Use of internet allowances on an iMac 2013...

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Use of internet allowances on an iMac 2013...

Hi,

This machine actually belongs to my parents, who are late to computers. They live in the Cook Islands where the bandwidth is ridiculously expensive - at $90 for 8 gigabytes for a month. They can't easily update system software and we've also discovered recently that the auto upload of photos to iCloud was using up Gigabytes of their allowance in one go. I have two questions.

1. Are there any other aspects of the iMac that have the potential to use large amounts of their bandwidth? (They are doing the basics: email, Facebook, to a lesser extent surfing. We are aware of Skype using around 300megs per call as well)

2. Are there some settings that we can use here in NZ to download the updates for them and put them onto a usb so that they can stay up to date. So, not an automatic install but providing us with the installers instead?

Thank you so much.

Tania

Posted on Feb 27, 2015 5:13 PM

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Answer 1

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babowa

Level 9

78,097 points

Feb 27, 2015 7:48 PM in response to tan1a

First, you might want to have them turn off automatic downloads in System Preferences > App Store so you can manually do it.

Second, if you have an Apple store, I would ask them for assistance - they can download it for you.

Third - and I'm not sure if that would work - you could download it for them, but you MUST use their Apple ID and password to sign in to the app store. You could then simply put the installer on a small external drive and handcarry it over. It should work as long as you are using the correct (their) credentials as any download from the app store is tied to the Apple ID used to obtain it forever.

Finally, I would make sure to shut down the Mac so there is no internet activity going on and also turn off "wake for network access" in the System Preferences > Energy Saver Pane.

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Answer 2

tan1a Author

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Feb 27, 2015 9:45 PM in response to babowa

Thank you. I'll work with them via Skype to fix what we can and try Apple Store option. Much appreciated:-)

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