You don’t have to invest hours to improve your Mac’s power -- you can do it in minutes, and these 10 how-to’s reveal some of the best speedy improvements you can make.

These days, life is hectic for everyone -- and it’s getting harder and harder to find large chunks of time to devote to making your Mac the best it can be. But often, you don’t need hours to make amazing improvements -- you can accomplish loads in just minutes. That’s why we focused this story on 10 awesome tweaks you can make in 15 minutes or less. 

Some of these how-to’s take much, much less than a quarter hour, while others bump right up against that time limit. But whether you’re discovering how to squash MobileMe problems, sync iTunes libraries across all the Macs in your house, print email attachments without opening them, or make some crafty Terminal tweaks, you’ll love how much you’ve improved your computing experience.

Solve MobileMe Syncing Snags

Get stubborn calendar and contact data behaving again.

It’s a love/hate relationship with you, MobileMe. When you work, you’re so wonderfully effortless we forget you’re there. Maybe that’s the problem -- because when you don’t, the pain you can wreak on our calendars and contacts is pretty unforgettable. So if you have a computer or iOS device that’s giving you the MobileMe blues, we can help.

1. All Systems Go?

Check Apple’s MobileMe support page: apple.com/support/mobileme. If System Status has a green dot beside it, everything’s good on Apple’s end, and it’s time for troubleshooting. Because Calendar and Contacts information is frequently updated, it’s most prone to corruption. Check this data at me.com. If everything looks groovy there, you likely have an issue with your computer or iOS device. Make sure they’re running the latest software. In OS X, hit Software Update under the Apple menu, or plug your iDevice into iTunes, then click “Check for Update.” Next, verify your MobileMe account is configured correctly -- are your username and password correct? Once those basics are squared away, it’s time for the next step.

Your first stop is apple.com/support/mobileme to see if MobileMe itself is offline.

2. You Backed Up First, Right?

We like safe much better than sorry, so next up is making an archive backup of your current data before trying to troubleshoot.

Even if you’re using Time Machine, we recommend archiving Address Book and iCal data so you can easily retrieve it if needed. The latest version of iCal does backup your data to the could, but it's a good idea to have a local backup. From Address Book or iCal’s File menu, select Export, then export an Address Book or iCal Archive. Save these files to an external drive different from the one used for your main backup.

3. iSync, Therefore I Am

Often that button outlined in red at the right can solve your MobileMe woes.

The application iSync is responsible for synchronization between iOS devices, your computer, and the MobileMe cloud. This includes resetting your sync history, a step that often gets MobileMe flowing again y setting your Mac back to the default sync settings. Launch iSync from your Applications folder, then select Preferences, Advanced, and finally Reset Sync History. When finished, quit iSync and perform a new MobileMe sync to see if things have improved.

4. Ready, Set, Reset Sync Data! 

Seriously, make sure you’ve backed up before taking this step.

If iSync doesn’t help, launch System Preferences, then click the MobileMe preference pane’s Sync tab. Click on the Advanced.. button in the lower right-hand corner. There, click Reset Sync Data to selectively replace troublesome data on your computer or on MobileMe’s servers with a fresh copy -- make sure you’ve completed step 2 first! To replace MobileMe data with computer data, choose a data type from the pop-up list, then select the right arrow and click Replace. Select the left arrow to replace computer data with MobileMe data.

5. Purge iOS Sync Data

Sometimes wiping your iDevice’s MobileMe data will resolve sync glitches.

If you still have drama after resetting the relevant data from your computer or MobileMe, the problem could be your iOS device. Tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, then your MobileMe account. Turn off the troublesome data type, tap the option to remove it, then choose Reset Sync Data on your computer to push good data back to MobileMe. On the iDevice, turn the data type back on and let it sync--hopefully without incident.