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Whether you have been using Apple's latest operating system for the Mac, OS X Mountain Lion, for a while now, or you are just installing it, you'll benefit from reading through some of the tips below. Some of them are ways to improve on the overall experience, while others will bring back past functionality. Let's get started, shall we?

Preparing your Mac When upgrading the operating system, no matter your platform of choice, it's always a great idea to not go into it blindly. Be prepared, and more importantly, make sure you computer is prepared. Some … Read more

When Mail in OS X detects a problem with an e-mail message, it may attempt to recover the message in a special mailbox called "Recovered Messages"; however, sometimes this recovery process may hit a snag and result in multiples of the same message being recovered. This issue can sometimes result in other problems, including Mail not being able to get new mail, and also having the hard drive fill up and lead to slowdowns and other problems if the message has a large attachment associated with it.

The recovered message may be a previously sent message, or even … Read more

Multiple e-mail inboxes are a fact of life for most of us. At last count I had six mail accounts I access regularly and another six addresses I use occasionally.

That didn't prevent me from signing up for a new Outlook.com address when Microsoft announced the service last week.

At first I was disappointed that I wasn't able to transfer my existing Hotmail account to Outlook.com. Instead, I was prompted to link the new Outlook.com account with the existing Hotmail account.

However, once I had imported my Gmail to Microsoft's new service I was … Read more

In Apple's Mail program, there are options for flagging and coloring messages that you might find important, but in order to automatically do so, you have to set up a special rule to identify the message and then perform an action on it. With the version of Mail that Apple ships in OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has changed this to a degree by adding a VIP list.

Unlike rules that require that you set up conditions that act on incoming messages once, the VIP option in Mail is a dynamic filter that provides an easy way to locate … Read more

Although the mobile Outlook.com Web site is gorgeous, it's hardly efficient to access the browser each time you want to check your mail, especially if you have other accounts already synced with your iOS device.

But more than that, getting your Outlook.com e-mail in the official Mail app gives you access to a very coveted feature: Push.

Since Outlook.com is still in beta, and Hotmail is still very much alive, it will be some time before Apple replaces Mail's "Hotmail" setup option with "Outlook.com."

Until then, here's the embarrassingly … Read more

MyLife, a people-finding Web service, hopes to expand its presence in the social media world by offering a new dashboard to organize your feeds and e-mail accounts.

The dashboard, which went live today, takes a user's Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts and combines them with Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, and AOL accounts.

CEO Jeff Tinsley said people often start their days by accessing their social media, so MyLife wants to simplify the process by putting them all on one dashboard.

"Consumers are just overwhelmed," he said. "They're using many different services and they're jumping … Read more

Microsoft just revealed the preview of its latest incarnation of Webmail, Outlook.com. One particular Outlook.com feature worth noting, is its support of multiple e-mail aliases. They're a great way to protect your primary e-mail address. And because you can't log in to your Outlook.com account with an alias, it adds another level of security.

Add an alias To add a new alias to your primary Outlook.com account, click on the gears icon in the upper right-hand corner and select "More mail settings." Under the "Manage your account" section, select "… Read more

Last updated at 11:23 a.m. PT.

Yahoo said it's working to correct an issue with its Yahoo Mail service that has left some users without service or with very glitchy service, according to the company. The problem also may affect other Yahoo sites.

"Yahoo Mail, Messenger and other areas of Yahoo may currently be inaccessible or slow to respond to some users in certain locations," a spokeswoman said in a statement e-mailed to CNET. "We are working to correct the issue and restore all functionality immediately. We know that this may have caused some … Read more

The contacts app on your phone is the most boring, neglected app ever created. I don't care how much you love your phone -- the only reason you're reading a blog post about contacts right now is because things have gotten out of hand.

Are there people listed in your phone three or four times? Do you have 500 contacts, but only 10 of them have phone numbers? Well, then, it's time to take out the garbage.

The video above has all of my best advice, but I'm going to use this blog post to distill … Read more