Ask Jacob

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

Click Here

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

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

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

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

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

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.

The great thing about using Parallels for Mac is that you can run any version of Windows or Linux you want on your Mac.

You just have to tell Parallels what you want to do before you install the non-Mac OS into a Parallels Virtual machine. Some versions of Windows Vista are not licensed for installation on virtual hardware like Parallels. You will want to use the Ultimate version of Windows Vista to comply with the Microsoft license. Also, you will want to run the Service Pack 2 version of Windows XP. This is only for security and is not about licensing. You can install any version of XP, but I recommend that you immediately upgrade it to the SP2 version, in order to prevent getting a virus on the PC side of your Mac.

You don’t need anything fancy from your version of Windows when you run it in Parallels. Just get a version that will work best for what you are doing. In most cases, XP Home will serve you perfectly.

Upgrading RAM will help your mini run faster with all those pictures. An external drive will only really help you if you are running low on hard drive space. RAM is only short-term storage space, and internal hard drives or external hard drives are for long term storage of files. When you open an application, it is temporarily taken from the hard drive and sent to RAM. RAM is were you actively work with things on a computer. Then the changes are written back to the hard drive. The bigger the files you are working with, the more RAM you will need to keep the same functional speed.

The RAM can be difficult to install into the Mac mini. You may want to have an authorized service center install the RAM for you.

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.

Seeing as you are having connectivity issues, I will try to give you a few different things to try so you do not have to wait around for the next set of instructions. The first is centered around the Mac remembering trusted wireless networks. You can tell your Mac to connect to “any” network, without adding it to the Preferred Network list. That network list could be your problem. To make these changes, select System Preferences from the blue Apple menu. Now click on the Network section and double click on AirPort from the Network Status window. Under the Airport tab, change the “By default, join” popup menu from Preferred Networks to Automatic. Click on the big Apply Now button in the lower right corner and test it on the network. If that fails to work for you, can completely remove the default Airport settings and see if that change helps. The preference file is located here: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plistDrag it to your desktop first and it will make a copy of itself for safekeeping. Now drag it again, but this time, place it in the Trash. You will have to enter your password. Now go back to the Airport System Preference section and change it back to Preferred networks. There should be no entries there now. Try joining a network and see if it works. If it still does not work, and networks you could join before don’t work, then you can copy the file on your desktop back to its original place.

The other possibility is that your Keychain is remembering the wrong passwords for some of the networks, or thinks it knows the network’s password, when it doesn’t actually have a password for the network. The Keychain is where OS X stores your passwords when you ask your Mac to remember them for you. You can look at your passwords through a utility called Keychain Access. It is in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder. In the application, click on “All Items” in the left section of the window and then sort the list by kind. You can sort by any header category by clicking on the header (Name, Date, etc.). Delete anything that is an “Airport Network Password.” Try connecting now.

The only other possibility I can think of has little to do with your computer and more to do with the router being used. Most times we do not think about it, but Airport and Wi-Fi networks have channels just like TV. Wi-Fi is standard and around the world you can use channels 1 through 11 any place. Europe however, uses two additional channels in their Wi-Fi. These two channels, 12 and 13, are commonly used outside the US–but US-built equipment cannot communicate on those channels. It could be that you are trying to connect to a base station using channel 13 and your Airport card does not go that high. If you are able to ask someone in the know the locations where you’re having problems, check to see what channel they’re using. The only solution to this European router issue is to get a European-made Wi-Fi card.

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 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.

When working with Boot Camp, it’s important to have the latest version. Boot Camp is beta software, and so fixes and improvements occur regularly. Also, when new computers are released, Apple has to update the driver install disc for the Windows side. Without the updated Windows driver disc, the new hardware Apple is using will be partially incompatible with Windows. The easiest way to fix the problem is by downloading the newest version of Boot Camp.

www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

Go ahead and install it but you don’t have to resize your partition or reinstall Windows. All you need to do is burn a new driver disc. After that, you can restart into Windows and install from the new driver disc. Everything should install into Windows without those error messages you had received before. You will probably want to keep looking for Boot Camp updates over the next few months, and then burn new driver discs after each update. Apple is slowly making its hardware just as compatible in Windows as it is in OS X.

Audiobook files are slightly different than music files, that is part of the reason that self-added files are not showing up as Audiobooks. Music files, when they are encoded in the AAC file format, have “.m4a” file extensions and Audiobook should have “.m4b” file extensions. Just changing the extension is not enough. Luckily for you, some nice guy named Doug Adams has written a script that will convert your AAC music files to audiobook files. It is called Make Bookmarkable and is a free download. Your files will have to be in the AAC file format for this script to work. To change your files to AAC from another format you have to change your default encoder to AAC. In iTunes’ Preferences, click on the Advanced icon and then select the Importing tab. Change the “Import Using:” pulldown menu to the AAC Encoder and click on the OK button. Now select the audio files in your library that you want to convert and go to the Advanced menu. Select “Convert Selection to AAC” and those files will be converted to AAC music files. Now run the Make Bookmarkable script that you installed. If all goes well you should now have Audiobook files.

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.

iCal is very much a one-way tool. It’s designed to be controlled by one computer and then published. If all of you four had Macs and iCal, then you could each publish your personal boat calendar to a .Mac account and then subscribe to the other three calendars from within iCal. Each person would control their own calendar. You could post a request to your calendar for another’s persons time and they could accept by deleting their time from their calendar, which you could see.

However, you have PC people, and as usual they are spoiling it for the rest of us. To do exactly what you want to do would take more than a free website account. You would have to run a server of your own. Perhaps a good low-tech solution would be to share a Google calendar. You would have to trust each other not to delete entries, but Google’s free calendar can be customized to meet many of your needs.

It is interesting that Safari alone is causing the problem. I would first check to see if browsing the Internet in another application creates the same issue. Try downloading the Firefox browser and use it instead of Safari for a while. If the problem does not occur with Firefox, then throw out your version of Safari and get a new version. A good way of getting a fresh version is to download the Combo update for your Mac OS and install it. The combo update should have Safari. If a fresh version of Safari still causes the crash, then try using it from a different user account. You should create a new user account just for this test. Only use it for testing. The problem will not happen in the other user account if a setting of yours causes it. If you find the crash is caused by one of your settings, delete the Safari Folder in your user accounts Library and the "com.apple.Safari.plist" file in your preferences folder.

It is altogether possible that the crashes are independent of Safari. Some G5 towers need to be thermally calibrated, but that is not a likely cause. Calibration work can be performed at an Apple Authorized Service Center. More likely it is a RAM issue. If there was extra RAM installed, try removing it and see if the problem continues. Remember RAM is installed in pairs so remove two sticks at a time from the same numbers slot. The RAM in slots labeled 1 is most likely from Apple but try just having one pair of RAM, stick in at a time for testing, and then test another pair.

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.

It is possible that your Safari web browser is damaged. I would recommend downloading a different web browser to see if the same problem exists with both browsers, but of course downloading is the problem. This becomes an impasse from time-to-time, how do you download a new browser without a working browser?

To solve this you should be able to create an FTP connection to mozilla.org and get a copy the FireFox browser that way. Click once on the desktop to switch to the Finder. From the Go menu select "Connect to Server…" In the server address window type in this address:  "ftp://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/" without the quotes. Once connected, you should see a new item on the desktop and in the Finder window that is called "releases." Open up "releases" and navigate to the latest version of FireFox. At the moment it is 2.0.0.3 and you get to it via this folder path: /2.0.0.3/mac/el/Firefox 2.0.0.3.dmg. Drag the file to your desktop and then double click on it to mount the install disk. To install, just drag the application to the Applications folder. Now start up FireFox and see if that works. If FireFox works, then you just need to get a new copy of Safari. If it does not work or you could not create an FTP connection, that would mean that there are bigger system problems or settings. An Archive and Install from your 10.4 Tiger disks may be the best solution.

When my daughter started 6th grade I bought her a new G4 iBook 12". It was probably a little too nice for her but I had given her an older computer as a training laptop for a year. It survived, so I figured she had the experience to keep a new Mac in good condition. If this is the first computer you are giving your child, then I would recommend a pre-owned unit. The iBook series has been the best kid-resistant computer ever to come from Apple. Even with my daughter’s successful laptop training, she has dropped her iBook. It did survive without any problems but it taught me a lesson. In the home, the regular location of any young child’s computer should be in a public place. The mess factor is my first reason for not allowing a computer in a young child’s room. Drinks magically spill, things are stacked on top of anything, and level surfaces are often scarce. Another problem with letting a child have a computer in their room has to do with online activities. The scary things that happen to our kids online are far less likely to happen if we can look over the child’s shoulder and see what’s going on. But the most important reason to keep this new computer out of your daughter’s room is so you can see her. Even though my daughter wants to hide in her room at this age, I still want to see her whenever possible. She maybe glued to that iBook for as long as we let her stay online, but I have the ability to interact with her during those times because the computer is in a public place. The computer is on a special desk right next to the kitchen and when I cook, she can chat to her friends online and tell me what happened in her day at the same time.

OK, now to your actual question. I would have you look at an iBook G4 for your daughter. You could also go with a MacBook, which has many of the same features as an iBook and will support future software upgrades better than an iBook.

The refurbished iBook we have is also a great option.

Microsoft makes a student version of their Office application suite of software. You can install one copy on up to three computers.

Yes, most Intel Macs will work for gaming, but there are a few things you should consider when buying a Gaming Mac. You will want a Mac with a minimum of 256MB video RAM for the best gaming experience. Upgraded VRAM will also make sure that you can play future games that will require that much VRAM. That Video RAM requirement will point you towards a 20" or larger screen iMac, or a mid-range to high-end MacBook Pro. If you have funds for a Mac Pro, it certainly will fulfill your gaming needs but it is overkill for the games you are interested in. If a 256MB VRAM Mac is priced outside your budget, 128MB VRAM is sufficient to play contemporary games to their fullest. The only drawback to 128MB VRAM is that, with the exception of the 24" iMac, you can’t upgrade the video card in an iMac or MacBook Pro. Games will always require more VRAM, System RAM, and processor speed in the years to come. With 256MB VRAM you have some breathing room before you must upgrade again.

The other consideration for a Mac gamer is Windows. As much as I hate it, games are generally released for Windows before they are for Mac. So in that instance I would also recommend that order your Intel Mac with Windows XP installed via Boot Camp.

This will allow you to play PC-only games on your Mac by using the Windows operating system. Most of the games you want to play are made for the Mac, but as a gamer, you will probably want or need to boot into Windows XP from time to time, at least for a few more years.

You absolutely can move your files over to the Mac. Most file formats are the same on the Mac as they are on the Windows OS. That is particularly true for photos and documents. Music will often move over without problems as well, unless the song is copy protected. Some online music stores make it difficult to move your music files from one system to another.

Most everything you will need from a Windows system can be brought over by copying your "My Documents," "My Pictures," and "My Music" folders onto a CD-R or USB hard drive. A Mac will see any hard drive that you have used with your old PC. Any disc you burn on the PC will work perfectly in the Mac. USB flash drives would also be perfectly suitable for file transfer.

Once you get the files over to the Mac, use iTunes to import your music. Use iPhoto to import your pictures. Then everything else can be placed in your Documents folder on the Mac.

I hope that helps move you to Mac, you are going to love it.

The Mac Pro is, of course, the best choice for Final Cut work but its price is not always in every editor’s budget. The 24″ iMac is a very good Final Cut Studio computer. However, the stock model needs a few upgrades to make it a true video editing workstation. It should have the upgraded video RAM so that you have 256MB VRAM available. Also your system RAM should be upgraded to 2GB or 3GB, although 2GB is enough to start with. The last upgrade needed is optional, if you have external storage space. Upgrade the internal hard drive to 500GB or 750GB. With video, you can never have enough hard drive space. The FireWire 800 port on the iMac 24″ is also an essential part of a video stations I/O requirements. The fact that Apple includes FireWire 800 on the 24″ iMac is an indication that it’s a pro-video editing class of computer. The only negative to the 24″ iMac is that Motion will not run at top speed on this system, but it will work fully.

There are many Mac options for filling out PDF forms. Adobe has the most advanced support for PDF editing. There are Mac versions of Acrobat Standard and Professional. Adobe has trial versions of both. There is also an application called PDFpen. I have not used this, but it looks like it will work for what you want to do, and they offer a free demo so you can try it out.

One of those should work but there are many more available; a quick Google search showed dozens. Let me know if you need further suggestions.

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.

Whether or not to upgrade your optical drive depends on what you plan on doing with your computer. If cost is your primary concern, I would recommend just getting the CD set of Tiger. That’s going to be your cheapest option by far. The real reason to upgrade should be based on how long you plan to use this computer. More and more programs are going to come on DVD and one day Apple may not release OS updates on CDs. In the long term, you are probably going to want a DVD player and even a DVD burner. It may come to pass that you are planning on using the G3 as it is today and trading up in a year or two. In that case, you will not want or need an external optical drive as most newer systems have DVD players or DVD burners.

If you decide to get an external DVD drive, look for one that supports Mac booting. To install off a DVD it will have to be a supported external disc drive. I often recommend LaCie drives for compatibility.

I love O’Reilly books and their Missing Manual series is a good choice for most Mac users. You should look at Office 2004 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual By Mark Holt Walker, Franklin Tessler, and Paul Berkowitz. I think you will be happy with the way that the information is presented and the depth of knowledge that the authors demonstrate.

I see what you are talking about. When copying the items to the clipboard in iCal it does not preserve the organization of the list. The order is almost random when you paste it into another application.

Here is what I was doing to replicate what I believe you are trying to do. With one of my calendars selected (In my case the PowerMax vacation schedule) I click on the show search results window. It is the third left button on the lower right hand corner of the iCal window. It looks like three dots with lines after them. The lines on the button will be blue when activated and grey when hidden. In that list, there should be a list of all your events on your calendar. For me, I see everyone’s scheduled days off. Then in the search field below the list I do my filtering. I searched for the word "Joe" and now only see days Joe has off. I click the "Date" Column to put them in dated order. Then I click once on the first item and then, holding down the "Shift" key, I click on the last entry in the list. All items are now highlighted. Now I copy the items to my clipboard. Then in text edit I start a new blank document and paste the contents of the clipboard into the document.

The strange thing is that if I change the sort order of the list and copy it again it will sometimes paste in order. Other times it is all mixed up. This inconsistency is the most troubling part of it. After playing with it for some time, I feel confident this is an iCal bug. We will have to see if it gets fixed in the next version of iCal. I will be keeping an eye on from now on and I will be forwarding this on to Apple.

The way Apple has started to handle the default browser/email control does bother me. Not only is it counter intuitive but its obscure placement is almost deceptive. The setting can be found inside Safari. Go to the Safari preferences from the "Safari" menu. Under the "General" section you will see the "Default Web Browser" pulldown menu, it is the first in the list. Any web browser you have installed on your computer will be under that menu. Select FireFox and then close the window. From then on you should not see Safari unless you want to. To change the default email application you do the same from within Apple Mail.

The answer to your question is not going to be just a “yes, so we’re in trouble” or “no, we’re still safe.” Most things that make the Mac a safe system are going to be unchanged by the Intel switch. For one, Mac OS X was engineered with safety in mind. By leaving out the base of Mac OS 9 in creating OS X, Apple avoided the trouble Microsoft has had with Windows. When most of the operating systems were written, computing was much safer. Computers then didn’t connect to one another as much, and if you wanted to damage someone’s computer you had to break into their house. It’s hard to take something that was written from a trusting perspective and then make it secure afterwards. So Mac OS X was a clean start at the right time. The second safety of the Mac is in its market share. Macs still only account for around 5% of the world’s computers. Most virus writers use infected computers to spread to new computers exponentially. So trying to go after Macs would be difficult and slow because of the small numbers of vulnerable computers. The last built-in protection for Mac users is with the OS itself. Many viruses are sent as attachments in emails and require users to open those attachments. They are mostly .exe files or some other executable that requires Windows to run. Macs will not run .exe files so the pure difference in operating systems is a safety tool. Alas, we come to the exception to our uninterrupted Mac safety. The most difficult aspect of protecting a computer is not knowing what the next attack will be. PowerPC processors do work in a completely different way than Intel processors and that has always been a good difference as far as the viruses go. However, someday we could see a virus or worm that needs only an Intel chip and RAM to wreak havoc. And that day we all will suffer.

However, Mac users lost only one of our four Mac protections, but we have also gained more benefits than we have lost from this Intel switch. For now we are still safe.

Final Cut Pro is definitely going to be faster on an Intel Mac. No one can say so by experience though. As of now FCP will not run on the Intel iMac. None of Apple’s Pro applications run on these new Macs quite yet. Apple says it will have versions that will run sometime in March, but there is another glitch. FCP is no longer sold as a program by itself (though PowerMax still has some in stock). It is only sold in Final Cut Studio, which also includes the $49 Intel software upgrade program. The just-discontinued stand-alone FCP will cost $99. Earlier versions can cost up to $699. Suffice it to say, it’s worth finding out what upgrading your software will cost before you upgrade to an Intel Mac.

Upgrade wisely!

The comical answer to "What is the difference between a Core Duo and a Core 2 Duo?" is… "About 100 bucks." The reality is that the difference between both processor architectures is efficiency and data bit size. The Core Duo is a 32-bit, two core processor. The Core 2 Duo is a 64-bit, two core processor. Most programs you use do not utilize the double bit size of the 64-bit processors. Photoshop CS 3, although it could benefit from 64-bit processing, does not use 64-bit instructions. Someday Adobe plans on adding support for full 64-bit processing, but for now it will run Photoshop at 32-bits.

The efficiency aspect of Core 2 Duo processors adds some performance increases per clock cycle. A Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz computer would run a little less than 10% faster than a Core Duo 2.0 GHz computer. The real advantage of the Core 2 Duo efficiency is in power consumption. The Core 2 Duo chips run cooler and draw less power then the Core Duo processors, leading to better battery life on laptops.

Sorry to hear about that,

Here are a few things to try when searching for missing photos. First click and hold on the grey space while holding down the "Control" button found on the keyboard. A menu will pop up in which you will want to select "Show File." That should take you to where iPhoto remembers the file was located. If you find it there, then just reimport it into iPhoto by dragging the photo file to the iPhoto icon in the Dock. If that doesn’t work, then you can try to do a Spotlight search for the picture’s name. Just click the blue eyeglass icon in the right corner of your screen and type in the name of the picture you are looking for. If it is in your computer, Spotlight should find it.

One of the two methods should work for you if they are still on your system.

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.

Bell South must be a little confused. There was never a version of OS 9.2.3, the highest was 9.2.2. Here is a link to all the free downloads of OS 9 available:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75288

The problem you may have is that OS 9.1 is the highest OS you can install on a Pre-G3 Mac.
Here is a link to Apple’s OS 8 and OS 9 compatibility chart:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25114

The difference between Mac OS 9.1 and 9.2.2 is not too significant, I think you could update to OS 9.1 and use their software without any problems.

Data loss sometimes happens to USB thumb drives and digital camera memory cards. The good news is that the data is probably intact and recoverable. There are many applications out that can recover those lost files, but unfortunately I have yet to find a free Mac version. Data Rescue II is one that I have had recommended to me. I would recommend downloading their free demo before you buy, just to make sure that it works for you. I have yet to use it but would trust it more than the other download-only applications out there.

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.

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.

Pro Tools LE 6 has issues with the Dual Core G5 towers. That compatibility was fixed in the later versions of Pro Tools. Version 7.3 is reported to be compatible with your Quad Core G5 and M Box.

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.

There is quite a bit you can do now and into the future to build the Mac skills you will need. The first step is to get the tools you will use to develop and troubleshoot software. Fortunately, Apple offers free software development tools. A copy of these tools would have come with your computer, but you will want to always work with the latest version. To get the development tools you will have to be a registered Apple developer but luckily that is also free. You will need to get your parents to sign you up because there is an 18 years or older restriction on it. Here is the link to the developer’s site: http://developer.apple.com/. After installing the Apple developer’s tools you should start working through the PDF documentation to get familiar with the tools. There are sample projects with step-by-step instructions on creating simple programs. Completing just a few of the sample projects will take you to a technical level above about half of where the current Mac techs are in regards to software.

After you create a little application and perhaps make an installer, then you can start poking around in other people’s programs to see how they did it. If you hold down the “Control” key and click on an applications icon you will get a special menu. This is the same as right clicking when you have a two-button mouse. In the menu that appears is the “Show Package Contents” option. Selecting it will open the hidden contents of that application in a new finder window. The files and folders inside the application’s Contents folder is what make up a program. Every function of the program starts from there. After you install the developer tools you will be able to open many of the files inside the developer applications and even make edits. My only word of caution is that you can stop a program from running by playing around, so make a copy of the program first before you start changing things inside of it.

The best way to become knowledgeable about solving Mac problems is to start fixing them. It may seem strange, but being responsible for finding solutions to problems will make you better at fixing them. The world of computers changes so quickly that the information you learn from traditional studying will soon become outdated before you can use it all. It is better to research as you go along and instead of learning the fix for a problem you will learn methods of solving computer problems. A specific fix for a problem will change or become obsolete before long, but the method that was used to create that fix remains the same for years. A great way to get that tech experience is to give away your services. With your parent’s permission, offer to volunteer your services as a Mac Tech at a senior citizens home. Provide tech support for whoever needs your help. When someone asks you a question or has a problem you do not know how to solve, make an appointment to get back to them. Go home and do the research on Apple’s support site and all over the web. When you find the answer you can go back and try to fix the computer. It is important to take the work you do for people as a challenge. “I do not know” should never come out of your mouth unless followed by the words “but I will find out.” This is a great way to keep your skills sharp and your confidence strong.

The last bit of advice I have for you is that you do not need to get a paycheck from Apple to be working for the Apple cause. Apple started as a company born from a California garage and grew into an empire. It has continued to grow beyond its confines as a company alone. Apple is a company and a community. The people who choose to create hardware and software for the Mac are as much responsible for the success of the Apple community as Apple Computer itself. Make your goal to be brilliant and creative with technology and then decide where you want to do your work.

Good luck with your ambitions and stay in touch.

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.

Safari has many cache issues that not only slow down your web performance but also your system performance. If you have kids on your computer I would bet that your system has slowed to a crawl. That is because Flash-based websites like YouTube or Neo Pets will fill your cache and cause your system to check those large cache files for web page changes whenever you go back to a cached webpage. Counter intuitively you may be able to get better speed by having an empty cache. To test if that will help, go to the “Safari” menu and select “Empty Cache.” If that speeds up Amazon.com then you can just disable the cache within Safari. To disable the cache you will need to use a Safari utility. I like Safari Enhancer for turning off the cache and getting to other nifty hidden features of Safari.

Copying a DVD can be limited. If it is a commercial DVD you are copying it may be larger than the average blank DVD has room for. If you click once on the DVD and press the Apple key and “I” key at the same time an info window will open. In the listing of the General section will be the DVD Size. If the size is larger than 4.7 GB it will not fit on a standard DVD. You may have a Mac that supports Dual Layer burning, if so then you will be able to fit most any DVD. Even If you can fit the whole DVD you may want to remove the copy protection and region encoding. To remove those items there are many free applications to help you out. Mac the Ripper is one I have used in the past and is well liked by many people who want to back up their DVD library.

If you are not backing up commercial video DVDs but instead copying Data DVDs or your own home movie DVD then you can use Disk Utility. With the DVD you want to copy in your computer, open Disk Utility. In the left hand section of the window in Disk Utility is a list of all Disk/Disc Media. Select the DVD you want to copy and go to the File menu. In the File menu under New is “Disk Image from (your DVD name).” Selecting that will open another window. There you name it and change Image Format type to “DVD/CD Master.” Click the Save button and wait for it to make a backup image. Now with the DVD image made you can start burning copies. Drag the image you made to the left side section of Disk Utility under the media listings. Click once on the disk image icon and then on the big radiation symbol to burn. You will be asked to insert a blank disc. Put one in and click on the Burn button. Repeat as needed for multiple copies.

I hope that will get you going in the right direction.

.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

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.

You’re most of the way there in your recording project. Audio sources plugged into the line-in jack are not automatically played through the speakers. Apple blocks that because people are often plugging in microphones, and if the mic is live you could hear that high pitched reverb sound, which is caused by the microphone picking up its own sound being played through the speakers. The sound builds on top of itself until the speakers max out. That is why most recording studios make people wear headphones when they are in the same room as the microphone. Because you are not using a microphone, you will not have that problem, and that’s why it is muted. All you will need to record the audio coming in is a program that will listen to the line-in and record it. Apple’s GarageBand is a great application for this kind of audio work, particularly because you can clean up the audio levels and clip songs to their proper length. GarageBand is part of the iLife suite and you may have a copy of it already on your computer. If you do not, you can always buy a copy (iLife 06). A newer version should be out any day, so call in to check for the latest version or any deals on older software.If you are on a budget or just do not want all the other iLife applications, you can download Audacity (Audacity). Audacity is a free audio recording and editing program. Give it a try and see if it meets your needs. It has fewer features then a paid program, but it may be just enough to get your tapes converted to MP3.Hope you like it.

Yes Intel Mac hardware is great for Windows Vista. People have been running Vista through Boot Camp and Parallels with a great deal of success. However, I wouldn’t recommend running the Vista eye-candy “Aero Glass” in Parallels on any Mac. Aero Glass should work well on Pro level Macs and iMacs in Boot Camp, but on Macs with integrated graphic processors, like the MacBook, you should nix the Aero Glass.

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.

We have a team of web programmers that assemble the Bolt newsletter (http://www.powermax.com/newsletter.html). They use BBedit (http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/) most of the time, but they don’t use a HTML creation package for those emails. If you’re looking for a simple solution to create HTML emails, you can use a built-in feature of Safari. For it to work you’ll have to use the Apple Mail application for your emails. First, you will need to create a web page that looks the way you want your email to look. If this project is for a business, you may already have a page with the info you want to send. If you are creating original content then you should have a link for all the people who do not want to receive HTML emails; however the page does not need to be hosted online for this to work. Open the page in Safari. Click onto the File menu and then select “Mail Contents of This Page.” It will open a new email with the contents of that web page. Then just address the email and send it off.Remember to test your emails first before you send it off to a batch of folks.I hope that works for you.

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.

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.

One of the problems with this multi-operating-system world is that not all good software will work for everyone. PhotoImpact is one of those programs missed on the Mac platform. You can certainly do all the things that you currently do with PhotoImpact, but not in the same way and not all in one program.. If you are after the photo manipulation features of PhotoImpact then you could use PhotoShop Elements in its place (Photoshop Elements). Even within iPhoto many of the same photo tools you are accustomed to using are there, but if you are after the line art features then you will need another program. There are many free options for this type of program, one to try would be Inkscape (www.inkscape.org).Let me know how that works out for you.

Power Point has an on-screen drawing feature built in to the program. When you are in the slideshow view, just press the Command (AKA Apple) + P keys together.. Then you can press and hold the mouse button to draw. Right click or hold down the Control key, which will let you adjust the pen color. Pressing the E key will erase what you have drawn.Let me know how that works

Bluetooth headsets will work well in almost all Voice Over IP (VOIP) programs like Skype. Once you pair the headset with the Mac, it will act as a Mic source and Speaker source to the Mac OS. If the program does not use the Mac OS sound handling, you may have to set it in system preferences first. But it should work fine after that. I used to use one with iChat AV. The main thing to remember with VOIP is that a wireless headset and a wireless internet connection could interfere enough to degrade your call. Connecting to your router with a hard wire when using VOIP is always recommended.Happy free calling.

There are few things to keep in mind when working with this new Mirrored Drive Door G4. The first thing is that all hard drives installed into this G4 must be set for “Cable Select.” It will take up to four hard drives, and all have to be “cable select” and the plug at the end of the PATA cable has to be used if only one drive is going to be on the cable. When you format drives for this computer you must make sure that they are formatted with OS 9 support. A good way to make sure a disk will support OS 9 is to format it from OS 9. So boot up from the backup and format the internal drive that you want to have OS 9 on. Then install 9.2.2 on it. Missing the OS 9 disk support is probably what’s causing your booting problems. You can put the old drive that worked on the 400 MHz G4 into the new MDD G4 but it will have to have the latest version of OS 9 installed on it.PowerMax has a good stock of original Airport cards. You can find them here: (http://www.powermax.com/product/Used_Airport_Card/a-51540.html) and they will work in both versions of the Mac OS that you use.As for salvage, we tend not to have much use for those computers for parts. We would be happy to recycle it for you but you may find that you can donate it to someone who does not need an ethernet jack.

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.

There are a few sources for anti virus software for the Mac but I would not recommend that you use any of them. I once told people that “If it makes you feel better then go ahead and use it” but I now advise against it. In my experience it causes problems on the Mac and provides protection from a non-existent threat. Not only did you buy a computer that is not a target of Spyware or viruses, but you bought one that uses the PowerPC processor. That chip works differently than the new Intel Mac processors, so any future attacks will pass you by and there are no current exploits. If you want to err on the safe side of this subject, then all you will need to do is check for updates every day and never use any Microsoft software on your computer. That’s overkill, but other than that you are safe as can be. Enjoy your Mac!

The first step to finding the root of a problem like this is to eliminate software as a possible cause. Borrow the other good G4 in your office. Move it close to your problem computer. Plug a keyboard and a power cable into the good G4, and start it up holding down the “T” key. Next connect the two Macs with a 6-to-6 Pin FireWire cable. Now start up your troubled Mac holding down the “Option” key. At a blue screen you’ll be able to select the good G4’s hard drive to boot off of. Select the drive and click on the right facing arrow. You will now have your troubled Mac booted off the good Mac’s hard drive. Try to recreate the problems you have been having. If you cannot recreate the problems then you will know the problem is with the Operating System on the problem computer. You can just do a clean install or archive and install from a Mac OS install disc to fix that.However, I suspect that you are having a hardware problem, and when you do the above test the problems will continue to occur. In that case you are going to need to take it to a service center. I would guess that the problems you are having are caused by a faulty power supply. If you feel confident with service work you could test the power supply by switching it with the good Mac. If the good Mac becomes the bad Mac and your problems are solved then you know it is the power supply. If nothing changes then I would look next at the logic board, and that can be an expensive repair.Hope that get you closer to fixing that misbehaving Mac.

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.

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

MS word files are cross-platform compatible. That will apply to the template files as well. You are going to want to use the most current version of Word for the Mac, but the templates you create in the Mac version of Microsoft Word will be compatible with the PC version of Word. The template can be locked down and password protected.Hopefully that will work for your clients.Jacob 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

I have never been a big fan of synchronization software. Not because it is useless, the opposite is true, but because it has let me down in the past. The result of being burned once when your precious data is involved is an irrational hesitation to try anything like it ever again. The last time I used anything like it was the old pre-OS X file synchronization utility Apple had. As it turns out some engineering people took that tool and turned it into an OS X application that is now Universal. Nemesys Software sells the shareware “File Synchronization” (http://nemesys.dyndns.org/FileSynchronization_EN.html) application for $15. There is a 30-day trial, so try it out and let me know what you think. Remember to back up your data first; forgetting that step is what soured me on the synchronization process.

I am writing to you now using MS Word (I paste into email later) and I have used Word for years. Like many Word users I have become increasingly dissatisfied by how Microsoft hides features and options in a maze of menus. The feature you turned off is called “AutoCorrect.” It’s controlled through an “AutoCorrect…” selection under the “Tools” menu. In the AutoCorrect window click on the “AutoCorrect” tab. Check the checkbox next to the line that reads “Capitalize first letter of sentence.” Click the OK button at the bottom of the window and then restart Word for good measure. It should now capitalize your first words again.

Glad to help with any problem, even Microsoft ones.

The 9200 video card put into that computer probably is a PCI graphics card and it would not replace the original video card. You can do a few things to test if the video card is the problem. You can first remove the original AGP video card by opening the computer and locating the card that is closest to the center of the computer. Remove the screw on the topside of the card and lift the card up out of its slot. There will be a plastic tab on the expansion slot that will need to be shifted to the side to release the AGP card. With the original card removed, you can power on the computer. Try starting the game again and see if it gives you the same errors. If it does then turn off the computer, reinstall the original graphics card, and remove the other card. Hook up your display to the old card. You may have to use an adapter. Restart and try the game. I suspect it will not work either time, but it’s good to eliminate the cards as a possible cause.

I believe the heart of the matter is more likely with the Flash player used to create the game. First, get the latest Flash player here and see if it solves the problem. Next make sure the game is installed on your hard drive so that it is not too deep in the file system. For a test, install the game in the main section of your hard drive, not in any folders. Also try updating your version of QuickTime and use it to check the sound output of your computer. The error message indicates a sound problem. I tested the demo on a few systems without being able to recreate the problem. You may also want to use this as an opportunity to upgrade to Mac OS 10.4. When you upgrade to 10.4, do an “Archive and Install,” which will replace any corrupted system files.

Sorry I do not have a silver bullet that will fix this but I hope this will get you gaming soon.

This is not an uncommon problem for power iPhoto users. With every version of iPhoto, Apple has had to increase the capacity for photos. You are reaching the practical limit of iPhoto 5, which is around 10,000 photos. In iPhoto 6, Apple is claiming support for 250,000 photos but I have yet to talk to anyone who has tested that limit. Everything you have described indicates that you’re bumping into the library size limit of iPhoto.

You can test this for sure by archiving half of your iPhoto library to another location on your hard drive and see if iPhoto starts behaving properly. You certainly should be concerned about your occasional loss of photos as you may end up corrupting those files. So try sliming down that library or make a leap to iLife ‘06… and as always remember to backup often!

The interesting thing about iMacs, Mac minis, and laptops is that the graphics chip in them use same protocols for connecting to the computer as Power Macs. This is surprising because we often think of AGP or PCI Express as slots for graphics cards, but iMacs and the like have no removable graphics cards. But the only difference between the AGP on a G5 tower and AGP on a PowerBook is that the PowerBook’s graphics card is integrated with the logic board.

As you might know, there is more to AGP and PCI-e than the size of the slot they use. The difference between the two is similar to the difference between USB and FireWire. Even if you could make a USB cable fit into a FireWire drive, it wouldn’t work because the languages they speak are different. The same is true of AGP and PCI-e.

That means that Final Cut Express did not work on the iSight iMac G5s with PCI-e graphics when Apple first shipped the iMac. That all changed with the Final Cut Express HD 3.0.1 update. It adds PCI-e support for Final Cut Express HD 3 users. Final Cut Express 2 users have had to hack the program a bit to work with PCI-e. The simplest bypass to the PCI-e graphics warning is to escape past it. If hitting the “esc” key does not work, the more complicated method of editing your program files can be used. This is from the Apple forums:

1. Right click on the FCE icon and select “Show Package Contents”.
2. Open the “Contents” folder and double click the “info .plist”. It should open automatically in TextEdit – if it doesn’t, choose TextEdit manually.
3. Around 15 or so lines down you will see AGP. Delete it and put in PCI.
4. Close the window and when asked if you want to save the changes, say yes. Make sure you are saving the file as TEXT.

I have not tried this myself but the people who have attempted it say it solved their problems.

First lets get your preview window back. That’s the convenient mail viewer that was below your messages. The good news is that it is probably still there just hiding. If you look at the bottom of your Mail window you should see a thin grey border line with a dot in the center. Move your mouse pointer over the dot. The mouse pointer will become a horizontal line with two arrows, one pointing up and the other pointing down. Click the mouse button and hold it down while moving up about half way up the Mail window. Let go and click on an email. It should now appear in the preview window as it did before.

Now let’s look at your sending mail issues. This was probably set up wrong at the Apple store. In the Mail application there is a menu called “Mail” and inside of it is “Preferences…” Clicking on “Preferences…” will open a new window. At the top of that window will be @ icon that you will need to click on. Now you will see a listing of email accounts on the left side of that window. You probably only have one there. Click on your account and then click on “Account Information” on the right. Towards the bottom of the preference window is a button that says “Server Settings…” Clicking on that will open another window were you need to put your outgoing mail settings. All Internet providers use different settings. Yours is AOL and they have the following settings. Your “Outgoing Mail Server” is “smtp.aol.com” and it is probably already entered in the text field. The “Server Port” needs to be 587 and the “Authentication” should be set to “Password.” In the User Name and Password fields enter the same AOL username and password you entered to get into your account. Click “OK” and there is just one more thing to do. Click on “Mailbox Behaviors” and uncheck the two checkboxes called “Drafts” and “Sent.”

That should fix it.

I have been using Mail for years and, while recognizing the limitations, I like the overall integration that Mail has with OS X. This being said, my recommendation is going to be based on the opinions of some of my coworkers. Most non-Mail users around here are in favor of Thunderbird as opposed to Eudora. This is probably because Thunderbird is free and has a lot of new development around it. Thunderbird is missing an Apple Mail importer however. Eudora has the built-in option of importing Apple Mail but you will have to pay $49.95 or watch advertisements to use Eudora. Although it is not automated, Mozilla has some instructions on importing into Thunderbird found here: http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/faq#mail.app

Try following those instructions first and see if it works for you. If it fails to get you switched over then you’ll have to decide if the price for Eudora is worth it.

I used to run MacTheRipper for similar projects but have changed recently to HandBrake (http://handbrake.m0k.org/). It is simple and powerful tool to convert DVD VOB files into MP4, AVI or OGM files. Many Video iPod owners like HandBrake for its ability to convert DVDs to iPod-friendly video. The files HandBrake will create are not easily editable in iMovie or other Video editors, though. If you need to play segments of video alone or cut together different sources, then you would be better off using ffmpegX (http://homepage.mac.com/major4/) This program has many more features but has a bigger learning curve.

Both are free so check them out and see which works for you.

The first thing to try would be a different web browser. I always keep a copy of Firefox on my computers to test my connection. You can get a copy here. If Firefox is loading pages much faster than Safari that will tell you that your copy of Safari is broken. If it is Safari, then you will need to trash Safari and all of your Safari files. You can find those files from doing a Spotlight search on “Safari” and then “com.apple.safari.” Before you trash Safari export your bookmarks, it is an option under the Safari menu in the application. Next download a new copy of Safari from here. Now, if the new version is just as slow as the first version then I would recommend repairing your Disk Permissions.

Now if Firefox was just as slow as Safari, you have some network problems. Double check your network settings provided by Quest and MSN. Look hard at your DNS settings, as they are often the cause of slow connections. You may also have some problems with the wireless router provided by you ISP. In my experience Mac users can stump customer service people. So if you call into Quest or MSN for support, be persistent that your computer is in good working order and it is a settings error.

Hope that helps get you working up to speed.

Unfortunately the speed and power of your video card will not help with importing of video or rendering video. That work is still done by the G4 processors. Graphics cards only help with the viewing of video once it is on your system. The 9800 card will speed up the previewing of edits and effects, but once you commit to those changes then your G4 Chips are doing all the hard work.

You should be able to import though. One thing to check is that you create your iMovie project as the correct format. When iMovie asks you to name your new project and pick a location to save it, there is another hard to see option. Below the “Where” selection is an arrow with “Video format” printed next to it. Clicking on the arrow will expose a new pull down menu. From that menu select “HDV 1080i” which is the HD format of your camera. Now click on “Create” and try to import from your camera to that new project.

If iMovie HD is still is not importing then you may try using a PCI FireWire card. I have heard that this can solve problems similar to yours.

Sometimes when you are sending files that an email application can use, like fonts, the program can get confused. It does not know if you want to send those fonts as an attachment or use them for the text you are going to write in that email. I would recommend that you package those font files before you send them.

The best way to do this in OS X would be to use Disk Utility in your utilities folder. Click on “New Image” and when it prompts you to name the image, name it “Fonts.” Before you click on the Create button, make sure you’re saving to the desktop, the size is set to “2.5 MB,” and the format is “read/write disk image.” Now a “Fonts” disk should be mounted on your desktop. You can now copy all those fonts onto this “Fonts” disk just like any hard drive. After you are done copying files you just eject the disk. All the copied files are stored in the Fonts.dmg file also found on the Desktop. Attach the Fonts.dmg file to your email and send it over to the other computer.

Now if both your computers are running OS 9 then you are going to have to package the font files using a different method. Stuffit would be a good application to use for this. It will take those files and compress them into a .sit or .zip file that then can be attached easily to your email.

It is strange that Word doesn’t ask you to append the file when you save it the first time. File extensions are not always needed in Mac OS X but, as you know, Windows XP relies on it for file management. The “.doc” extension can be added at any time just by renaming the file to include it at the end of the file name. To check whether files have extensions, setup the Finder to always display file extensions. From the Finder menu select “Preferences” and in the preference window click on the “Advanced” tab. Check the checkbox next to “show all file extensions” and close the window. Now when you see a file without an extension you will know you need to add one.This still does not change the fact that Word should ask you if a new document needs a .doc at the end of the file name. There are a few things you can try changing in the Word Preferences. In the “Save” preferences, uncheck “Allow fast saves” and check the box next to “Prompt for document properties.” Also make sure the “Save Word files as: ‘pull down is set to Word Document.’” If you have not done so already, you should get the latest updates to Word from www.mactopia.com.

If all else fails you can throw out your preferences and copy of Word. After you reinstall you should be prompted to append new files with the .doc, as that is the default way Word wants to save.

The first thing to try would be reinstalling QuickTime 7 on the Windows computer. Sometimes Windows can lose track of the applications that support certain file types. First, you want to go to Add/Remove programs and uninstall QuickTime. Next download the latest version of QuickTime from here. Run the installer, but make sure all the programs and antivirus software are turned off. My hunch is that will solve the missing Codec problems you are having.

However, if that doesn’t solve your problems you can always make a DVD of your presentation. From PowerPoint open your presentation and click on “Make Movie…” from the file menu. Towards the bottom center of the screen is a “Movie Options…” button. In the options window select “Custom” size and change it to 720 X 576, which is the PAL TV setting. In the United States it would be the NTSC TV standard of 720 X 480. Once you have made those changes click OK and then save. Now open iMovie and drag the .mov file you just made in PowerPoint into your clips library. Now you can add it to your timeline and also add any other footage you may want. Save your iMovie project and then select iDVD from the Share Menu. When prompted, click on the Share button, which will open iDVD. From iDVD create a simple project and burn it to a blank DVD. You do not have to think too much about PAL Vs. NTSC with DVDs. A DVD player will play your presentation video appropriately to the TV or projector it is connected to.

It is truly a mystery why your AIFF files would be disappearing. My guess is that you have some of your files stored outside of the iTunes library. This can happen if you use your iPod or other external drive to transport your music files from computer to computer. It may be that some of those files are still stored on the hard drive section of your iPod. The hard drive section is independent from the music player files that are synced from iTunes. The fix may be as simple as plugging in all of your removable storage devices. If the songs are playable again you just need to make sure you have copies in your iTunes library. To do this, Apple added the ability to localize all of your music files. From the iTunes Advanced menu select on “Consolidate Library…” You will be told that your music will be copied to the iTunes library. Just click on the “Consolidate” button and then you are ready to go. Consolidating should prevent you from losing any more songs. Also, any missing song listings should be removed so you can re-add those songs to iTunes without duplicate listings.

Geographic Information System (GIS) are a little outside my realm of personal experience. However, whenever I am in the search for this type of program I will head over to freshmeat.net, which is an open source development resource. I have found four projects that may work for you but there are many more that will work in the X11 Unix windowing environment. Apple includes X11 as an optional install in Mac OS X. My guess is your daughter will already have it installed for her line of work. Here are the links for you look at. I am confident you will find something useful there.

http://freshmeat.net/projects/qgis/
http://freshmeat.net/projects/udig/
http://freshmeat.net/projects/ploneworldkit/
http://freshmeat.net/projects/grass/