When I send an email to someone, the reply often shows the computer's former owner's name instead of mine. I set up my own email account with my own name when I got this computer, but this is still happening. I don't see their name on the account when I open it to edit. How do I make my name show up on the recipient's inbox?
Thank you!
PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
1. Open the mail app.
2. Open the Mail menu bar (Next to the apple in the upper right corner)
3. Click on preferences.
4. Click on accounts.
5. Change full name.
See if this works for you.
Thank you Xthelyricist. I tried that a while ago. Occasionally it seems to work but not always. Is it possible that it's something on the recipient's end? The former owner/user of this computer and I have some contacts in common.
Erase the computer and then set it up with you as the owner, your accounts, your files etc.
This should have been done before you started using it (by the seller)
That's a great idea. I should have done that right from the start. Back when I used a PC, it was a yearly routine (part of the reason I hope to never go back to those evil things). But I don't think I have a disc to reformat this computer. Or is that not necessary?
Thanks for the help.
Yes it is, you can't erase the disc you are running from and your Mac (if it came with Leopard or Snow Leopard) predates the Internet Recovery system.
You can buy the Snow Leopard disc from Apple for $19.99
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
I'm going to do that then. Thank you for the help. Btw, as with those other kinds of computers, this Mac has been getting slower over the time I've had it. I realize that it's going to become less functional online as the various websites 'update' their software. But even offline, it's slowing down. Will erasing the disc fix that or is there a less drastic way (aside from the obvious dumping of cache, history and so on)?
It may, it depends on what is causing the slowdown but if it is a software issue then a clean reinstallation should fix it. If it is a hardware issue it won't, so post back in that case. If (say) that you have very little RAM (less than 4GB) it may just be the combination of that and an older, slower herd drive.
For being so old, this is a pretty powerful machine (8GB RAM) and, regardless, it used to be much faster. The slowdown has been gradual - over a period of the 4 years I've been using it. So my guess is that it's the accumulation of some kind of soft junk. On PC's they'd recommend defragmenting the hard drive, and you'd get to throw out a few hours, watching some stupid graphic of red, blue and green globs line up from a random mess into a bunch of neat rows. But that never really improved anything and I think it was just a game Microsoft invented to keep users occupied a bit longer, instead of screaming and suing them, which is what they deserved. But getting back to this, it would be nice if there were some kind of real housekeeping that could be done to keep the system young and vital - something less drastic than reformatting the hard drive. Still only having to do it once every 5 years ain't bad. And, I suppose, I really should be saving up for a new machine. It's just that this one has been so insanely reliable. And I love how well made it is...
I strongly recommend that you fit an SSD, the performance difference is huge (and the silence is nice). RAM and processor upgrades are minuscule in comparison. I have converted an older (2010) MacBook and an even older (2009) MacBook Pro with SSD's. It's remarkable.
On PC's they'd recommend defragmenting the hard drive, and you'd get to throw out a few hours, watching some stupid graphic of red, blue and green globs line up from a random mess into a bunch of neat rows. But that never really improved anything and I think it was just a game Microsoft invented to keep users occupied a bit longer
Yup, spent many hours trying to predict which block would be the next to be unfragged 🙂
Thanks for another helpful tip. I hadn't realized that SSD's would be usable on a machine this old. In addition to the noise reduction, I imagine it might run a bit cooler too. Any particular one you'd recommend?
Cooler, quieter and quicker, such a deal.
Pick one of the size you need from this page,
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_6G/
I also suggest (firmly) that you change the connecting cable while you're in there, iFixit sell the cables, fairly easy to change (esp with the drive out)
Well, thank you again. This is all really useful and helpful info. In another life, I used to co-own a high end audiophile store. One of the things we learned is that good interlink cables (between components) were critical to getting the best sound (best transfer of audio information, in other words). Is that the reasoning behind changing the connecting cable?
2 reasons really, 2010 was the inception of the SATA III standard being used in MBP's, those cables were amongst the first manufactured. They are now 5 years old, 5 years spent threaded over castings and under hard drives, in an environment with quite rapid temperature variations and near constant vibration from the drive (unless it is an SSD of course). Bending warm copper traces is not a recipe for long life. I also have had personal experience of SSD's booting fine from an external source (USB) but not booting from the internal bay, a cable change has (so far) been 100% successful. You're going in there anyhow, better than opening it up and removing the drive twice. 🙂
D.Macphile wrote:
In another life, I used to co-own a high end audiophile store. One of the things we learned is that good interlink cables (between components) were critical to getting the best sound (best transfer of audio information, in other words). Is that the reasoning behind changing the connecting cable?
Did you ever get anyone to believe that nonsense about "skin effect" 🙂
In another life I worked ( briefly) as a contractor for Linn products, back when records were black and rotated like big slow hard drives.
How do I get my name to show on an email (my own account) instead of the name of the computer's former owner?
