Ask Jacob

Although they look similar, the versions of iCal in 10.5 is very different from the one included with Mac OS X 10.4. If you want to keep them in sync without too much fuss, or annual cost like a MobileMe account, consider upgrading the G5 to Leopard. When you have both computers on 10.5, you can use Google Calendar syncing and constantly keep both your systems updated.

Check out Google’s instructions on enabling Google Calendar with iCal

From the link:

To set up CalDAV support for Google Calendar in Apple’s iCal, follow these steps:
• Open Apple iCal, go to Preferences and then the Accounts tab.
• Click on the + button to add an account.
• Under Account Information, enter your Google Account username and password.
• Under Server Options, add the following URL: https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/YOUREMAIL@DOMAIN.COM/user

Replace ‘youremail@domain.com’ with your Google Account username.
• Click Add.
• Under the Delegation tab, select the calendars you’d like to add to iCal by checking the boxes next to them. You may need to hit refresh to get the latest list of calendars.
• Add your email address to your Address Book card by selecting Add Email. You’ll be prompted to add your email address only if your address is not already in your Address Book.

- Jacob

I have not seen that issue on any other Firefox/Snow Leopard computers. It could be an issue with your ISPs DNS server not working well with your Mac OS internal Caching. I would recommend that you change the DNS setting on your Apple router to be a different Domain Name Server (DNS). I sometimes use these servers 4.2.2.2 and 4.2.2.1 for reliable alternative to what I get from my ISP.

Input those two IP addresses in your Bass Station’s DNS field and then save them . Renew your DHCP address on your Macs to get the updated DNS info. Also turn off Airport on your desktop system so it is only looking at one network interface.

- Jacob

You should have no problem reinstalling OS X 10.3 over the old 10.3 via an Archive and Install, but you will have to Trash the Previous System folder after you have finished the install. After the folder is removed, you should have about the same amount of free space on your hard drive. OS 9’s System Folder should not be affected by this process.

You may even be able to skip the install and just reset the Admin users password via the Reset Password Utility on the Mac OS Install disc. Jump to the last part of this article to get info on the process:

After you have Admin access to the computer, just make a new Admin user account with the name you want to use and login to it. After you login, delete the old admin account.
Jacob

Automator is a good program for creating workflows but it has its limits. For more advanced work, look at the Applescript program or even bash shell scripts. However I am sure that Automator can do what you want, and I emailed you a test workflow you can save as a mini application. All you need to do is change the “Myapplication” to whatever you will be copying over and change the destination “USB-STICK” to whatever your usb drives will call themselves. Then select Save as from the Automator’s File menu and save it as an application.

This sample is just two elements from the “Actions” list: “Find Finder Items” and “Copy Finder Items.” You can keep stacking different functions as you need them. Keep playing with Automator, it will save you tons of time.

- Jacob

Panasonic and Cannon do a great job in producing Mac computer compatible HD camcorders. Take a look at the Canon VIXIA HF11 Camcorder or the VIXIA HG20 60GB HDD Camcorder. Both could be good choices for you.

One thing to consider though, still image cameras are quickly adding HD video capture to their feature set. If you are also interested in picking up a good still camera, one of those hybrid cameras may be your best choice. The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GH1 was recently announced and it has video people and photographers equally excited.

- Jacob

You have started with some good first step by replacing the PRAM battery and resetting the PMU in your Apple computer. You will now need to look at your RAM. If you have multiple sticks of RAM in your G4 iMac you should turn off your computer and remove one RAM stick. Use your computer without that one stick for a while. If it locks up on you again, you should remove another stick of RAM and put the one you pulled first, back in. Start up the computer and use it, each time it locks up, swap out another stick of RAM until you have cycled thorough all the RAM. If it locks up with every RAM configuration then you will need to look at another cause.

The next step would be to do an Archive and install of your Mac OS X. An Archive and install will replace your System folder with a clean copy of the Mac OS while leaving your software and personal files intact. You can do an Archive and install of any OS X install DVD. If the Archive and Install fails to change anything it will most likely need to be taken into an Apple Authorized service center for further diagnostics.

Hope that helps,
Jacob

Your current configuration is probably fairly stable, but you would certainly achieve better performance by upgrading to Tiger and upgrading the RAM. Tiger will run on 256MB of RAM but it will perform much better with another 512MB of iMac RAM installed. Adding RAM to a G4 iMac is easy and the best upgrade for that system.

Tracking down a used copy of OS X 10.4 Tiger will be a little more difficult than buying RAM. Tiger is no longer produced, so used versions of that OS sell fast. You may want to call a PowerMax sales person and have them try to track down a copy for you. If you have other Mac friends, then it may be possible that they would give you their unused copies, provided they moved onto Leopard.

Hope that helps,
Jacob

The Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger upgrade path is a decent way to go when upgrading your 10.3 Mac computer. I personally will want a full retail disk around so that I can Archive and Install, without downgrading and then updating again, but it is not essential. Save your money and get a Upgrade OS X CD set, instead of a full version. PowerMax used to sell those but we have long since run out (probably due to our significantly lower prices, compared to what you are listing).

Hope that helps,
Jacob

I like Leopard for many geeky reasons. It makes it easier to manage my teenager’s computer through Parental Controls. The Leopard Time Machine backup is great data insurance, which gives me peace of mind. The ease of screen sharing makes having a house of Mac computers work cooperatively.

That being said, it is not essential to your overall productivity. It will not change your speed or quality of work, nor will it revolutionize your computer experience. If you want to upgrade, I would recommend doing all your systems together. If you are updating many computers, the Family pack is the best way to go. Apple has its users on the honor system, so you can install the same copy of the single user OS on every Mac you own. However, the OS X Leopard Family Pack is not much more money than the single user version, so it is easy to “do the right thing” when it comes to software licensing.

It is nearly impossible for a virus to be the cause of your problem, that is why we love Mac computers. It is far more likely that you are suffering from “bit rot” of your system. This term is often used in to describe failing digital media due to age, but it can also be a less accurate way of describing how, over time, a Mac computers operating system will start to corrupt. It is always a good idea to perform regular maintenance on your computer’s OS every few years. Make sure that your Back up plan is working, or if you do not back up, this is a good time to do it. Then you need to dig out your OS X install media and startup your computer off that disc. From the OS X install disc, you are going to do an Archive and Install. That will replace your current Operating System with a new one, but it will leave your personal data intact. Here is a link to Apple’s instructions on Archive and Installing the Mac OS.

After the Archive and Install, run Software update to get your system back to the most recent OS version possible and reinstall your non-Apple applications. This will replace the failing files causing these problems and it should also improve the performance of your Mac.

I am not sure your Quicksilver problems are entirely related to the Apple computer Logic board. It could also be a power-supply issue or a PMU/PRAM battery issue. Check out Apple’s info on resetting the PMU and also remove the PRAM battery and check its voltage. It must be 3.6 Volts or higher.

Another possible cause could be a faulty power button on the front of Apple computers or the display. Try using a different display on the computer and test whether it happens again.

Installing Leopard onto a 1 GHz DP Quicksilver should be an easy process as long as you also have 9 GB of available drive space and at least 512MB of RAM. Make sure you are using a black-labeled version of Leopard. Gray labeled versions will only work on the specific model of Macs it shipped with.

Upgrading a Mac OS is a fairly painless process, particularly when the new OS has been out this long. Mac OS 10.5.5 is a stable version and I have had very few issues as of late. If you are using Office 2004, then you might have the occasional issue, but Office 2008 works well (as well as any Microsoft app works anyway). Office 2004 does not always perform perfectly on Intel systems, but it should have been already been an issue for you in Tiger so it may not bother you. When moving to Leopard most things on Mac computers will work the same or better.

You do not have to upgrade your MacBook Pro to use Leopard, but now would be a good time. The new Unibody MacBook Pros are, hands down, the best-designed Apple Laptops I have ever seen. If you can afford it, then save your Leopard upgrade money and put it towards the new MacBook Pro. You will fall in love even before you turn it on; I did.

There is an easy way to get your Mac back to a “Factory Fresh” install of OS X. A set of Install / Restore DVDs is shipped with all modern new Macs, and are most often grey in color. Look through the box the mouse came in to find the discs. Insert the disc and restart the computer holding down the [C] key. When you boot up of the DVD you will pick your language. Then, from the Utilities menu, select Disk Utility. In there select your hard drive and use the Erase tab to wipe the drive clean. After you are done, close Disk Utility and continue with the installation from that disk. After you have finished installing, the computer will reboot, taking you back to the original “new Mac” screen.

If you’re referring to before purchasing, on every Powermax.com New Mac product page there is an info box listing: Features, Detailed Specs, Rebates, Related Items, and Recommendations. The “Detailed Specs” section contains useful information about the system, including the Installed OS.

On Pre-Owned Mac systems the Operating system installed is part of the main description, right above the price.

If you mean on your computer itself, simply go to “About this Mac” in the upper left hand corner (under the Apple logo). There, it will tell you a little bit about your Mac (more if you select “More Info”), including what version of OS you’re running. Leopard is OS 10.5 (often following by another digit indicating what update has been run on Leopard, for instance, 10.5.5 is of course more up-to-date than 10.5.4), so if you are showing 10.5.x, you have Leopard.

There is no way to uninstall a Mac OS. In most cases you can do an Archive and install of the older OS. This is an install option when booted off the Install Disc and it will move the previous OS to an archive and install a fresh operating system.
To go back to OS 9, you may have to format/erase the drive first. If you do not have personally-created info on the drive, than there is not problem. If you have documents you want to save you should back them up to a CD or other storage device before formatting the drive.

Some DSL accounts require you to use special PPPoE settings to activate the DSL Modem’s connection to your ISP. With a PPPoE connection you have to enter in a user name and password into your Network System Preferences. Here are Apple’s instructions on adding your PPPoE settings.

Printing in Classic has many problems because it is an emulated environment, but not in a traditional way. There is a good chance this will not work and also any new printer you buy may not have OS 9 print drivers; even HP, which are still great printers. In those situations you have another option. Open Chooser from the Classic Apple Menu. If you do not see the rainbow-colored Classic Apple menu, just start an OS 9 application and it will appear. In the left side of the Chooser window double click on LaserWriter 8 and close the window. Now when you go to print from your OS 9 applications you will get the LaserWriter 8 Print screen. Change the Destination pulldown menu to “File” and then the Format pulldown menu to “EPS Mac Standard Preview.” Click on the Save button and save the EPS file to your desktop. The Preview application that is included in OS X will open that EPS and let you print it from there. It is an extra step but works with 90% of the hard Classic printing jobs I encounter.

Hope that helps. In regards to the game recommendations, a desire for continued employment has kept me from discovering such things. I have know many people who have Dashboard Widgets that will give you your Mac mini-game fix. http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/

This problem has all the tell-tale signs of an interrupted copy.

Sometimes in the process moving files, the device connection is broken or interfered with, and only filenames are imported as empty placeholders. Whenever you move files from one source to another, double-check that all the files are accessible at the new location.

Using photo management software, and not the Finder, to move the files is probably your safest method for this kind of work. That is the value of Apple’s Aperture and even iPhoto. The simple act of organizing the photos gives you validation that the pictures are intact.

It sounds like investing in some photo management software might keep you from jeopardizing your client projects.

When is comes to misplaced Admin Passwords, there are some steps outlined on Apple’s support site:

Lost Firmware Password

If the Firmware password is lost, follow these steps. This procedure works on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macintosh computers.

Important: ESD Precautions – To avoid damaging components, be sure to follow Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)-safe repair practices.

• Shut down the computer.
• Gain access to the computer’s RAM slots.
  (Detailed instructions by product are available from the CIP page)
• Add or remove a RAM DIMM to change the total amount of installed RAM.
  For example: If the computer has two RAM DIMMs (128 MB DIMM and 64 MB DIMM) for a total of 192 MB of memory, remove the 64 MB DIMM. This changes the total memory of the computer to 128 MB RAM. If the computer has a single RAM DIMM, you can change the total memory by adding a DIMM of any compatible size.
  Note: Removing a computer’s only DIMM is not an option and will prevent the computer from starting up.
• Turn on the computer and immediately reset PRAM by holding the Command-Option-P-R key combination. Press the keys until you’ve heard two successive startup sounds.
• Open Firmware password protection is now disabled. Shut down the computer and return it to its original RAM configuration.

Then use the Password reset utility when booted from the OS X install DVD and reset your admin password.

There can be a few things at the root of a slow loading applications problem, some of which may be more difficult to hunt down than it’s worth.

First, you should examine the hidden applications that start up behind the scenes of the Mac OS. Start in the “Accounts” System Preference, and look in your user account’s “Login Items.” Make note of what they are and try removing them one at a time. Restart each time after you delete one item. If the problem persists, use Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder to examine all the processes running after you first start up. Look for processor or hard drive hungry applications.

You can also try booting up in Safe Mode by holding down the Shift key on startup. If applications launch fast in Safe Mode, then it is probably a non-Apple software conflict. Finally, the most thorough way to fully resolve this kind of issue by doing an Archive and Install of OS X. This should replace all the system software, without harming your user info and applications.

The solution is easier than they make it seem.

With the disc in the drive, restart the iMac and hold down the “C” during the start up of the computer. That tells your Mac to boot up off any bootable disc in the CD drive. After you get to the installer, one of the menu items along the top will contain the reset password utility.

It is possible that one of the Mac Mini assisted settings in OS X was turned on. There is an option to invert the color of the screen to help people with visual difficulties. When logged into her account, you need to go to System Preference and select Universal Access. Look in the Display section and make sure that “Black on White” is selected.

The Northbridge chip is under the black heatsink in your PCI-e compartment of the Mac Pro. It is common for that chip to have readings up to 83°C or 182°F. Some people have taken to replacing the Northbridge heatsink in their Mac Pros to get things cooler, but I would not advise it unless you start to see temperatures above 170°F.

This is often caused by an inadvertent selection of the “remember Password in Keychain option.” Also .Mac supports Keychain syncing, so if you had one computer’s Keychain remember the password, both computers will have the same info. The fix should be simple. Go to the application “Keychain Access” in your Utilities folder. Search for your disk image’s name or just browse through the “All Items” category. After you find your password for the disk image, select it and then delete it. You will then be prompted for the password again when mounting the disk image. You may have to repeat this process on all your computers to avoid the password being recovered from .Mac syncing.

You can access the eject function two ways in this situation; boot up holding down the Option key and then use the eject key to eject the drive when you get the boot loader screen. Also, you can hold down the mouse button on startup, that will force the CD to eject. After that, you will have to use Disk Utility to repair the drive or do an Archive and install of the Mac OS.

There is a little command you can type into the Terminal that will restart your dock. Anything that is minimized on it will be kicked off. First, open the Terminal application, it is in your Utilities folder that is in the Applications folder. When Terminal is open, type this text: “killall Dock” without the quotation marks. Press the return key and your Dock should disappear for a moment. When it comes back up you should have nothing on it except saved shortcuts, the trash, and applications.

I have fond memories of both beige systems. In theory, the G3 Desktop should be faster than the 7300/200 Power Mac. It’s possible that the 7300 had a processor upgrade over the years. That could easily make it faster than an un-upgraded G3 Desktop. Look at the System Profiler under the Apple menu to see what processor speed you have.

The 7300 could support 1GB of RAM via 8 128MB chips. It is probably OK to aim instead for 512MB via 8 64MB chips.
http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/r-d-64

This RAM for the 7300 is different than the RAM in the G3 Desktop. The beige G3 Power Macs used PC66 SDRAM and would only support 768MB total RAM via 3 256MB chips.
http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/r-g3-256

The Leopard upgrade is often smooth, having done it on a dozen or so systems myself I can attest to that. I would, however, recommend that you buy an external drive and clone your system onto it. Use carbon Copy Cloner to make your clone.

www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

After you have a good clone of your computer’s hard drive, you can then upgrade your system to Leopard. If you encounter any problems, format the internal hard drive and install Leopard on the empty drive. Then use the Migration Assistant -which runs when you first start up Leopard- to pull the data from the cloned system you made on the external drive. Once you have everything running smoothly, you can format that external drive and turn it into your Time Machine drive.

Hope that helps… and you are going to love Leopard.

Missing items from the list view when those items are still on your computer is a strange problem. I have seen the Mac OS fail to draw all items in a list but that will always leave a big white space where the items are supposed to be. That problem is often fixed by using the scroll-bar on the right to move the blank space in and out of view. You may have to shrink the window so that only a portion of the list is visible. Then you can scroll up and down.

It sounds like you are having a different problem than what I have described above. In your case I would expect that it could be a file permissions problem. To fix file permissions go to Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. Select your hard drive and then click on the Repair Disk Permissions button under the First Aid tab. After it is done running, restart your Mac and see if you still have the same problems.

After that, if some items are still missing, make sure that you have not inadvertently moved your missing applications to a folder inside the Applications folder. I have seen some cases were half the applications were in the Office 2004 folder and a turned down triangle in one view would show everything but in another window the folder was not expanded to show everything.

The short answer is “no,” you have to have a G4 867 GHz processor or higher Mac to install Leopard. However, I don’t like the “short answers,” so I’ve been playing the Mac OS Limbo: “How low can you go?”The result of my Caribbean Mac dance was that anything with a G3 chip in it fell flat on its back; you will have to have a G4 chip. I have tested it on most generations of G4 PowerBooks and Power Macs. In nearly all the attempts, a Leopard drive will boot up G4 Macs, 400MHz or higher.So you may be asking why the short answer was “no.” Just because the Leopard OS works on all G4s, it does not mean that it will work well on all G4 Macs. Apple didn’t want to give anyone the possibility of having a bad Leopard experience. So Apple blocked the install DVD from running the installer on a computer under the 867 MHz cut-off. The solution is to run the installer from a PowerPC G4 that does meet the basic requirements of the Leopard installer, but set the destination to be the hard drive of your unsupported Mac. Boot your destination (sub 867MHz) Mac in Target disk mode by holding down the “T” key on startup. Now connect the destination computer to your installer Mac (PowerPC G4 867MHZ or higher) with a FireWire cable. Now boot up your installer Mac off the Leopard DVD and start moving through the install screens. When you get to the point of selecting a place to install onto, select the destination Mac’s hard drive. It will look like a FireWire hard drive.After the install is done, you can power down everything and remove the FireWire cable. Turn both computers on again and you should have a sub-867MHz G4 Leopard computer. This process only works if you have access to a second PowerPC Mac that Leopard will install onto. Intel Macs will not work for this kind of install. Also your performance will not be great. The best low-end install of Leopard I had was on 533MHz and higher G4 Macs. Be prepared to reinstall Tiger if you hate the performance of Leopard on your sub-867MHz G4 Mac.

Versions of Microsoft Office for OS X will work well on a new MacBook, but you may have a problem installing it. If the upgrade CD you have requires the OS 9 version of MS Word or MS Office to be installed before it lets you upgrade it, then you are going to have a problem. Older OS 9 programs will not install onto an Intel Mac like the MacBook. However, you have a easy way of moving over your OS X applications and files. Included on all 10.4 and higher Macs is a utility that will import your data from your old Mac. This will work as long as you have a 6-Pin to 6-Pin Firewire cable, and a Mac with a factory original FireWire port (except the B&W G3 tower). When you start up your new Mac it will walk you through connecting both computers and it will move all your files to the proper place. This same process can also bring over applications, if you instruct it to. It is called the Migration Assistant, and although it runs the first time you start the computer, it can also be used at any time; it’s found in your new Mac’s Utilities folder.

Also of note is that Microsoft still makes Word and the other Office suite of programs for the Mac. Microsoft Word 2008 is due to come out in a few months but if you buy a current version now, you can update for just $10 when the 2008 version is available with the Microsoft Office 2008 Guarantee form.

Most external hard drives will come formatted as a FAT32 drive. They do this because it is a drive format that will be readable by Macs, Windows PCs, and Linux PCs. If you share the drive between any two of those operating systems, I would suggest that you keep it formatted as a FAT32 drive. However, if you are only using that drive with a Mac OS computer, then reformatting it as a HFS+ Journaled (AKA Mac OS Extended Journaled) is the best thing to do. FAT32 is an old drive format with size limits and other issues that will make it less usable in OS X. HFS+ Journaled drives support large sizes and more efficient use of storage space. Also it has features that protect against data loss due to accidental drive removal, or any write failure. That feature alone makes it a useful format for a removable drive.

I think a reformat is a good idea, I hope that helps.

Folder level security is a frequently requested feature. Although there are third party utilities that help you do this, OS X will provide you with free tools that will work for you. If you are looking for a low security way to drop files into a lockbox folder, you can do that with Folder Permissions. Create a folder and click on it once to highlight it. Then Hold down the Command key and “I” key to get the “Info” window. Go to the Permissions section and change all the popup menus to “Write only (Drop-Box).” You may have to unlock the permissions popup menus by clicking on the little padlock icon and entering the Admin password. The folder method is flawed. First, to open the folder you have to change the permissions to Read-Write before you can use it and then change it back when you are done. Second, anyone with the Admin password for your Mac can unlock the folder. So the security is light, and the use is kludgy (can you tell I do not like it?).The best way of securing files on your hard drive is not with a folder, but an encrypted disk image. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder, it’s found inside the Applications folder. In Disk Utility, go to the File menu and down to the “New” submenu. There select “New Blank Image.” Give it a name and select the place to save it. Now you will need to set a volume size. This will take some thought because you can’t change the size later. Additionally, the image will use the same amount of hard drive space whether empty or full; so don’t make it too large. The last change to make here is to set the Encryption popup menu to “128-bit AES” encryption. Click the create button and you will soon be prompted to enter a Password. Make it a good password but know there is no way to open it without the password, so you can’t forget it. The last thing to do is uncheck the “Remember Password in Keychain” checkbox. It could take a long time to create the image, depending on how large you made it.When using this disk image, make sure that the password is never remembered in the Keychain. There will often be a checkbox when entering your password, just don’t mark the checkbox. Otherwise, everyone will be able to mount the disk image without the password. Now all you have to do to work with the secret files is double-click on the disk image and enter your password. When you are done, just eject the mounted disk. It is a simple and rock-solid security solution.

Because your problem happens to many different applications, I think it is a bigger problem than a faulty application. Any time you have a widespread problem like this one, and you have not updated to the most recent point version of the OS, I would recommend running Software Update to bring your OS to the latest version. If the problem continues past upgrading to Mac OS X 10.2.8, then I would create a second user account with which to test. Make the user account an Administrator account, and then log out of your main account. Next, log into your new test account and see if you get the same problems. If you do not have the same problems, then it is some setting in your main User account’s preferences. Go through your main account’s Preferences folder in the user’s Library folder and remove anything having to do with networking or Internet connectivity. Keep testing as you remove each item.

If the problem occurs in both accounts, then it is probably a system problem. Upgrading to OS 10.3 or 10.4 via an “Archive and Install” will often help resolve those issues. You can also do an Archive and Install in OS 10.2, if you have the system discs. Here is a link to Archive and Install instructions and further info.

Click here for Install instructions and more.

I had not heard about any OS limitations with the B&W G3s, so I went back to the service benches and tested it out. I used a Rev A 350MHz G3 B&W with 256MB of RAM. I installed a fresh version of OS X 10.4.3 onto the drive and then updated to 10.4.10, in addition to all the other available security updates. It runs fine, albeit a little slow. I watched some YouTube videos and other activities without errors or problems. I think you should be safe updating your computers to 10.4.10. The one limiting item of a Rev A B&W is its drive size. It will not work well with a PATA (ATA/EIDE) hard drive bigger than 6GB connected to the internal drive cable. Perhaps the people you spoke to had upgraded to larger drives, and are experiencing problems unrelated to 10.4.9. If you need a bigger drive in a Rev A B&W G3, it is recommended that you use a PCI-based hard drive controller card.

Sharing email with two user accounts is similar to sharing email between two computers. There is an assumption that each user will have their own email account, and Apple does not have a sharable mail section in Mac OS. It is possible that both of you can share the same email account in different user accounts if your email provider lets you have IMAP access to your email. An IMAP email account stores your mail on a server, not your computer. Because the mail is always saved on the server it does not matter which computer you use or which user account you are logged into. As long as you have the connection info, you will have all your email accessible and everything will stay synchronized between computers and accounts.

Unfortunately many ISPs will only give you POP mail access, and that is much harder to manage from multiple accounts. It may be easier to get a separate email account for her to use. For instance, a Gmail account would work well and it can be used with the Apple Mail application. If she wants the mail that is already on the other user account, then you just need to copy one folder and one file to the new user account. Here’s the procedure:

From your older account, copy the Mail folder to the Shared folder in the Users folder, located here: Macintosh HD/Users/YOUR_USER_NAME/Library/Mail.

Now copy the preference file here: Macintosh HD/Users/YOUR_USER_NAME/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist.

Next, log into the new account and move the files you copied to the Shared folder. Place them into the same places you copied them from, but with “YOUR_USER_NAME” being the new user account.

After all that, your two mail accounts will be identical, but that will change as soon as one of them checks for new mail. You will have to disable one of the accounts from within Apple Mail’s Preferences.

I hope that helps.

I think I understand what you want to do. Like you, I do not like to take my hands off the keyboard to grab the mouse. Apple understands that not everyone wants to use, or can use, a mouse. There is of course a way to get to all of the menu items from the keyboard. The first thing to do is let the Mac OS know you want to use one of the menus along the top of the screen. You do this by pressing the “Control” and “F2″ keys at the same time. The blue Apple menu will turn white with a blue box around it. Now you can use the Arrow keys to navigate the menus. The right and left Arrow keys will move you from menu to menu. The up and down Arrow keys will let you highlight menu items. The “return” key will select (click on) the highlighted menu item.

You can use a similar method for the Dock but use “Control” and “F3″ keys to jump to the Dock. All the useful keyboard navigation shortcuts can be found by searching Mac Help for “Full keyboard navigation keyboard shortcuts.”

Well it helps that you have two user accounts and one of them works. My guess is that one of your preferences became corrupted when you forced your iBook to shut down. If your other account is also an Admin user, then you should be able to login to the working account and edit items in the broken one. You should remove the “Library” folder from the broken account and place it in the shared folder for safekeeping. Then log out of your working account and try logging into your broken account. Without a library folder the Mac OS should recreate a new library folder with the default settings and let you log in. After you get into the formerly broken user account, you can start moving the old library items back into the new library folder. Do that work slowly, one folder at a time. Each time you move a folder, restart the computer. Eventually you should find the broken item and be able to remove it permanently.

The most effective way to troubleshoot a printing problem like yours is to reset your printing system on the Mac. Mac OS X uses a central printer system to control all printers and sometimes it gets fouled up. You can get to the printing system through the Printer Setup Utility application. It is located in the Utilities folder that is inside the Applications folder. Under the Printer Setup Utility menu, select “Reset Printing System.” Next click on the Reset button and enter your password when prompted. All your printers in the list will disappear. You can now add your printer back to the list. Click on the Add button and select your printer from the list. Wait for a few moments and then click on the Add button at the end of the list. You should now see your printer in the main Printer List. Close Printer Setup Utility and try printing something.

Well that is an interesting error to get when installing. It seems strange that RAM that shows up in Mac OS X 10.1 would not work with OS X 10.4. In my experience, if it works in one version of OS X then it is almost certainly going to work in another version of OS X. I am curious, did you get an OS X Tiger CD pack from Apple? If you only have a CD-RW drive, it would not read the Tiger install DVD. Perhaps you have a non-retail version of OS X. If it is a retail version then it will have a black label. If it is grey-labeled, then the installer is locked to a particular Mac model that came with 10.4 pre-installed.

You can certainly get a quote from me or by calling into our sales line. We would need to know the screen size and all the details, but sending us the serial number would let us get most of that info. Unfortunately, we do not buy computers outright. We take them as trade towards another purchase. In the past this would have been a problem for people who need to use PCs for work, but everything has changed in the last year. Now Intel-based Macs can run both Windows and Mac operating systems, essentially giving you the best of both worlds. A MacBook could be set to boot into either Windows XP/Vista or Mac OSX. Some users will boot into Windows during work hours and then use the Mac OS when they are at home. There is also the option of running Windows and OSX together with the Parallels Desktop software. Intel Macs have made it so you do not have to choose one OS over the other; all opportunities are available for the modern Mac user.

OS X has passwords for everything, that is part of the security, but they can also be a headache. To avoid entering a password when starting up your Mac you will have to go to the System Preferences. From there go into “Accounts” and click on the padlock to unlock the preference window. Enter the password you used when you created the account. Now click on “Login Option” in the lower left side of the Accounts window. Place a check mark in the first checkbox for “Automatically log in as…” Select your user account from the pulldown menu and enter the password again. Now you won’t have to enter a password on startup again.

As for your other passwords those are stored in your Keychain. In your Utilities folder is a program called Keychain Access that will help you manage your passwords, but for the most part you can just tell each application to store your password in the Keychain. When you enter your password in Mail, look for a check box for “Remember this Password in keychain.” Mark that Checkbox and enter your password. Now you should be set, and password free!

Most USB 2.0 cards will work without drivers in OS X. They will not work well in OS 9, and if they do work at all, it is often at USB 1.1 speeds. If you are using OS X 10.2 and up, then you should be able to use a USB 2.0 card in that G4 tower of yours without any problems. It works like it’s native USB 2.0 for all devices and software, including iPods and iTunes.

I think you were right to suspect that the file extension is at the root of your problem. The change to using filename extensions in OS X created some controversy among Mac users because extensions aren’t needed in OS 9. We have seen many great things out of OS X, but one tradeoff is that we now need to think about filename extensions. For Appleworks files it should be the same as the old ClarisWorks extension: ….CWK. So when you’re saving files from OS 9 applications, make sure to include the file extension. One nice use of filename extensions is that you can easily change what application is associated with that extension in OS X. Hold down the “Option” key and click on a file and select “Get Info” from the pop-out menu. Use the “Open with:” section to change the default application and then click on the Change All button. Now, for example, all your .cwk files will open in Appleworks.

Using filename extensions and telling OS X what application the extension is for should fix your problem. Good luck

That sidebar in the "Save," "Save As," and "Open" windows should be exactly the same as the one in the Finder windows. If you make a change to the sidebar in a new Finder window then it should also change in the Save/Open windows. You may need to click on the square blue button with the black triangle on it in order to see the side bar navigation. It is the button next to the file name field and it will show or hide the sidebar navigation when you click it. Apple provides access to OS X’s Finder navigation for non-Apple programs. This helps software developers better integrate their software with the Mac OS. Some software companies do not use it, but most do.

Make your changes from a main Finder window and you will then see it in the "Save" window.

Not all OS discs are made alike. Some of the versions of OS 9 are only for use in Classic and others are only equipped to support specific hardware. Starting with Mac OS X 10.2, Apple did not provide a separate OS 9 install disc as part of the software included with new computers. OS 9 had to be installed as part of the restore or separate install. It may be that your iMac OS 9 is not a full version but instead a version intended to be used mostly through OS X Classic. If that is the case then you are going to have troubles. A good test is to try launching “SimpleText” to see if that OS 9 Application works. If SimpleText works then the base part of OS 9 is functioning. At that point it is just a matter of troubleshooting your extensions and trying to repair them. It may be better and faster to buy a used retail copy of OS 9. The good news is that any version of OS 9 will run on a B&W G3 tower. Just perform a clean install of the retail OS 9 and you should be fine.

One of Mac OS X’s best security features is that it requires a password for nearly any potentially hazardous change to your system. It can be annoying, but it keeps malicious software from installing without your knowledge. The Administrator password is created the very first time you start up OS X. If you only have one account on your Mac, then your standard account is the Administrator account and your password will work as the Administrator’s password.

Now Apple knows that people sometimes forget passwords. However, Apple did not want to make it easy to reset a password for security reasons. As a security measure, what they did was to include a password-reset utility in every modern OS X install disc. Boot up off the install disc by holding down the C key on Restart. You will need to have the first disk of your grey restore discs or the OS X install disc in the Macs optical drive. After you pick your language you will see the main installer window. At the top of the screen are a few drop-down menus. Select "Reset Password" from one of the menus. Then select your account and reset the password.

Using a good password in OS X will keep you safe and help you control the changes being made to the Mac. Some people will leave it blank but even then you still have to hit OK before anything will install.

Often the service being loaded tells you what portion of the system is having trouble. As the progress bar moves along the text around it should indicate what is loading. Try restarting your Mac a few times to see what it locks up on, and if it is the same thing each time. Then restart your Mac with the "Shift" key held down to get a safe boot. If the safe boot works and you have identified what the problem area is, then you should see if it is something you can reinstall or repair with Disk Utility.

Now if you can’t even safe boot, then you will need to do an Archive and Install from the latest OS X install disks that you have. Archive and Install is selected within the install options section of the installer. The Options button is at the bottom of the window where you select the destination drive. That will fix your OS software without over writing your personal data. Then you should "Repair Disk Permissions" from the Disk Utility. At that point you can try to upgrade your system again.

Unlike the Windows OS, none of the Mac OS versions require installation codes. That is, except for Mac OS X Server. Apple server software will require an activation code on first startup. The Install/Restore DVDs that come with new Mac computers are different than discs sold in retail packaging. One big difference is that those Install/Restore DVDs have more software than just the OS. They will include all the trial software and additional iLife applications that come with the new Mac. The other significant difference in Install/Restore DVDs is that they will only install on certain computers. You can’t use a G5 tower’s Install/Restore DVD on an iMac. Other cross-model install attempts will also not work. However, as long as you have the original DVDs that came with your computer you should be fine, and no code necessary.

If the system’s user password is what is stopping the installation, just restart the computer with the first DVD in the optical drive. Hold down the "C" key when you hear the Mac’s boot chime. That will let you boot from the DVD and then you will not be asked for a password when you try and install.

Other than RAM, you’re going to need software and firmware updates. If your mom has a fast Internet connection you can just bring the RAM. Otherwise, you should burn a disc with what you need and bring it with you. The most impotent thing to update is the iMac firmware. Here is a link to all the firmware updates needed to install OS. You will also want to get all the available OS 9 updates and the 10.3.9 Combo Update. All those items are free downloads from Apple’s website. As for RAM, there are two main types of G3 iMacs and each take a different type of RAM. For the best performance I would suggest you buy a 256MB stick of RAM. Anything more is not going to help much, but anything less is going to leave your mom’s system running slow. If the computer has a slot in the front the CD slides into, then you are going to want a full sized stick of PC133 RAM (PN R-PC133-256). If the iMac has a tray that comes out then you are going to need a SODIMM stick of RAM (PN R-WS-256). Also, if it is the latter iMac, you are going want detailed instructions on installing the RAM, as that model is hard to open. Here is a link to the instructions you will want to print out. That should take care of your mom.

Dot Mac has an effective Spam filter that catches much of the Spam sent daily. The problem is no matter how clever Apple is at filtering Spam, the senders of Spam are determined to get it to you. Their persistence is impossible to counter 100% of the time, and every so often they find a new way around Apple’s guard. What you are seeing could be the temporary success of the spammers. They will likely soon be caught and stopped, but it may take some action on your part as well. On the Dot Mac servers there are plenty of known Spam lists and special “intelligent” filters to look for Spam-like attributes. Mail that gets past those filters is then sent to your computer but not necessarily to you. Within the “Mail” application is additional Spam filtering tools. In the Mail Preferences is a “Junk Mail” section. There you can turn on filtering by checking the checkbox next to “Enable Junk mail filtering.” Work with the default settings for a little while and work to train the filters. “Mail” will learn about what you consider Spam and will start taking care of it automatically for you.

The reality is that we all get Spam, tons of it. Dot Mac just has been taking good care of it for the most part, but they can’t get it all the time. So lend Apple a hand and soon they will beat back the slimy Spammers. That is until Spammers find a new attack.

OS 9 Comments are not viewable in OS X 10.4. Apple has implemented "Spotlight Comments" in OS X 10.4 and they are stored in different ways. There are free and Shareware utilities that will move OS 9 Comments to OS X. Comment Synch is one that I have heard good things about.

There are several complications with installing newer system restore disks on older equipment. The first complication comes from the difference between the PowerPC and Intel versions of OS X 10.4. If your Mac mini has an Intel processor, then the version of OS X you have will not run on the older PowerPC iMac. Even if your Mac mini has a PowerPC processor, those grey discs that came with the Mac mini will not install on any other type of Mac. Apple tries to prevent you from using those discs because it is technically stealing an OS sale from them. If both computers are PowerPC-based Macs, you could use a program like Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your 10.4.8 system onto the iMac. That would give the iMac OS 10.4.8, but it would also include all your data from the Mac mini. Mostly, it is best to upgrade the operating system from retail discs. The good news is that this year 10.5 will be released, and then you can buy a copy of that upgrade for your systems.

We also sell install discs of varying versions separately from our used Macs, so if you’re looking for a particular version, we may be able to help you there. We don’t include OS CD’s with our used Macs because many of them don’t come with when we acquire them, and often customers aren’t in need of the discs anyway, so we make them available separately for those who do.

I have seen this problem many times before when OS X was new. An iMac loses connection to its built-in screen most often when you upgrade to OS X without first installing the firmware update. It could be that the firmware did not install on your system or was installed improperly. The fix can be as simple as reinstalling the firmware. From this link you can find all available firmware that you need to install OS X. Here is the specific link for your iMac’s firmware. Please follow the directions on this page point by point. You will have to download and run this update from OS 9. At the end of this process, you should see a message that says your computer’s firmware has been successfully updated to version 4.1.9. You may see a message saying that the firmware is up-to-date and will not run. If you see that message then your only other "Home Remedy" would be to zap your PRAM. To zap your PRAM, start up the computer holding down the "Apple," "Option," "P," and "R" keys. Let the iMac chime four times before you let go of the keys.

Apple no longer sells the tools you need to take your G3 iMac wireless, that’s why the Apple Store people could only offer you an extreme solution. You are perfectly right to think that a 600 MHz iMac will connect wirelessly. The original airport card that you mentioned will work, but you will also need an added part. Slot loading G3 iMacs like yours need something called an Interposer. The Airport card will slide into the Interposer and then get inserted into the iMac through the RAM hatch on the bottom of the computer. You need to remember to connect the antenna to the card before you slide the card into the iMac. Here is a link to instructions on installing the Airport card.

There is another solution to go wireless but it will only work in OS X. The Addlogi XWireless-G USB Network Adapter for Mac OS Xwill also work but it takes a little extra setup. Also, Addlogi Xwill not support OS 10.2.8 but I have tested it and found that if you use the 10.3 driver that it will work in 10.2.8.

Your WRT54G router should work fine, try running the setup utility from the PC and see if that fixes your problem. Also make sure that your DSL / Cable modem is plugged into the port marked as either Broadband, Internet, or WAN. You will want to also turn off the DSL / Cable modem before moving the connection to the wireless router. Then power up everything when the ethernet cables are connected.

Macs introduced after the beginning of 2003 will not boot into Mac OS 9. They are OS X computers only and will only run OS 9 programs through the OS 9 emulator called Classic, which is part of OS X. A new iMac G5 will still come with Classic on discs but it will not be installed. However, you are right to wonder if your husband’s survey software will work in Classic. Some software does not run in Classic at all, or runs poorly, although other programs work well. See if you can find a friend’s computer with OS X and Classic to test it on. If it will run in Classic then you are just in time. As Apple switches all Macs to Intel processors your options to run OS 9 applications are disappearing. Intel-based Macs will not run Classic at all. Find the fastest PowerPC based system that will run that application because this will be the last upgrade for your husband’s application. Don’t fear if Classic doesn’t work for you, PowerMax still has many OS 9 booting computers just for people in your husband’s position.

Most new external hard drives come formatted in an old PC disk format, called Fat-32. They do this because nearly all computers can read and write to a Fat-32 hard drive. Macs also can use Fat-32 disks, but they cannot boot from those disks. What you will have to do is reformat that Western Digital drive as a "Mac OS Extended" drive. You do this by opening the Disk Utility application, found in the Utilities folder that is inside the Applications folder. Select the WD hard drive in the left hand pane of the Disk Utility window. Then click on the erase tab. Change the "Volume Format:" pull down menu to Mac OS Extended and then name the drive. Once you click on the "Erase" button the drive will be overwritten in a Mac-only format. This will cause you to lose all the data on the WD drive, so back up those files! Now you will have a bootable drive that will only need an OS installed or cloned onto it.

This is the same step you should do with any new drive that you buy. The only reason to leave a drive formatted in Fat-32 is if you share file between a PC, using the drive.

There are several ways a program can auto-start in OS X. One way is to place an application in the StartupItems folder that is in your main Library folder. However, the more common way applications auto-start is through a user preference. Go to the System Preferences and click on Accounts. Select your user account and click on the "Login items" tab. You will probably see PageMaker in the list of auto-starting applications. Click on PageMaker to highlight, and then use the "-" button to remove it from the list. That’s it, PageMaker should only start when you want it to. Often you can add or remove login items from the Dock. If you click and hold on an application’s dock icon, a menu will appear. One of the options is "Open At Login" and selecting it will cause that application to auto-start next time you restart. An auto-starting application will have a check mark next to the "Open At Login" menu item.

The problem you are experiencing has to do with file compression. Most downloadable software has been run through a process that makes the end file smaller, but unusable in its smaller size. This act of compressing a file into a smaller size has to be undone by an application that understands how it was compressed. There are many varieties of file compression programs and OS X understands the majority of them. Unfortunately, some compression software is proprietary and it requires you to use that company’s software to uncompress those files. In your case, “dvd2onex211.zip” is a ZIP file and you will need an unzipping application to decompress it. The most common Mac program is Stuffit Expander and it was included in Mac OS version prior to OS 10.4 Tiger. You can get a free unstuffer here but they will need your email address and will then use it to market to you. Once you have installed Stuffit Expander, all those files should start to open up for you.

The question of whether you need an OS 9 System folder on your OS X computer depends on what software you use. The OS 9 System Folder is installed on some OS X Macs so that the “Classic” environment will work. Classic will allow Power PC-based Macs to use OS 9 applications in OS X. This is particularly helpful for longtime Mac users who have old programs that were never rewritten for OS X. I still use one or two and so keep Classic on my computer just for them. If you do not have any old applications, then you can safely remove the “Applications (Mac OS 9)” and “System Folder” from your computer.

An OS 9 System Folder is not always easy to remove because the OS X operating system actively references it as part of Classic. The easy way of removing it is to go into the System Folder and moving the file “Finder” to the trash. Then you need to restart the computer. After the computer has restarted you can move the whole System Folder to the trash. Most likely you will have to enter your Admin user name and password to make that move. I would discourage you from emptying the trash for a week or so until you know that you don’t need Classic for any of your applications.

Hope that works well for you.

This is actually not a Mac Vs. Windows problem, but a browser-specific issue. That web page uses a “bgsound” tag in its HTML source, which starts the music playing. This tag only works with Internet Explorer. All other browsers, whether on Windows or Mac OS, will ignore it. There was once a version of Internet Explorer for the Mac, which I still have a copy, and I tested the page with it. Sure enough my Mac was playing “BeeGees_ToLoveSomebody.wav” as soon as the page stopped loading. This is one of the problems with Internet Explorer, it ignores standards of web programming and instead does things its own way. If the world was owned entirely by Microsoft there would be no problem, but luckily we have choices. As more people choose web browsers that are not Internet Explorer, web developers will need to adhere to standards. Only then will the web look, and sound, the same to all.

There is no need for worry, that flashing folder icon is what a Mac displays when it is searching for a boot volume. A Mac will keep looking for a boot volume until it finds one. That could be a hard drive, DVD/CD, or an external hard drive. The reason you see that flashing folder icon now, when you did not see it before on your other Macs, is that the hard drive has not been designated as the assumed boot volume. Your Mac has to look around for a second to find where OS is on the hard drive. The fix for that is simple. In OS X go to the System Preferences and select “Startup Disk.” In the Startup Disk preference you can select which version of the Mac OS that you want to boot from every time you start your Mac. If there is a locked padlock in the lower left corner you may need to click on it and enter your password before you can select your version of OS X.

Now when you start up your iBook it will start loading OS X without delay.

I had a similar problem with my favorite CAD software. Claris CAD was the first CAD program I learned, and I still can whip together blueprints in that program faster then any other. I even kept an old Mac SE around to run the program because Claris CAD worked so poorly in OS 8.6 and up. As it turned out, when I started using OS X full time, I fired up Claris CAD in the Classic environment and it ran beautifully. I have to make Disk Images of floppy disks to save documents to, but other than that, this old application works great in OS X. To print I have to get creative and generate an EPS file and then convert that with an OS X application but it sill works. I would bet it could work for your lumber program as well. You are going to need a new computer because I think that Performa has sung its last song. A G4 iMac would be a good choice and would hold up over the years.

I hope that could work for you but if not, we do still have CRT monitors that can connect with adapters to the older Macs.

A few things may be causing this to happen so I am going to have you try three things. First click on your desktop once. Then hold down the “Control” key and click again without releasing the mouse button. A menu window will appear next to the pointer. Select “Show View Options” from the menu. A small window will open. Towards the bottom of the window will be a checkbox labeled “Keep arranged by” with a pull down menu below it. Check the checkbox and change the pull down menu to “Kind.”

Next, from the same window check your icon and font size. The icon should be about 40X40 and the text should be 12 pt. You may want to adjust the size of both the icon and text to see if those are affecting your system.

Lastly check to see that your hard drive’s name has no extra spaces. To do this, click once on the hard drive icon and once again on the name of the hard drive. The hard drive name will be highlighted meaning you can edit it. Retype the hard drive’s name as you like it to appear. Click any place on the desktop when done.

One of those three things should fix your problem. Let me know how it works.

I have found very few problems with Mac OS 10.3.9 but I would recommend you do some drive maintenance before upgrading. Open the application Disk Utility found in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. From the left hand side of the Disk Utility select your hard drive. Then look for a button called “Repair Disk Permissions.” When you click on that button all your files will be checked for errors that could interfere with an OS installation. Those files will be fixed if problems are found and those fixes will be displayed in the box above the button. Quit Disk Utility after it is done repairing your disk permissions. Now you can upgrade your OS. I would recommend doing this every time before you do a big update.

Tiger has had some problems in its first few releases. Most copies sold now are at version 10.4.3 and are very stable. Of course you will need to upgrade further to 10.4.9, but 10.4.3 and up are all good versions of Mac OS X.

Upgrade as needed!

There are a few reasons PowerMax does not include OS / Restore media with pre-owned Macs. The most substantial reason is that not all Macs are traded in with the original discs. Many of the Macs that become PowerMax Certified Pre-owned computers come from individuals, but others come from businesses and schools. Many home users will save the box and CD pack of their old computer, but not all; so combined with the school and business acquisitions, we have less than 50% of the media we need to include a disc with each system. Obviously not every customer will need the original media for the computer they are buying because they plan on installing a newer OS or have an old drive they are moving over. We decided to offer the OS / Restore discs separately because we wanted to be able to offer the people who really needed the discs the option of having them instead of just letting the inclusion be random. On the other hand, we were able to lower the price for the people who don’t need the original discs because they are upgrading or already have one. Every computer will have a clean OS installed on it, and that’s a good start, but at some point almost every Mac owner will need an OS install disc and we are happy to offer multiple options for them.

With the class you are taking, you have a definite need for an Intel-based Mac, but your current use of OS 9 applications will make that an expensive move. An Intel Mac would allow you to work with Explorer 6 through Parallels, but OS 9 applications are not supported on Intel Macs. I have seen people get Classic applications working on Intel Macs, but I wouldn’t recommend the hacking method they use for the programs from which you make your living.

Because Microsoft discontinued Internet Explorer for the Mac before it reached version 6, you are only able to use it on an Intel Mac by running Windows through Parallels or Boot Camp. However the class you are taking may only request Internet Explorer 6 so that all students have a common browser to view their work. It may be ok for you to test most of your web design work with the cross-platform browser Firefox, and then do your final preview in Internet Explorer from a fellow student’s computer or the library’s computers.

Without Internet Explorer in the way, you could then just buy a Previously Owned Mac that can run OS 9 Classic and OS X 10.4. That would allow you to use your old applications and slowly start buying Universal versions of software to replace your old programs. Then when all your software is transitioned to new Universal software, you can trade in the PowerPC-based Mac and buy a new Intel-based Mac.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

The lack of sound on your Mac could have a few different causes. First check the audio settings in System Preferences. Click on the Sound preference and then click on the Output tab. At the bottom of the screen verify that the “Output volume” slider is all the way to the right and the “Mute” checkbox is unchecked. Above the volume slider is a two-column list with “Name” and “Port” at the top of each column. If everything is working as it should the list should have “Internal Speaker/Built-in Audio” listed. If that is shown try plugging in a pair of headphones to the front plug and the listing should change to “Headphones/Built-in Audio.” With headphones plugged in you should be able move the Balance slider from right to left and hear corresponding beeps in the headphones.

Now if nothing is listed at first but headphones show up, then your internal speaker port probably is damaged. If the list always shows headphones plugged in, your front board may be damaged or have a jack tip stuck inside. If the listing never changes even when you plug into the line jack in the back of the G5 then your whole audio chipset on the logic board is probably to blame. You can try updating the firmware. I have not heard of an audio problem fixed by firmware but give it a shot. The last step would be to use a USB audio adapter and Multimedia speakers. Try the Griffin iMic 2 and some budget speakers.

We too use the HP 2200 in our office and have had great success with them, but we do go to HP’s website and download Mac OS X print driver updates. I would have you start there at first but I do not think that alone will solve the problem. Something to look at is the orientation of your paper in Page Setup. You may be printing a document formatted to print horizontal on a page but not changing the settings for the printer. In each application you are printing from go to “Page Setup” under the File menu. In there try changing the “Orientation” from vertical to horizontal or the reverse of that if it is already set to horizontal. Also in that same window make sure you have US Letter selected as your Page Size.

The website problem has more to do with the browser support of that website than your Mac, but it will be easier for your Mac to adjust then for the website to be rewritten. A first step is to try a different browser. I would recommend keeping a copy of Firefox on your computer when you encounter this problem. You can get a copy for free here: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/. If the page looks the same in Firefox as it does in Safari, then you can try to adjust the size of the text displayed. In Safari’s View menu are two options, “Make Text Bigger” and “Make Text Smaller.” Make the text smaller until it looks right to you and then print.

The problem you describe seems like a “Page Setup” problem. When the problem is only with one program and a variety of printer models, it is almost always a Page Setup issue. Under the File menu in Mail is Page Setup. When you select it you will see a standard Page Setup Window that looks the same in near every application. It is important that you make the changes to the Mail Page Setup because although they all look alike the settings are different for each application. The “Format for” should be set to “Any Printer,” “Paper Size” should be set to “US Letter,” and the “Orientation” should be set to the left most icon with the man standing straight. Scale is often set to 100% but can be less. Click OK after you make those changes and try to print. If the problem persists then something could have been changed with the US Letter settings. Go back to Page Setup and select “Manage Custom Sizes” from the Paper Size pull down Menu. In the Custom Paper Sizes window, click on the “+” button. That will make a new page setting. Set the width to 8.50 in and the height to 11.00 in and then double click on the untitled name of your custom page. Name it something you would remember. Now click OK and then select your new custom page from the Paper Size pull down menu. Click OK and then try printing again.

If both those suggestions do not work try downloading the latest print drivers for your printer. Good luck and I hope you are able to print this email.

It looks like you have done the basic step one should do to fix that problem. The next steps are more advanced but should hopefully save your data and get you to 10.4. The first thing to try is a different install option. When you select the destination drive to install onto there is an “Options” button at the lower left of the window. Click on it and select the “Archive and Install” option. Make sure to check the checkbox for preserve user data and network settings. Then install as regular. If you find that the installer fails again you are probably dealing with a hard drive issue. The drive could be fixed with a reformatting but you do not want to lose your data and applications. I would recommend that you buy a new internal hard drive and install it in one of your open drive expansion bays. Then you will need to format the new hard drive from Disk Utility. There is a copy on the 10.4 install DVD under the Utilities menu. Now install Mac OS X 10.4 onto your new drive. That will almost certainly work. Once the computer has booted up to the new install of 10.4 you can start entering your information like it was a new computer, but when it asks if you have information from an old Mac say that you do. Pretend like you have a computer in Target disk mode and click through the menus. It should then find your 10.3 hard drive and import your data and applications from that drive. Now you need to verify that all the things you want are on the new drive. After a week or so of living on the new drive and checking everything is on it, you can erase the old drive and start using it as additional storage. Keep an eye on it as it could be a failing hard drive. Back up the data you store on it.

Hope the moves you to 10.4 without delay.

.WMV files are Windows Media files. You can download a player from Microsoft, but the better solution is to use a program called Flip4Mac. It is also found at Microsoft’s site through this direct link.

.EML files are outlook email files and should not come in as attachments. That is a common way for viruses to spread in the PC world. Your friend should instead “forward” those emails to you, not attach them.

Hope that helps

It is not too hard to reset your passwords on a Mac mini if you’ve lost the password. What you will need to do is restart your computer and boot up off the grey Install Disc that came with your computer. First insert the disc into the disk drive. There may be more than one, but you will want to use the first one in the set, often with “Disc 1″ labeled on it. Once it is in the drive restart the computer and hold down the “C” key. When you hold down the “C” key on start up, your computer will boot off whatever disc is in the drive, as long as it is a bootable disc. It will take a little time to start up but eventually it will ask you to pick a language. Take your finger off the “C” key and choose English (I’m making that assumption because that’s the language with which you asked the question ). Now you’ll want to look in the menu for a “Reset Password” option. You can usually find it under the Utilities menu, but it can be in different places depending on what OS version you have. In the Reset Password utility you select your user account and enter your new password twice. I would recommend writing the password down and placing it in your wallet for safe-keeping. Now you can quit the utility and the installer and restart the computer. You do not need to hold down any key. Now use your new password to login.

The FireWire 800 Mirrored Drive Door (MDD) G4 has most of the same features as the first generation MDD G4s. Of course it has an added FireWire 800 port, but it also can take Airport Extreme cards instead of the slower original Airport cards. Also, it is quieter than the first generation MDD G4 towers. The biggest difference is that the FireWire 800 MDD G4s do not boot into OS 9. The original MDD was the last computer to allow booting into OS 9. That makes them the fastest OS 9 booting G4s and consequently they are a little more expensive than the OS X only version with FireWire 800. No G4 tower came with USB 2.0 native. A PCI USB card would have to be used.

For the most part, Spotlight is always active but it only indexes your drive at scheduled times. You can tell it is building an index of your hard drive if there is a blinking white dot in the center of Spotlight’s magnifying glass icon. It is possible to have Spotlight ignore areas of your drive or types of files. In System Preferences, there is a Spotlight section. The “Search Results” tab shows you the type of files found by Spotlight so for the most results you should have everything checked. The “Privacy” tab is where things will be excluded from Spotlight searches. Anything in the list will be excluded, so for the most results you should have nothing listed there. Other than those changes, Spotlight should find everything your user account can see. Hidden or locked files will not show up for you.

It is fine to rename your hard drive at any time in OS X. The only thing you will want to do is make sure that no other computer has your hard drive mounted remotely. If you do not use file sharing then you are fine, but if you do, just unplug your network connection and turn off your Airport wireless card. That will disconnect your drive from other computers on the network that may be sharing your files. Then just click once on your hard drive and go to the file menu. Select “Get Info” and go to the “Name & Extension:” section to change your drive’s name. This should not cause any problems and is a common customization to make.

Apple’s Mail application stores massive amounts of email-related data in a variety of resource databases. It remembers our sent and received email of course, but it also saves all the email addresses we have interacted with, sorting rules, and junk-mail rules. The more data it saves, the more likely an update is going to break old databases, especially if you save most of your old emails. I have emails from the ’90s in my computer at home.One Mail database that often gets damaged is the “Envelope Index.” This is a SQLite database that provides important information about your emails, but it is just a listing of information. If you delete it, a new database will be created based on the emails you have stored on your computer. You can find your “Envelope Index” in your home folder’s library folder (/Users/”YourUserAccountHere”/Library/Mail/Envelope Index). Quit Mail and then drag “Envelope Index” to the trash. Now just restart Mail. It will act like it is importing new mail but it is really just rebuilding the “Envelope Index” file. Start up Mail and test its speed.Give that a try and let me know how it works for you.

It sounds like some part of your OS X system has become corrupted. This can be caused by hardware failure or just system file damage. To find out where in the OS X boot up process your system is failing, you can try booting up in Verbose mode. When booting up the computer, hold down the Command (AKA Apple) key and “V” key. You will see a detailed text list of services starting on your Mac. Pay attention to where it stalls. Knowing what service fails to load completely can help you find the broken files or the related hardware that could cause an issue.After the computer has been frozen for enough time to determine the hang-up, pull the power cord and restart the computer. Now what you’ll want to do is boot up in ‘Safe mode.’ Do this by holding down the “Shift” key on startup. If this works you can start repairing the drive. Running a Mac OS X Combo update is a good first step. Then keep troubleshooting.If that doesn’t work, you’ll have to boot into “Single User” mode. Boot up your computer holding down the Command key and the “S” key on start up. When you see a command line prompt, type “/sbin/fsck -fy” without the quote marks and press the Return key. Follow the on-screen directions.Here is a link to this info and some more tips from Apples site: Apple articleI hope this gets you up and running again. Please let me know.

There could be only a few things interfering with other accounts accessing your home wireless network without administrator approval. My best guess would be that you need to set your preferred network. This is how you can do it in Mac OS X 10.4 but it’s similar in other versions of OS X: When logged into the Administrator account go to the System Preferences. Select “Network” and change the “Show” pull down menu to “Airport.” You probably will have to click on the locked Padlock icon in the lower left hand corner to make changes. Enter your password when you are prompted and click OK. Now click on the Airport tab. Change the “By default, join:” pull down menu from Automatic to Preferred networks. In the window below you should see your home wireless network. If you do not see your home network, or you want to have more networks in that list, click on the “+” button. You can type the network’s name or if you are near the network you can select it by clicking the down pointing arrow to the right of the text box. Then enter the network password if you have one and click Ok. Before you close the Network preference window click on the options button. Make sure that the “Require administrator password to:” section has no checkboxes checked. Click the OK button to close the Options window and then click the Apply Now button to save all you changes. To be certain, you may want to repeat these steps for each account you have on your computer.Although other things could cause this problem of yours I think this will likely solve it. Let me know how it works for you.

Modern Mac computers support “Desktop Burning” for the creation of data CDs. No additional software is required. With Desktop Burning you just need to insert a blank disc. The system should ask if you want to open it in the Finder, iTunes, or Disk Utility. For data discs choose “Open in Finder.” If you do not get this option you can set it in System Preferences in the “CDs & DVDs” section. Change both the “When you insert a blank CD:” and “When you insert a blank DVD:” pull down menus to “Ask what to do.” When you have opened a blank disc in the finder you will be able to copy files to that disc icon. Then you just need to drag the disc to the trash. The trash basket will turn into a black and yellow burn symbol. Sometimes there is a problem with the OS X burn engine. This could be part of your problem. If when you attempt to burn you get the error you listed above, it could be a corrupted or missing part of the OS. One fix would be to install a Combo update of your OS, which could replace the offending OS component. It is important that you use a Combo update.If that does not help let me know what exactly the error says and when in the process it appears.

Many things can cause a system to slow over time. There is even a term: “Bit Rot,” which describes the way data on a hard drive goes bad over time. Data on a drive, including the operating system files, will become corrupted over several years of operation. Your computer is not old enough for this to have happened but reformatting your hard drive every year, then reinstalling software and files, would prevent Bit Rot.Your problem is most likely do to a full drive. When you tell me that you have 4.5 GB of RAM and many external drives, I think that your swap file could be constrained. Every Mac user needs to keep two times their RAM capacity available on the boot hard drive. That means that you have to have at least 9 GB of drive space available. As you know, RAW photo files are large, and when you open many files at a time it fills up your Swap file, which is where your RAM stores data it needs but ran out of room for. When one Swap file fills up another is created. This means that you could need even more free space on your hard drive. For you I would recommend leaving 40 GB free on that 250 GB internal drive. Also you may want to reboot your system every day or whenever you notice it getting slow. That will reset your Swap file and let you start fresh.As for you network problem… You should have been able to see your attached drives when connected to your old computer over the network. You have to login with the administrator’s user name and password. Once you enter the correct info it will ask you what volumes to mount over the network. Just select the external attached drives connected to you old computer.Hope that solves it for you. Good luck.

The process of cleaning out a Mac can be very simple if you keep your personal files in the places Apple suggests. The first step is to create a new user account for your father. This should also be an Administrator account. To create a new Administrator account, go to System Preferences and click on “Accounts.” Click on the little locked padlock icon on the lower left corner of the window and enter your password when prompted. The icon should now be an unlocked padlock icon. Now click on the “+” button above the padlock. Enter your father’s name and a password for him. If you help your father with his computer often, consider writing down the password and keeping it in your wallet. The last thing to do before you click the “Create Account” button is mark the checkbox that says, “Allow this user to administer this computer.” Now you should see your father’s account in the users list.Log out of your old account for the last time and log in as your father. Go back to the Accounts preference and unlock the padlock icon again. Now this time you are going to click once on your old account and then click on the “-” button. As long as you have all your data moved, you can click on the “Delete Immediately” button. Now this will be a clean system for the most part. Some people do not keep their personal data in the user account as Apple expects. In that situation you will have to drag these personal files to the trash, one at a time.Hope that works for you and your dad.

You can use a FireWire-based iSight camera with Macs that have a camera built-in. To switch from one to the other is an option found under the iChat Video preferences. Although you may be able to switch cameras mid-chat, I would not recommend it. In most cases just leave your FireWire iSight as the primary camera. All Intel-based Macs can host video conference (multi-user) chats so you can start those for your family and friends as long as they have at least a 1GHz G4, dual 800 MHz G4, or any G5 / Intel Mac. Although you can host these chats over a wireless connection, you will get the best performance from a direct ethernet connection to your DSL modem.

DLS is often fast enough for four-way video chats but it will have slower data speeds the further you are from your phone company’s main office. Cable internet speeds can be faster than DSL because of that DSL distance issue. Get friendly with your neighbors and see what speeds they get from their cable internet connections. Switch if you find that they are outpacing your DSL connection.Hope that helps.

Adding a printer can be a simple process, provided that Mac OS X has built-in drivers for it. In the Utilities folder within the Applications folder is the “Printer Setup Utility.” Start up that utility and click on the “Add” button. The “Printer Browser” will open and show you a list of many of the available printers on the network or directly connected to the computer. Find the printer you want in the list and click once on it. Wait for the Add button in the lower right hand corner of the window to turn from grey to black and then click it. That should add your printer to the master list of printers and will set it as your default printer. If you have trouble seeing a networked printer (one connected to the network and not the computer) and you use an ethernet network then try turning off your Airport. Having two active networks can cause problems.. It may not be necessary, but having an updated printer driver can help take full advantage of a printer’s features.. Before adding your printer, try downloading the latest Mac OS X driver from the manufacturer’s website and install it. Then when you add the printer through the utility it will use the most recent driver..Hope that gets you printing.

This kind of .Mac connection failure is interesting because often it is a password or username typo. In this case you have entered the same information in the online .Mac login and it works. That would demonstrate that her account information is accurate and it is something with how the iMac is connecting to .Mac’s servers that has failed.. As long as you are using the same display name (the email address without the @mac.com) and the same password that gets you into the .Mac web-mail, then it should connect the computer to the other services.There was an issue this last summer with some .Mac users being cut off by the Wanadoo/Orang ISP. You can read the long discussion but this particular issue was resolved (Apple Discussion). One interesting solution that worked for some on this discussion was power-cycling the DSL modem and rebooting the system. In another instance the 10.4.6 update broke some users’ connection to .Mac (Apple Discussion). I believe updating fixed the issue, but an interim fix was to remove the passwords from the Keychain and preference pane, then reenter them. If your problem is related to these past issues, using some of the interim fixes could be worth a try. You should also temporarily eliminate any routers or hubs and just directly connect the Mac to the DSL/Cable modem’s ethernet port. It may even be worthwhile to take the iMac to another location. If you can connect to .Mac from a different ISP then you know the issue is with Hiedi’s ISP, but if it will not connect at both places then you know it is a system configuration issue.As a last ditch attempt, try to connect to the iDisk as if it was not hers. From the finders “Go” menu mouse over iDisk. There is an option to connect to another users iDisk in the pop-out menu. Click on that option and enter Hiedi’s information. Connecting that way should tell you if you are blocked to all .Mac services on her computer or just the one setup inside the system preferences..I hope that helps some, let me know how it works out.

Dual Boot is a generic computer term for a system setup and capable of natively running two different operating systems. In the case of PowerPC Macs, Dual Boot means that you can start up the computer in both Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X. Not all Macs can boot OS 9 and OS X. Most newer PowerPC Macs will only boot into OS X and any older application that needs to run in OS 9 will have to be run in emulation through the Classic environment. Some software does not run well in Classic so some people will need a Dual Boot Mac to run their application natively.

A few things could be affecting your burning ability. If these blank discs are CD-RW or DVD-RW format then you have to erase the disc before you can use them. Insert the disc and open Disc Utility.. Select the disc from the left hand section of the window and click on the erase tab. Then select Quick Erase and click on the Erase button. Then the disc should be ready to use.If you are not using rewrite-able media, then you could be using defective media. If the disc you are using has failed to burn previously it may have been rendered useless. Try different discs and perhaps a different brand disc to see if you get better results..Another possibility is that your “CDs & DVDs” preferences were accidentally set to “Ignore.” To change that setting, go to System Preferences under the Blue Apple menu. Click on CDs & DVDs to see a listing of your options. For both “When you insert a blank CD” and “When you insert a blank DVD” change the pull down menu to “Ask what to do.”One of those three things should get you burning.

New burners can be complicated to add to older operating systems. There are really two ways to interact with disc media burners on a Mac. The most common way to burn a disc is with the built-in Desktop Burning features of the Mac OS. This feature will recognize a blank disc when it is inserted into the drive and manage the type of burn you want to perform. For this to happen the OS has to have all the drivers and burner definitions stored in the OS. When you buy a burner that is newer than your operating system, it will be unlikely to work with Desktop Burning. The OS in that case will not have the drivers you need to control that burner. A solution would be to upgrade your OS to a current version (Mac OS X Tiger 10.4x).. The other method of burning is to use specific burning software. Roxio Toast is a popular Mac disc burning software package that can burn all of your media needs (Roxio Toast 7 Titanium). The problem you will encounter is that it wants a Mac OS version of 10.3.9 or higher. Sometimes drives will ship with a limited version of Toast that has lower system requirements. Your new Sony burner may have come with that software. Try installing it if it was included and that could solve your problems.Otherwise I would recommend you upgrade to Mac OS 10.4 Tiger.Hope that works for you.

I had no idea that the playlist location feature existed.. It took me some time and an iTunes update later to find it, but here is how you get to it. In iTunes 7, right click or hold down the “Control” key and click on the song file. In the pop out menu look for “Show in Playlist.” Mousing over that will show you the playlists that that song file is in. Also above the “Show in Playlist” is “Add to Playlist” which will let you add that song to any existing playlist without dragging the song file.I think that is what you were looking for.

Finding the right boot discs that originally shipped with your computer can be difficult. Macs need to have specific boot discs and even little differences will cause the problem you are having. PowerMax sells boot discs but we only do it over the phone because we have to get detailed info about your computer in order to find the right version. Another option you may want to consider is buying a full copy of OS 10.4 Tiger (http://www.powermax.com/product/Mac_OS_X_Tiger_Version_10.4.6/j93916.html).. That will give you a disc to boot up off of to change your passwords and a useful OS upgrade.Hope that solves it.

The program you are looking for is The Missing Sync (http://www.markspace.com). I have not used it but have heard rave reviews. They support Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and the Sony PSP. It should solve your problems for a reasonable price of $39.95.I hope it is what you are looking for.

The most recent OS that will work on your iMacs is 10.3, which will come with the Safari web browser, although you may also want to use the Firefox browser. In order to run Mac OS X 10.3 you will have to upgrade your RAM up to 256MB. On those computers it would be easer to get help installing RAM from a local service center than doing it yourself. You can do it but tray-loading CD iMacs are a little difficult to open up. Here is a link to instructions on installing RAM (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=43012).Have fun with those upgraded iMacs.

X11 is offered as an optional install on the OS X install discs. You can probably track down the individual installer on the disc but I would recommend booting off the install disc and selecting the X11 installation in the “Customize” section. From the same area you can unselect all the installers that you don’t need. If you are still having problems after that, you may want to do a custom “Archive and Install” from the discs. This is done from the “Options” section when you select your hard drive and just before you get to the “Customize” section. After everything is installed it should be a simple matter of installing the Application and launching it.With Open Office you must make sure you have the correct version for your Mac’s processor. http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/download/index.html. Choose the Intel-based download for your Mac Pro from this link. After that, everything should work just fine. I encourage you to also install the Developers Tools, which can help with other aspects of porting Linux/Unix based applications.Let me know how it works.

I think you may have accidentally turned on a Universal Access feature, and that’s what is causing your problems. Go to the System Preferences and click on Universal Access. Now click on the mouse tab and turn off “Mouse Keys.” Unless you use Universal Access you should make sure all settings are marked as “off.”Hope that solves it.

Having a single wireless network comprised of multiple base-stations is one of the things that sets Apple wireless products apart from the rest. What you will want to do is set up “WDS” in your network. WDS stands for Wireless Distribution System and it’s what allows one base station to act as the primary connection to the internet, and every other base station in range to act as a repeater. With the latest version of Airport Admin Utility, connect to the Extreme base station. Click on the WDS tab. Check the checkbox next to “Enable this base station as a WDS” and set it to be the “main base station.” Next, select the “+” button to add your Express base station. It will have to be within 150 feet for this to work. Select your Express and then click the Update button. After everything resets, your two base stations will act as one network and each base station can support a printer. This is the best way to setup multiple base stations and you can keep adding Express base stations to the network as your needs grow.Have fun.Jacob Loeb

The program you want to use for your AVI files is the versatile and free VLC (http://www.videolan.org/). It is a cross-platform “Swiss Arm Knife” media player. Give VLC a try and see if it solves your playback problems. Your keyboard, on the other hand, may need a trip to the service center see if the key is properly installed and if needed, get replaced.For word processing you have many options. You already have TextEdit in your applications folder. As a basic word processor TextEdit can type formatted text and spell check for you. If you want to use MS Word it is available for the Mac and has long been a standard of the business world. Apple’s own Pages is also a very good word processor, without some of the complications and hitches Word has. There are also less expensive yet capable word processors like Mariner Write (http://www.marinersoftware.com). Try some of those options; you truly don’t need your PC any longer.Jacob Loeb

There are a few things to try and it may be a simple fix. The first standard Mac fix with almost anything is to zap the PRAM. This is done by holding down the “Option,” “Command/Apple,” “P,” and “R” keys on start up. Hold them down until you hear four chimes from the Mac. Then see what you get. If this doesn’t fix anything, then try reinstalling the OS, any Mac OS will do. If the computer will not boot of an install CD or the hard drive, then it is a good idea to try and reset the Power Manager on your computer. Unplug the power and open the case. Locate and remove the PRAM battery. Near the battery is a small button 1/16th of an inch in size, press it once. Put the battery back and plug in the power cord. Boot it up and see what you get. If you are still having problems see if your friend still has the original G3 processor. If he does you are going to want to reinstall it and see if it was an issue with the processor upgrade not being compatible with OS X 10.2.Good luck and let me know how it works out.Jacob Loeb

A flashing folder indicates that your Mac can’t find a bootable system. When you hold down the Option key on startup most modern Macs will show a Boot loader. That is the blue screen with the two buttons you described. If you had a good hard drive with an OS installed, it would be displayed there as a button to click on. You should also be able to see any retail OS X install discs or Restore discs if it was in the optical drive. The OS install disc needs to have been released after the original sale date of your G4 in order to boot it. If you know the OS install discs will boot your computer but it does not show up in the boot loader then you may have a problem with the PATA bus.A way to test the hardware is by using a bootable FireWire drive. Most people do not have access to one but if you have another Mac with a current OS then you can use that. Boot up your good Mac holding down the “T” key. When the screen shows a blue background with a yellow FireWire symbol then you can connect the two Macs with a 6 pin FireWire cable. Reboot the sick Mac with the Option key held down. In the boot loader, select the good Mac’s hard drive and press the forward arrow. When you get to a desktop you will be able to use Disk Utility to locate and fix the internal hard drive. If you cannot see the drive it would indicate a hardware failure and either the hard drive needs to be replaced or more serious service work needs to be done.I hope this gets you closer to reviving your G4.Jacob Loeb

BillI honestly have not been a strong supporter of Norton or McAfee products. They do offer virus protection and Spyware-vulnerability scanning, but their benefits have never outweighed the problems they cause. Mac OS X 10.3.9 has a great firewall built in, and the best protection is to be connected to the Internet through a network router. If you have a wired router or a wireless base station you are going to be safe and the OS X firewall will be more protection on top of that. My recommendation would be to turn off the firewall and other active parts of Norton and turn on the OS X firewall in the “Sharing” System Preferences.To keep using Norton’s firewall you are going to need to go into the preferences and adjust your notification levels. It sounds like it is notifying you about every application’s attempt to connect to the Internet. You are going to need to tell Norton that your applications are allowed outbound connections.Hope that helpsJacob Loeb

The best way to move forward with your genealogy work is to upgrade to an OS X native application. You are in luck that your old program saved your data in the Personal Ancestral File (PAF) format. That is still the standard file format for genealogy programs and the replacement program I would recommend, Reunion 8, supports it. (http://www.powermax.com/product/Reunion_8_for_Mac_OSX/ms-125358.html) After moving your data file from the Cube to your new iMac, you will be able import that data into Reunion 8. It works on Intel and PowerPC Macs and should last you through many more upgrades into the future.That should get you back to work. Good luck.Jacob Loeb