Become An Apple Genius

Save yourself a trip to the Genius Bar — do your own diagnoses and sort out your Mac!

- Adam Banks

THE GREAT THING about Apple products is that they just work, right? Well, most of the time, yes, that’s right (thankfully). But what happens if your Mac simply doesn’t want to play ball?

Is your Mac refusing to start up? Has the display gone all stripey? Or is it switching on okay but being really slow to respond? Your first thought may be to go online (on another device, of course) and book yourself an appointment with an Apple Genius. Or arrange for an Apple Support call. Obviously, these guys are the experts — and it’s fantastic that us Apple fans have these reassuring services to hand. But you could spend a while on the phone explaining the issue or you may not be able to book a Genius Bar appointment at a convenient time.

Well, once you’ve recovered from that initial “why isn’t my Mac working?!” panic, you might be surprised to discover that some fixes are a whole lot easier than you would first think.

We’ve collated a comprehensive bundle of the most common Mac problems that can occur and — more importantly — how to fix them! You don’t have to be a technical whizzkid or a network know–it–all. Just follow our simple steps, and you and your Mac can carry on “just working” in no time.

GETTING STARTED

When your Mac won’t even power up

WHERE IS THE POWER BUTTON, ANYWAY?

A desktop Mac will have a physical power button, usually on the back, marked with the “standby” symbol, a circle broken by a line. MacBooks have a button at the top right of the keyboard; this includes Touch ID models, but to start from cold you’ll need to hold the button down, not just touch it.