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In this post I explained how to set a schedule for the Time Machine’s backup function. While that worked great, I still experienced a noisy Time Capsule. The reason for that was that the hard-disk never went to sleep. Instead, it was running constantly as if I was making backups nonstop.

Searching the web I found a few tips on how to prevent that and how to speed up the backup process.

Time Capsule’s hard-disk is running constantly:

- Rename the TC’s hard-disk into something simple. One word, no special characters. As weird as that may sound, it has worked for many. (And either this or the whole package here helped me as well – thus far.)

Speed up the backup process:

- For the initial backup, connect your MAC and TC with a LAN cable. This speeds up the first backup drastically.

- Disable Spotlight indexing by adding the backup hard-disk to the Privacy settings: Applications -> System Preferences -> Spotlight -> Privacy.

(I also added my external hard-disks, as I don’t use the search function, hoping they would have less ‘stress’, too.)

- For some it may be helpful to connect your TC directly to your router via LAN cable to prevent interferences, when many other networks are around you.

Having bought my second Western Digital MyBook 1TB, I faced an annoying issue: I couldn’t get rid of the virtual CD. This may seem a small problem, but I dislike when I have to deal with stuff, I didn’t ask for in the first place.

My first thought was to delete the part of my hard drive that contains the files. That didn’t work out well, not to say not at all. Not even my beloved gParted could get rid of it.

Step two was the visit of Western Digital’s website for more information. (Only a geek would understand why this wasn’t my first step. ) I ended up here but wasn’t happy with that solution. Yeah I know, I’m difficult.

My final solution was the cleanest in my opinion and includes typing the following into the terminal:

sudo sh -c "echo UUID=`diskutil info /Volumes/WD\ SmartWare/ | grep 'UUID' | awk '{print $NF}'` none hfs rw,noauto 0 0 >> /etc/fstab"

After a restart there’s nothing but a clean desktop and my Finder isn’t unnecessarily cluttered either.

Since I started using a Mac, my mouse (Logitech G9) didn’t work as well as I was used to when I was still using a PC. The reason was the inability to use and / or configure the mouse buttons. I tried to install Logitech’s driver but that didn’t end up well. (Maybe because there isn’t a dedicated driver for this mouse.) Directly after I restarted my machine, I had the feeling that it isn’t running smoothly. I uninstalled the software and lived without features such as going back one page by clicking a mouse button within Firefox.

Luckily I found an app called SteerMouse. This fine piece of software allowed me to set the mouse buttons up the way I like them to work. Now I can not only go forth and back within Firefox, I can also zoom in and out. This finally allows me to use my mouse the way I was used to and even gives me features (zooming, switching between apps) that I wasn’t used to, but that make my daily life a lot easier.

This should work with most mouses  (or mice – to find out more about that topic read this) and help you to get all the features you would expect from a mouse that has all those buttons that await to be used.

I bought a Time Capsule (an AirPort Extreme is essentially the same, just missing the harddisk) and it’s working flawlessly, after a little work on setting it up. The following article should make it clear how to  set up the router (Siemens) that is provided by the German DSL provider Alice (Hansenet).

To set up the TC, simply follow the explanation given in the setup guide. If you can’t be bothered to read that – and I assure you I know that feeling – just plug in your ethernet cable and install the software that came with your device, as weird as that may seem. I didn’t install it in the first place but was warned that I have an older version currently running. After installing it, I went to:

Applications -> Utilities -> AirPort Utilities

Just click yourself through the process. If you should encounter issues or have questions, this may help (and eventhough it’s quite old, it sure helped me). The most important thing to set up is DHCP. Even if you have PPPoE in mind, just use the suggested option. Now your internet should be up and running (because you Mac will still connect via your entered PPPoE network settings, as the cable is still attached).

Now log in to your Siemens router that Alice sent you, by visiting the following IP with your preferred web browser:

192.168.1.1

Then set up your login details:

Username: YourTelephoneNumber@alice-dsl.de

Password: YourBirthdate (ddmmyyyy)

While you’re at it, set up a password for your router, if you haven’t done so already. Nothing is worse than setting up a secure network and leaving the router open for others to change the passwords.  Simply save your configuration and you’re basically good to go. Basically. You will also need to log in to your own, just created wireless network with your Mac. Now you can plug out your ethernet cable if you made the initial backup already. Otherwise I’d suggest leaving it plugged in until you finished that. I then restarted my Mac, but it should work without doing so.

As you can see, there isn’t much to it. I expected it to be either really difficult or impossible, after reading many discussions about this online. If you still encounter problems setting it up, or if you have further questions, please leave a comment and i’ll get back to you a.s.a.p.

When thinking about computer and hardware, I hardly hear people talking about upgrading the mouse. This I find slightly odd. I’m not so much into games, well I do play once in a while, but don’t find myself sitting in front of my computer for hours, trying to get to another level or find a certain, apparantly very important item.

So when I thought about buying a new mouse, I wasn’t necessarily looking for a gaming mouse, but rather a help to save time working on my PC. To understand what I mean, I should explain what I’m mostly using my computer for: reading a lot of RSS-Feeds and blogs.

Working with different operating systems, I need a mouse that can be set-up without using additional software. While I don’t mind installing a software to save the settings on the device once, I don’t like changing settings through a software. Searching for the best device that suits my needs, I found the G9 Laser Gaming Mouse from Logitech. Although made for gaming, I find it a great mouse for daily usage:

The mouse features a sensitivity of 3200dpi at maximum setting. This is great and switching from my laptop mouse to this, I had to get used to the speed. I gradually increased the sensitivity (which is possible due to two hardware buttons on top of the mouse) and don’t want to go back. My girlfriend, finding the speed too extreme in the beginning, got quickly used to it as well, so that she doesn’t really want to use her mouse anymore. Working with a 1920×1200 resolution on my monitor, having a high sensitivity mouse takes a lot of stress of my wrist and enables me not only to do things faster, but also more precise. As I mentioned earlier, having the option to change the sensitivity by simply clicking a button is great. I don’t need the internal memory though, which you can use to automatically adjust the sensitivity depending on the software you’re using.

Another important factor is the scrolling wheel. Using the frictionless scrolling is great for reading feeds or surfing long websites, such as blogs. With a hardware button, located at the bottom of the mouse, this can quickly be changed if needed. I haven’t really used the option to scroll from left to right, which the scroll wheel allows. Nice feature, but I yet have to figure out what I would need it for.

Surfing the web a lot, I found it annoying to use the next page and last page button. The same goes for sorting media on a harddisk. Being able to visit the next page or go back to the folder you just visited is a nice and welcome feature that saves a lot of time.

As you probably realized by now, I enjoy using this mouse. Reasons for that are:

- interchangable grips and a weight cartridge that allows perfect tuning to your liking

- a frictionless scroll wheel

- all settings can be changed with the click of a button

- precise and fast with 3200dpi

Negative aspects, depending on what you’re looking for, may be the price, the cable and that the mouse isn’t really great for a big right hand (no left hand usage because of an ergonomic shape). While mine isn’t small, the mouse could be longer and a bit higher to allow a better, stress-free position for the hand.

The mouse is now also available as G9x and features a massive 5000dpi.