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Ask TUAW: Bypass the registration screen, install Leopard Server on the new Mac Mini, iPhone 2G AppleCare options and more

Chris Ullrich
Updated ·4 min read

Once again, it's time for another edition of Ask TUAW: the place where we try to answer all of your Mac and Apple-related questions. This week we're taking questions about bypassing the Apple registration screen, installing Leopard Server on the latest Mac Mini, AppleCare for iPhone version 1.0 and more.

As always, we welcome your suggestions for this week and questions for next time. Please leave your contributions in the comments for this post. When asking questions, please include which Mac and which version of OS X you're running. If you don't specify, we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac.

Tom asks:

When I do an install of OSX or after bringing home a new Mac I get to a screen that asks me to register. If I don't want to fill out that information in is there any way to bypass it?

Sure. Once you get to the registration screen simply press the Command and Q keys and you will see a new dialog box come up. On it, one of your choices will be to "Skip" the registration process. Simply click it and you'll move on to the next screen to create your user account and finish the setup of OSX.

John asks:

I have a Leopard Server installer DVD from last year and I'm having trouble installing the software on one of the new Mac Minis. It won't even boot the Mini nor will it work when I try upgrading OSX client to server. Once it installs I get endless restarts, etc. What's the best way to accomplish this?


Oddly enough, I ran into this problem recently myself. My solution was to use an external USB 2.0 hard drive, attach it to the Mini, restart the Mini from its Software Restore DVD and install OSX Client on the external drive.

Then, I booted the Mini from the external drive, inserted the Leopard Server install DVD and installed the server software converting the external USB drive from OSX client to OSX server. Next, I applied the latest combo update to the server software on the USB drive (10.5.6 as of this post).

Finally, using Disk Utility I restored the Mini from the external USB drive with the latest version of Leopard Server installed on it. Once it was done restoring, which took about 20 minutes, I was able to boot from the Mini because it now had Leopard Server 10.5.6 installed on it and all worked as expected.

WSN asks:

I have an iPhone Rev1 and It has Apple Care on it and is still covered. What happens now with Rev1 iPhones if you send them in via Apple Care? Do they refurb them, do they have parts, or do they just send you an 8gb 3G iPhone?

I spoke to AppleCare and they assured me they still have stock of Rev1 iPhones to replace ones still covered by warranty. So, if you were expecting to "trade up" somehow, it seems you're going to be out of luck. If it turns out they need to replace your current Rev1 2G iPhone, you'll be getting a 2G iPhone to replace it.

Ben asks:

In my address book, my dad is called "Dad" and my mom is called "Mom", with only a first name. However, periodically, "Mom" will get her last name added, and "Smith" will be added. I would rather it said "Mom" and stayed this way. Whenever I send an email to my mom, I type "mo" into the address field, and it auto-fills to "Mom Smith."

Mail.app remembers that she is called Mom Smith, and *it* goes back and changes the original address card. I've figured out the root of the problem, but I can't figure out how to change it so I don't have to undo the switch manually every time.

Mail keeps a list of email addresses you use so it can help you later by not making you type all those letters when you enter an address. A potential solution to your problem is to turn this feature off. To do this, go to Mail> Preferences> Composing and then uncheck the box next to "Automatically complete addresses." If the problem you describe is actually being caused by Mail remembering an address and then changing it in Address Book, this should eliminate that issue.

Bill asks:

I used to be able to have my signature automatically appear when I created new emails in Apple Mail. Now, not so much. I must manually click on the signature list. Any ideas?

You need to make sure you've selected a signature for each of your email accounts. To check this, go to Mail> Preferences> Signatures and see if each of your accounts has a signature assigned to it.

Phil asks:

I have started getting email that has no from, no subject and no body. What is it?

Most likely its spam that has become corrupted or malformed spam. To check, open the email in question and then go to Mail> View> Messges> View Raw Source to see the contents. The email headers are most likely scrambled so Mail doesn't recognize them and instead displays nothing. Feel free to delete them if they come in.