Aoraki Macintosh User Group Home Page

Snippets from Previous Meetings

October Meeting 2005



NEW iPODS

Sheryl discussed the new iPods, Nano and Video, and explained how they synchronise with iTunes.

HOME SOFTWARE

ome members noted that some computing accounting applications (such as M.Y.O.B. And Quicken) are available in configurations of various grades, which may be more suitable for the home user instead of a business or professional user.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

The session covered a number of topics, including some on which members were able to offer helpful advice. Some questions and suggested solutions included:

PRINTING PROBLEMS

Some members have had problems with various versions of MacOS X not allowing printers to work properly:

  • Make sure that all previous editions of the printer's drivers are removed.
  • Try restarting, repairing disk permissions, or zapping the PRAM, if you know how to!
  • Restart from the startup disk, and repair the Hard Drive.


NON-OPENING DOCUMENTS

How do I get my Mac to open a document using a specified application?
  • When some documents are received (eg. as e-mail attachments) they won't open, because they don't contain the necessary 'hidden tags', or information which tells the computer which application to use to open them. To specify which application is to open a document: Have the document's icon on the desktop (ie. In the Finder).
    1. Have the document's icon on the desktop (ie. In the Finder).
    2. Click once on the icon (to select it).
    3. Open the File menu, and move the cursor down to Open With. A sub-menu will appear containing applications which will open the document, the first of which being the default application, and this is the one you are most likely to use.

  • If you want to specify which application is always to be used for certain documents (eg. if you always want your PFD files to open with Acrobat Reader instead of Apple's default Preview application):
    1. Click once on the document's icon (to select it).
    2. From the File menu, select Get Info (or press Apple-I)
    3. In the Info window which appears, click on the Open With menu and select the desired application.
    4. Click on the Change All button to change the default application for other similar documents:



DOUBLE-UP OF FOLDERS

Why has my Mac have seemingly duplicated folders?
  1. Some new Mac-users may wonder why there seem to be be more than one copy of some folders on their hard drive: this is because most Macs use both the current MacOS X and the older MacOS 9 (Classic) operating systems, so that the computer can be used for applications in both systems. This means that the computer will have folders labelled System (for MacOS X) and System Folder (for MacOS 9), and also Applications (for MacOS X) and Applications (Mac OS 9) for Classic applications.


VIRUS CHECKER

How can I check to see if my computer has viruses which may not affect it, but may be passed on to PC users?
  1. Go to http://www.sophos.com/products/es/endpoint-server/sav-mac.html and download the Sophos virus-checker for Mac, which checks for both Mac and Windows viruses. You are permitted to download a free evaluation version every 18 months (or more frequently if you provide a different e-mail address)
SESSIONS

MacBASICS - FINDING FONTS

Tony and Sheryl led a discussion on Fonts, which did not cover the Font Book application and its uses, but explained some other font-related issues, including where they are stored on the computer, how to set default fonts, and how to get rid of duplicate fonts:

WHERE FONTS ARE STORED

In more places than you might think! In System 9 (and earlier) it was fairly simple, as they were kept in the Fonts Folder in the System Folder. However, in System X there are a number of locations:
  1. Library > Fonts : This is the main fonts folder, and contains fonts to which all users of your computer have access.
  2. Home Folder > Library > Fonts : You can add extra fonts to this folder, but they will not be available to other users.
  3. System > Library > Fonts : This folder contains the fonts which MacOS X uses for menus, on-screen dialog boxes, etc. It's best to leave these alone.
  4. System Folder > Fonts : This folder contains System 9 fonts, which are still available for use.


SETTING DEFAULT FONTS

In MacOS 8-9 the user could choose the fonts which were used for system menus, but in MacOS X you'll have Lucida Grand and like it! If you really want a change, there are downloadable applications which you can use to enable you to customise the system's appearance. You might like to investigate:

TinkerTool 3.6 (725KB Freeware download from Download.com) Visit http://www.download.com/TinkerTool/3000-2274_4-10430970.html?tag=tab_pub

Many applications give options for default fonts in their Preferences panes, eg. AppleWorks > Preferences > Text enables you to specify which font/size you wish to be used as a default in new documents.

GETTING RID OF DUPLICATES

Because many applications have a bad habit of installing the fonts that they use (whether you already have them or not!) you can easily end up with duplicate copies of fonts. Sometimes these duplicate fonts cause problems. Use the Font Book application to get rid of them:

  1. Open the Font Book application.
  2. In the Font Book Window which opens, scroll down the Font column. If there is a black dot at the end of any line, then that font is duplicated - you won't see the duplicate file unless you click on the triangle marker before the font, which will show you the files in the font's folder.
  3. To get rid of all the duplicates at once, click once on any one of the fonts which appears in the Font column.
  4. Press Apple-A to select all of the fonts in the column
  5. From the Edit menu, select Resolve Duplicates. This will remove all duplicate files.


ADDRESS BOOK


Sheryl added to her talk on the Address Book application at the September meeting by giving a further explanation of how to export data from a database and import it into Address Book. She showed some of the formats which can be used, and demonstrated how that exported fields needed to match the Address Book's field format.

FAVOURITE WEBSITES

Several members contributed websites of interest, which others might like to visit. Have a look at these....


If you're not too squeamish, go to this sight to find some yuckky stuff: http://www.yucky.com/


Find out what makes all sorts of things tick, whirr, buzz, and generally operate: http://www.howstuffworks.com/


Change the look of your computer in a variety of ways: http://www.interfacelift.com/


Want a printing project? Many printer manufacturers have suggestions on their websites of interesting activities which you can do with your printer. One example is the Hewlett-Packard Activity Center: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/activityCenterHome?lc=en&cc=us
REMINDERS

Next AMUG Evening meeting (A.G.M.) will be on Friday November 25, 7.30pm.

Next AMUG Daytime Meeting to be advised

Committee Meeting on Mactropolis:  Tuesday November 15, 9.00pm

Regards to all....

Secretary: Tony Climo, Aoraki MacIntosh Users Group