Aoraki Macintosh User Group Home Page

Snippets from Previous Meetings

NEW EQUIPMENT & SOFTWARE

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac is now available, in 3 editions: from $NZ269 for Home/Student edition. Unlike previous editions, this version is native to Intel Macs — some users have experienced problems running Office X and Office 2004 on their Intel Macs (others have had no difficulty with either!).

Remember that you don't want to buy Microsoft Office, you can open its files and perform similar functions by using NeoOffice, free open-source office software for MacOS X users: for further information and download visit: www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php

Time Capsule has been released by Apple: this is a device which allows LeopardŐs Time Machine to perform wireless backups. Normally, Time Machine requires an external hard drive to be connected to the computer for which the backups are performed, but Time Capsule enables laptops (and other wireless-equipped computers) to make use of Time Machine without being plugged in. It's also a fully-featured Wi-Fi base station. See the Time Capsure page on Apple's website: www.apple.com/nz/timecapsule/

Thank you to members who introduced us to these new products.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Several computing queries and suggested solutions included:

BLIND CARBON COPY

In Mail I want to send a message to several people as Blind Carbon Copies (BCC) so each doesn't see a list of the other recipients, but the BCC option doesn't appear. Where do I access it?

• If the top left of your Mail message window looks like this, click on the button indicated by the cursor:

and you'll have the option of choosing additional fields (including Bcc) to appear at the top of your message. By default they are hidden.

SLOW PERMISSIONS REPAIR

Since I've upgraded to Leopard, Repairing Permissions takes a long time, even though it says it should take about a minute. What's up?

• This is OK — it does take a lot longer to Repair Permissions in Leopard, as it's performing more operations than it did in previous system versions.

IMMOVABLE MYOB FILES

Some Minding Your Own Business files won't move to where I want them. How can I move them?

• Some versions of MYOB have a safeguard built into them which automatically creates locked files in case the program is accidentally interrupted or closed. Open the folder which contains your MYOB files and delete these ‘lock files’ — this should allow you to move or delete your files as you wish.

FOLDER/FILE LABEL COLOURS

Can I change the default folder/file label colours?

• No, these are fixed to the defaults. However, you can change change the label names: in Finder, go to the Finder Menu and click Preferences, then click the Labels button. If you wish you can then type your own names for the labels: ‘Important’ ‘To Action’ etc. Your names appear when you make your label selection.

In Leopard you can use label colours as a Spotlight search criterion: In Finder, open a Search window, and at the right-hand end of its top menu line click the + button to add a search criterion:

For ‘Kind’ select ‘Other’, and for ‘Any’ select ‘File Label’:

Select the desired label colour:

ITUNES FOLDERS

My iTunes playlists are getting lengthy. How can I organise them?

• Create folders in your playlists, and drop your songs into them — you can also put folders within folders.

Make folders by going to File/New Folder. Name the new folder and drag its icon up or down the source list to where you want to place it:

MAIL ACTIVITY WINDOW

In my Mail e-mail application, how can I tell if messages are actually being sent?

• Go to the Window menu and open the Activity window, which will show you what is being sent/received, etc (in Entourage, go to Window/Progress).

RECALCITRANT CDs

How do I eject a CD which doesn't want to come out — or which doesn't even show up in the Finder?

• Sometimes CDs play coy and don't want to move, or don't want to let you know that they're in the CD drive. Quit all applications, then Force Quit the Finder by pressing Option+Command+Escape and selecting Finder — this should cause a CD in the disk-drive to eject. If it doesn't, then restart your computer while holding the mouse button down — this usually forces the drive to clear itself.

NEVER put mini-CDs into any Macs with slot-loading drives — unless you want an expensive trip to the repair-shop!

INCOMPLETE UPDATES

Software Update sometimes goes through all the motions of updating my Ma's software, but then doesn't seem to finish the job. What now?

• Two things: go to Disk Utility (in Applications/Utilities folder) and repair your Mac's Disk Permissions — a corrupt files somewhere may be preventing Software Update from completing its task. It may also pay to check the quality of your Internet connection, as a faulty or intermittent signal can play havoc with downloads.

CD-RW WOES

Sometimes when overwriting a rewritable CD I get a message saying ‘Cannot complete — don't have privileges’. What to do?

• As above, go to your Disk Utility application, but this time click on the CD-RW's Drive icon (not the volume icon) and select Erase Data. You have the option of choosing either Quickly (which erases the contents listings, but not the actual data) or Completely (which takes a lot longer, but writes zeros over the data).

Thank you Kim and other members who helped provide the above solutions.

SESSIONS

MacBOOK AIR — THE LATEST PORTABLE MAC

Amazingly thin. Amazingly full-size.

The thinness of MacBook Air is stirring. But perhaps more impressive, there's a full-size notebook encased in the 0.4 —1.94 cm of sleek, sturdy anodised aluminium. And at just 1.36 kg,1 MacBook Air is more than portable — it's with you everywhere you go. [Apple Website]

Kim provided members with a downloaded view of Apple's recent Macworld conference, at which CEO Steve Jobs announced (among other things) the release of MacBook Air, described as the world's thinnest notebook — ‘ultrathin, ultraportable and ultra unlike anything else’. Jobs emphasised that the thickest part of the MacBook Air is thinner than the thinnest part of the previously thinnest model on the market.

Besides its thinness, the MacBook Air has a number of innovative features, including:

• 13.3 inch widescreen backlit display.
• full-sized keyboard.
• multi-touch trackpad: scroll, pinch, swipe, rotate or zoom with fingertip movements.
• no built-in optical (CD/DVD) drive, but Remote Disk software instead — enables you to install using another computer.
• back-lit keyboard with ambient light sensor.
• built-in iSight camera.

MacBook Air is not designed as a replacement for other laptops, but as an ultra-portable notebook device. It's priced at $NZ2999 (inc.GST) For further information and a guided online tour, visit www.apple.com/nz/macbookair/

Thanks Kim for providing this download.

G-MAIL

Hugh and Kim described Google's Gmail service, a free system of web-based e-mail. As Google has a global network of servers, it is a useful international service, and can be a more accessible when travelling overseas than locally-based services (such as Xtra, which is not always able to be accessed outside NZ).

Gmail is filtered for spam, facility for e-mail chatting, and can be used on your mobile phone you have Internet access on it. Being a Google service, you can even use Google to search your messages.

Although Gmail is a service which is well-constructed regarding privacy, Kim noted that its Terms of Service do not indicate how long they hold data before it will be deleted — which could raise security issues.

For further information visit Gmail's overview webpage: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en/about.html

Thank you Hugh and Kim for this session.

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES

Kim discussed some aspects of building an external hard drive: if a suitable drive can be obtained (eg. from a Mac which has ‘died’ but whose HD is still fully functional) and inserting it into a casing so that it can be utilised as an external HD, connected via USB. This will make provision for data storage which is separate from the Mac's inbuilt HD — useful for back-up copies or archival material. [Note that MacOS X LeopardŐs Time Machine backup application requires an external drive.]

Contact Kim if you're interested in doing this ((See MacAssistance, below)

Thank you Kim for this explanation.

SOFTWARE

Hugh outlined several applications which he uses:

DISK WARRIOR

This is a utility program which eliminates directory damage from the computer. It does not repair a damaged directory, but retrieves the data and builds a new directory, which enables recovery of files which would otherwise have been lost because of directory damage.

Disk Warrior costs $US99 — for further information, download and purchase visit the developer's website: www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html

ISQUINT

You can't usually download videos (eg. TV news tracks) unless you have upgraded your QuickTime, which comes with your Mac, to QuickTime Pro (purchasing a ‘key’ code from Apple enables you to utilise functions of QuickTime which were previously there, but locked and unavailable).

However, iSquint is freeware video converter for Mac which enables you to download videos — although designed to convert movies to iPod screen size, it also has a TV-sized setting. For further information and download (5.3MB) visit either the developer's website http://www.isquint.org/ or Version Tracker: www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/28250

Thanks for introducing this software, Hugh.

DESKTOP OVERLOAD

Hugh recently had the misfortune to inadvertently download hundreds of JPEG image files to his desktop, which understandably cluttered up the workspace. The problem was compounded when he found that although he could select the files, he could neither move nor delete them! Eventually he was able to handle them by selecting them, then open an Info window (File/Get Info, or Command I). This indicated that the relevant files were locked — unchecking the Locked box enabled them to be deleted:

INTERNET CHATTING

Kim explained the basics of online chatting, which provides the facility for using the Internet to hold conversations or group meetings. Chatting is available in various formats:

• text chats (also known as Instant Messaging), in which the participants see onscreen what the others have typed.
• audio chats, which are like phone conversations.
• video chats, in which the participants both see and hear each other — these need an iSight camera or webcam.

Internet chatting uses messaging applications, such as Adium or Apple's iChat, to connect through account providers such as .Mac, AIM (provided through AOL — America On Line), Jabber and Google Talk. Kim briefly described and compared Adium and iChat:

• iChat comes with your Mac as part of its standard software. Although fully-featured (text/audio/video chats all available), it is not always straightforward to establish group chats. Transcripts of text chats can be made if you remember to save them before closing the chat session.
• Adium provides easy access to group chat. It includes a remote answering facility, and automatically provides transcripts of chat sessions. Its Version 2 enables audio/video conferences, but only for Leopard users.

A reminder for any who are audio (and presumably video) chatting: use headphones to hear the chat, or you're likely to cause others to get squeaky feedback due to the inbuilt microphone picking up audio from both your voice and your computer's speakers.

Thank you Kim for the detailed information contained in this session.

MacASSISTANCE

Kim is kindly offering his services to members who would like assistance with Mac-related problems. Send him a message outlining the difficulty, and he'll reply (when he can) with advice, if possible. Kim's address is: kim@ktr.co.nz

(So that others can benefit also, it would be appreciated if you would then send me a message briefly outlining both problem and solution, which could be included with out mailout. Thanks — Tony C)

Thank you for making your expertise available, Kim — your time and effort are much valued!