General Mac Problems
The Mac OS is,
fundamentally, as trouble-free as operating systems get. But nothing's
perfect. Here's what to do when you hit a snag.
1. I want a tabbed finder.
Download the incredibly versatile Path Finder ($40, www.cocoatech.com),
which gives you all sorts of features that are missing from the Finder,
such as tabs, stacks, bookmarks, and panes. Sounds like fun to us!
Now THIS is the Finder we've always dreamed of. Thanks, Path Finder!
2. I can't print anymore.
This
could be caused by a variety of different issues relating to your
printer hardware or printer drivers, so you may need to contact the
printer manufacturer for more help. But if your Mac is causing the
problem, it’s always a good idea to reset your entire printing system by
going into your Print & Fax System Preference, right-clicking in
the printer list, and choosing Reset Printing System.
3. I
travel all over town with my MacBook, and I’m sick of reconfiguring my
settings every time I show up at a location I’ve been to before. Why
can’t my Mac remember various location settings for me--my default
printer, mounted servers, iChat screen name, Bluetooth settings,
everything?
Try NetworkLocation ($29, www.networklocationapp.com),
which can perform dozens of actions on your Mac whenever you switch to a
new location. Best of all, its AutoLocate feature will determine where
you are, using the same SkyHook Wireless Wi-Fi Positioning System that
your iPhone uses, and it will automatically change all of your settings
for you.
If you frequently switch physical locations, NetworkLocation can save you both time and headaches changing your Mac's settings.
4. I forgot my OS X password.
After
retyping your password very carefully at least twice to make sure you
just didn’t mistype it, you’ll need to haul out your OS X install disk,
insert it into your Mac and restart holding down the C button. After
selecting your language of choice, in the menubar, select Utilities >
Reset Password. Follow the directions and there you go. Just try not to
get a lobotomy after resetting it!
5. My CD or DVD is stuck in the optical drive and won’t come out when I press Eject.
After
holding down the eject button for several seconds to no avail, restart
your Mac and hold down the primary button on your mouse--the trackpad
button will work as well if you’re on a MacBook--and during startup the
disk should eject.
6. My Mac is not recognizing devices plugged in to one of my USB ports.
First, make sure your Mac’s firmware is up to date--check Software Update and the Apple Support Downloads page (support.apple.com/downloads/) and install any firmware updates you find for your machine.
If
nothing happens, turn off your Mac, unplug the power cable, disconnect
all peripherals, and let it sit for five minutes. Plug it back in,
reconnect the keyboard and mouse, turn it back on, and try the USB ports
again.
Check the Support Downloads page for firmware updates for your Mac.
If
they’re still unresponsive, you will need to reset the PRAM (parameter
RAM) and NVRAM (nonvolatile RAM), which stores some system and device
settings that your Mac accesses on startup. Shut your Mac down. Then
position your fingers above the Command, Option, P, and R keys on your
keyboard. Turn the Mac on, then immediately press and hold those four
keys before you see the gray screen. Keep them pressed until the Mac
restarts again and you hear the startup chime for the second time. Then
let ’em go. When your Mac is finished starting up, check those pesky USB
ports.
If they’re still not behaving, there’s one more thing you
can try before making a Genius Bar appointment: resetting the SMC, or
system management controller. Directions for resetting the SMC on your
MacBook Pro are found at
support.apple.com/kb/HT1411. Instructions for all other Macs are linked from
support.apple.com/kb/HT1894.
In Search Of...Search Solutions
Leopard
makes finding files and data on your Mac relatively trouble-free, but
when it comes to search, there are improvements and tricks you can apply
to make it even better. Here are two solutions to common search
problems we hear about from a fair number of Mac users.
7. My Spotlight results have stopped working reliably.
If
it’s a single non-Apple program that isn’t showing up properly in your
Spotlight results, try turning off and on the Spotlight indexing in that
particular app.
If you’re still getting Spotlight results for an
app that you got rid of a while ago, you may not have completely
deleted all of the data or databases that are associated with that
program.
Spotless gives you a nice GUI for managing, deleting, and rebuilding your Spotlight indexes.
If
it’s an Apple program--or your entire Mac--that isn’t working properly
in Spotlight, try re-indexing your whole hard drive by going into the
Spotlight System Preference, clicking on the Privacy tab, then dragging
your hard drive into the list. Wait a moment, and then remove your hard
drive from the list again.
If you’re still having problems, you may need to bring out the big guns by using Spotless ($17, www.fixamac.net), a Spotlight index-management tool that can help fix most Spotlight problems.
8. I need more power, flexibility, and customizability with my Spotlight searches and Spotlight results.
Get HoudahSpot ($25,
www.houdah.com), which lets you create extremely detailed search requests and customize the results to your liking.
HoudahSpot handles Spotlight searches with much more flexability than Apple's built-in Spotlight search.
3 Essential Utilities
Three more Mac problems solved--before they happen!
9. Disk Warrior
($100, www.alsoft.com)
This is a great preventative maintenance tool for rebuilding your Mac's
directory and keeping your mac running quickly and smoothly. It's also a
great emergency tool for repairing disks that have missing files or
will no longer mount.
10. Cocktail
($15, www.maintain.se/cocktail/index.php).
This general all-purpose utility will clean the caches on your machine,
run the UNIX maintenance scripts, unlock hidden features of your Mac,
and much more.
11. SuperDuper
($28,
www.shirt-pocket.com).
This disk cloning utility is great for backing up or transferring all
the data on your entire computer to a fully bootable state.
Email and Web Problems
We know you spend most of
your time in front of a Mac online or pounding out email. Here's how to
answer when trouble comes knocking.
12. I use a webmail client to check email, but every time I click on an email link, it launches Apple Mail instead.
You
can set up Apple Mail to access your webmail account using IMAP or POP
(check with your webmail provider for instructions on how to do this;
some charge a fee for this service), or you can install the program
Webmailer (free, www.belkadan.com/webmailer), which lets you set any webmail site as your default email program.
We set up Webmailer to take us to Yahoo's webmail system whenever we click on an email link.
If you use Gmail, you have a few additional choices: You can install Google Notifier (free, toolbar.google.com/gmail-helper) and set that to your default email client in Mail’s preferences. Or you can use the outstanding Mailplane ($25, www.mailplaneapp.com), which provides many more features than the Gmail website.
13. I can receive but not send email messages.
Outgoing
email messages are typically sent over the Internet using TCP port
numbers 25, 465, or 587. However, in an effort to reduce spam, some ISPs
and firewalls are set up to severely restrict the use of those ports.
For example, AT&T is notorious for blocking port 25 for its DSL
customers, unless you’re sending email with the AT&T email address
assigned to your DSL modem. If you’re using AT&T (or another service
provider that has similar restrictions), call the technical support
number and request that they unblock port 25 for you. If you don’t
control the Internet access where you are located, contact your email
host to see if they have an alternate port that you can send email on.
You can specify alternate port numbers in your email app’s account
settings. If all else fails, you should be able to send email through
your webmail system until you can physically get yourself to a different
location that has no restrictions.
Our
Web-hosting company, hostbaby.com, allows us to send email messages
over alternate port 2525, which typically bypasses any firewall
restrictions that have been put in place.
14.
When I reply to or forward an email, the original message isn't entirely
quoted in my reply--sometimes just the header and a few characters are
quoted.
If you used your mouse to highlight some text in the
original email, and then you clicked on forward or reply, only the
words that you selected will be quoted in your new email. To override
this behavior in Mail (it can’t be overridden in Entourage), go into
Mail’s Preferences, click on the Composing button, and you can set it to
include all of the original message. If the problem still happens after
this, your Mail preferences might be corrupt. Quit Mail, and trash the
file located at yourhomefolder/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist.
Also try upgrading to Snow Leopard, which makes Mail more reliable in
general.
The
Composing preference in Mail ensures that your replies and forwards
will always quote the original email message in their entirety.
15. I want to send an email later, not now.
Each email client handles this slightly differently.
In
Entourage, choose Message > Send Message Later or click on the Send
Later button. (In Entourage 2008, you’ll need to add the Send Later
button to your toolbar by choosing View > Customize Toolbar from any
outgoing message.) Your messages will queue up in your outbox, and then
you can send them all at once by creating an Entourage schedule (Tools
> Schedules) or by clicking the Send & Receive button.
In
Thunderbird, choose File > Send Later. Your messages will queue up in
the Unsent folder until you choose File > Send Unsent Messages.
The Send Later Extension lets you schedule your outgoing messages in Thunderbird.
The Send Later Extension for Thunderbird (free, www.unsignedbyte.com/?page_id=4) lets you schedule an exact date and time in the future to send your message.
Surprisingly,
Mail provides no ability to send messages later. You could take all
your accounts offline (Mailbox > Take All Accounts Offline) before
clicking on the Send button, in which case your messages disappear until
you quit and relaunch Mail to find a temporary outbox with your
messages sitting in them. Or, to schedule emails for a later delivery
time that you specify, install the Schedule Delivery script which is a
part of Mail Scripts (donations requested, homepage.mac.com/aamann/).
Finally, LetterMeLater (free, www.lettermelater.com) offers another way to schedule emails to be sent at a later time.
16. I have multiple folders entitled Drafts, Sent, Junk, or Trash for my IMAP email account.
Setting
up an IMAP account can be a little tricky. After typing your valid
account settings into your email program, there are two additional
steps:
First, you’ll need to set the proper IMAP path prefix
(sometimes called the “root folder” or IMAP server directory) in your
account settings. For example, Gmail’s IMAP Path Prefix is [Gmail].
Defining your IMAP server's root folder is an often-forgotten step when setting up an IMAP email account.
In
Entourage, you set this on the Options tab of your IMAP’s account
settings. In Thunderbird, click the Advanced button on the Server
Settings tab. In Mail, this is on the Advanced tab of your IMAP’s
account settings.
Then you’ll need to designate which folders on
the server should be used for storing your drafts, sent messages, trash,
and junk. In Entourage, you set this on the Advanced tab of your IMAP’s
account settings. In Thunderbird, this is done in the Copies &
Folders section of your account settings. In Mail, go out to your main
viewer window and select a folder on the server (in the left-hand
margin, underneath the IMAP account name), then choose Mailbox > Use
This Mailbox For.
17. Whenever I address an outgoing email, I get unwanted email addresses for people who aren't in my address book.
Most
email clients keep track of addresses that you’ve emailed to in the
past and will suggest those addresses to you in the future when you
start to type the same characters. You can turn off this feature in
Entourage and Thunderbird by going into their preferences. In Entourage,
this is found on the Compose tab. In Thunderbird, this is on the
Composition > Addressing tab. You can’t turn off this feature in
Mail, but you can clear the list from time-to-time by selecting Window
> Previous Recipients, selecting the names and clicking Remove from
List.
In Mail, you have complete control over your Previous Recipients list.
18. When I email long Web links to others, they sometimes get broken up onto multiple lines and don't work correctly.
Try
putting angle brackets (<>) around long URLs to help them travel
safely across the Internet without “breaking.” Or you turn to TinyURL
(free, www.tinyurl.com), which will turn those long URLs into, well, tiny URLs!
19. I wish Safari's built-in search field worked with more websites than just Google.
You
may want to switch to Firefox, which has the built-in ability to
customize its search field with any number of search engines that you
specify. Otherwise, check out the Safari plug-ins Saft ($12, haoli.dnsalias.com) or Glims (free, machangout.com), both of which let you customize Safari’s Google search field. And one of our favorite utilities, iSeek ($15, www.ambrosiasw.com) lets you add a global customizable search field to your Mac’s menubar that works with any Web browser.
iSeek places a fully customizable search field in our menubar at all times.
20. I want to filter inappropriate websites so my kids can't access them.
Although
Mac OS X has built-in parental controls that you can turn on for
individual accounts, you can gain more control by purchasing software
like ContentBarrier ($50,
www.intego.com) or Net Nanny ($39.99 a year,
www.netnanny.com).
Even better, we’ve discovered that one of the quickest, easiest, and
most effective ways of filtering all the computers in your entire
household is to switch your DNS servers to the free OpenDNS servers
(free,
www.opendns.com).
ContentBarrier is one of many options you have for blocking websites on your Mac.
21. My Internet connection is slow.
That’s
a tricky one. A sluggish Net connection could be caused by any number
of things, so here are a few troubleshooting tips to start with:
Try
resetting Safari (Safari > Reset Safari). Then, try a different Web
browser to see if the problem happens there as well. You may also want
to uninstall any Internet plug-ins that you have installed recently.
Next, check your upload and download speeds at
www.speakeasy.net/speedtest
and see if you’re getting the speeds you’re paying for. If not, try
power cycling both your modem and router, such as your Airport Extreme.
Turn off or unplug the device, let it sit powered off for several
minutes, then plug it in or switch it on again.
Our
latest speed test from Speakeasy.net shows us that we're not currently
getting the full upload speeds for which we've been paying the big
bucks!
If these methods don’t address the slowdown, try
plugging your modem directly into your Mac using an Ethernet cable to
see if the problem goes away. If so, your router may be the problem. If
you’re using an Airport Extreme or Airport Express, launch Airport
Utility to see if there is a firmware upgrade available. If so, install
the firmware upgrade and see if that helps.
If not, your Mac
could be the problem--you may need to perform an Archive and Install of
your operating system, which is one of your options on the Mac OS X
Leopard Installation DVD.
And it’s always possible that your
modem or Internet line is the problem too, in which case you should call
your ISP’s technical support number.
Photo Problems
These solutions to common photo issues will make you want to say "cheese."
22.
I need to quickly resize an image and make some color corrections to
it, but I can't afford Photoshop and don't really want to learn how to
use it.
Preview has the built-in ability to resize images and
adjust colors. Open up your image in Preview and select Tools >
Adjust Size or Adjust Color.
This image-size adjustment dialog box is from Preview, not Photoshop!
23. I want to email photos from iPhoto through my webmail account by clicking on iPhoto's Email button.
Even
if you’ve installed Webmailer, as mentioned in problem #12, the email
button in iPhoto will only work with four email clients: AOL, Eudora,
Entourage, and Mail.
However, if you use Gmail, you’re in luck because Mailplane ($25, www.mailplaneapp.com) installs an iPhoto plug-in that lets you click on iPhoto’s Email button and send your messages through your Gmail account.
In any dialog box, you can activate QuickLook when browsing your iPhoto Library by selecting a photo and pressing the spacebar.
Otherwise,
go into your webmail program, and attach photos using the standard
method. Leopard’s dialog boxes give you the ability to browse through
your iPhoto library, and they even let you use QuickLook by clicking on a
photo and pressing the spacebar.
24. I want to use iPhoto '09 to export photos to Facebook, but there are too many problems with it.
Forget
about using iPhoto ’09’s poorly implemented Facebook “integration.”
Instead, use the outstanding Facebook Exporter for iPhoto (free, developers.facebook.com/iphoto).
Use Facebook Exporter for iPhoto to tag, add captions to, and upload your Facebook photos right from within iPhoto.
25. I created a PDF file with lots of embedded photos in it, but now the file is way too large to email.
Open
up the large PDF file in Preview and select File > Save As. Where it
says Quartz Filter, choose Reduce File Size, then click Save. Voilà!
You’ve now saved a much smaller version of your PDF file, which will be
easier to email.
Choose
this Quartz Filter in Preview to reduce the size (and quality) of large
PDF files so you can email them without choking your email server.
For
even more control over the resulting quality of PDF size reduction--and
to batch-process multiple PDF files at once--try PDFshrink ($35, www.apago.com).
If you still can’t get the file small enough for your needs, try a file-sending service such as YouSendIt (www.yousendit.com).
26. Somebody emailed me a PDF file with lots of embedded photos in it, and I need to extract the photos from the file.
File Juicer ($18,
www.echoone.com) will extract images, sounds, and more from any filetype.
File Juicer can extract all these types of files out of other files.
Office/iWork Problems
Work smarter not harder with these troubleshooting tips for common productivity apps.
27.
I created an awesome slide show in Keynote, but I have to present it on
a PC. I tried exporting it to Microsoft PowerPoint format, but I lost
my transitions, effects, transparencies, gradients, and more--basically,
all the cool stuff.
Export your Keynote file to a QuickTime
movie instead. As long as the PC has QuickTime installed on it (which it
should, if it has iTunes installed), you’ll be able to play back your
presentation with all of its awesomeness intact. If the PC doesn’t have
QuickTime, download it for free from www.apple.com/quicktime.
With the "Fixed Timing" option, we can set our QuickTime movie to automatically advance to the next slide on a regular interval.
When
you export your movie, you have several options for how it should
advance from one slide to the next. For example, if you set it to
manually advance, you simply have to press the spacebar on the PC to
move to the next slide.
28. I’ve included presenter notes
(View > Show Presenter Notes) in a Keynote slide show, but when I
play or rehearse the slide show, the notes don’t show up onscreen.
In
Keynote’s preferences, click on the Presenter Display button, and check
the boxes for Notes and “Use alternate display to view presenter
information.” Now your notes will show up when you play or rehearse your
slide show.
This checkbox lets you toggle between mirrored displays and dual displays.
However,
if you start seeing your notes on both your computer screen and the
projector’s screen, your computer is set to mirrored (instead of dual)
displays. You can toggle these display modes while the projector is
connected to your Mac by launching System Preferences, choosing Display
> Arrangement, and deselecting the Mirror Displays checkbox.
29.
I use Office 2008 to create Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files, but my
Mac-using colleagues can’t open the files because they’re using Office
2004.
TextEdit can open and edit Word 2008 files. And if your
colleagues have iWork ’09 installed, they can work with all of your
Office 2008 files in Pages, Numbers, or Keynote.
Otherwise,
you’ll need to save the file in an earlier file format. Choose File >
Save As and select the format that corresponds to Office 97–2004. You
can also set this older format as the default in your preferences for
Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Choose the .doc format to avoid compatibility issues with people using earlier versions of Microsoft Word.
Alternatively, your colleagues can install Microsoft’s Open XML File Format Converter (free,
www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads), which will convert your Office 2008 files into a format that Office 2004 can read.
Syncing Problems
Data syncing can be particularly stressful since we need access to info anywhere these days. We've got solutions.
30. I want to sync some--but not all--of my iCal calendars across my Macs.
Don’t use MobileMe to sync, which always synchronizes all of your calendars. Instead, use BusySync ($25, www.busymac.com) or BusyCal ($40, www.busymac.com), which both give you an incredible amount of syncing options.
BusyMac's
products are true champions when it comes to publishing and subscribing
selected calendars without any dedicated servers.
31. I want to synchronize my iCal calendars and Address Book on my Mac to Outlook on a PC.
Sign up for MobileMe ($99 a year, www.apple.com), which will keep all of your Macs and PCs (and iPhones!) in sync with each other.
Spanning Sync effortlessly syncs your calendars and contacts to Google.
Or,
you can use Google Calendar and Google Contacts as a conduit. On the
Mac side, you’ll need Spanning Sync ($25/year or $65/one-time purchase, spanningsync.com). On the PC side, you’ll need Google Apps Sync ($50/year, tools.google.com/dlpage/gappssync).
32. I keep getting duplicate entries on my iCal calendar.
Sounds
like you’re trying to sync your Entourage calendar with iCal. There’s a
known bug with Entourage that causes repeating events to multiply out
of control in iCal. We don’t know of any long-term solution at this time
except to ditch Entourage’s calendar and stick to iCal for your
calendaring needs. To do this, uncheck the box for syncing events in
Entourage’s Preferences (on the Sync Services pane). To erase iCal
dupes, try iCal Cleaner (free, www.busymac.com).
33. I’m getting two of each calendar entry on my iPhone.
You
may be trying to sync your calendars through both iTunes and MobileMe.
You’ll need to choose one method or the other, not both. If you’re
syncing wirelessly through MobileMe, then go into your iPhone settings
within iTunes and uncheck all of your calendars there.
The
exception to this rule is iCal’s Birthdays calendar (enabled in iCal’s
preferences, this calendar pulls birthdays from your Address Book),
which can only be synced through iTunes, so it must remain checked in
iTunes.
34. My U.S. Holidays and other Internet-subscribed iCal calendars are not syncing between my Mac and my iPhone.
Any
Internet-subscribed calendars must be resubscribed to directly from
your iPhone. You can manually set up the server on your iPhone by going
to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account > Other
> Calendars.
You must resubscribe to your iCal holiday calendars on your iPhone all over again.
Or,
you can automatically subscribe to a calendar by using Safari on your
iPhone to choose from Apple’s extensive selection of calendars at www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/calendars.
35. iTunes no longer launches automatically when I attach my iPod or iPhone to my computer.
If
your iPhone or iPod is very low on power or if the battery is fully
depleted, it can take up to 10 minutes to appear under Devices in
iTunes.
Otherwise, you may have unchecked the box in iTunes for
your device that says “Automatically sync when this iPhone/iPod is
connected” or “Open iTunes when this iPod is attached.”
You may
have also removed the iTunesHelper application from your Login Items in
your Account System Preferences, which is required to automatically
launch iTunes. You can get this back by reinstalling iTunes (www.apple.com/itunes)
or by manually dragging iTunesHelper into the Login Items. iTunesHelper
can be found by right-clicking on iTunes in the Finder and choosing
Show Package Contents, then going to Contents > Resources.
36. I want to synchronize files between two computers.
There are many different programs available to help you with this task, but our favorite is ChronoSync ($40, www.econtechnologies.com).
ChronoSync can automatically mount remote servers, wake your local Mac
from sleep, schedule your synchronizations, archive backup copies of
your files before syncing, and even give you a list of proposed changes
before it makes any of them.
Synchronizing files between two different computers is as simple as drag-and-drop with ChronoSync.
While
you can use ChronoSync to synchronize to any type of volume or folder,
if you specifically want to sync to another computer, you may want to
additionally purchase ChronoAgent for an extra $10. ChronoAgent lets you
communicate directly with a remote Mac faster than using AFP or SMB,
and you gain full root access, so you can copy anything without any
restrictions.
37. I turned on MobileMe syncing on my iPhone, but nothing is syncing to my Mac or Me.com.
It’s
possible that the MobileMe servers aren’t communicating properly with
your iPhone. An Apple support rep recently admitted to us that this is
an extremely common problem that MobileMe users may experience every few
months until Apple increases the reliability of its MobileMe syncing
servers. So you may want to keep these instructions handy for future
reference.
First, find out if MobileMe sees your iPhone at all.
Activate Find My iPhone on your iPhone (Settings > Mail, Contacts,
Calendars > your me.com account > Find My iPhone). Then, from a
computer (
not your iPhone), go to your MobileMe account page at
https://secure.me.com/yourusername. Click on Find My iPhone to see if
the MobileMe website sees your phone. If not, try turning off your
iPhone and turning it back on again. If the MobileMe site still doesn’t
see your phone, try deleting your MobileMe account on your iPhone and
re-creating it again.
We feel like Big Brother is watching us with Find My iPhone's crosshairs centered directly on our house!
Once
Me.com sees your iPhone, try adding an event or a contact to your phone
and see if the change shows up on your MobileMe calendar (
www.me.com/calendar) or address book (
www.me.com/contacts) within a few minutes.
If
not, you will probably have to reset all of your sync data on Me.com
with information from your Mac’s iCal and Address Book. Make a mental
note of any recent unsynced changes you’ve made on your iPhone, because
you’re going to lose them in this process. Also, sign out of Me.com. Go
into the MobileMe System Preference on your Mac, select the Sync tab,
click on Advanced, and then click Reset Sync Data. Click on the right
arrow so that you are replacing all sync info on MobileMe with “info
from this computer.”
Log back into Me.com and verify that it now
has your current information for contacts and calendars. If not, you
will have to reset the SyncServices database on your Mac. Apple has
instructions on this process at
support.apple.com/kb/TS1627.
But
before following those instructions, be sure to do two things on your
Mac: First, repair your permissions using Disk Utility
(Applications/Utilities), and, second, repair your keychain using
Keychain Access (in Disk Utility, pull down from the Keychain Access
menu and select Keychain First Aid). After that, try syncing again from
the MobileMe System Preference pane.
This is how it should look when you're about to overwrite information on the MobileMe website with information from your Mac.
Once
Me.com has your current information, you are ready to go back to your
iPhone. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars
> Fetch New Data. Turn Push off, then completely turn off your phone
for 30 seconds. Turn your phone back on and re-enable push. Then, go to
Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > your Me.com account and
turn off and on each one of the sliders for the information that you’re
trying to sync (Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks, etc).
Wait several minutes, and hopefully all your current information will reappear in your calendar and contacts on your iPhone.
If not, you will probably need to have a live chat with a MobileMe support agent. Go to
www.apple.com/support/mobileme.
Choose any of the troubleshooting options underneath Syncing with
MobileMe in the left-hand margin, and a Chat Now button will appear.
