Play movies on Apple computer - tips for how to play movies on Macs.

Play movies on Apple computer - tips for how to play movies on Macs.

I got a question where someone asked me how to "play movies on Apple computer". [sic] The answer to this depends on what you mean by playing movies.

The reason I'm mentioning this is because the person who asked just said they wanted to know "how to play movies on Apple computer" and didn't mention if they meant a DVD movie, a movie they'd downloaded off the Internet, or a video file (or movie) on a web page. Depending on which they meant, the answer is a little different.

First off, let's assume that when they said "play movies on Apple computer" that they meant a DVD movie.

Well, that's a very simple answer: any Mac (Apple computers are called Macs, with specific models like iMac, MacBook, etc.) made in the last several years can play DVDs. 99% of the time, just pop the DVD in the drive, and DVD Player will open automatically and start playing the movie.

Worst case scenario, you'll need to open your hard drive, then open the Applications folder, then look for the file DVD Player, and double-click it, and the movie will play. It's very rare for you to have to do anything more than pop the DVD in the drive.

So another possible meaning for "play movies on Apple computer" would be a movie you've downloaded off the Internet. There's a lot of different types of video files (video just means moving pictures, just like a movie) that are sent by email, or that can be downloaded off a web site.

If you want to play a movie or TV show you've bought from the iTunes Store, iTunes itself will play the movie using Quicktime. Quicktime is a program made by Apple for both their own Apple Mac computers, as well as for Windows PCs, and it comes automatically with iTunes.

Quicktime can play a lot of different types of video files, so it's one way to play movies on Apple computer. If you've got a movie file that you got by email, or that you saved from a website, Quicktime will probably play it, and it is already installed on every computer made by Apple.

There are exceptions, so if you can't play a video file (movie) when you double-click it, and Quicktime gives you an error message, then another option is the free VLC Player.

VLC Player is a free program that lets you watch movies on Macs, and works with just about any type of movie you can get off the Internet. Personally it's my favorite way to play movies on Apple computers.

Lastly, if the person who asked how to "play movies on Apple computer" was talking about playing the movie on a web page, then again, Quicktime will work for a lot of these movies, and VLC might do the trick too (although I've had problems in the past getting it to play movies that are "embedded" in web pages).

One of the most popular ways to put videos onto web pages is in Flash format. Flash Player is free, and comes already installed on most computers. This is one of the reasons I decided to use it for my easy video computer lessons for Mac and Windows computers.

I have instructions on how to install the Flash Player on my website at: www.WorthGodwin.com/flash/

You can also find out more information about my easy video computer lessons on the main page of my site.

How to Determine Your iBook's Hard Drive Size, or the Hard Drive Size of Any Apple Mac

I got a question recently about how to determine your iBook's hard drive size.

It's very easy to determine your iBook's hard drive size, and the same steps work for any Mac (Apple computer including iBook, Powerbook, iMac, MacBook, etc.).

First off, the hard drive size is usually printed on the computer somewhere -- where this label is varies from computer to computer -- in the case of an iBook you can usually find the label with the hard drive size and other information underneath the keyboard.

Just gently pull the two sliding tabs on the top edge of the keyboard towards you while gently pulling upwards, and the keyboard should lift up. Underneath, you'll find the serial number and other information about your iBook.

So that's one way how to determine your iBook's hard drive size.

On other Mac models this information is printed on the base of the computer, or sometimes in other places.

In all cases, the size printed on the computer may be out of date if you've ever had your computer's hard drive upgraded, so let's talk about another way how to determine your iBook's hard drive size.

This way doesn't involve lifting up the keyboard (which some people are not comfortable doing) and it doesn't involve flipping the computer upside down like you have to do to read the label on many iMacs.

On any Mac you can easily find out the hard drive size, plus how much free space you have, by clicking once on the hard drive icon on your desktop.

On most Macs, the hard drive is called Macintosh HD, but some people rename it. In most cases, it's a rectangular metallic icon, which you'll usually find sitting on the upper right-hand corner of your desktop.

So click the drive once, which will highlight the drive. Then go to the File menu on the menu bar at the top of the screen.

In the file menu, you'll see a menu option called Get Info. Click the Get Info menu option in the File menu, and a new window will open with a lot of detailed information about the hard drive.

What you want to look for is "capacity" which is the full size of the hard drive, usually measured in GB, or Gigabytes, on a modern computer. Underneath capacity you will see more information about how much space is available, and how much is used.

As a side note, it is normal for all computers -- iBooks, iMacs or any other type of Apple Macintosh computer, as well as Windows PCs of any brand name -- to show fewer gigabytes or megabytes than what is listed on the label on the computer, on the sales receipt, or elsewhere.

For example, if you have a 60 gigabyte hard drive, it is normal for it to appear to be 55gb or so.

A simple way to think about this is like the foundation of a house: when you have just the foundation, it may have 1400 square feet, but once you've built the walls, etc. the real square feet will be less. This is because the walls take up some of that space. It works kind of the same way with a hard drive.

So again, one way how to determine your iBook's hard drive size, or the hard drive size of any Apple Mac computer is to click on the drive (once) and then click Get Info in the File menu.

If you want to see this done, which can be a lot easier than reading about it, you might want to read about my simple system to easily learn Mac basics.

One of the CDs that comes free with my system has Mac Basics, including a video that shows you exact step-by-step instructions on how to determine your iBook's hard drive size, or determine the hard drive size of any Mac, just like I've outlined in this article.

More information can be found at www.WorthGodwin.com.

Click here to find out more about my easy system to learn Mac basics.

Problems ejecting CDs because of not closing a program the right way

I got a question from Scott, who recently joined my Gold Club. He wrote:

> Hi Worth I got the CDs today. I listened to part of
> one of them, and now Im having a problem ejecting the
> disc. A window keeps popping up stating " being used".
> How do i eject It?
>
> Thanks Scott

OK, this is a problem people run into occasionally, but it's nothing big.

The problem is that you haven't completely closed out of whatever program you're using to listen to, or watch, the CDs.

This applies to any CD you might use on your computer, not just my CDs, but we'll use mine as an example since that's what Scott is asking about.

You can almost think of it as if you're trying to move a rug. If you're still standing on the rug, it's "in use" so you can't move it. If you step off the rug (and move any furniture off it, etc.) it is no longer in use, so you can move it.

So you need to make sure you completely exit out or quit out (same thing) of the program before trying to eject the disk.

If you were listening to one of the audio CDs that comes with the Gold Club, it may have opened up in iTunes, or maybe a different program, depending on what you're using on your computer.

In Scott's case, it would almost definitely be iTunes, since he's using a Mac.

On the other hand, if you're watching one of my video lesson CDs, like the "Sampler CD" that also comes as part of the $47 package, then it would have opened up in a web browser.

On a Mac that's usually Safari, on a Windows PC that's Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox most commonly. (As a side note, I'll just repeat that if you're running Windows and you're using Internet Explorer (the blue E) then you should stop using that and switch to Firefox since Explorer is very insecure and can cause many problems for you)

Whatever the case is, the problem is caused because you didn't completely exit or "quit out" of the program.

On a Windows PC you can exit out of programs 99% of the time by closing all of the open windows from that program.

On a Mac, on the other hand, closing the window might not close the program. I see a lot of people do this -- they click the red X button in the corner of the window and it closes the window, but leaves Safari (or whatever program) open and running.

What you want to do is Quit out of the program by going to the application menu (the menu that has the name of the program, like Safari, iTunes, etc.) and go to the bottom option in that menu: Quit.

This closes the program completely, so it's not taking up memory and not "holding on to" the CD.

Once you're out of the program, you should be able to eject the CD normally.

I cover the right way to close programs in one of the easy video computer lessons on the computer basics video lesson CDs that come with the bundle of easy video computer training CDs available on my site.

Until next time, enjoy,

Worth Godwin

Tips for Switching Internet Service Providers - Keeping bookmarks, address books, and saved emails

This article is a follow-up to my last article, where I talked about choosing the right ISP (Internet Service Provider). I had planned to get this out sooner, but my schedule has conspired against me with far too many nights working until 2am.

So, if you've read my last article and decided you want to switch to a different type of ISP, from dialup to DSL for example, or you're switching for other reasons, you might wonder how do you make the transition smoothly?

How do you let people know what your new address is, what happens to your bookmarks (also known as favorites), and your list of contacts in your email address book?

For most of these, there's not a lot to worry about.

Let's start with your bookmarks or favorites. To keep things simple, from now on I'll just use the term bookmarks; just understand that if you're more familiar with the term favorites, it means the same thing.

Bookmarks are, of course, pretty much what they sound like -- a way to mark a web page so you can get back to it in the future. You can add or get back to bookmarks by going to the bookmarks menu in Mozilla Firefox or Apple's Safari, or to the Favorites menu in Internet Explorer.

Most people, no matter what kind of Internet connection you have, have their bookmarks stored right on their computer, in the menu I just mentioned.

So it really doesn't matter if you switch to a different ISP -- they stay in the same place, so there's nothing you really need to do.

If you use AOL, on the other hand, things are a little different. AOL has always used non-standard ways of doing things, and unfortunately the bookmarks are no different.

This is partially because instead of just using a regular web browser (like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple's Safari) AOL uses it's own self-contained system.

But it's also because they don't give you a way to "export" the bookmarks to use elsewhere. These are a couple of the reasons I really don't like AOL and always suggest people use something else.

While checking my facts before writing this article, I found that AOL does not appear to give you any way to easily move your bookmarks to another program.

The one way I can think of that doesn't involve messing around with folders and files that the average computer user probably shouldn't fool with is to copy and paste the web addresses into the new web browser, then bookmark it from there. Kind of tedious and time consuming, but better than nothing.

If you're not familiar with copying and pasting, I have a detailed article on it on my website. You can click here to read the article on easy editing tips.

I also *show* you how to copy and paste on one of the video lessons on my "Sampler CD" that comes with my Gold Club membership as part of the intro $47 package.

More info on that is on my website at:

http://www.WorthGodwin.com

So what about keeping email addresses and any saved emails when you change ISPs?

Well, the answer here is pretty much the same. Changing ISPs doesn't really have any effect on the information stored on your computer, including saved emails and address book information.

Once again, AOL lets you import (bring in) address book information from many sources, but gives you no way to export it (take it out).

The exception to all of this (except for the AOL part) is if you're using "webmail" -- where you are going to a web page to read your email instead of using Outlook, Thunderbird, or OS X Mail.

In this case, your email and address book are stored somewhere else. So if the webmail is something your ISP provides (like webmail.verizon.net if you use Verizon just for example) then they're the ones storing your info, not you.

One way to work around these issues where your email addresses are being "held hostage" is to copy and paste the email addresses into the new program you're using out of AOL or your webmail page as the case may be.

Another option is to send an email to everybody in your address book, including your new email address, announcing what your new address is. If you do that, you'll get a copy of the email, and in many email programs it is pretty simple to add addresses out of an email by simply right-clicking on the address (or control-click for Mac users) and then clicking add address from the menu that appears.

The problem with this is that a lot of people -- myself included -- consider this to be something of an invasion of privacy, since you're sharing the email addresses of everybody you know with everybody else you know.

People do this all the time, actually, when they forward emails. This is really bad "netiquette" (Internet etiquette), which is why you should use the "BCC" (Blind Carbon Copy) option whenever sending out mass emails. It hides all of the recipients, keeping their privacy (and helping prevent the spread of viruses, worms, and spam!).

And for those "hostage" emails -- the important ones can be forwarded to your new address. Not a perfect solution, but it does do the job.

Also, if you're just switching from one web browser to another (Internet Explorer to Firefox or Safari for example), or switching from one email program to another (Outlook to Thunderbird on the Windows side, out Entourage to OS X Mail on the Mac side) these programs will usually ask you if you want to move over your old information automatically, including bookmarks, emails, and address books.

well, that covers that pretty thoroughly. Until next time,

Worth Godwin