Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Avoid Apple Remote's evil twins

If you're a teacher or have to do a lot of presentations using your mac, chances are that you already got stuck to a presentation that looks like it has been possessed by the devil, going back and forth in the slides and presenting other strange behaviors. But later on, you discover that this is only caused by a wise guy using another Apple Remote that is clicking the buttons to ruin your keynote.

To avoid these embarrassing moments (especially if you're doing a very important presentation to your boss or a client) you must "pair" your Apple Remote with your mac. To do so, follow these instructions:

  1. Log in as an administrator user
  2. Hold the remote close to the mac and press simultaneously the keys "Menu" and ">>|" (Fast-forward) for a few seconds
  3. The screen will fade to black and an image with the remote and a chain link will appear, indicating that the Apple Remote is now paired to your mac
Later on, if you decide to turn off the pairing for a specific Apple Remote or if you want to disable remote controlling with the Apple Remote at all:
  1. Log in as an administrator user
  2. Go to "System Preferences"
  3. Go to "Security"
  4. On the bottom of the dialog you'll find the options you need
    1. Mark "Disable remote control infrared receiver" to disable all contact between your mac and any Apple Remote
    2. Or click the "Unpair" button to remove only the previously paired Apple Remote

Tip from MacTips

1 comment:

Luís Miguel Silva said...

Nem imaginas o quão útil esta tua dica é! :o)

Tenho 2 mac minis que uso para desenvolvimento e vieram ambos com 1 comando diferente e quando tentava usar num deles controlava o outro também ;oP

Hugz,
Luís