Welcome to the January/February 2008 issue of Mac Hints & Tips
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Paul Taylor
paul@mac-hints-tips.com
Automate Your Backups
Don't want to buy a backup program? Don't want to purchase OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and Time Machine yet? You've already got a program that can help you do basic backups and protect your data -- Automator. Here's how to put it to use.
Create two folders -- a source folder on your startup drive and a destination folder on an external volume (this can be another internal hard drive, an external FireWire or USB drive, or even a USB key drive). Then download and install Ben Long's Backup Folder Automator Action. Launch Automator (/Applications), select the Finder item in the Library list, and drag "Get Specified Finder Items" from the Action list to the workflow pane. Click on the plus sign (+) button and navigate to the first folder. Click on the plus sign again and navigate to the second folder.
Drag the Backup Folder action from the Action list to below the first action in the workflow pane. Select "First Folder Into Second Folder" from the Back Up pop-up menu. Choose "File: Save As Plug-in", and name your workflow Backup in the resulting sheet. Choose "iCal Alarm" from the "Plug-in For" pop-up menu, and click on Save. iCal will open, and an iCal event that triggers your backup workflow will be created. In the alarm portion of the event, choose the time when you'd like to backup your files. Now hold down the Option key and drag this event to each day on your calendar when you'd like to back up the files in the source folder to the destination folder. Be sure to drop the desired files and folders into the source folder so the system can automatically back them up later. ~ Christopher Breen
MacWorld Magazine
Three Easy Ways to Encrypt Your Data
1. Create An Encrypted PDF
It's very easy to create a PDF in 10.4. Open the document you want to save as an encrypted PDF file, and choose File > Print. The print dialogue box opens up. Click "PDF" in the lower left corner of the print dialog box.
To create an encrypted PDF file, choose "Encrypt PDF" and enter a password. Anyone who wants to open the PDF file will need to enter that password. Of course, try and choose a difficult to guess password.
In your encrypted PDF, all graphics are at full resolution, and the file includes each font character it uses. Thus, in OS 10.4, any document that can be printed can also be stored as an encrypted PDF file. Pretty cool!
You can also create a PDF file of a document by clicking the "Preview" button in the Print dialog, and then choosing File > Save As.
2. Create An Encrypted Disk Image
Disk Utility, which is part of OS X, can easily make an encrypted Disk Image. In this case, "disk image" works like a virtual CD-R or flash key. Use an encrypted disk image to store lots of documents, or different kinds of data, such as PDFs, photos, Word documents, music, etc. You can even store encrypted PDFs in an encrypted disk image for drastic security!
To make an encrypted, password-protected disk image, browse to the Disk Utility program, which by default is stored in the Utilities Folder. The Utilities Folder is typically found in the Applications Folder. Launch Disk Utility and select File > New > Disk Image From Folder. Browse to the folder you want to encrypt. A dialog box will come up, asking you to name the disk image you are about to create. At the bottom of the dialog box are two drop-down tabs. Select the "Encryption" tab and choose "AES-128 encryption." This is a very robust and fairly flexible encryption scheme. It allows passwords up to 255 characters. It is important to note that, if you forget your password, all data stored in the disk image will be forever locked up.
Name this Disk Image and select "Save As."
Disk Utility will create the encrypted disk image, and typically will leave the new encrypted disk image on your desktop. When you try and open the disk image, a window will pop up, asking you for your password (unless you have saved the password to your keychain, in which case the image will just pop open.)
You can add and remove data from this disk image. However, as far as I know, you can't later go back and change the password on an encrypted disk image.
3. Use A Third Party Program
Sometimes it's easiest to simply use a third-party program to lock up your data. I recommend Knox. It simplifies making encrypted disk images, and gives you new ways of working with them. Knox also allows you to make automatic backups to encrypted folders.
Knox is a great program to install on your laptop, especially if you often travel with it.
Finally, every month we seem to hear about misplaced, lost, or stolen laptops, that happen to be loaded with incredibly sensitive data. For example, the Veterans Administration famously lost a laptop with the credit reports of 26.5 million US veterans. ~ Ed
Small Dog Electronics
Find Every Mac Made
Mactracker 4.2 (donationware) is a detailed database of every Mac device ever made. <http://www.mactracker.ca>
The Juice, Fort Wayne IN
Make Exact Disk Copies
OS 10.4's Disk Utility makes it easy to make an exact copy of a CD or DVD that can be stored on a hard drive as a disk image, or burned to a CD or DVD for future use. First, insert the CD or DVD you want to backup into your Mac. Next, drag the icon of the CD or DVD to the Disc Utility application (which is usually stored in the Applications Folder > Utilities Folder.) In other words, drag and drop the CD or DVD icon on top of the Disk Utility icon.
Disk Utility will launch, and then it will immediately open a window asking you to name the new disk image, and where to save it. Go ahead and save the image to your desktop.
In the Image Format drop-down menu, choose DVD/CD master. This is especially important if you want to burn a copy of the disk, and have it function as an exact clone of the original CD or DVD you hope to backup.
Now click "Save." A new disk image will be created on your Desktop, with the extension ".cdr," It may take a few minutes to create this file.
If you click on the disk image, you'll see it works just like a CD or DVD. You can store this new disk image on a hard drive. If you want to burn it to CD or DVD, you should again use Disk Utility. Otherwise, you'll only be burning a copy of the disk image, and not an actual CD or DVD master. To burn a CD or DVD master, open Disk Utility and look for the disk image of your CD or DVD, on the left side of the window. Usually it's at the bottom of the list of drives. Now, simply select the image, and then click "Burn." Follow the directions to burn the disk.
This is a great way to back up expensive software titles and game titles. Many games that require a disk to run will run off of the disk image -- great for traveling. ~ Ed
Small Dog Electronics
Back-up Those Digital Photos!
We've said it many times before, and we'll say it many times again: it's very important to back up your computer's hard drive. The hard drive is the mechanical device that stores all the data in your computer. Because it's a mechanical device, it can -- and eventually will -- fail.
The most important files on your computer's hard drive are the ones that simply can't be replaced. For most people, digital photos are at the top of this list. I have some digital photos that are very important to me, including photos of loved ones who have died. It would be a tragedy if I somehow lost these.
The easiest way to back-up your photos is to back-up the entire contents of your computer's hard dive. High-capacity, high-quality external hard drives are getting less expensive by the month. You can see our selection of hard drives here: <http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/storage/storage/wag113/wag10013/atkibbles>
You can use the software bundled with most of these drives for automated daily, weekly or monthly backups, or you can download two of my favorite shareware programs, Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to handle the task.
See these two programs here:
Carbon Copy Cloner
<http://www.bombich.com/ software/ccc.html>
SuperDuper
<http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html>
You can also simply copy your iPhoto Library folder to an external hard drive (or a scratch disk) to get a fully working backup. Simply drag the folder "iPhoto Library," which is typically stored in your Pictures folder, over to the external drive. This method is not sophisticated, but at least you get your entire library backed up -- including albums, keywords, comments, organization, slideshows, and thumbnails.
You can burn your entire iPhoto library to a CD or DVD, depending on the size of your file. If your iPhoto library is less than 4 GB, you can burn the entire iPhoto library to a CD or DVD; in iPhoto 6, go to Share > Burn. You'll be promoted to feed your Mac a blank CD or DVD. There are a few catches with this.
First, to make sure iPhoto copies your entire library, highlight the "Library" header in the upper left pane of iPhoto, and be certain no individual photos are selected or highlighted in the library. Otherwise, you will only copy and burn the highlighted image - not your entire iPhoto library, as we are trying to do here.
Second, if your iPhoto library is larger than 4 GB, it will not fit on a single DVD, and iPhoto 6 is not smart enough to span multiple CDs or DVDs. You can divide your library into chunks of 4 GB or less, and then burn your library in batches. Or, you can use Roxio Toast to burn your library, as Toast can span single data sources over multiple CDs or DVDs.
Another way to back up your photos is to export every single photo in your library into a folder on your desktop, which can then be burned to a CD or DVD. The advantage of doing this is that all files will be exported in a full-resolution format, as JPEG or RAW files that can be opened on almost any Mac or PC. Only the images are exported; keywords, thumbnails, ratings, etc will not be exported. Date and time information will not be exported, as that data is embedded in the actual images. In iPhoto 6, to do this, go to File > Export. Make sure "Size" is set to "Full-size images." Then create a new folder at the location of your choice, name it something memorable (such as iphoto_library_2006_01_09, etc.). This folder should be burned to CD or DVD, or copied to an external drive.
I think it's a great idea to make multiple copies of your digital photos - keep a back-up copy on an external hard-drive, and regularly burn a copy of your photos to a CD or DVD. Some people even keep a copy of their iPhoto library off site, away from their computer and back-up hard drive.
The last method to back-up your photos is old-fashioned: print them. Select your favorite photos and have them printed at good photo lab, or at a local drug store or Costco, or buy a good photo printer and print them yourself, on good quality paper. You don't have to print all of your photos, just the very important ones. Out of 6000 photos in my iPhoto library, only a couple hundred are truly important to me. These are the ones I will have printed! ~ Ed
Small Dog Electronics
Organizing Your Mac
As a parent whose house is a mess, I look forward to the day (in perhaps 10 years) when I'll be able to cross the living room without stepping on a plastic dinosaur. Meanwhile, I've found four simple techniques that provide an oasis of adult sanity on my Mac.
1. Clear the Desktop
Take 10 minutes to clear your desktop. Follow these steps: Close any open windows. Then, click the desktop to be sure you're in the Finder. From the Finder menu, choose Preferences. Clear the first three checkboxes in the Preferences window's General pane. You can access these items from the Go menu or Sidebar, so they don't need to clutter your soon-to-be tranquil desktop. Close the Preferences window.
Make a new folder on your desktop. Choose New Folder from the File menu. Name the folder In Box. Move each item on your desktop to an appropriate folder -- perhaps your Documents folder or a subfolder of your Documents folder -- or put it in the new In Box folder. (You may wish to create a folder in your Documents folder, called My Documents. I did this because my software automatically put so many support items in Documents, I could hardly find my own stuff.)
At the end of ten minutes, drag your new In Box folder into the Documents (or My Documents) folder.
2. Customize the Toolbar
Identify up to six files (or folders) that you often want to open for reference. For example, files I often want to open:
My "to do" list:
Add these items to your toolbar. But first, clear any unwanted items from the toolbar with these steps: Open a Finder window. (Press Command/N or choose "New Finder Window" from the File menu.) If you don't see a toolbar, click the oval button at the upper right of the Finder window. Remove unnecessary items from the toolbar by Command/dragging them off. (You are not deleting these items, just removing their buttons from the toolbar.) (To Page 5) (From Page 3) item that you want to put on the toolbar: You may wish to shorten its file name so it reads well for display on the toolbar. Drag each item to a desirable toolbar location. You should see a green plus badge appear on the pointer when it is over an allowed location. If you don't like the location of an item on the toolbar, move it by Command/dragging it.
To further customize your toolbar, choose Customize Toolbar from the View menu. In particular, experiment with the Show pop-up menu at the bottom of the customization dialog.
3. Put Projects on the Sidebar
It's time to separate the wheat of your active projects from the chaff of the other stuff on your Mac. Put folders for active projects in the Sidebar so you can find them instantly and save new files into them easily. Here are some examples of folders that might go in the Sidebar:
You might also, for example, put iPhoto in your Sidebar, if a current project is to work with photos tracked by iPhoto. To clean up your Sidebar and add items, follow these steps:
Open a Finder Window.
If the toolbar is showing, you should also see the Sidebar at the left. Items above the horizontal line in the Sidebar are put there by your Mac. You may wish to remove some items in order to make this area smaller; you can drag them out or remove them by clearing their checkboxes in the Sidebar pane of the Finder Preferences window.
Remove items from the bottom of the Sidebar that don't represent current projects by dragging them out of the Sidebar. You may wish to relocate default items, like Pictures and Movies, to the toolbar. (Drag the item off the Sidebar; then from your user folder, Command-Drag it to the toolbar.)
Drag each project folder to the Sidebar and drop it in the desired location. Notice that a horizontal line shows where the folder will go after you drop it. If the Sidebar is the wrong width, resize it by dragging the vertical divider at its right. If space is at a premium, consider dragging the line almost all the way left – your Mac will show a tool tip for each icon as you move the pointer over it.
Position and size the window as you want it to appear each time you open a new Finder window, then close the window to make your changes stick. Here are some tips for working with projects on the Sidebar:
To open an item from a project, start by clicking its project folder in the Sidebar. When you save a file, use the Sidebar in the Save dialog to switch to the correct folder quickly. When you save a file, if you need to work on it not in relation to its project but in relation to the fact that you just saved it, save to your desktop -- press Command-D to switch to the Save dialog to the desktop instantly.
To move an item to a folder on the Sidebar, drag it to the folder and drop it when the folder is highlighted.
4. Combat Clutter
Follow this clutter-destroying process periodically, perhaps once per day or week: If a file is on your desktop, file it correctly or stick it in your In Box folder for later review. If an item in your Sidebar no longer represents an active project, remove it. If you have too many active projects, decide which ones aren't front-burner active and move them off your Sidebar.
More Organizing Tips
To find out more, read David Allen's book Getting Things Done, which will inspire you to think about organization, and Matt Neuburg's ebooks Take Control of Customizing Tiger and Take Control of Customizing Panther, which explain many nuances of Finder customization.
~ Tanya Engst
TidBITS.com via LIMac Forum, Long Island, NY
Empty Your Trash Super Fast
Emptying the trash in OS X can be a pain. It's simply one of those easy-to-do-but-ever-so-arduous tasks that devour microseconds of life (actually, many computer-related tasks do that.)
Here are two ways to empty the trash moderately fast, and a third way to empty the trash in a flash.
Method one: Make sure you are in the Finder. Then hold down Command/Shift/Delete (the Command key is the one with the Apple on it on Mac keyboards.) A warning will pop up before you can empty the Trash.
Method two: You can also click on the Trash icon in the Dock, hold your mouse button down until a menu pops up with an "Empty Trash" message, and then choose "Empty Trash." Your files will be deleted without a warning.
Method three: If you want to empty the Trash even faster, again without a warning, make sure you are in the Finder, then hold down Command/Option/Shift/Delete (the Command key is the one with the Apple on it on Mac keyboards.) Again, if you use this command, the Trash will empty immediately, with no warning. Even large files stored in the Trash will be deleted immediately.
To quickly move a file into the Trash, click on the file once to highlight it, and then hold down Command/Delete. The file will immediately jump into the Trash. ~ Ed
Small Dog Electronics
Audio Formats
Background Information
Digital music can be stored in a variety of audio formats, many of which are supported by Music Man. There are two important factors that determine the use and popularity of a format, whether or not it uses compression, and whether or not it charges royalties. In the beginning, there was just the digital audio format used for Audio CDs. It is uncompressed and royalty free. So, when a company produces software or hardware to play this format, the company doesn't have to pay a royalty. This makes supporting this format very popular with manufacturers because it can be done at a lower cost.
Unfortunately, this format is uncompressed and so the music files stored in this format are very large -- too large to be of use on the Internet. For this reason, compressed digital audio formats were developed to store and transfer music in digital format. Editor's note: A 700MB audio CD can store 80 Minutes of music in this format.)
The most well-known of these formats is MP3, widely adopted by hardware and software manufacturers because it was both a compressed format and was royalty free. Since it is no longer royalty-free, the market has been quick to step in with new compressed formats that are royalty-free, formats such as OGG vorbis. It will be up to the market to decide which of these formats withstand the test of time.
About the MP3 Format
MP3, short for MPEG-1/MPEG-2 Layer 3, is the defacto standard format for storing compressed digital audio. While it is not strictly correct, the term "MP3 Player" has come into common usage to describe software and hardware products that work with not only the MP3 format but also other compressed digital audio formats. Most computer users are familiar with the MP3 format. Originally it was royalty-free for developers to create products that used the MP3 format and as a result many MP3 products have been developed. Now however, product developers must pay a licensing fee to use the MP3 format and so the MP3 format is now being challenged by other emerging compressed audio formats.
There are a variety of commercial and open source MP3 encoders available for Mac OS X, including the open source "LAME" MP3 software. MP3 can be played on many CD players, car stereos and flash MP3 players. MP3s can be played on your Mac using MP3 player software such as Music Man or iTunes.
About the WMA Format
WMA, short for Windows Media Audio, is a Microsoft proprietary format for storing compressed digital audio. It is a common music format on Windows and any user moving to Macintosh from Windows may have a pre-existing library of WMA files that they would like to use on the Macintosh. In order to develop products that use music converted to the WMA format, developers must license WMA technology from Microsoft. As of June 2004 there is no WMA encoder SDK available from Microsoft for Mac OS X so it is not possible to convert music to the WMA format on a Macintosh, although WMAs can be played on a Macintosh. WMAs can be played on some CD players, and flash MP3 players. WMAs can be played on your Macintosh using music player software such as Music Man.
(Editor's note: The situation has changed since then. Popwire WMV-9 Component version 2.0. is a QuickTime™ plug-in that lets you import and export Windows Media 9 material. Popwire WMV-9 Component 2.0 is a Universal Application; on PPC Macs it requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later and QuickTime 6.5.2 Pro or later, on Intel Macs it requires Mac OS X 10.4.5 or later and QuickTime 7 Pro or later. Flip4Mac enables QuickTime Pro to open wma and wmv (video) files.)
Please Note: Protected WMAs, Encrypted WMAs, Secure WMAs cannot be converted to another format on a Macintosh. (Editor's note: Well, I'm not sure that still is true.)
About the Ogg Vorbis Format
OGG, short for Ogg Vorbis, is a fully open, non-proprietary, general-purpose format for storing compressed digital audio. OGG was developed by the open source community (the folks that brought us BSD and Linux) in response to the license fees being charged for using the MP3 format. Although OGG is relatively new, it is also royalty free. Because of this, it is widely expected that OGG will be quickly adopted by product developers and challenge the dominant positions enjoyed by MP3 and WMA. The Ogg Vorbis libraries are available on all computer platforms as open source. OGG can be played on your Macintosh using music player software such as Music Man.
About the AAC Format
AAC, short for Advanced Audio Coding, is the audio encoding format used by the MPEG-4 Standard. While AAC must be licensed on a per application basis on the Windows operating system, there are no license requirements for using AAC in applications on Mac OS X. Unprotected AAC (M4A) can be played on your computer using music player software such as Music Man. Unprotected AAC (M4A) can be converted to other formats. Protected AAC (M4P) cannot be converted. AAC can be played on your Macintosh using music player software such as Music Man.
About the WAV Format
WAV, short for Waveform audio format, is a Microsoft and IBM open format that is typically used to store uncompressed digital audio. WAV is the most common format used for editing digital audio. There are no royalties for developing products that use the WAV format and many converters are available. Because it is an uncompressed format (and therefore the files are relatively large), WAV is not commonly used by "MP3" players, although it is supported by some. WAV can be played on your Macintosh using music player software such as Music Man, iTunes, and QuickTime Player.
AIFF
Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data on personal computers. The format was co-developed by Apple Computer in 1988 based on Electronic Arts Interchange File Format (IFF, widely used on Amiga systems) and is most commonly used on Apple Macintosh computer systems. AIFF is also used by Silicon Graphics Incorporated.
The audio data in an AIFF file are uncompressed big-endian pulse-code modulation (PCM) so the files tend to be larger than files that use lossless compression (such as FLAC) and much larger than files in lossy compression formats such as Vorbis and MP3. Uncompressed AIFF files at compact-disc settings (44.1K samples/sec, 16 bits, 2 channels) thus have a bitrate of 1411.2 kbit/s. The AIFF-Compressed (AIFF-C or AIFC) format supports compression ratios as high as 6:1.
Various Mac applications can open AIF files, including iTunes, QT Player, Peak, and others.
Music Man
Easy-to-use digital music software for Mac OS X. Rip, convert, burn and play MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC/M4A,M4B, AIFF, Ogg Vorbis on Mac OS X. Music Man offers all the features you want in an easy to use music player that also includes ripper, converter and burner features.
To run Music Man you need:
$19.95 US, Software Download
$29.95 US, CD-ROM Download Free Trial <http://www.mireth.com/text/products.html>
Apple Barrel, Ridgecrest, CA
How to Burn Data on a Single CD Multiple Times
Many people have asked us how to "reuse" a regular blank CDR, so they can burn data to it multiple times. This is typically called session burning. You can purchase dedicated applications do this (such as Toast or Disco), but you can also use Disk Utility which is built into OS 10.4. It takes a little planning to make this work, but it can help you cut down on the number of CDs you have to burn (and buy).
This great tip comes from Apple:
First create a new folder and give it a descriptive name. Now put the files you want to burn into that folder. Go to your Applications folder and open the Utilities folder. Double-click on the Disk Utility application.
After it launches, in the menu bar at the top of the screen choose File > New > Disk Image from Folder. When the "Open" dialog box appears, find the folder you created earlier with the data you want to burn, and click "Image." A "Save" dialog appears. You can leave the name as is or choose a new name (ignore the other options in this dialog box). Click Save. In a few moments, a disk image of your folder's contents will appear in the list on the left side of the Disk Utility dialog. Click on that icon, and then click the burn button at the top left of the Disk Utility application.
When you click the Burn button, a dialog will appear asking to insert a disc. Do so, then click once the blue downward-facing triangle on the right side of this dialog to show more options. Click on the checkbox for "Leave disc appendable." Now Click the "Burn" button.
Your data will now be written to that CD. To add more files later, just insert that same CD and use this same process all over again. Note that when you get to that final burn dialog, the button won't say "Burn" this time, instead it will say "Append" because you're adding these files to the same disc.
Don't forget to remove the files you already burned to this disc from the folder you created above (and the DMG file it creates) before you make your next disc image.
Note that this is different than using a CDRW (compact disk re-writable). A CDRW can be erased and re-burned multiple times (however it's not recommended to do this more than 10 times per disk). However, CDRWs don't work in all drives, and are expensive. This tip is designed for cheaper and more durable CDR's. ~ Ed
Small Dog Electronics
Add Your Own Alert Sounds
Don't like the scolding beep your Mac makes when you do something wrong?
You can customize your alert sound by going to the Sound preference pane's Sound Effects tab and selecting one of OS X's 13 other audio options -- from Basso to Tink.
If you don't like any of these sounds, use your own sound effects instead. Create a folder named Sounds in your user folder/Library and then drop your files into it, Make sure they're fairly short AIFF files. You can convert a file to AIFF with a tool such as Apple's iTunes or $30 QuickTime Pro. <http://www.apple.com/quicktime>
A wide variety of free alert sounds are also available online. If you're feeling nostalgic, for instance, download the Mac OS Classic Sound Pack 1.4 <www.macworld.com/2633>. Or go to Simply the Best <www.macworld.com/2634> for everything from a tugboat whistle to a cow's moo.
Once your files are in the Sounds folder, open the Sounds preference pane, click on the Sound Effects tab, and look for your files in the list. Select one, and it will become your new alert sound. ~ Rob Griffiths
MacWorld Magazine
Which Dash?
There are three dash characters in every font: the hyphen, the en-dash, and the em-dash. The hyphen (-) is shortest, the em-dash (—) is the same length as the point size of the type, and the en-dash (–) is half the length of the em-dash.
However, some fonts, including several installed with Mac OS, ignore these typographic traditions, and their em-dash is quite long.
Generally, use a hyphen (-) for hyphenating words and groups of words; just press the hyphen key. Use an en-dash (–) for separating numbers and dates (25–30, May 19–20); press Option/hyphen for an en-dash. Use an em-dash (—)where uneducated users place double-hyphens; press Shift/Option/hyphen for an em-dash.
Using a space before and after an em-dash is optional.
Exceptions: you'll notice that the width of the en-dash and em-dash vary by typeface. If the em-dash looks too long, try an en-dash instead.
Design Tools Monthly
Fix (r) & (tm)
When using a "registered" symbol (®) or a trademark symbol (™), it is often best to apply the Superscript or Superior style to reduce their size. When using them in a headline, shrink them even further and raise their baseline. Remember that these characters have absolutely no interest to the reader and only disrupt the flow of comprehension.
(Bonus tip: when this character follows a period or comma, kern it toward, and possibly above, the period or comma. Do the same when it follows a lowercase letter.)
Design Tools Monthly
Mind That Firewall
In a recent article I dealt with anti-virus programs, concluding that it may be healthier to be without one, at least for the present. One thing you can do, though, to improve the security of your Mac on the Internet, is to make sure you have turned on its firewall.
To do so, open System Preferences and click the "Sharing" icon. Now click the "Firewall" button. Below and to the left you should see the words "Firewall off" and a button marked "Start." Click this and you should see these items change to "Firewall on" and "Stop."
What the firewall does, broadly speaking, is to ensure that the only traffic passing between you and the Internet is that legitimately required for the proper functioning of programs you're using.
What is it that we're locking out here? Well, it's possible for "baddies" on the Internet to discover your Mac's location and to try to make use of some of its functions in a way you would not want them used; for example, to relay huge quantities of spam mail to other Internet users. (Note however that the firewall has nothing to do with spam mail you might receive via your email program and will have no effect on this.)
It may sometimes happen that when you activate the firewall, an Internet-related program that you use stops functioning correctly. Generally, this will be because the firewall has shut off one or more of your Mac's ports (communication channels) that the program uses. In this case, you need to establish from the program's publisher which ports are required, and use the System Preferences > Sharing > Firewall panel to open them (if they're already defined in the list there) or to define them (if they're not).
If you're using only Apple programs like iChat this problem shouldn't arise, as the relevant ports are defined and opened when you install the program. Most commercial programs will do the same, but not all do, so it's well to be aware of all this. ~ Steve Cooper
AUSOM News, Melbourne, Australia
Use Your Font Manager's Preview Window
Too many active fonts can slow your computer down, make the font menu long and unwieldy, and lead to a host of other computer problems. So to coax a little more speed and stability out of your copy of InDesign, graphic designers should keep those long font menus under control.
But what if you are brainstorming a new logo? That's exactly the time you want access to your full library of thousands (and thousands) of creative fonts.
Happily, the big three font managers (FontAgent Pro, Suitcase, and FontExplorer) all provide a quick way to try out your fonts -- without having to activate them first. Type a name or phrase into the preview window. Then scroll through your huge font collection and see what catches your eye. When you find something you want to play with, turn that font on for use in your graphics applications.
Preview fonts in FontAgent Pro's Font Compare window
Font Compare is in the lower right side of FontAgent Pro's main window. This allows you to view any text in a variety of fonts in any size or color you wish. You can quickly activate interesting fonts by clicking on the small grey dot to the left of their names.
Preview fonts using Extensis Suitcase Fusion's QuickType option
On the right side of the Suitcase window is a preview area showing the fonts you have selected. Change the pop-up menu at the top of that window to "QuickType" and type in a word or two in the field beneath. To activate a font from the preview list, click on the small circle to the left of the font name.
Preview fonts in Linotype FontExplorer X
The preview area is in the lower right half of FontExplorer's window. Type a word or phrase in the text field, set the font size and color if you wish. To activate an interesting font, highlight the example and choose Font > Activate from the main menu, or use the keyboard shortcut Command/Shift/A.
Preview fonts in Apple's Font Book
Apple's Font Book offers a very basic font preview. You can only view a single font at a time, and you only have control over the font size. In order to type your own sample text in the preview, you must first choose Preview > Custom in the main menu.
CreativeTechs.com
Fix for Garbled Text in Entourage Email, Safari, Explorer, or Mail
Garbled fonts can be caused by a variety of things. Here are some of the more common solutions:
Another possible fix. Quit Entourage, open the following folder on your computer, and delete the two files listed found in Users/[YourUserName]/Library/Caches:
With these two files removed, relaunch Entourage and see if the text display is fixed.
CreativeTechs.com
Disk Cleaner
Q: I recently found a program called Disk Cleaner (for PCs) and was wondering if there was something similar for Macs. ~ Gordon Werb
A: Disk Cleaner is a free, open source utility that deletes temporary, cache, and cookie files, as well as stray items in the Recycle Bin, from a Windows PC. There are loads of similar utilities for the Mac, but my favorite is Titanium Software's OnyX (payment requested). It allows you to easily muck with parts of the operating system that are usually accessible only through Terminal. But unlike many tools of this sort, OnyX helps you stay out of trouble while you do so -- it clearly explains what its features do and warns of potential problems. For example, in the Cleaning tab, where it seems that you'll be spending the bulk of your time, you'll discover that you can delete a wide variety of cache files, as well as form values and cookies (see "Empty the Cache"). OnyX warns you that deleting these things may mean that you have to reenter user names and passwords when you revisit favorite sites (this could cause trouble if you've neglected to make a note of any passwords). <www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html> ~ Christopher Breen
The Finder, Mid-Columbia MUG, Kennewick, WA
Printing Address Book for Day Planner
Q: Every year or so I go out and buy a new address book (hard copy) and hand-write new addresses and phone numbers. There should be a way to take all the listings from my Mac's address book and print them out on paper to form a new book. Do you know a way to do this? ~ Ann Duran
A: I know of a few ways, in fact. The first is to use Address Book's built-in printing capabilities. From within Address Book, select the contacts you want to appear on the printed page and choose File > Print. In the resulting "Print" dialog box choose "Pocket Address Book" from the Style pop-up menu and then choose "Indexed" or "Compact" from the Flip Style pop-up menu. Click "Print" and there you are.
Kind of limited, right? Right. So try this:
Download a free copy of Palm Desktop 4.2.1 for Macintosh.
<http://www.palm.com/us/software/desktop/mac.html>
(I love this program. It is a wonderful calendar and can be configured just the way you want.)
Open Address Book, create a group for the contacts that you'd like to print, and drag that group to the Desktop to create a vCard of your contacts. Then launch Palm Desktop, choose View > Address List, and drag your vCard into Palm's Address List -- User Data window. Now invoke File > Print and, when the Paper Planner Interview dialog box appears, that provides the means for creating printed pages formatted for Franklin, Day Runner, Day-Timer, or Other planners (and yes, you can also choose the binder-size of the planner you use within each brand). Print and you're on your way.
Not quite customized enough? No problem. William Champ over on the Apple Discussions forum offers a neat way to modify Page Setup to accommodate custom paper sizes -- the kind of custom paper sizes you might want to use with your day planner.
<http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa;jsessionid=aVTC pAUsKrGcbPVj8a?messageID=1717123�>
Chris Breen's Mac 911
Turning Word & Excel into Pages & Numbers
With the release of iWork '08, there is little reason to stick with MS Office. Pages is a great word processor with page layout capabilities and it will do something that MS Word for Mac will not do: open MS Word for Windows '07 documents!
Numbers is also a great alternative to Excel with more intuitive interface and much easier graphing and charting capabilities. You can read and write to MS Office file formats easily with both Pages and Numbers!
You can download a fully functional 30-day trial of iWork from Apple at: http://www.apple.com/iwork/trial/
Now if your really want to give iWork '08 a good workout, make Pages and Numbers the default application to open all of your Word and Excel documents! Here's how you do that:
~ Don Mayer
Mouse Tales, NorthCoast MUG, Berea, OH
iChat Buddy Capability
To find out what capabilities your iChat Buddies have, click on their name in the Buddy List. Now "Get Info" (Command/I) on the name. Their iChat capabilities will appear at the bottom of their Info window.
Mouse Droppings, Corvallis, OR
Block Flashing GIFs
Do you hate those flashing ads that show up on so many web pages these days, the ones that bounce around, looking like break dancers on a double dose of Jolt?
SafariPlus <http://web.mac.com/jrc/SafariPlus/> or <http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/20159/safariplus> offers the option of blocking looping GIFs. It may take a bit of fussing to be sure you have the right version for your setup, but is reputed to work well.
If you use Firefox, you can get Flashblock and all your headaches will be gone! <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/433>
Flashblock blocks all the Flash content. If you want to see a particular Flash presentation (some videos are played via Flash), you just click on it and it plays.
Mouse Tales, NorthCoast MUG, Berea, OH
Migrating Your Website to New Hosting
It used to be that web hosting was highly variable and if you found a good hosting company you stayed with them. But in the last few years, web hosting has become a commodity, and now it's kind of crazy to pay big bucks for hosting if you have a relatively small website and modest needs.
If you can tolerate your website being off line for a few days, then migrating to a new hosting is pretty straight forward. When you sign-up with your new hosting company, tell them the domain name and sign-off on the transfer of your domain to the new host.
If all goes smoothly, the transfer should take place within a day or two. If it doesn't then you'll need to pester your new hosting company and/or your domain registrar to get the transfer to take place. Your old hosting company is not likely to be of much assistance as you're obviously taking your business elsewhere. They have no incentive to help you out.
If you can NOT tolerate your website being off line, then you've got to proceed a little more carefully. The approach we're taking to get the new site all set up and running under a new domain name with the new hosting company, and then, when everything is ready, then we'll transfer the DNS. A new domain costs $15 or less these days so it's a cost-effective way to proceed.
Here's a checklist of things to do:
Select a new hosting company. There are a ton of them to choose from. Ask around for recommendations. You want your new hosting service to fill your needs, but at an appropriate price. Eight bucks per month for a small site is average these days. You can probably find cheaper hosting, but will it be reliable? Do they offer tech support? The really low-cost hosting may end up costing you more in frustration than it's worth.
Set up the new hosting service. This can often be done on-line.
Upload all your content to the new server.
Create all the same email addresses on the new server as you have on the old.
Test the new site thoroughly. As you test, watch the URL in your browser to be sure that you haven't followed a link to the old site by accident. Be sure any web forms work as intended.
When all is ready, then you can transfer the domain name to the new service. The old domain can be pointed to the new one. This is sometimes called "Parking." It allows people to reach your website using either domain name.
The approach described above is for sites where the web-hosting provider is the same as the domain-registrar provider. i.e. your web-hosting provider also provides your domain registration and DNS service. That's the most common situation. But sometimes you might have your DNS and/or domain registration hosted separately from your Website. In this case, when you have the new website all ready to go, you'll log in to your DNS hosting provider and either change the Name Servers associated with your domain or the IP address of the website. This is not an exhaustive exploration of this topic but it should cover the basics.
Mouse Times, Santa Barbara, CA
Hit ESC to Exit a Text Frame
Here is one of those great small details that makes Adobe's InDesign CS3 upgrade such a pleasure to work with. Eventually, most designers want a shortcut to switch to the Selection tool while you're working inside a text frame. You can't tap the V shortcut because you'll just end up adding the letter "v" to your text.
Now with InDesign CS3, when you are finished editing your text, just hit the ESC key on your keyboard. This is the quick-and-easy way to jump out of an active text box and switch directly to the Selection tool. I've come to love this simple little keystroke. Pass it along to another friend in your life who uses InDesign.
CreativeTechs.com
Extract Graphics from MS Word
If your client gives you a Microsoft Word document with embedded graphics, you can extract all the graphics at once by using Word's File > Save as Web Page feature. This creates a text file that you can throw away, and a folder that contains the full-resolution images in PNG format and lower resolution versions of the images in JPG format. ~ Sandee Cohen
InDesign Magazine via Design Tools Monthly
Change Office's Registration
Q: I just recently noticed that I made a typo when I registered my copy of Microsoft Office 2004. When I select Word: About Word (or the equivalent in any other Office application), my name appears misspelled after "This product is licensed to." Is it possible to fix this? ~ Meng Thao
A: Launch Office's Remove Office utility (/Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/Additional Tools/Remove Office). In the "Welcome To Remove Office" window that appears, you'll see a "Continue" button in the lower right corner. Hold down the Option key, and the button name changes to "Remove Licensing Information Only." Click on that button to acknowledge that this is what you really want to do, and Remove Office will delete the files containing the registration information. When you next launch an Office application, the Office Setup Assistant will appear and prompt you for your name and product key.
Chris Breen's Mac 911
Microsoft Font Problems
Microsoft Office 2004 users sometimes have their programs report that numerous fonts are damaged and must be replaced -- this, even though the fonts may be Microsoft's own and/or may have just been installed.
Just what triggers this problem is uncertain, but at least a cure has been defined. If you look in the Microsoft Office 2004 folder (inside your Applications folder) you'll find a folder named Office, and inside one named Support Files. Look in there and you'll find an item named Font Cache Tool. The remedy for the problem is to move this Font Cache Tool to a different folder (any one will do), or to trash it altogether if you feel adventurous. As far as anyone has been able to determine, this has no adverse effect on the operation of Office programs, and it certainly fixes this problem.
Some time ago there was another Microsoft font problem, and if you seem to be having any trouble with fonts at all and are running an older (than 2004) version of Office, it's worth downloading the latest versions of Times and Arial from the Microsoft website. Go to <www.microsoft.com/mac> and look at the right hand column. Scroll down until you can see and click 'View all downloads'. Now scroll down to Office 2001 and click 'Core Fonts Update'. Download and install the file you find here. ~ Steve Cooper
AUSOM News, Melbourne, Australia
Lost MS Office Product Key
I lost the "Product Key" for my Microsoft Office 2004 Student Teacher Edition. I called 1-800-936-5700 and got a connection in India.
They requested the part number on my CD and name, address, etc., then gave me a Product Key which worked. Also sent the key by email to me. Cost: $10.
Bill Dorrity
Word 2007 Converter
Microsoft Word 2007 for Windows uses a new file format that cannot be read by the current versions of Word for Mac OS.
Panergy's DocXConverter ($20) converts Word 2007 documents to Rich Text Format (RTF), which can be read by many different software applications, including the current version of Microsoft Word for Mac. <www.panergy-software.com>
Design Tools Monthly
Changing Text Alignment in a Table Cell
If you desire, you can independently specify the alignment of the text in every cell in a Word table. Originally, the cell alignment matches the alignment of the paragraphs from which the table was created. You can override this, however.
The easiest way to override cell alignment is to use the paragraph alignment buttons on the Formatting toolbar. Simply position the insertion point in the cell whose alignment you want to adjust, and then select one of the buttons -- Align Left, Align Center, Align Right, or Justify.
If you prefer, you could also use the Paragraph dialog box to set the alignment. Again, make sure the insertion point is in the cell you want to affect, and then choose Paragraph from the Format menu or press Option/Command/M to display the Paragraph dialog box.
You can use the Alignment drop-down list (on the Indents and Spacing tab) to specify how the text in the cell should be aligned. When you make your choice and click OK, the text is adjusted as you directed.
Regardless of how you choose to align the text, only the text in the cell is affected; the rest of the text in the table stays aligned as it was.
MacWordTips.com
Default Click and Type Paragraph Style
Normally, when you enter a paragraph by using the Click and Type method, the paragraph is essentially formatted using the Normal style. Granted, there are some changes to the basic formatting of the style (such as right alignment, center alignment, or indentation), but it is nonetheless the Normal style.
You can control what style Word uses as the base style for any paragraph you enter using Click and Type. To do this, follow these steps:
MacWordTips.com
Searching for White Space
Word for the Mac allows you to search not just for text, but also for special characters that normally do not print. Word even provides a shorthand character to search for this white space. White space is any combination of spaces, tabs, paragraph marks, newline characters, and breaks. In short, it is most non-printing characters.
To search for white space, follow these steps:
Word then finds the first occurrence of white space. Remember that this includes any non-printing characters.
MacWordTips.com
Removing Attachments in Microsoft Entourage
Entourage doesn't have Smart Mailboxes, but if you can sort your mail lists to display emails with attachments at the top by clicking on the attachment icon at the top of any mail list. Tip: If this icon is not available at the top of your mail list, tell Entourage to display the attachments column by checking: View > Columns > Attachments.
Once you've identified a number of emails with attachments, select one or more messages, and choose: Message > Remove All Attachments. This is especially useful for the "Sent Mail" folder.
When are finished removing unwanted attachments, the disk space is not reclaimed until you compact the Entourage database:
Quit Entourage and then relaunch it while holding down the Option key. This tells Entourage to display a maintenance dialog that includes an option to rebuild its database. Choose "Compact Database" or "Rebuild Database."
CreativeTechs.com
Roll Your Own Shortcuts
If you appreciate efficiency, you may already be using a macro-making tool such as QuicKeys. Using QuicKeys, here's one example of how to "add features" to an application (the principle applies to many areas of every application): In QuarkXPress, adding space above or below a paragraph requires a number of clicks and keystrokes. But accessing any field in the Measurements palette can be done by using just keystrokes.
Similarly, accessing the Formats dialog takes just a quick Command/Shift/F. So, set up a QuicKey shortcut that types Command/Shift/F, then type the Tab key four times to get to the "Space Before" field (or five times to get to the "Space After" field). This highlights the entire value in that field, so add a "Right Arrow" key to place the cursor at the end of that value.
Then, because QuarkXPress can do math in its value fields, you can type +1 or +2 or -1 or -2 or any other number, followed by the "Return" key. This will add or subtract one or more points from the value of the field.
The final step is to either assign a keyboard shortcut to these value-changing QuicKeys, or add them to a floating QuicKeys toolbar to increase or decrease Space Above and Space Below with one click. (By the way, you can also type Command/Option/M to go to the first field of the Measurements palette.
From there, you can add Command/Option/; (semicolon) to go from palette tab to palette tab, and then use Tab characters to get to any field you want to adjust.) <www.quickeys.com>
Design Tools Monthly
Stop Those Samples
Do you want to stop QuickTime from automatically going to the web and downloading a sample movie? Open QuickTime, open Preferences. Uncheck the "Show Content Guide Automatically" button.
Mouse Droppings, Corvallis, OR
Give Spotlight Keyboard Shortcut
In the old days we used to press Command/F to enter the Find field. Now it produces a Finder search window. Since you will usually want to start your search with Spotlight, lets give Spotlight the Command/F keystroke. Open System Preferences. Find Spotlight. Change the Spotlight menu keyboard shortcut to Command/F, close the Preferences and try the keystroke.
Mouse Droppings, Corvallis, OR
Search for Category
You can search by categories in Spotlight. Open Spotlight. At the bottom of the list it says Spotlight preferences. Choose it. You get a list of categories.
When you search in Spotlight, you can type the word kind followed by a colon (:) followed by one of the 14 categories. Follow this with a single space and the word or phrase you are searching for. For example, I have many QuickTime movies on my hard drive. By typing "kind:movies Mac" I narrowed the search considerably.
Mouse Droppings, Corvallis, OR
Browse PDFs in Bridge
Adobe Bridge lets you browse through multi-page PDF files without using Acrobat. Just select the PDF in Bridge and click the arrows in the Preview tab, or type in a page number. You can make the preview larger by dragging the edges of the Preview pane. ~ Adam Pratt
InDesign Magazine via Design Tools Monthly
Buzzing MacBook Pro
Does your 15-inch MacBook Pro emit a "high-pitched buzzing sound"? If so, you need a hardware repair. Contact Apple Support <www.macworld.com/2617>. ~ Ted Landau
MacWorld Magazine
Laptop Battery Life
Here we're talking about time between charges, rather than the total life of the battery before it finally needs replacement. Having clarified that... Apple advises that iBook, PowerBook, MacBook and MacBook Pro users should adopt the following procedure to "calibrate" the electronics in their batteries to ensure the longest possible time between charges:
There are a number of other things you can do to extend the time between charges. These include: Make sure that the "Energy Saver System Preference" is setting itself to the "Battery" settings when you are operating that way. It should do so automatically.
Turn the screen brightness down as far as is comfortable in the circumstances.
Turn off Airport and/or BlueTooth (from their menu bar icons) if you're not using them.
Disconnect peripheral devices if you're not using them. Close applications that you're not using. Eject CDs and DVDs that you don't need to access. (For folks a little knowledgeable about these things).
If you want to watch a DVD movie, rip the DVD to your hard disk using a utility such as MacTheRipper and play it from there using Apple's DVD Player or an alternative such as VLC or MPlayer, rather than playing the DVD itself in your laptop. Apple has some Web pages specifically addressing these and related topics at <www.apple.com/batteries>. ~ Steve Cooper
AUSOM News, Melbourne, Australia
Don't Disturb a Sleeping 'Book
If you have an Apple laptop, it can get very confused if you put it to sleep, then attach or remove a USB or FireWire device. In fact, it can require restarting.
So, when closing and moving an Apple laptop, remove all external devices and THEN put it to sleep (or close the lid). Removing or attaching a device while the book is asleep will wake it up, and if the lid is closed it can overheat and drain the battery.
Design Tools Monthly
Broken Hinge
Q: I have an iBook with a broken hinge on the left side. The AppleCare contract has just expired. Is this normal?
A: I wouldn't call it normal, but not unheard of. You can send it away to www.powerbookresq.com/ for repair. It will be $200–$230 for 12" or 14" iBook G3 models. They are in Kansas, just outside of Kansas City. That's a bit cheaper than Apple would charge. It's a rather labor intensive repair. ~ Bradley Dichter
LIMac Forum, Long Island, NY
Printing Options
I've noted over time that many Mac OS X users are unaware of some very important options that are tucked away in the Print dialog: Whenever you use an application's Print menu command, you will normally arrive at the standard Print dialog.
One of the features of this is a pop-up menu which, when you first see it, is labeled "Copies & Pages."
No matter which application you're working with, or what sort of printer you have, you'll find groups of other useful settings in this pop-up menu. The first one is "Layout," where you can choose to print multiple (reduced size) pages of your document on a single sheet of paper -- very handy for saving paper when printing long documents, as long as the font size is large enough to remain legible when there are two pages of it on each sheet.
There are several more groups of settings that you can investigate for yourself. Some of them are common to all printer and application setups, while some apply only to the current application/printer combination. There will often be one group that carries the current application's name (e.g. AppleWorks), where you'll find settings that apply specifically to that application.
Other settings to look for are those that enable you to tell the software what kind of paper you're printing on (plain, matte, glossy, etc) and how you want color management to be handled. Often, you can tweak the printer's color settings in this area.
If you want to print documents using only black ink (to help avoid using up your color cartridge quite so quickly), there's usually a relevant setting here.
Especially note that if you establish a particular combination of all these options and settings, you can save it with an identifying name. Click on the "Presets" pop-up and choose "Save." Give your preset a name and in future, you'll be able to recreate that combination of settings simply by choosing its name from the Presets pop-up.
AUSOM News, Melbourne, Australia
Missing TWAIN Driver
Q: My PowerMac G5 had to have the software reinstalled and I reinstalled the Epson scanner software with the CD it came with, but I get a message about missing TWAIN driver? How can I fix it?
A: TWAIN is the scanner driver framework. The Epson installer will put in a TWAIN Data Source file. (It goes in the /Library/Image Capture/TWAIN Data Sources/ folder. You forgot to go to Epson's Web site and download the updated software that actually works with your Mac's operating system. You may have to uninstall what is there now, before installing the new version.
Apple changed things for scanners with Mac OS 10.3. A large number of printer and scanner drivers required updates. (Some models were left behind and not updated. Anybody got an old UMAX or Microtek scanner?) Pretty much 99.9% of any hardware you might find, the software that came with it on a disc is out of date and needs a update.
The Software Update (you find in the Apple menu) is only good for updating your Apple software. The third party software like Microsoft, Adobe, Epson, HP, you name it, all need to be updated separately. Even firmware updates for your cable/DSL router or your fancy printer come out every so often. You know there have been dozens of iPod updaters, right? Do you think anyone got it right the first time? There is a reason the current Mac OS is version 10.4.7, because there were problems with 10.4.0, and still more with 10.4.1, etc., up to 10.4.7 itself. There will be a 10.4.8 update.
When in doubt, go to <www.versiontacker.com/macosx/> to see if there is a software update for something you use. You won't find every firmware update there, too, but some are listed. I remember calling a friend who had just ordered some new software but he hadn't received it yet. After checking VersionTracker, I told him, while you're waiting, download the update for it; it fixes a serious problem.
Updaters can be tricky, too. Some are very incremental, like FileMaker Pro 8.0v3 updater won't update the original release from the CD, version 8.0v1. You have to first download the 8.0v2 updater, install that before the 8.0v3 can find a valid application to update. More and more programs check for an update for themselves when they launch, but many require you to select from a menu to check for updates now. Some, like Adobe Creative Suite, can check for updates across most of the suite, but you have to check Adobe Acrobat Pro separately. ~ Bradley Dichter
LIMac Forum, Long Island, NY
Mac Hints & Tips is a compilation of tips found in Mac user group newsletter from around the world, as well as many Mac-related books, magazines, websites, and individuals. Following is a partial list of some of the contributors with links to their websites. To all who have contributed to the Mac community, we all give many thanks for sharing their tips and expertise.
Mac User Groups:
Mouse Droppings, newsletter of the Corvallis Macintosh User Group in Corvallis, Oregon, one of the oldest and most active user groups in the country, and the home of Phil Russell, a highly respected Macintosh writer and the main source of hints and tips published by me over the years, as well as other MUG newsletters throughout the world. www.cmug.com
Apple Barrel, newsletter of the Ridgecrest Apple User Group, Ridgecrest California. www1.iwvisp.com/croton
AUSOM News, newsletter of Australia's largest Macintosh User Group, Apple Mac Users' Society of Melbourne Australia. www.ausom.net.au
The Finder, newsletter of Mid-Columbia Macintosh User Group in Kennewick, Washington. www.macusergroup.com
The Juice, newsletter of SummitMac, Fort Wayne, Indiana. http://homepage.mac.com/vguess/summitmac
LIMAC Forum, newsletter of the Long Island Mac Users Group in Seaford, New York. www.limac.org
Mouse Tales, newsletter of the North Coast Mac Users Group, Cleveland, Ohio. homepage.mac.com/ncmug_oh
Friends:
Bill Dorrity, Goose Creek, South Carolina
Websites:
CreativeTechs.com -- "Left brain support for right brain professionals." Friendly expert computer support for Seattle area creative teams. www.creativetechs.com
Allen Wyatt's MacWordTips.com -- A website devoted to MS Word tips and scripts. www.macwordtips.com
Small Dog Electronics, an Apple Specialist and reseller of Apple Macintosh computers, peripherals, and software. www.smalldog.com
TidBITS.com -- a free email and Web publication covering the Macintosh Internet community. www.tidbits.com
Publications:
Jay J. Nelson's Design Tools Monthly -- An executive summary of graphic design news which includes Mac news and rumors, new software and hardware announcements, upcoming seminars and shows, interesting websites, and other valuable information. You may request a free sample copy of this monthly newsletter by going to www.design-tools.com or calling 303.543.8400.
InDesign Magazine, a complete resource for InDesign professionals. Published by Creativepro.com in PDF format. www.indesignmag.com
Macworld Magazine. The ultimate resource for Mac users. Each issue is packed with practical how-tos, in-depth features, the latest troubleshooting tips and tricks, industry news, and is home of Chris Breen's Mac 911 columns. www.macworld.com
If you are not a member of a Macintosh User Group, I highly recommend that you find one in your area and join. User groups are the greatest source of information and help available to all Mac users -- from novices to experts. You can find one in your area by going to apple.com/usergroups/find