Command/spacebar in PageMaker 4.0 toggles to the pointer tool.
There is a new virus on the scene. It’s the MDEF Garfield virus. Disinfectant 1.8 takes care of it. Or add these search strings to Virus Detective: Resource MDEF & Name “Garfield”; Resource MDEF & ID=5378.
If you have an ImageWriter LQ, make that dog screw up before October 31. That’s when Apple quits fixing them for free. A class action suit is in the offing.
MacTools Deluxe, by Central Point, right here in Oregon, is a $129 product. But for MUG members, it will be $25, and the upgrade is $15. Neato, Central Point! Way to go! I’ll take a copy.
Also, when Central Point accidentally cashed a customer’s check before they could ship product, they refunded the money and promised a free copy of the software.
This is the Oregon way, folks!
Interested in using an alternative printer with your Mac? Grappler is advertising a hook-up to let you use literally HUNDREDS of 9, 18 and 24 pin, as well as daisywheel and laser printers to your Mac. Page 30,. July MacWorld.
When you have several lines in Word with superscript in them, and one line without any superscript, you can make the leading look normal. Insert a superscript Option/spacebar in the offending line. (Thanks, CMUG member George Moore.)
Here are two tricks for MultiFinder users. (I are one, since I got Virtual and 14 megs of RAM.)
First one: Haul MultiFinder out of the System Folder and park it on the desktop. Set Startup to Finder. When you want MultiFinder, double click it with Option/Command keys held down. (Thanks, AppleJac Digest, from Central Missouri.)
Second: If you have On Cue, install MultiFinder as an “application” in the OnCue menu. Now Set Startup to Finder. When you want MultiFinder, select it from OnCue.
This one isn’t nice. If you want to make people think you got the job done one time when you really didn’t, back up the Mac’s clock to an appropriate earlier date. Now open the document you were late finishing. Make an insignificant change. Close it. A cursory examination now reveals that you finished this job long ago. Remember to reset the Mac’s clock.
There is a useful honest way to utilize the Mac clock. If a virus is announced which will do its damage on a certain date, back up the Mac’s clock until such time as a “fix” for the virus is available. In the meantime, all the dates on your documents will be wrong, and any automatic dating which you have engaged will not work correctly.
As of this writing, System 7.0 is just a gleam in Apple’s eye. I have a message for you. Buy RAM before it arrives on the scene. Get more than two megs if the pocketbook will stretch, since Apple is notorious for claiming that things will work with a certain amount of RAM, but users find they really need more.
Apple says 2 megs to run 7.0. Get it?
Will the arrival of 7.0 change the going price of SIMMs? Is there a law of supply and demand? Case rested. If I am correct, I reserve the right to say I told you so. If I am wrong, you will be enjoying additional RAM at very reasonable prices. You cannot lose.
I accelerated my Mac II with a MacSprint board from Orchid for $209 mailorder. Speedometer tests now show that my II is faster than a Mac IIci. Of course, as I say elsewhere, that is a benchmark test, so I really can’t say that I would swap a IIci for a II with MacSprint.
But the II is now noticeably faster. I proved it by turning MacSprint off for a test.
Nuts! Back on it went.
Complete UNdelete is nice, but if you run DiskExpress II automatically, there won’t be many “undeletable” files left. Optimization does away with them. To use Complete UNdelete with Disk Express II, don’t let DEII optimize all the time in background. Do any necessary UNdeleting before letting it optimize.
Yes, you can make music on your Mac by using a word processor, a spreadsheet program or MacPaint. Set a Walkman radio beside the Mac. Tune it to about 88 MHz on the FM dial (or somewhere a little under 90 MHz). Now start using the chosen application. You will hear your Mac “sing” to you as you perform various Mac operations.
Are you listening, FCC? (Thanks, MACS Newsletter, Spokane (WA) MUG.)
I haven’t tried this: Try typing “ski” right after the copyright screen to select your choice of “wait” cursors.
If your DAs only beep at you in MultiFinder, install a new copy of DA Handler. If that fails, and the funny-acting DAs are all in the same Suitcase folder, trash them all and reinstall a new set from original disks.
A related DA hint: Hold down the Option key while selecting a DA and it goes into the application’s heap, outside of DA Handler. This might temporarily let you use a DA that only beeps at you, as detailed above. (Thanks again, MACS from Spokane.)
How much does it cost to insure next-day replacement if a hard drive goes bad? How about $20? Ehman will guarantee next-day replacement for that price on one of their drives. Not after you have a problem, understand, but when you purchase the hard drive. Ehman also has a no questions asked 30 day return policy and a two year warranty.
Yes, I am prejudiced. I bought one.
A substitute for the old paper clip trick to eject a stubborn disk is a restart with the mouse held down. Less destructive, too. And sometimes it does work.
SuperPaint 2.0a fixes LaserPrep 6.0 problems within the 2.0 version.
If you are not careful, every time you turn around, you copy another TeachText to your hard drive. Many applications include it within a folder of Utilities, or with some TeachText documents. When you copy the application over to the hard disk, you get another copy.
Use FindFile, DiskTop, DiskTools, etc., to find the multiple copies on your hard drive.
What is the first thing you do after removing the shrink wrap from software?
The correct answer is to lock all floppy disks. The second is to make backup working copies and file away the originals in a safe place. (Thanks, in part, to The Weigand Report for the last two hints.
To move several tabs in Word all at the same time, hold down the shift key while grabbing a tab. All tabs to its right move with the selected tab. Handy, huh?
If you are looking for another newsletter to read (besides Mouse Droppings, of course), consider MadMac News from the Madison Wisconsin MUG. The quality varies from issue to issue, but even a poor issue beats 90% of the newsletters out there.
Mouse Tracks from Portland (OR) MUG is on the upswing after a few months of drought.
If you are a brand new Macintosh owner, I heartily recommend the thick Macintosh Reference book which comes with the $49.95 System upgrade available from your Apple dealer.
No, this is not the manual which comes with your Mac. It is the Reference book, spiral bound, about 7/8" thick, which comes with Software Update Version 6.0.
Unless you have the book titled Macintosh Reference, with the numbers 030-3904-A in the lower right corner of the back cover, we are not talking about the right book. It comes with a set of four disks containing the latest version of Macintosh System software.
You can also order it by Apple part number MO681A. The version I have was dated March 1990.
Get it!
When using the System 6.0.5 Installer, an error message #-45 may mean that there are locked files in the System Folder which the Installer needs to have unlocked. Go check ‘um.
There is an article on head parking by David Ramsey in the 12 June MacWeek. Bottom line? If you bought your hard drive new in the last five years, you probably do not need it, or it is built in. Read the article to find out why.
If your EPS graphics imported into a desktop publishing program revert to Courier or something else strange, try downloading the offending font directly to the printer.
Another trick to do the same thing is to place a paper (white, reversed) character in the desired font directly before the EPS graphic on the page. You may have to experiment to find out where that character is placed to do its job best. (Thanks, Personal Publishing.)
Here’s the deal. You have overlapping windows. You click on a file in the bottom window. Boing! That window comes to the front, obscuring other windows.
No more in 7.0. The window will pop on mouse up, not on mouse down. Nice!
Here is a neat trick. Open MacWrite II 1.1. Open Help. Type Command/M. In the message box which appears, type GO. Press Return.
You are now in HyperCard. But only for browsing, not for editing. You can Copy by Option/selecting text. To Copy graphics, hold down the Command key and select. (Thanks, Andy Reese, AppleGram, Dallas, Texas.)
If your LaserWriter or LaserWriter Plus takes to producing weak spots in specific locations in documents, go through your normal cleaning, like cleaning both corona wires (shame on you if you don’t know where they are).
Still a problem? Pull the cartridge. Swing the black smooth plastic curved cover away from the drum. Use a soft cloth or paper towel (lintless as you can get), and with some alcohol applied, turn the drum slowly using the sprocket (gears) as you carefully wipe the drum clean.
Only turn the gears in the direction of the arrow you will find on the gear end of the cartridge. Otherwise, toner spills out easily.
If a technician touched the drum, leaving oil from his/her hands, this will fix the problem.
I know, you have been warned not to leave a cartridge out in the light. They are talking hours and days of light exposure, not minutes.
And be gentle, folks. A kinder, gentler LaserWriter cartridge with a thousand points of toner.
Slow screen redraws in DTP programs? Set the greeking to a higher level. In PageMaker, you can also set the Detailed Graphics option to Normal or Gray Out. This will speed things up, too.
Command/spacebar in PageMaker 4.0 toggles between the current tool and the pointer tool.
Shopping for a way to keep names and addresses? Here is a feature list:
• it should be a DA, or accessible via HyperDA, unless you want to run it as a MultiFinder partition.
• it should have good import capability, since if it does not, you get to type in all the names and addresses AGAIN.
• it should have good export capability, in case you change your mind later on (read last feature).
• consider using one which also addresses envelopes, and perhaps labels, using the DA’s own merging capability.
Watch it! When you install System 6.0.5, it resets your System heap to the default value. If you run a bunch of INITs and cdevs and have pumped that sucker up, you’ll have to do it again. Check heap size with Widgets or HeapSizer right away after installing 6.0.5.
WriteNow 2.2 owners can see an animated show by holding down the Option key and clicking in the About… dialog box.
Ric Ford and Rick LePage of MacWeek also report that you will get a show in 7 point oh (it rhymes) by leaving the disclaimer screen up for a while.
All you non-Suitcase owners (are there really many of you out there?) remember that DAs installed within an application do not count against the limit of 15. If you only use a DA in one program, install it there. Do this by holding down the Option key while selecting Open in Font/DA Mover 3.8 (don’t use anything earlier). That lets you see applications as places to install fonts and DAs.
IdeaFisher, a brainstorming tool for the Mac, is good except that it operates in a left-brain text reading mode. Creative people may be put off. (Thanks, MacWeek.)
SE or Plus? The Plus is cheaper. Case not yet closed, however. The SE has a beefier power supply, a slot to allow an accelerator later on, a SuperDrive, and 10 to 15% increase in speed. Buy the SE if your pocketbook dictates a two horse race and the other horse is a Plus. If the pocketbook can take it, that is.
And don’t forget that Mac II CPUs are cheap right now in the used market, and the II CPU is a cheap way to get a IIfx, since Apple has a board swap pending for under $3,000 retail.
If you aren’t formatting your hard drive using Silver Lining from LaCie, you probably aren’t getting the maximum speed available out of your drive. Highly recommended.
MacDraw II running under MultiFinder with a color monitor needs at least a 1500k partition.
For white or colored text in MacDraw II, hold down the Option key while selecting a color for highlighted text. Without the option key depressed you get a background color,not text. Try it.
IMPORTANT: Those people out there are still selling a disk notcher to let you use 800k disks as 1.4 meg disks.
DON’T!
This is a recipe for disaster. If not immediately, then later on. Also, using 1.4 meg disks as 800k disks is also a DEFINITE NO NO.
The 1.4 meg disk has a different coating. Interchanging 1.4 meg and 800k disks will eventually cost you. I promise that it will. Same for vice versa. Listen up.
Not only that, but 1.4 meg disks used as intended are not as reliable as 800k disks used as intended. And 800k disks in SuperDrives are not as reliable as in 800k drives.
I want a 1.4 meg drive, but in my estimation it is not here yet. Anyone out there recommending the Rapport drive? I am listening.
Apple did it right with the IIfx. It is backwardly compatible with almost every bit of software out there, except some MIDI stuff and some copy protected games.
If envelopes crinkle and bunch up when fed through a laser printer, try stuffing the envelope with a piece of magazine paper, or paper thick enough to give the envelope some stiffness. Not too thick, now!
Or buy better envelopes! (Thanks, Ray Van Hook, Savannah MUG, via Icon, Apple 32 UG.)
