Macinstruct

Your Mac uses something called the Domain Name System (DNS) to access websites. It's a system invisible to you, the user, and most people don't even know it exists. But if the DNS servers you're using are slow or unavailable, websites will load slowly or won't load at all. That's why it's important to learn about DNS and consider changing your DNS servers. In this tutorial, we'll show you everything you need to know about DNS to speed up surfing and ward off potential problems.

DNS Crash Course

Apple's iCal is one of the best applications you can use to keep track of events, appointments, meetings, classes, and other everything else scheduling. But when you're away from your Mac, how are you supposed to find out what you have lined up for the day? If you use iCal's publish to web feature, you can simply visit your website for the latest and most up-to-date version of your calendar.

It's easy to do this! Here's how:

If you're new to Macs, or if you're not all that savvy with tech stuff (like creating websites and backing up important information with an online service), you should look into Apple's .Mac service. It's a $100 per year service that unlocks a number of cool features built into your Mac. In fact, some of the features are so cool that even seasoned Mac users spring for it.

Here are just a few of the features that come with .Mac:

Do you have a Gmail account? Do you know that Google's free email service works with Apple's Mail client? It does, and it's pretty nifty! Using Gmail with Mail.app means that you won't have to use Google's website to send and receive email messages, and you won't have to look at those pesky text advertisements Google displays next to your messages.

Here's how to use Gmail with Apple's Mail: