[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

What are the specifications of your Mac? (what model, how much memory, etc.) We would assume you are running OS X 10.7 (Lion) - but regardless, is the operating system updated to the latest (in the case of Lion - 10.7.3 would be the latest).

I have no idea - if you were asking me about a PC it would be no problem but I feel like I'm in a foreign country with a new language and strange surroundings. Where is that information located? I went to the launchpad and found a disk utility function but I'm afraid to do anything with it - what if "disk utility" translates into the same PC phrase as "format hard drive" ???

[TheBattman]

Click on the black "apple" in the top left corner of the screen. Select "About this Mac". This will pop up a little window with what operating system you are running and other basic info:

Click on "More Info..." and you will get a window that resembles this (with a little more info and some tabs):

From there, you can find whatever specs, data, and info you could possibly want or need.