Model: 3400c - OS: 8.1
Name: Tom Davis

Problems: MS Word 5 and 98 don't display fonts properly: the letter spacing is wrong.
I've had this on a variety of Macs, currently a PB 3400c. Help!, 
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This is a known problem with MS products, as they do not use standard Mac OS font handling. Try contacting Microsoft's web page for more info.

www.microsoft.com

Model: PowerMac 8500 - OS: 8.0 and 8.1

Problems: The Powermac 8500 crashes regularly when I try to copy more than 120 files onto an external MOD. I took every measure known to an expert Mac-user, even switched processor ... all to no avail. The ext.drive works fine on another PM8500, extensions and SW are not the issue, I have an old copy of Norton
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First thing to do is to upgrade to the latest version of Norton (3.5.3). Next check all of your cables, do a clean reinstall of the OS, etc…

I had a similar problem just last week with an 8600 copying files to an external 2.6GB MO, except that the problem had been there since the machine was new running System 7.5.3.

After several days of lost work, new processor, RAM, Motherboard and HD
it was discovered that it was a problem with the graphics card!!! Basically this is one of the hardest problems to pinpoint. We followed Apple maintenance guidelines by the book and the fault was something seemingly unrelated. So my only advise to you is either keep swapping components, or use a different type of removable media :-)

Model: G3 Server - OS: 8.1 
name: Randall Cornish

Problems: Dantz Retrospect Clients -- some computers on network are getting backed-up others have "error 515 (Piton protocol violation)" what should I do.
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Make sure that each Mac is set up on the network properly with AppleTalk turned on, etc… next check to see if the server can "see" all of the other macs on the network, and that Retrospect server can see all of the clients. If it cannot then reinstall and reconfigure the software on the clients that are not showing up.

If all else fails make sure that you are running the most current version of Retrospect on the server and the latest version of retrospect remote on each client. Also check the Dantz web site for updates and make sure that the version you are running is compatable with OS 8 and G3 macs.

Name: Alan Sills

Problems: I need some advice on database programs. How "powerful" is clarisworks 5.0 database program? How does it compare to MS Access? Are there any other Mac based database programs? I want to be able to create a database and take some of the results and do.
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ClarisWorks is an excellent Flat file database. I would not use "powerful" to describe it at all, but it is adequate for most small business and home user's needs. However it can not shake a stick at Access.

There are several Professional Mac based database programs that are more suited to High-end / application development and compete directly with Access. The excellent FileMaker Pro (by FileMaker inc - formerly Claris Corp) is probably the most popular, 4D (from ACI) is also a very powerful database with a tiered strategy (you can buy 4D First for under £125 ($200) and move up to the full version later) I suggest you check out the publishers web sites and try out demo's of both programs and choose the one that suits you the best.

Model: 7100/66 - OS: 7.5.3
Name: Tom Volpe

Problems: My old Internal CD is recognized on SCSI-bus but will no longer mount CD, even on start-up. Tried everything (re-installed system) and it doesn't seem to be a software problem. Before I buy a new CD-ROM (old one only 2X), I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.
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Start with the basics make sure that the lens on the CD Player is clean. You can do this with a normal CD Player cleaning kit.

The only other thing that I can suggest is to check all of the internal connections on the back of the CD Player as well as on the Motherboard.

However, you can't go far wrong getting a new internal CD. You should be able to get a new 24x Apple internal CD for under £100 ($150) probably considerably less.

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