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Apple never made matching keyboards for the Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian iMac G3. They instead used the standard black-keyed and clear plastic cased Apple Pro Keyboard. This was the same for all the slot-loading iMacs after Apple ditched the fruit names for the colors. Up to that point the keyboards matched the iMac color. It is important to note though, that PowerMax can’t always match the keyboards and mice that originally shipped with the computer. You just have to imagine some of the filthiest keyboards you have ever seen and then smile at the notion that if we can’t sanitize it, we toss it into the recycle dumpster.

Stuttering audio playback can certainly indicate a failing optical drive. Sometimes you can bypass an intermittent problem through software. In iTunes, you have the option of using error correction when encoding from a CD. In the current version of iTunes, that option is in the preferences under Advanced. Mark the checkbox for “use error correction when reading Audio CDs” that you find under the “Importing” tab. Now try encoding that audio CD and see if the playback is OK. If everything plays back fine, you could keep that drive going as-is for some time. But if it fails or you want to replace it with a fully functioning drive, then a MCE super drive is the way to go.

www.powermax.com/product/MCE_Internal_18x_DVD-_+R_RW_Upgrade_for_Power_Mac_G4_G5/a-mce-dvdr18xdt-d.html

MCE drives have all the features of a modern Super Drive, and the compatibility for older versions of the Mac OS.

The max gigabyte capacity of a MacBook Pro or MacBook hard drive is constantly changing. Apple, of course, uses standard computer components wherever possible and the hard drives in a Mac are going to be the same as what you find in any PC store. That means that through the year speed and compactly will increase for all computers. Mac Laptops use 2.5″ SATA drives that spin 4200 RPM, 5400 RPM, or 7200 RPM. In many instances, the larger the drive is in terms of gigabytes, the slower it will spin. A slower spinning drive can affect the rate you read and write data to the drive, affecting system performance. At the moment, the largest hard drive you can get in a Mac laptop is 250GB, but it will spin at the slower 4200 RPM speed. So if you are looking for the most storage space, and you work with less system-taxing programs, 250GB is a fine choice. However if you work with video or need the most from your Mac Laptop, then look at the 160GB 7200 RPM drives.

You can boot an Intel Mac from an external drive, but due to a partition scheme change on the new Intel Macs, you have to format the drive with a GUID Partition Table. This is an option under the Partition tab in Disk Utility. Click on the Options button to see your partitioning options and select GUID. Once formatted, you can clone over an OS. Not all install discs let you install on an external drive, so be prepared to clone if necessary. Carbon Copy Cloner is my choice for cloning.

As for external boot drive recommendations, LaCie drives are a great option. The LaCie 500GB Hard Disk eSATA is great for having a versatile boot drive that will work on any Intel Mac system.

I don’t believe that you made a bad purchase, but it may not do what you need. Most USB 2.0 cards will not work in OS 9, so you must have OS X 10.2 or higher on your PowerBook. Also, USB PC Cards (AKA PCMCIA cards) will not provide bus power to any device. So a USB printer or USB hard drive with its own power supply will work on your card, but a bus-powered device that doesn’t have its own power cord, like your flash drive, will not work reliably. Sometimes adding a powered USB 2.0 hub in between the card and flash drive will let the two work together.

testIt should not matter what computer you copied over the OS from, as all versions of OS X can boot any version of Mac, as long as it is a point version higher then what the computer came with from Apple. This is true with the exception of PowerPC Vs. Intel versions of the Mac OS. If it is a software problem you should be able to restore that functionality by downloading the latest Combo update for the Mac OS. Provided you are not already running 10.4.10. If you are then you will have to download the 10.4.11 update when it becomes available.

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10410comboupdatev11intel.html

Now if this does not fix your problem, you may just be having a problem with an unintentionally changed preference. Go to System Preferences and select the “Keyboards & Mice” section. Now click on the Keyboard tab and make sure that there is no check mark next to “Use the F1-F12 keys to control software features.” Uncheck it and close the window. Now try to use those special keys.

Well you are on the right track to securing your Mom’s Mac. Although it is called Parental Controls, this is the best way to administer a novice user on a Mac. The main thing is to have two user accounts on the computer. One account is going to be your administrator account and should be named Admin. Give the Admin user account a good password that you will remember but is hard to guess. This account will practically never get used. This is mostly there so you can run software update and install application when needed. Give this account information to your brother or any person willing to be the dissuasion-maker in regards to this computer. If you give this account info to your mom, then it will defeat the purpose of locking down the second account.

The second account is going to be a standard account with all your mother’s information. When you are logged into your admin account, create a new account by going to the System Preferences and selection “Accounts.” Click on the Padlock icon and enter your password. Now click on the “+” button under the Account List window. In the dropdown window enter your mom’s name, and give her a simple password. Do not mark the checkbox next to “Allow this user to administer this computer.” Now that this account is created you can click on the Parental Controls tab. Mark the check box for “Finder.app & System,” then click on the configure button.

Restricting the Finder and System is where you should do all of your work on an adult’s account. As you mentioned, Simple Finder is too simple and not the best option for anyone over the age of seven. The “Some Limits” option should be selected and under that only mark the check boxes for “Burn CDs and DVDs” and “Allow supporting programs.” You could also mark the checkbox for “This user can only use these application:” but I do not think that is a good option for protecting your mom from herself. If you were there everyday to adjust the settings, then it would be OK, but this will often cause you more tech call than it will save you from. Once you click the OK button you only have to set her account as the one that the computer boots up into. This is done in the in the Login Options section near where you found the “+” button before. Click on Login Options and then mark the checkbox next to “Automatically login as:” From the pop up menu select your mom’s user account and enter her password.

Now you should restart the computer and make sure that everything works as you expect. Your brother will have to login as the Admin user to setup the printer or you will have to do that prior to shipping everything.

Hope that all works out.

There certainly is a way to import the audio from your tapes onto the Mac. If you have a stereo tape deck you can use a cable like this one to connect its output to your iMac’s line-in plug.

Click Here

It is then just a matter of recording the audio coming into your Mac. You can do this with Garageband, but that’s sometimes a little more application than you need. There is a free, open-source, program called Audacity that should do the trick.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Just set your audio input source as the Line-In from the Sound section in System Preferences. Then open Audacity, start the tape playing, and hit the record button in Audacity. You will have to manually start and stop the recordings and tape, but that should get the tapes digitized. Then just export them from Audacity into ..aiff files. Drag those files into iTunes and you are done.I hope that works for you.

DVI cable connections have been a source of confusion for many Mac users. It is not too hard to understand the difference behind them, but the industry has made it a mess of acronyms that could confuse anyone. I will try to give you some basic info on the DVI options out there.The foundation of all the connections is the plug form. DVI is really just a reference to the shape of a plug. Everything after the “DVI” is describing the number of active pins in that DVI connection. DVI-D is the most practical and basic DVI connection. It is just a simple connection that only works with the digital video signals. Most “DVI Monitors” will have a DVI-D connection. The DVI-I connection as all the same pins as DVI-D but has a few extra pins that carry an additional analog signal. The analog plugs are mostly unused when attached to a digital display. Because of the analog pins present, DVI-I connections can be downgraded from DVI to VGA via an adapter cable, as opposed to DVI-D connections that are digital only. If you are connecting a DVI LCD to a computer DVI-D is what you want, but DVI-I will also work too.The third option for Mac Users is DVI-Dual Link. This is similar to a DVI-I connection, but it has even more active pins that can carry the huge amount of data that 30″ Apple displays need. A DVI-Dual Link plug can run any of the above connections, right down to VGA.I hope that helps. It only sounds confusing but it is not that bad.

You do not need to be worried if your hard drive disappears off the Desktop. You can set the computer to not show your hard drive or other items on the Desktop, and that same setting can bring it back. Click once on your desktop and then select Preferences from the Finder menu. Under the general section you will see three checkboxes under the “Show these items on the Desktop:” Mark all three of them and see if that brings back your hard drive.Hope that helps, let me know.

I am asked this question often and it is always hard because my answer does not really answer the question. I do not recommend any virus or spyware protection software on a modern Mac. There are just not any credible threats to the Mac in this area. This type of protection software, at least the ones that I have seen, is damaging to a Mac’s performance. Use a good password, connect your Mac to the internet through a router, and be suspicious of things you download. Doing those three things will help you stay in good working order. If you are interested in what your Mac may be up to after installing something. I would recommend a program called Little Snitch (http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html).I hope that helps

BigFoot is not a virus, but the remnants of a pre-Spam era. BigFoot was one of the many companies that tried to assert itself as the White Pages of the internet. They provided a service that would look up publicly listed email addresses for you when you were composing an email. This was a LDAP based service that would watch what you type and see if it had a match in the BigFoot database. Unfortunately, spammers quickly used email list servers like BigFoot as a source for their mass emailings. Soon email listing services were avoided by everyone.Many email programs included support for BigFoot and other LDAP servers like it, and they often can accidentally get activated. If you use Microsoft Entourage then you need to go to the Tools menu and mouse down to Accounts. In the Accounts window click on the Directory Service tab. Look for any reference to BigFoot, or anything else for that matter, and remove it from the list. If you use Apple Mail, then you need to make changes to the Address Book’s preferences. From the Address Book menu in the application select Preferences. Then select the LDAP tab and remove the unwanted items from the list.Other email programs you might be using will be set up similarly, and you just need to remove the settings for LDAP or Directory servers.Hope that fixes it for you.

Although Apple acts as if the iPod was the only MP3 player you could ever want, it is still possible to use other MP3 players with your Mac. Like everything Apple makes, the iPod is integrated into the Apple software, and adding songs to it is a one step process that doesn’t work with any other player. If you are willing to use a multi-step process, then you can use most of the MP3 players on the market. The main thing to do is get your songs in MP3 format. You can encode songs as MP3 in iTunes or any other Jukebox program. In iTunes’ preferences, select the advanced section and then click on the “Importing” tab. Change the Import Using pop-out menu to “MP3 Encoder” and then click OK. This will set iTunes to encode newly imported songs as MP3 format.If you already have songs encoded in another format, then you will have to do one more step to convert your song files in iTunes. After you have done the above step to fix your importing method, you then have to go to the Advanced menu in iTunes and select “Convert Selection to MP3.” You will have to do this with every song file that is not in MP3 format in order to play them on the widest variety of MP3 players. Songs bought from the iTunes store will need to be burned to an Audio CD format first, then imported as a MP3. This is because most iTunes audio is copy protected, but when you burn in the standard Audio CD format the copy protection is removed.Now that your songs are converted, it is just a matter of getting them onto the MP3 player. In nearly every instance, you can connect a MP3 player to your Mac and it will show up as a removable drive. You then just need to copy MP3 files to that drive and the player will find them and play them. To copy the files from iTunes you just have to drag the song file from your library over the MP3 player’s drive icon on the desktop. When you get a green “+” symbol next to the mouse pointer, you can release it and a copy will be made on the player.Thats it: not too hard! hope it works for you.