s very, VERY powerful, and has been used to save lots of our client’s data.

The important thing is to PLAN AHEAD. Your back up is not complete if it’s not:

1. Automatic (Use Time Machine and this point is covered)
2. Redundant (Double your back up with a clone of your data and this point is covered)
3. Off-Site (Take your double back up off-site or get Mozy and this point is covered)

See how easy it is to be 100% covered! Now think of how much better you’ll feel knowing this little project has been taken care of and that your back up has been certified! If you need help getting a back up in place, we can help. On-site, In-lab, or even Remote Desktop Support, we’re there, and we’ll help get your back up configured and tested!

While all of us at MacMedics are HUGE fans of Time Machine, it’s not 100% infallible. MacMedics recommends that you ALSO back up your hard drive via a “clone” use Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner, as that way you can “test” your back up to insure you have a good, bootable copy. With a “clone” back up AND a Time Machine back up, you’re covered for TWO types of back ups, and you’re DOUBLING your chances for a successful recovery.

This might also be a good time to enhance your back up plan by adding an off-site back up. MacMedics is now a Mozy partner, so click here if you’d like to sign up for that (this like usually has the current Mozy discount coupon codes on it as well). You can get a free account that will back up 2 Gigabytes of data. It’s silly not to take advantage of that. We had a client in with a bad MacBook hard drive just a few days ago, and she was mostly backed up, but she was working a major project for her employer that had huge amount of Excel data in it. All she wanted was that one folder. Sadly we could not get it for her. If she had set up Mozy, even if she did not have a back up drive *a common problem for portable computers), her data would have been “automatically” backed up AND “off-site” thus completing two points of the golden triangle of data protection. Best of all, it would have been 100% free!

We also work with CrashPlan for on-line backups, so if you’d like to check out their current off-site back up plans see this link.

We have tons of posts on Time Machine and we even have a free White Paper on it If you’d like a copy, let us know. If you’re not using an automatic backup, your data is at risk!

Also, don’t forget that hard drives don’t last forever. Our rule of thumb for hard drive retirement is as follows. In Apple laptops the hard drive should be proactively replaced after 2 to 3 years years. In Apple desktops the hard drive should be proactive replaced after 3 years. You can find out more about this on our website http://www.HardDrivesDie.com.

There’s one more thing I would like to mention here. iPhones and iPod touch models also need to be backed up. All you have to do is to sync with you Mac from time to time. People are starting to treat these portable Apple products as stand alone devices, and when you think about it, many people are generating data on their iPhones and iPods just like they do on a computer.

You’ve got photos, e-mails, text documents, bookmarks, files, contacts, calendars, and videos that all can be generated or sent to your mobile device. All you have to do is connect to iTunes, and it will back up your device.

There are not too many ways to get mission critical data off a dead iPhone. We can often do it, but the data is all stored on the logic board of your iPhone or iPod touch. If it gets wet, gets dropped, or gets lost or stolen, then there goes your data. If we can’t get your logic board to fire up, then we don’t have access to your data.

Our new generation MacBook Air 13″ arrived today at MacMedics headquarters. One of our corporate clients has already laid claim to this unit.

If you’d like to get your new MacBook Air on order, just call your local MacMedics office.

MacMedics Baltimore 1-866-MAC-MEDICS

MacMedics Washington DC 1-888-4-DC-MACS

MacMedics Philadelphia 1-877-626-MEDIC

We thought our readers would enjoy this take on Iron Man as Mac Man. We’re not 100% sure if this is commercial or not. It looks home made. We like how the Apple logo was styled to fit the art work.

After seeing the above picture, one of our clients sent a picture of his Mac in:

This MacBook Pro Batman was spotted at Create Baltimore conference.