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Fred Showker's latest "This Old Mouse" column addresses aging eyesight and today's cluttered software and computer desktops.
"With so many Mac users entering the 40-to-60 age group, eye strain and distractions are growing issues. The American Eye Association says that at least two of every three 40-somethings will experience some form of visual impairment by age 50. Take Office v. X for example. Sometimes the screen seems so cluttered, you wish you could just go back to MacWrite. But Office programs have some easy ways to help the user actually see things more clearly. Get these tips and others in This Old Mouse
Nothing is worse than a Mac that won't start up. Booting up the trusty old G3 normally initiates familiar sounds -- the hard drive spinning up, and the monitor buz and crackle -- things you get used to after working with your computer every day. Well, this day was different. As the drive spun up, the monitor gave a single loud click; its pilot light turned from green to amber, and the drive promptly spun down.
After trying different monitors and a series of other 'quick fixes' my brother suggested I open the box and check the battery. After all, the old beige was a 1998 model -- about five years on the battery. We popped the battery out and headed on over to the Radioshack where the battery checked out perfectly. I bought one anyway.
After installing the new battery the old Mac booted up and I was back up operating normally. Well, almost normally. Through all the attempts to restart and correct the problem, some things got corrupted -- which will always happen when repeatedly crashing the Mac. (See Part 2)
Moral of the story? If you have start-up problems not indicating an OS problem, check the battery -- particulary if the machine is more than four years old. Don't trust an old battery even if it checks out. There may not be enough on-demand juice to kick off a start up. Instal a new battery before the recommended five year end of life.
The battery supplies a small amount of current to keep the clock and calendar up, but also maintains the all-important PRAM and other areas to make sure everything, including the monitor, gets what it needs to start up.
This week "This Old Mouse" replies to letters from members who would like to encrypt their files so no one else can open them. There are ways, however it seems that Apple's variety of systems may not agree on the best way. This Old Mouse: Encrypting Mac Files
Fred Showker
Nothing is worse than a Mac that won't start up -- except one that gets going and you can't make it stop!
The scene is a college freshman's room where the goofy guy from next door mindlessly shoved a CD game into the Ti. Of course, OS X mindlessly launches the DVD Player and starts playing -- which, of course turned out to be the auto-installer for the game: "BlackHawk Down".
No matter what the owner tried, the CD would not stop installing, so he restarted the Ti. When it came back up, the install simply continued. Next he restarted holding the mouse down.
When the CD came out we knew we had problems -- the label said: "Windows XP Only". Neither the student nor OS/X had sense enough to know you shouldn't attempt to instal a Windows-only game on a Mac. But X kept trying as hard as it could -- the instal continued.
Follow along as This Old Mouse untangles a problematic situation when this outlaw DVD installer defies all the tricks in the book and renders a brand new OS/X Titanium PowerBook useless. Make OS X Quit
Fred Showker
How do you buy a cheap printer? Well, there are good ways and there are bad ways. Join me in this edition of This Old Mouse, as I answer several reader's questions about purchasing printers. We'll dig in to the most important things to consider for printing; and together, we'll help you make a more informed decision on which printer to buy.
As always, remember that This Old Mouse is available for user groups to reprint in your local newsletters.This Old Mouse
Who would suspect that a personal data assistant orphaned by its manufacturer in 1998 would still be in use by some rather vocal enthusiasts -- and that it would synchronize with Apple's latest music player iTunes!
This week's Bay Area "Mercury News" carried an interesting story on Apple's Newton, and the faithful following that seems to hang on to the innovative device. What's more interesting is that Newton is keeping up with the digital life!
First released in 1993, the Newton is still prized by users as "better than Palm" and certainly with good reason. The Mercury article referenced "newfangled tasks like playing MP3 music files" as one growing areas of the revival so we decided to do a bit of snooping around.
Fred Showker's "This Old Mouse" edition about the Newton has brought a big response from loyal Newton users who would rather 'fight than switch' -- and then there was this one:
When the Newton came out, I really wanted one but they were expensive at the time and I wasn't really sure how I would use it. Eventually I got another PDA and used it for a couple of years. I wasn't completely satisfied and realized that maybe the Newton was what I was looking for all along. I found one on eBay and bought it and have been happy ever since." Read more...
As you probably already know, the best way to format documents on your Mac is to use stylesheets. The problem is, new Mac owners have to learn a few new tricks. In this edition of This Old Mouse, follow along as we help ClarisWorks readers make the leap into AppleWorks' stylesheets. They're daunting at first, but they do have power and they are fairly easy to understand once you've got the tricks.AppleWorks Style Sheets
Teaching digital graphics to incoming freshmen at JMU, I get the opportunity to look over the shoulders of many new Mac users. It's always a pleasure showing these young folks how cool the Mac is compared to their parent's clunky old PCs. Amazingly enough most new students in both sections are not very familiar with the Mac -- and most have PCs in their dorm rooms or at home. But they're delighted to learn these tricks for downloading, and saving from the web, while overcoming directory/location woes of "Where did it go?".
We posted a plea for help on various lists looking for people's opinions of 11 x 17 laser printers. Ours has been dying a slow death and recently no longer picks up or feeds paper because the rubber feed rollers have become hardened and slick.
Thanks to Anna Harbell, (www.thevidette.com) we're back printing like new! She writes:
"We too run an old old 11x17 printer, ours is an HP 4V. We have a similar problem with the feed roller wheels getting slick and no replacement parts. This last time we sweet-talked the repairman into buffing/scuffing up the wheels a tiny bit so they grab the paper again. You might try that. Good luck."
Thank you Anna... it worked!
So many people have been asking which digital camera to buy, how many "megapixels" do I need, and "What's a megapixel?" Well, you would need to read an entire book to get the real, in-depth answers to these questions, and after that you'd still be in a quandary about which camera to buy. I'm going to share some quick, simplified, rules of thumb for making your own decisions, and get the digital camera that's just right for you.What's a megapixel?
A long-time friend and MUG colleague has sent up a flare for help. He's now employed as a full-time Technology Specialist for new Elementary Charter School one of the poorest neighborhoods in America. The school needs computers, monitors, printers, any equipment IN GOOD WORKING ORDER and COMPLETE. (Complete means a working CPU, monitor, keyboard and mouse.) As a non-profit organization they are able to provide a receipt letter for tax purposes. If you have working equipment to ship as a donation, please contact AACUG for details.
Working with the new flat-panel iMacs has taught this old mouse some new tricks. However when we had to quickly erase CD-RWs we discovered that there's no simple way to do it from the desktop.
Then AACUG member Don R. from Winter Haven Florida shared this solution:
> "Use the UNIX tools within the Terminal application
> to do the work. Insert the disc, then launch the
> Terminal application. Once that's up, enter the
> following command: hdiutil burn -erase
> -- and the utility command will start erasing
> the disc to fill up again.
Thanks Don
Have a greate week...
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