Just upgraded to Mac OS X Snow Leopard and am a bit baffled: the icon on the top menu bar for airport wifi service now has an exclamation mark through it. What does that mean?

I move around quite a bit as a road warrior and though I don't often need to print, sometimes being able to produce a hard copy is definitely helpful. Problem is, I don't want to bother people in different temporary offices with configuration details: I'm running Mac OS X Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro, is there some easy way to add printers on the go?

This is weird. I have Mac OS X Snow Leopard (specifically 10.6.2) running on my MacBook and want to install Quicktime Pro for some video work. I bought a license key off the Apple site but it says to go to the System Preferences and enter the data into the Quicktime preference pane. But, um, there isn't one. What the heck??

I'm running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and everything's going smoothly except for some reason I find that not all my default folders are showing up on the left side of Finder windows. Specifically, where's my "Movies" folder??

I've taken the plunge and installed Snow Leopard (aka Mac OS X 10.6) and was pretty psyched about the fact that it's a 64-bit operating system, until my brother said "yeah, but I bet you're still running in 32-bit mode". How can I tell if my Snow Leopard computer is now running in 32-bit "compatibility" mode or as a true 64-bit operating system?

I feel like a total chump: a few months ago I changed all my system passwords to ensure my girlfriend didn't mess with things (we were fighting a lot, we're no longer seeing each other). Not a problem on my iMac or Mac Mini, but on my MacBook Air that I promptly slipped into the closet anyway? I have no idea what the password is and can't log in to use it any more! How do I reset my account password in Mac OS X Snow Leopard on my MacBook Air??

My computer network has an old Mac Mini running Mac OS X Tiger (10.4), acting as a file and network printer server, along with a number of desktop computers running the newer version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard. For those computers, everything's fine, but when a colleague hooked up his Vista laptop, he couldn't see the file server at all. How do I enable that?

I've been experimenting with the Mac Snow Leopard Screen Sharing capability and it's really terrific for managing our workgroup server, but every time I want to run it I have to launch Server Tools, then select the server, then choose "Screen Sharing". Isn't there a better way?

My kids are driving me a bit crazy: they keep opening up my MacBook Pro and messing around with it, even when I tell them not to. Since I can't hover over it like an eagle, I need a software solution: how do I require a password to be typed in - to password protect the computer - on either wake from sleep or going from a screen saver to the regular desktop on Mac OS X Snow Leopard?

I have a folder full of important files that I want to share with my Dad, but it's too much to email and I don't want him to have to figure out something like dropbox. Instead, I want to use the old fashioned approach of creating a CDROM on my new MacBook. But there's no "burning" app so how do I proceed?

I've been reading some of your terrific Kindle help here on Ask Dave Taylor and am dying to know: how are you getting those screen captures / screen shots from the Kindle for your articles?

With all of us being so energy-conscious these days, it natural to want to have your Mac use as little power as possible. But when you get up to walk away from your computer, even for a few minutes, it continues to use power to light up your screen, optimize your hard drive and perform low-level tasks while it waits for you to touch your mouse or keyboard again. Isn't there a solution?

I've been learning more about Apple iPhoto, partially thanks to your great tutorials on the subject, but am stumped. Instead of wanting to grab images directly off my camera, I find that I need to pull in a folder full of photographs from a friend so I can have them as an event. How do I import photos into iPhoto, Dave? If it makes a difference, I'm running Snow Leopard and have Mac OS X version 10.6.1.

I've finally got our new Mac Mini (running Snow Leopard, not Lion) configured as a file and print server for the legal office and it's great except for the fact that when I mark folders open for sharing, sometimes we find that folders within that folder [ed note "subfolders"] are still blocked from access. This is upsetting some of the paralegals and making my life hell. How do I fix this without having dozens or hundreds of sharepoints?

Hi Dave. I have a question that I don't think you've ever written about: I have a folder with confidential information and want to encrypt or password protect it. I can see how to create a ZIP file from it with the Archive feature, but that's not password protected either. Is there any way to accomplish this in Mac OS X Snow Leopard?

I saw a demo of a video chat using FaceTime where one person was on their MacBook and the other was on their iPhone 4. Incredible! How do I set up my Mac so I can have face to face chats with my girlfriend, even when she's on the road with her iPhone 4?

Imagine a device that's about the size of three credit cards and can let you and four of your friends (or multiple of your devices) connect to the Internet at decent 3G speeds, all while sitting in your briefcase / computer bag / coat pocket. The up-and-coming "mifi" (mobile wifi) devices are a fascinating hybrid gizmo that offers the smallest wifi base station you can imagine, tapping into either the Verizon or Sprint data networks.

Verizon loaned me one of their mifi-2200 units and I have to say this is a fabulous gizmo, one that I'll find out about buying when my loaner period is over. It's that good.

As I said, the device is tiny: even in its little cloth pouch, it's less than half the size of my Apple iPhone, and considerably lighter. It uses a micro-USB connector for both charging and direct connectivity (if you prefer to use it as a tethered cellular data network modem), so it's also extremely portable. I know I've gotten into having it in my computer bag 24x7.