Aoraki Macintosh User Group Home Page

Snippets from Previous Meetings

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Several computing queries and suggested solutions included:

UNCOOPERATIVE PRINTER

Since I installed some updates my printer doesn't want to work. What can I do?

• Check on the website of the printer's manufacturer to see if a driver update is available for your printer also — especially with System updates, it's in the manufacturer's interests to make sure that their printers will work with new System upgrades.

SOFTWARE UPDATES

When a drop-down box offering a software update appears, should I download it?

• This depends on a number of things. The drop-down box may contain information on the new version, telling you why it's needed. Consider:
  • What will it do? Most updates fix bugs from earlier versions, as well as offering new features, so its often advisable to have the new version, especially if it's System software.
  • Is it needed? If it's a new version of an Apple application which Software Update says is available, only download it if you use that application (eg. you don't need the latest iWeb version if you don't use iWeb).
  • Does it cost? If you get a new version (not an upgrade within a version) of QuickTime, for example, the free QuickTime Player will work, but QuickTime Pro may require that you purchase a new registration key.
  • What size is it? Some updates are minor additions to your existing software, but others are large multimegabyte replacement versions. If download time is an issue, contact Sheryl and tell her what you need, as she has most major updates available: for System and other Apple software, e-mail her a screenshot (Command-Shift-4) of your Software Updates window, which lists what you need, and she will either send it to you, of load it onto your computer if you bring it to an AMUG meeting.

MISSING DOCK ICON

My Documents Folder icon disappeared in a puff of smoke when I dragged it out of the Dock by mistake. How can I get it back?

• Locate your actual Documents Folder and drag its icon to the Dock — you'll find it in your HD/User Home folder. Remember to drag it to the right of the Dock's vertical dividing line, as only Applications can go to the left (don't worry, your Mac won't let you put it in the wrong place!)
• If your computer is set up with user accounts other than for the main (Admin) user, you can set the Accounts Preferences for those users so that the Dock cannot be modified — useful for Children's accounts in school computers.

SLIDESHOW TO DVD

I've made a slideshow in iPhoto; how do I save it onto a DVD?

• First you need to export your slideshow from iPhoto into the iDVD application, then create a project which youÕll then burn onto a DVD. See the session on iDVD below for details of this process.

UNWANTED WIDGETS

How do I get rid of widgets that I no longer want on my Dashboard?

• With Dashboard open, click the Open (+) button at the lower left corner of the screen: this puts the Dashboard into ‘Manage’ mode, allowing you to:
  • — remove widgets from the Dashboard by clicking their Close (+) buttons,
  • — add widgets by clicking on their icons in the Widgets Bar,
  • — remove widgets from the Widgets Bar by clicking on the Manage Widgets button and unchecking their entries in box which appears.
• You can also (without going into Manage mode) remove a widget by holding the Option while you point the cursor to it — this causes its close (+) button to appear.
• Removing widgets from either your Dashboard or its Widgets Bar does not remove them from your Mac. To do this you need to delete their actual files - they're stored in either your HD /Library /Widgets or Home /Library /Widgets folders.

SAVING TO CD

How do I save a file or folder onto a CD as a back-up?

• The standard burn process is:
  1. In the Finder:
  2. Insert a blank writable disk (CD-R) into the disk drive.
  3. When its icon appears on the desktop, double-click to open its window.
  4. Drag into the window the icons of the files/folders you want to burn. You'll notice that each dragged icon has a small arrow in the lower left corner — this indicates that the icon is an alias (signpost), as the disk does not yet contain the actual files.
  5. The actual process of saving the files to the CD and burning them is done prior to ejecting the disk. Perform this by doing any one of the following:
     • Go to the File menu and select — Burn to Disk. Drag the CD's icon from the desktop into the Trash -— you'll notice that the Trash/Eject symbol is replaced with a Burn symbol:
     • In the Sidebar of a Finder window, click on the burn symbol after the CD's entry.
     • Control-Click (or right-click if you have a two-button mouse or Mighty Mouse) on the CD's icon, and select Burn Disk from the contextual drop-down menu which appears.

ADDING TO CDs

I've burned some files to a CD; can I add more later?

• No... and yes! Usually, when you have burned a CD by using the normal disk-burning process (described above) you can't add more to it, even though there may be unused space on the disk. If you have a special disk-burning application (such as Toast) you may be able to arrange to burn more than once.
• However, using an application which is built into your Mac's system software, you can burn more than once (called Multisession Burnings), provided you set the disk up first. This process will be demonstrated at the next AMUG meeting.

Thank you to the various members who helped provide the above solutions.

HANDY HINT

(From Finder Help)

To see icons for all open applications using Application Switcher, hold down the Command key and press and release the Tab key. Continue holding the Command key. Use the mouse pointer or the Arrow, Tab, Tilde (~), Home, or End keys to highlight an application's icon. Then do any of the following:

• To switch to a selected application, press Return.
• To hide a selected application, press H.
• To quit a selected application, press Q.
• To resume work without switching applications, press Esc or the period (.) key.

SESSIONS

SYSTEM PROFILER

Hugh gave an introduction to the System Profiler Application, which gives details of the installed hardware and software which is running on your Mac.

System Profiler is usually access through the the Apple Menu, where clicking on About This Mac brings up a dialog box which gives basic information about the Mac being used: the version of the Operating System, and the processor, installed memory and startup disk. It can also be opened directly from the Applications/Utilities folder.

Clicking on the More Info button causes the System Profiler application to open. This gives full details of a large number of aspects of the computer (including many which most of us haven't come across before), together with listings of the versions of all installed applications:

System Profiler can be useful for supplying precise information if you need to contact a Mac company concerning compatible peripherals, components or repairs. For further details, Hugh referred members to a Yahoo Tech information page:
http://tech.yahoo.com/gd/using-apple-system-profiler-in-mac-os-x/153430

Thanks you Hugh for explaining this application.

WEB VIDEO DOWNLOADERS

You can't usually download video clips directly from the Internet, but there are several ways that this can be accomplished. Several members described useful software:

TUBE TV

YouTube allows you to view video material online, but not save it. Tony gave an overview of this small freeware application which works in conjunction with YouTube (and also Google, Google Video and Dailymotion) to allows you to not only view the clips, but also to save them.

When you open TubeTV you see a Safari-like window in which the YouTube (or other specified) website opens. You select whatever video you want to download, and soon after you start to play it, the download button in the toolbar changes from grey to black, indicating that you can begin the download. The file is saved in FlashVideo (.flv) format.

To play .flv files your Quicktime Player needs a small add-on component called Perian installed. You can set its configure it if necessary your in System Preferences.

For detailed information and downloads of both TubeTV and Perian visit the developer's website:
http://www.chimoosoft.com/products/tubetv/

FIREFOX VIDEO DOWNLOAD ASSISTANT

Matt showed members how the Firefox web browser can have an add-on called Video Download Helper installed which enables it to capture web video in a similar manner to TubeTV. Soon after the video starts playing the Helper icon in the toolbar becomes coloured and animated, indicating that the clip may be downloaded. Visit Mozilla's Addons site for info and download:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006

iSQUINT

At the January AMUG meeting Hugh described the iSquint video capture application, and it was mentioned again in connection with the current session:
(Reprinted from January 08 Minutes)
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: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/28250

Thank you Matt, Hugh and Tony for presenting this session.

iDVD PROJECTS

Tony gave a brief demonstration of how to transfer an iPhoto slideshow into iDVD, and prepare it as an iDVD project in readiness for burning onto a DVD:

The following process is followed:

1. Export the slideshow from iPhoto to iDVD: go to the Share Menu and select Send to iDVD. This will convert the slideshow into DV (Digital Video) format, and will open it in the iDVD application.
2. Prepare the iDVD project: this will add title and chapter menus to the slideshow, in readiness for it to be played on a DV player. A choice of Title Themes is presented, and when a selection is made the wording, pictures and/or movie clips can be inserted into drop-boxes. Be aware that some new themes are available in both Standard Aspect Ratio (4:3) and Widescreen Ratio (16:9) — you may be asked to make a choice.
3. Burn the project onto a DVD by going to File Menu/Burn DVD.

Thanks for introducing this application, Tony..

YOUSENDIT

Robin often needs to send large files over the Internet, and sent information to the meeting about how he does this. Most e-mail service providers limit the size of messages, but the service provided by the YouSendIt website enables messages with filesizes of up to 2 GB to be sent. When you despatch a file, Yousendit acts as a deposit box, and notifies the recipient that the file is waiting for them to download. The website also provides a dropbox service:

A limited free trial is available, and the basic service costs $US9.99/month.
Visit http://www.yousendit.com/ for details.

Thank you Robin for contributing the information on this service.

COMPRESSING FILES

As filesizes increase, it is necessary to consider compressing them for the purposes of conserving hard disk space, for storage on removable media (external drives, CDs, DVDs). With their smaller filesize, compressed copies are useful for making backup copies of your data or for sending information over the Internet.

Formerly it was necessary to use applications such as Aladdin's Stuffit Expander to compress/expand files (you still need Stuffit to decompress files that are downloaded from the Internet in .sit format(. However, you can now perform compressions using the Archive Utility which is built into the System software.

Two simple methods of compressing files and folders are available:

1. In the Finder, select the item or items you want to compress, then go to the File Menu and choose Compress.
2. Hold down the Control key while you click on an item, then choose Compress from the drop-down contextual menu which appears.

If you compress a single item, the compressed file has the name of the original item with a .zip extension. If you compress multiple items at once, the compressed file is called Archive.zip.

When you open a compressed file, it is replaced by a folder containing uncompressed copies of the original items. As the item is being uncompressed, the Archive Utility appears in the Dock. If you want to change where uncompressed files appear or whether .zip files are automatically deleted, click Archive Utility, and choose Archive Utility > Preferences.

Thank you for bringing this useful utility to our notice, Robin.