Dense to wrote:
I have an external hard drive which i mentioned having trouble to put a password on, i chose this way to go rather than the time machine is because, unless I'm wrong the time machine doubles up as a router & therefor should it go wrong i lose two devices in one rather than two individuals so i would only replace the one that went wrong.
Time Machine is a backup. Only.
You're probably confusing Time Machine with Time Capsule. Time Capsule is optional external hardware that can be both a backup target for Time Machine, and can be a Wi-Fi firewall / router / gateway device. Time Capsule is advantageous for a laptop, as the backups can be performed once the laptop is in range of the Time Capsule, and the user doesn't need to remember to re-cable directly-connected backup devices. Time Capsule can operate as a combination of Wi-Fi and firewall / router / gateway and Time Machine backup target, or can be configured to operate in conjunction with a separate firewall / router / gateway device.
You mention "disk encryption & file vault" i have no idea what this is, the software that i downloaded was from Lacie in order to allow me to put a password on the external hard drive (Not achieved), i wanted to do this because the Mac is protected on start up with a password, Numbers have allowed me to put password protection on spreadsheets which would still be protected on the external hard drive but there is other sensitive info being transferred which if anybody just disconnected my hard drive could plug it in else where & obtain what I've protected when the info is on the Mac,
If you were presented with a recovery key at OS X installation — that can be printed and saved, or stored on an external USB device — then you're already using disk encryption for your internal OS X disk or SSD storage. I'm guessing you might have decided to buy this LaCie drive for the recovery key? (Time Machine can encrypt its backups, so there's no need for add-on software for encryption for that.)
With the recovery key, I'd probably leave that unencrypted on a flash drive or maybe two copies, and locate one of those somewhere safe; safety deposit box or office drawer or maybe with a trusted friend or family member. If you decide to create off-site backups as a way of recovering after a fire or flood or theft, you're going to want a secure place for those, too. Maybe not stored in the same place with the recovery key, of course.
So this is where i mean get back to basics, more examples being, the internet provider "migrated their system" whatever that means & I've ended up with two email addresses of the same name more or less & therefore get two emails of the same content, why? i have tried speaking to them but i cannot get my point across & they maybe choose not to understand, who knows, my iPad can receive emails but for some reason it has changed that i can no longer send which i was able to do when away from the property, my Mac book pro is slow yet the storage has 100Gb left when i enter "About this Mac", the only software i have added is Fusion 4 to allow me to partition the hard drive & windows 7 to allow me to down load info from a piece of kit i use for work.
Most ISP call-handling scripts are intended to get you off the phone.
In the left column of the usual mail display, you should see an Inbox.
Click the so-called disclosure triangle to the left of the Inbox line (if it's not already clicked and pointing downward), and see how many accounts are shown there. If you have one email address you are using, then there should be one entry. If there is more than one entry. then the migration may have created more than one account entry. If both accounts are for the same mail server and such, that would explain the two messages you are getting. To see if you have duplicate entries, go to Mail > Preferences > Accounts > Account Information, and click on the entries in the left column alternately, to see if the entries are duplicated — if they have the same mail server, username and related — the description will probably differ. If they are duplicates, pick one and click on the checkmark next to Enable this account to clear it. That'll disable that account, without removing it nor removing any mail messages stored on the mail server, or any mail messages you've stored on your Mac.
If the iPad can no longer send when on your Wi-Fi but can receive and send when on Wi-Fi or cellular elsewhere, then your Wi-Fi is misconfigured, or the iPad and the Wi-Fi don't have the same password, or there's some other hardware or network configuration error here, or there's interference with your Wi-Fi network. If other local Wi-Fi devices are working, then this is likely either a password mismatch on the iPad, or — if you're using cellular when away — maybe the iPad Wi-Fi is not working right.
Its these problems i wouldn't understand what i am reading about & wouldn't know if i was & there is obviously thousands of problems that are not written about.
Those thousands of problems are not going to get solved here, not all at once. The Mac Basics web site is a start for learning OS X and there are books and web sites and video courses, but it seems like you want and need some need local IT support; somebody around that can show you and can help you with this, and/or that can set up and run your local network while you get going on what you want to be doing with these computers. Whether that's with the assistance of the folks at the local Apple Store, or somebody that you know locally that can help out, or working with a local business that specializes in these sorts of home and small-business computer and network support requirements.
As Eric Root quite sagely suggests, pick your biggest problems, and work through each in succession.
I'd start with two different goals, questions, problems or issues here, initially. First, getting your network and hardware configured and stable and getting your backups going — that's a fairly isolated requirement, and somebody locally can help with that — and then start learning about iOS and OS X and the parts of the applications that you need, via Mac Basics or books or classes or however you prefer to learn.
Why this approach and this order? If your network and hardware and related giblets aren't stable, then learning how this stuff should work — but doesn't, due to some confuguration or network error — can be little more than a confusing pit of frustration. This includes sorting out why that iPad isn't connecting to mail on your local Wi-Fi network, and resolving what appear to be duplicate mail accounts. Or if you'd prefer to not deal with this stuff — not everybody wants to be computer and network support, after all — start looking around for a local organization that you can outsource your management and your questions to.
The forums are pretty good at getting answers, but having thousands of questions and walls of text — like this thread — won't be the most expeditious way to get done with what you came here to do, after all. And what you came here to do was to get stuff done. Not to manage computers and networks.
Dense to
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MrHoffman
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