Crabtree Consulting LLC
Fixing computers since 1995.
Now accepting credit cards!
Just wanted to let you know that we are now accepting all major credits for payment! (Cash and check are still accepted too!)
Windows 8 will frustrate you
EDIT: I wrote this almost one year ago and have since upgraded the 8.1 and put decent effort into learning it. I am actually enjoying using the operating system. If you need something that looks like Windows XP, then stick with Windows 7. But 8.1 isn't bad if you are...
Reload iOS on the iPad (and how to save your data!)
I still own an "ancient" first edition iPad that I bought in the fall of 2010. I have created a lot of documents on it and religiously backed it up to my iTunes at home. But after updating to the multiple version of iOS 4 and then to two versions of iOS 5, it was...
5 steps to make a tutorial video
Over the weekend I created a video tutorial for Messages on a Mission. This shows a video of my screen, a video of me, and a video of the output from my MacBook on a second monitor. So how did I do this and combine everything? Read on for my five steps. Messages on a...
Upgrading to Mountain Lion on an older Mac
There are lots of reviews about the new features that Apple included in their latest OS X release, Mountain Lion but not much talk about running it on older Macs. I hope to explain some of the details to you. First of all, this is the first version of OS X that can't...
Enabling emoticons on the iPhone
I'm embarrassed to admit this, but for over year after switching to the iPhone I missed those silly little icons from my older phones. But it turns out that the iPhone had them, but they have to be enabled. Here are the instructions: Go to Settings Go to General Go to...
The iPad for Content Creation
The iPad is a great device. I often have people ask me if they should buy an iPad instead of a laptop. I guess that depends on what you want to do with the iPad but it can't replace a laptop for me. I started thinking about what it would take to make the iPad more...
Let’s get rid of the microwave
When was the last time you cooked without the microwave? In our fast paced culture, the microwave fits perfectly; it cooks nothing well but it does it quickly. Does that sound like life? We need to concentrate more on the depth of a few things than the shallowness of...
iPhone 4 battery
As of June, 2012 I have owned an iPhone 4 for 18 months. In the past month the battery life has dramatically shortened. A full charge in the morning is down to 40% or less by 5 PM. I tried all of the normal tricks to improve battery life but it was obvious that the...
Hitachi 0S03288 0S03289 external hard drive failures
Hitachi has a line of external USB hard drives that are appearing now. They are fairly cheap, come in 1 and 2 TB versions, and they are large. (The size is not really a positive...) Anyway, they come with very nice drives inside (The 2TB version has a 7K3000 6Gbps...