Network niggles

How to fix glitches when connecting to the internet and other devices

Your Mac’s network

connections are managed in the Network pane of System Preferences. You can reach this quickly from the Wi-Fi status icon that appears in the menu bar.

On the left of the pane is a list of your Mac’s network interfaces, including esoteric options like connecting via Bluetooth. To see the Wi-Fi networks your Mac has remembered, select Wi-Fi, then click Advanced. In the Wi-Fi tab you can drag router/hotspot names into order of preference — helpful for areas that feature multiple networks.

If you need different network settings temporarily, click the Location pop–up menu at the top of the Network pane and click Edit Locations. Create a location and change any Network settings to suit it. When needed, choose this from Apple menu > Location. To use your previous choices, choose Automatic.

>>> Turn it off and on again

If you can’t get online using Wi-Fi, turn Wi-Fi off (using its menu bar icon or System Prefs’ Network pane), then on. For Ethernet, select it in the Network pane, switch ‘Configure IPv4’ from ‘Using DHCP’ to ‘Off,’ click Apply, then switch back; or unplug and reconnect the cable.

If the problem persists, and you’re using your own router, turn it off, wait a minute and turn it on. If necessary, try shutting down the Mac while the router restarts, or after.

>>> No websites will load

Check your network interface (Wi-Fi or Ethernet) in the Network pane: it should say the connection is active with an IP address. If not, reconnect (see left). If all looks well, check your service provider’s status page for known faults.

Try other domain name servers. In the Network pane, click Advanced > DNS, note the two addresses on the left (your provider’s DNS), then use the minus button to remove them. Add Google’s ( bit.ly/dnsgo) or OpenDNS’s ( bit.ly/

dnsop) servers instead.

>>> Ca n’t find shared files

If you check File Sharing in System Preferences’ Sharing pane, other Macs on the same network should show yours under Shared in the sidebar of Finder windows. By default, they can only see the Public folder for each of your Mac’s user accounts, but you can add others in this pane.

If your Mac doesn’t show up, choose Go > Connect to Server in Finder on the other Mac, enter your Mac’s address (say, smb://192.168.0.7) and click Connect. PCs can also access your shared folders using the AFP or SMB protocols and your Mac’s IP address.

>>> Wi-Fi keeps failing

If your issue is that your Mac’s Wi-Fi is failing to connect, use Spotlight (easily brought up by pressing Cmd+Spacebar) to search for and open Wireless Diagnostics. This analyzes your Mac’s Wi-Fi performance and saves a report to a file. Apple’s guide to using it can be found at bit.ly/

wifidiag. In the folder, text files called ‘diagnostics’ are the most useful. From here, you can easily determine why your Mac’s Wi-Fi continues to have trouble.