Sound of silence is unsettling
Q: When I start my new iMac, I have noticed that it doesn’t make that familiar “bong” sound when it starts up. Does this indicate I have a problem? Is there a setting I can change to turn this on?
A: Starting with the late 2016 models of the MacBooks and iMacs, Apple has done away with the familiar startup sound we have all become accustomed to when starting Apple computers. The one exception is the MacBook Air, which still has this feature.
If you’re like me and are only now updating your Apple hardware, this can be a surprise.
This sound was an unconscious reassurance that the computer was starting up and, for some, a trigger to know when to use the selective keystrokes needed to boot the computer into things like Recovery Mode and other special startup options.
Unfortunately, there is not an option to enable this on the newer computers.
It should also be noted that there are situations where your Mac will make a sound when it boots, but these startup sounds are not a sign that things are going well.
If you hear one tone, repeating every five seconds, it means no RAM is installed or detected.
If you hear three tones followed by a five-second pause, it means your RAM didn’t pass a dataintegrity check.
Other tones mean other things. To learn more, read the About Mac startup tones support article at tinyurl.com/helplineappletones.
I guess this means that a silently starting Apple computer is a happy computer.
Q: I received a notification from Comcast that I am exceeding my data allowance. Typically, my family consumes about 200-300 GB of data a month. Now I am well over a terabyte. Is there any way to see what is consuming all this bandwidth?
A: I recently had to troubleshoot a similar issue for a friend, and in the process of trying to sort it out, I discovered a tool called NetWorx from SoftPerfect.
While there are numerous network analyzing applications out there, many of them are somewhat difficult to use.
NetWorx has a simple interface and will show how much data you are using on any device. It will break this data down by application so you can see what program is the biggest offender.
You can download a fully functional trial version from softperfect.com/products/networx.