Thursday, October 9, 2008

Tip #246: Starting Sluggish Mac Laptops

This Tip comes from Ciaran O'Murchu, the Banquet Manager for Scottsdale Cottonwoods Resort & Suites. My Mac G-4 laptop has become sluggish and very erratic, choosing NOT to start at very inopportune moments- such as the beginning of workshops! Needless to say, this has been incredibly stressful for me.

At the start of the second day of a three-day training, just as I was reassuring myself that my laptop was choosing to be very cooperative, it refused to start at all. Ciaran, who epitomizes quality customer service, immediately offered me the use of his personal Mac laptop computer. He literally saved the morning for me, bless his Irish heart!

During lunch, Ciaran checked over my computer. His tip, which I pass on to you, was to turn off Norton Anti-Virus. According to Ciaran, Norton continually runs its anti-virus program, diverting memory and function (Ciaran, please forgive me if I am misstating this). All I know is that he turned off the program and, since then, my laptop starts up immediately.

Those of you with Macs know that they are virtually virus-resistant, so the lack of the anti-virus program does not pose any appreciable risk.

Ciaran suggested that I back up everything on my laptop remove all Norton programs from my laptop and then scrub the files. He promises that when I reinstall the backed up files, they will run much more smoothly and consistently.

Goodness knows that I am not very computer literate and I make no guarantees, but this tip definitely worked for me. Thank you again, Ciaran!

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