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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!pad-thai.aktis.com!pad-thai.aktis.com!not-for-mail From: eharold@sunspot.noao.edu (Elliotte Rusty Harold) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps,comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.sys.mac.system,comp.sys.mac.wanted,comp.sys.mac.hardware,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: Introductory Macintosh frequently asked questions (FAQ) Supersedes: <macintosh/general-faq_740203209@GZA.COM> Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.misc Date: 30 Jun 1993 00:00:16 -0400 Organization: Department of Mathematics, NJIT Lines: 1055 Sender: faqserv@GZA.COM Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu Expires: 28 Jul 1993 04:00:06 GMT Message-ID: <macintosh/general-faq_741412806@GZA.COM> Reply-To: eharold@sunspot.noao.edu (Elliotte Harold) NNTP-Posting-Host: pad-thai.aktis.com Summary: This document answers a number of the most frequently asked questions about Macintoshes on Usenet. To avoid wasting bandwidth and as a matter of politeness please familiarize yourself with this document BEFORE posting. Keywords: FAQ, Macintosh, Mac, macintosh, mac, general, introduction X-Last-Updated: 1993/06/23 Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.sys.mac.apps:39077 comp.sys.mac.misc:48117 comp.sys.mac.system:33253 comp.sys.mac.wanted:24619 comp.sys.mac.hardware:58261 comp.answers:1152 news.answers:9821 Archive-name: macintosh/general-faq Version: 2.1.6 Last-modified: June 16, 1993 Copyright 1993, Elliotte Harold Changes: 1.2 What other information is available? The IP address of rtfm.mit.edu has changed yet again. It is now [18.70.0.224] rascal.ics.utexas.edu is no longer archiving the comp.sys.mac.comm faq. You can find this document at sumex-aim in info-mac/report. And my personal favorite change, my contact address is now: Elliotte Rusty Harold National Solar Observatory eharold@sunspot.noao.edu Sunspot NM 88349 While mail sent to my previous addresses should eventually reach me, mail sent here will be responded to much quicker. comp.sys.mac.faq Part 1: An Introduction to the Macintosh Newsgroups I. Introduction 1. How do I use this document? 2. What other information is available? 3. Which newsgroup should I post to? 4. Someone just asked why the System was taking up sixteen megabytes on their IIcx. Shouldn't I display my knowledge to the world by posting the seventeenth response to their question? II. FTP 1. Where can I FTP Macintosh software? 2. Can I get shareware by E-mail? 3. Where can I find Application X? 4. Can someone mail me Application X? 5. What is .bin? .hqx? .cpt? .image? .etc.? 6. How can I get BinHex? StuffIt? etc.? 7. How can I get BinHex, StuffIt, etc. from a PC? III. Troubleshooting. What to do when things go wrong 1. Identify the problem. 2. Read the READ ME file. 3. Check for viruses. 4. Reinstall the application and all its support files. 5. Reinstall the system software. 6. Isolate the problem. 7. Contact technical support. IV. Preventive Maintenance 1. Trash Unneeded Files 2. Reevaluate Your Extensions 3. Rebuild the desktop. 4. Zap the PRAM and Reset the Clock 5. Resize the system heap. 6. Reinstall the system software. 7. Disk Utilities 8. Backing Up 9. Disk Defragmentation 10. Reformatting and partitioning your hard disk Other FAQ lists currently available: B. comp.sys.mac.system: I. Memory 1. Why is my system using so much memory? 2. What is Mode 32? the 32-bit enabler? Do I need them? 3. Cache and Carry (How much memory should I allot to my cache?) II. System Software 1. Why does Apple charge for System 7.1? 2. What does System 7.1 give me for my $35 that System 7.0 doesn't? 3. Where can I get System 7.1? 4. How can I use System 6 on a System 7 only Mac? 5. Non-US scripts and systems 6. What is System 7 Tuneup? Do I need it? 7. Why do my DA's disappear when I turn on MultiFinder? 8. Do I need System 7.0.1? 9. How can I get System 7.0.1 on 800K disks? III. Hard Disks, Filesharing, and the File System 1. Help! My folder disappeared! 2. Why can't I throw this folder away? 3. Why can't I share my removable drive? 4. Why can't I eject this SyQuest cartridge? CD-ROM? etc. 5. Why can't I rename my hard disk? IV. Miscellaneous: 1. What does System Error XXX mean? 2. What is a Type Y error? 3. What is A/ROSE? 4. Easy Access or One Answer, Many Questions C. comp.sys.mac.misc: I. Viruses 1. Help! I have a virus! 2. Reporting new viruses II. Printing and PostScript 1. How do I make a PostScript file? 2. How do I print a PostScript file? 3. Why won't my PostScript file print on my mainframe's printer? 4. Why are my PostScript files so big? 5. How can I print PostScript on a non-PostScript printer? 6. How do I make my ImageWriter II print in color? 7. Why doesn't PrintMonitor work with the ImageWriter? 8. Why did my document change when I printed it? 9. How can I preview a PostScript file? 10. How do I edit a PostScript file? III. DOS and the Mac 1. How can I move files between a Mac and a PC? 2. How can I translate files to a DOS format? 3. Should I buy SoftPC or a real PC? IV. Security 1. How can I prevent users from changing the contents of a folder? 2. How can I password protect my Mac? V. No particular place to go (Miscellaneous Miscellanea) 1. Are there any good books about the Mac? 2. How do I take a picture of the screen? 3. How do I use a picture for my desktop? 4. Can I Replace the "Welcome to Macintosh" box with a picture? 5. What is AutoDoubler? SpaceSaver? More Disk Space? Are they safe? 6. How do they compare to TimesTwo, Stacker and eDisk? 7. Where did my icons go? 8. Where can I find a user group? This work is Copyright 1993 by Elliotte M. Harold. Permission is hereby granted to distribute this unmodified document provided that no fee in excess of normal on-line charges is required for such distribution. Portions of this document may be extracted and quoted free of charge and without necessity of citation in normal on-line communication provided only that said quotes are not represented as the correspondent's original work. Permission for quotation of this document in printed material and edited on-line communication (such as the Info-Mac Digest and TidBITS) is given subject to normal citation procedures (i.e. you have to say where you got it). Disclaimer: I do my best to ensure that information contained in this document is current and accurate, but I can accept no responsibility for actions resulting from information contained herein. This document is provided as is and with no warranty of any kind. Corrections and suggestions should be addressed to erh0362@tesla.njit.edu. Apple, Macintosh, LaserWriter, ImageWriter, Finder, HyperCard and MultiFinder are registered trademarks and PowerBook is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Linotronic is a registered trademark of Linotype-Hell AG, Inc. PostScript is a registered trademark and Illustrator and Photoshop are trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. PageMaker is a registered trademark of Aldus Corp. AutoDoubler and DiskDoubler are trademarks of Fifth Generation Systems, Inc. StuffIt and StuffIt Deluxe are trademarks of Raymond Lau and Aladdin Systems, Inc. StuffIt SpaceSaver is a trademark of Aladdin Systems, Inc. More Disk Space is a trademark of Alysis Software Corporation. TimesTwo is a trademark of Golden Triangle Computers, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T. All other tradenames are trademarks of their respective manufacturers. This is the FIRST part of the this FAQ. The second part is posted to comp.sys.mac.system and features many questions about system software. The third part is posted every two weeks in comp.sys.mac.misc. Tables of contents for those two pieces are included above. Please familiarize yourself with all three sections of this document before posting. All pieces are available for anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu [18.70.0.224] in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh. Except for this introductory FAQ which appears in multiple newsgroups and is stored as general-faq.Z, the name of each file has the format of the last part of the group name followed by "-faq.Z", e.g the FAQ for comp.sys.mac.system is stored as system-faq.Z and the FAQ for comp.sys.mac.misc is stored as misc-faq.Z. RTFM stores files as compressed (.Z) BINARY files. If you leave off the .Z at the end of the file name when "getting" the file, rtfm will automatically decompress the file before sending it to you. You can also have these files mailed to you by sending an E-mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the line: send pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/"name" in the body text where "name" is the name of the file you want as specified above (e.g. general-faq). You can also send this server a message with the subject "help" for more detailed instructions. ==================== I HAVE A QUESTION... (1.0) ==================== Congratulations! You've come to the right place. Usenet is a wonderful resource for information ranging from basic questions (How do I lock a floppy disk?) to queries that would make Steve Jobs himself run screaming from the room in terror. (I used ResEdit to remove resources Init #11, WDEF 34, and nVIR 17 from my system file and used the Hex Editor to add code string #A67B45 as a patch to the SFGetFile routine so the Standard File Dialog Box would be a nice shade of mauve. Everything worked fine until I installed SuperCDevBlaster, and now when I use the Aldus driver to print from PageMaker 5.0d4 to a Linotronic 6000 my system hangs. P.S. I'm running System 6.0.2 on a PowerBook 170.) Since the Macintosh newsgroups are medium to high volume, we ask that you first peruse this FAQ list including at least the table of contents for the other pieces of it, check any other relevant on-line resources listed below in question 1.2, especially the FAQ lists for the other Macintosh newsgroups, and RTFM (Read the Friendly Manual) before posting your question. We realize that you are personally incensed that the System is taking up fourteen of your newly-installed twenty megs of RAM, but this question has already made its way around the world three hundred times before, and it's developing tired feet. Finally, before posting to any newsgroup (Macintosh or otherwise), please familiarize yourself with the basic etiquette of Usenet as described in the newsgroup news.announce.newusers. HOW DO I USE THIS DOCUMENT? WHERE CAN I GET IT? (1.1) comp.sys.mac.faq is currently divided into multiple pieces, a general introduction which you're reading now, and specific lists for the newsgroups comp.sys.mac.system and comp.sys.mac.misc. FAQ lists for comp.sys.mac.wanted, comp.sys.mac.apps and comp.sys.mac.hardware are in development. When ready each part will be available in its respective newsgroup. All pieces are available via anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu in the pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh directory. Except for this document itself which is named general-faq.Z the pieces are named as per the last part of the newsgroup they cover followed by "-faq", e.g. system-faq.Z, misc-faq.Z. The .Z means the file is stored compressed so you'll need to ftp it in binary mode and use either MacCompress, StuffIt Deluxe, or the UNIX uncompress command to decompress it. However if you leave off the ".Z" extension when you "get" the file, rtfm will automatically decompress the file before sending it to you. This introductory document is posted to all of the concerned newsgroups. The tables of contents for each of the specific FAQ lists are at the beginning of this file so you should be able to get at least some idea whether your question is answered anywhere else in the FAQ even if you don't have the other parts at hand. It's not always obvious, especially to newcomers, where a particular question or comment should be posted. Please familiarize yourself with the FAQ lists in all the major Macintosh newsgroups before posting in any of them. Which questions appear in which FAQs can serve as a basic guide to what posts belong where. To jump to a particular question search for section-number.question-number enclosed in parentheses. For example to find "Where can I FTP Macintosh software?" search for the string "(2.1)". To jump to a section instead of a question use a zero for the question number. WHAT OTHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE? (1.2) comp.sys.mac.faq provides short answers to a number of frequently asked questions appropriate for the Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.mac.misc and comp.sys.mac.system. Four other files are worthy of particular note: Daryl Spitzer maintains a FAQ list covering Macintosh programming for the newsgroup comp.sys.mac.programmer. It's posted to that group weekly and available for anonymous ftp from ftp.cs.uoregon [128.223.8.8] in /pub/mac. Eric Rosen maintains a frequently asked questions list for comp.sys.mac.comm available in that newsgroup and from sumex-aim.stanford.edu in info-mac/report. This list answers many frequently asked questions about networking, UNIX and the Mac, telecommunications, and foreign file formats. Norm Walsh has compiled an excellent FAQ for comp.fonts that answers a lot of questions about the various kinds of fonts and cross-platform conversion and printing. It's available in comp.fonts or by ftp from ibis.cs.umass.edu [128.119.40.118] in /pub/norm/comp.fonts/FAQ*. Finally Jim Jagielski maintains a FAQ for comp.unix.aux covering Apple's UNIX environment, A/UX. It's posted every 2 to 3 weeks in comp.unix.aux and news.answers. It's available for anonymous ftp at jagubox.gsfc.nasa.gov. WHICH NEWSGROUP SHOULD I POST TO? (1.3) There are no stupid questions, but there are misplaced ones. You wouldn't ask your English teacher how to do the definite integral of ln x between zero and one, would you? So don't ask the programmer newsgroup why your system is so slow when Microsoft Word is in the background. Ignorance of basic netiquette is not an excuse. If you want people to help you, you need to learn their ways of communicating. Posting questions to the proper newsgroup will fill your mailbox with pearls of wisdom (and maybe a few rotten oysters too :-) ). Posting to the wrong newsgroup often engenders a thundering silence. For instance the most common and glaring mispost, one that seems as incongruous to dwellers in the Macintosh regions of Usenet as would a purple elephant to Aleuts in the Arctic, asking a question about networking anywhere except comp.sys.mac.comm, normally produces no useful responses. Posting the same question to comp.sys.mac.comm ensures that your post is read and considered by dozens of experienced network administrators and not a few network software designers. Please post to exactly ONE newsgroup. Do not cross-post. If a question isn't important enough for you to take the extra minute to figure out where it properly belongs, it's not important enough for several thousand people to spend their time reading. For the same reason comp.sys.mac.misc should not be used as a catch-all newsgroup. The breakdown of questions between different newsgroups in this document can also serve as a reasonable guide to what belongs where. Specifically questions about productivity applications (software you bought your Macintosh to run, not software you bought to make your Macintosh run better) should go to comp.sys.mac.apps unless the application is covered in a more specific newsgroup. Communications programs, games, HyperCard, compilers and databases all have more topical comp.sys.mac.* newsgroups. Post questions about non-communications hardware including questions about what software is necessary to make particular hardware work to comp.sys.mac.hardware. Questions about MacOS system software belong in comp.sys.mac.system. Questions about utilities and extensions normally belong in comp.sys.mac.misc. Questions about A/UX go to comp.unix.aux. Detailed questions about Appletalk belong in comp.protocols.appletalk. Direct questions about HyperCard to comp.sys.mac.hypercard. Non-HyperCard programming questions and questions about development environments should go to comp.sys.mac.programmer. ResEdit questions may be posted either to comp.sys.mac.misc, comp.sys.mac.system, or comp.sys.mac.programmer; but generally the netters who inhabit the darker recesses of comp.sys.mac.programmer are considerably more practiced at the art of resource hacking. A general exception to the above rules is that any VERY technical question about an application that actually begins to delve into the how's of a program as well as the what's (Recent example: How does WriteNow which is written entirely in assembly compare to other word processors written in high level languages?) might be better addressed to the programmer newsgroup. For Sale and Want to Buy posts should go to comp.sys.mac.wanted and misc.forsale.computers.mac ONLY. We understand that you're desperate to sell your upgraded 128K Mac to get the $$ for a PowerBook 180; but trust me, anyone who wants to buy it will be reading comp.sys.mac.wanted. Political and religious questions (The Mac is better than Windows! Is not! Is too! Is not! Is too! Hey! How 'bout the Amiga! What about it? Is Not! Is too!) belong in comp.sys.mac.advocacy. Anything not specifically mentioned above probably belongs in comp.sys.mac.misc. Finally don't be so provincial as to consider only the comp.sys.mac newsgroups the appropriate forums for your questions. Many questions about modems in comp.sys.mac.comm are much more thoroughly discussed in comp.dcom.modems. Questions about Mac MIDI are often better handled in comp.music even though it's not a Macintosh specific newsgroup. Shop around. Usenet's a big place and not everything relevant to the Macintosh happens in comp.sys.mac. 4. SOMEONE JUST ASKED WHY THE SYSTEM WAS TAKING UP SIXTEEN OF THEIR TWENTY MEGABYTES OF RAM. SHOULDN'T I PUT MY BRILLIANCE AND WIT ON DISPLAY FOR THE WORLD BY POSTING THE SEVENTEENTH RESPONSE? No. Frequent answers are just as boring and uninteresting as frequent questions. Unless you really have something new to add to the traditional answers (such as the recent discovery that fonts in System 7.1 could eat memory) private E-mail is a much better medium for answering common questions like this one. You might want to add a mention of this FAQ in your E-mail response and a polite suggestion that your correspondent read it before posting future questions. I do read all the newsgroups covered here and have written a small script in MicroPhone II that lets me send PWFAQ's (people with frequently asked questions) the section of this document that answers their question with just the click of a button so please don't feel obligated to respond to someone who cares so little about the answer to their question they can't be troubled to read the FAQ list to get it. === FTP (2.0) === WHERE CAN I FTP MAC SOFTWARE? (2.1) The three major North American Internet archives of shareware, freeware, and demo software are sumex-aim.stanford.edu (36.44.0.6), mac.archive.umich.edu (141.211.165.41), and wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4) which mirrors the other two sites and several others. Wuarchive often holds on to files after other sites remove them for space concerns, and still has files that were deleted from the formerly important site, rascal.ics.utexas.edu. Rascal was notable for storing its files in MacBinary format rather than the less efficient BinHex format common at the other archives. Unless otherwise noted shareware and freeware mentioned in this document should be available at the above sites. To keep traffic on the Internet manageable, Scandinavians should try connecting to ftp.funet.fi (128.214.6.100), ftp.lth.se (130.235.20.3), or sics.se (192.16.123.90) instead. Those in the U.K. should look first at src.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.2.1). Continental Europeans can try nic.switch.ch (130.59.1.40), ezinfo.ethz.ch (129.132.2.72), and anl.anl.fr(192.54.179.1). Australian users should try to find what they want at archie.au (139.130.4.6) which mirrors info-mac and mac.archive. Japanese users will find sumex mirrored at ftp.u-tokyo.ac.jp (130.69.254.254). A fourth very important site is ftp.apple.com (130.43.2.3). This is Apple's semi-official repository for system software, developer tools, source code, technical notes, and other things that come more or less straight from Apple's mouth. Some material at this site may not be distributed outside the U.S. or by other sites that don't have an official license to distribute Apple system software. Please read the various README documents available at ftp.apple.com for the detailed info if you're connecting from outside the U.S. or if you wish to redistribute material you find here. CAN I GET SHAREWARE BY E-MAIL? (2.2) The info-mac archives at sumex-aim are available by E-mail from LISTSERV@RICEVM1.bitnet (alternately listserv@ricevm1.rice.edu). The listserver responds to the commands $MACARCH HELP, $MACARCH INDEX, and $MACARCH GET filename. Mac archive files are available from mac@mac.archive.umich.edu. Send it a message containing the words "help" and "index" (no quotes) on the first two lines of your message for instructions on getting started and a list of the files you may request. You can retrieve files from other sites by using the server at ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com. For details send it a message with just the text "help" (no quotes). WHERE CAN I FIND APPLICATION X? (2.3) If you can't find what you're looking for at one of the above sites, try telnetting to your nearest archie server or sending it an E-mail message addressed to archie with the subject "help." Archie servers are located at archie.rutgers.edu (128.6.18.15, America), archie.mcgill.ca (132.206.2.3, the original archie server in Canada), archie.au (139.130.4.6, Australia), archie.funet.fi (128.214.6.100, Scandinavia), and archie.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.3.7, the U.K. and the continent). These sites index the tens of thousands of files available for anonymous ftp. Login as "archie" (no password is needed) and type "prog filename" to find what you're looking for or type "help" for more detailed instructions. For instance you would type "prog Disinfectant" to search for a convenient ftp site for Disinfectant. If the initial search fails to turn up the file you want, try variations on and substrings of the name. For instance if you didn't find Disinfectant with "prog Disinfectant", you might try "prog disi" instead. Substring searches often hide the gold in a pile of dross. To avoid many erroneous matches add a ".*\.hqx" to the end of the substring, e.g. "prog disi.*\.hqx" Most Mac software available on the net ends in .hqx but almost no UNIX or PC software does. Please check the above archives and ARCHIE personally BEFORE asking where you can find a particular piece of shareware. If you follow the above advice, you should almost never have to ask the net where to find a particular piece of software. CAN SOMEONE MAIL ME APPLICATION X? (2.4) No. Nor will anyone mail you a part of a file from comp.binaries.mac that was corrupt or missed at your site. Please refer to the first questions in this section to find out about anonymous FTP, archie, and automatic E-mail servers. WHAT IS .BIN? .HQX? .CPT? .ETC? (2.5) Most files available by FTP are modified twice to allow them to more easily pass through foreign computer systems. First they're compressed to make them faster to download, and then they're translated to either a binhex (.hqx) or MacBinary (.bin) format that other computers can digest. (The Macintosh uses a special two-fork filing system that chokes most other computers.) BinHex files are 7-bit ASCII text files, while MacBinary files are pure 8-bit binary data that must always be transferred using a binary protocol. How a file has been translated and compressed for transmission is indicated by its suffix. Normally a file will have a name something like filename.xxx.yyy. .xxx indicates how it was compressed and .yyy indicates how it was translated. To use a file you've FTP'd and downloaded to your Mac you'll need to reverse the process. Most files you get from the net require a two-step decoding process. First change the binhex (.hqx) or MacBinary (.bin) file to a double-clickable Macintosh file; then decompress it. Which programs decode which file types is covered in the table below. Also note that most Macintosh telecommunications programs will automatically convert MacBinary files to regular Macintosh files as they are downloaded. *************************************************************************** Suffix: .sit .cpt .hqx .bin .pit .Z .image .dd .zip .uu .tar Extractors -------------------------------------------------------------------------- StuffIt 3.0| X X X X X Compact Pro| X X Packit | X UUTool | X MacCompress| X SunTar | X X X X BinHex 5.0 | X X BinHex 4.0 | X DiskDoubler| X X ZipIt | X DiskCopy | X macutil | X X X X *************************************************************************** A few notes on the decompressors: StuffIt is a family of products that use several different compression schemes. The freeware StuffIt Expander will unstuff all of them. Versions of StuffIt earlier than 3.0 (StuffIt 1.5.1, StuffIt Classic, UnStuffIt, and StuffIt Deluxe 2.0 and 1.0) will not unstuff the increasing number of files stuffed by StuffIt 3.0. You need to get a more recent version of StuffIt or StuffIt Expander. StuffIt 3.0.5 (Lite and Deluxe) consistently makes smaller archives than any other Macintosh compression utility. To allow maximum space for files on the various ftp sites and to keep net-bandwidth down, please compress all files you send to anonymous ftp sites with StuffIt 3.0.5. UUTool, MacCompress, and SunTar handle the popular UNIX formats of uuencode (.uu), compress (.Z), and tar (.tar) respectively. The UNIX versions are often more robust than the Mac products, so use them instead when that's an option. Translators that allow StuffIt Lite to expand uuencoded and tar files are also available by anonymous ftp. Macutil is dik winter's package of UNIX utilities to decompress and debinhex files on a workstation before downloading them to a Mac. Since UNIX stores files differently than does the Mac, macutil creates MacBinary (.bin) files which should be automatically converted on download. It can't decompress everything. In particular it can't decompress the new StuffIt 3.0 archives. :-( However, if you need only one or two files out of an archive--for instance if you want to read the README to find out if a program does what you need it to do before you download all of it--macutil is indispensable. It can be found at sumex-aim in the info-mac/unix directory. A few notes on the compression formats: .bin: These are MacBinary files. Always use a binary file transfer protocol when transferring them, never ASCII or text. Most files on the net are stored as .hqx instead. Only rascal stores most of its files in .bin format. Most communications programs such as ZTerm and MacKermit are capable of translating MacBinary files on the fly as they download if they know in advance they'll be downloading MacBinary files. .image: This format is normally used only for system software, so that on-line users can download files that can easily be converted into exact copies of the installer floppies. Instead of using DiskCopy to restore the images to floppies, you can use Steve Christensen's freeware utility MountImage to treat the images on your hard disk as actual floppies inserted in a floppy drive. MountImage has a reputation for being buggy, so you should have some blank floppies and a copy of DiskCopy handy just in case. .sea (.x, .X): .sea files don't merit a position in the above table because they're self-extracting. They may have been created with Compact Pro, StuffIt, or even DiskDoubler; but all should be capable of decompressing themselves when double-clicked. For some unknown reason Alysis has chosen not to use this industry standard designation for self-extracting archives created with their payware products SuperDisk! and More Disk Space. Instead they append either .x or .X to self-extracting archives. HOW CAN I GET BINHEX? STUFFIT? ETC.? (2.6) By far the easiest way to get these programs is to ask a human being to copy them onto a floppy for you. If you're at a university there's absolutely no excuse for not finding someone to give you a copy; and if you're anywhere less remote than McMurdo Sound, chances are very good that someone at a computer center, dealership, or user group can provide you with a copy of StuffIt. Once you have StuffIt (any version) you don't need BinHex. If you're such a computer geek that the thought of actually asking a living, breathing human being instead of a computer terminal for something turns you into a quivering mass of protoplasmic jelly, you can probably download a working copy of StuffIt from a local bulletin board system. If you have religious objections to software gotten by any means other than anonymous ftp, then I suppose I'll mention that you can in fact ftp a working copy of StuffIt though this is by far the hardest way to get it. Ftp to wuarchive.wustl.edu and login. Type the word "binary." Hit return. Type "cd mirrors/rascal.ics.utexas.edu/compression" and hit return. Then "get StuffIt_Expander_1.0.1_SEA_bin" and hit return. Of course it's always possible that by the time you read this StuffIt Expander will have been updated and the name changed so if this fails look for something similar. If you've ftp'd straight onto your Mac you should now have a self-extracting archive which will produce a working copy of StuffIt Expander when double-clicked. If you've ftp'd to your mainframe or UNIX account first, you still need to use a modem program to download it to your Mac. Just make sure that the Mac is receiving in MacBinary mode and the mainframe is sending in binary mode. If you need more details on the last step, consult the FAQ list for comp.sys.mac.comm and the manuals for both your mainframe and Macintosh telecommunications software. HOW CAN I GET BINHEX, STUFFIT, ETC. FROM A PC? (2.7) You can't. There is absolutely NO way to get an executable Macintosh file from an ftp site onto a PC and then onto your Mac without some software obtained by means other than anonymous ftp. You MUST beg, borrow, or steal the necessary software such as Binhex or StuffIt Lite from another person. I realize this may terrify those among you who haven't left your parents' basement since you got an Apple II+ in 1980, but eventually you're going to need to link up with some human being other than your mother. (though I suppose if you're this much of a nerd you could send your mother out to get it for you.) While you're gathering your nerves for a venture into the strange and terrifying world of daylight, please don't bother the net by asking this question again. There simply is no way to move executable Macintosh programs from a PC or other non-Macintosh computer onto a Mac without software that is not bundled with most Macs. ================================================================= TROUBLESHOOTING: WHAT TO DO (BEFORE POSTING) WHEN THINGS GO WRONG (3.0) ================================================================= While the various FAQ lists cover a lot of specific problems, there are far more problems that aren't covered here. These are a few basic techniques you should follow before asking for help. You should probably also perform the ten-step preventative maintenance routine described in section four, especially rebuilding the desktop (4.3) and resizing the system heap (4.5). Following these steps may or may not solve your problem, but it will at least make it easier for others to recommend solutions to you. IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM. (3.1) "Microsoft Word is crashing" doesn't say much. What were you doing when it crashed? Can you repeat the actions that lead to the crash? The more information you provide about the actions preceding the crash the more likely it is someone can help you. The more precisely you've identified the problem and the actions preceding it (Step 1) the easier it will be to tell if the following steps fix the problem. For example, "Sometimes QuarkXPress 3.0 crashes with a coprocessor not installed error." is not nearly as helpful as "QuarkXPress 3.0 crashes when I link two text boxes on a master page when copies of those text boxes already contain text." The former will leave you wondering whether the bug remains after a given step. The latter lets you go right to the problem and see if it's still there or not. READ THE READ ME FILE. (3.2) Many companies include a list of known incompatibilities and bugs in their READ ME files. Often these aren't documented in the manual. Read any READ ME files to see if any of the problems sound familiar. CHECK FOR VIRUSES. (3.3) Run Disinfectant or another anti-viral across your disk. Virus infections are rarer than most people think, but they do occur and they do cause all sorts of weird problems when they do. REINSTALL THE APPLICATION AND ALL ITS SUPPORT FILES. (3.4) For half a dozen reasons (external magnetic fields, improperly written software, the alignment of the planets) a file on a disk may not contain the data it's supposed to contain. This can cause all types of unexplained, unusual behavior. Restoring from original masters will normally fix this. REINSTALL THE SYSTEM SOFTWARE. (3.5) Bits are even more likely to get twiddled in the system file than in the application and the effects can be just as disastrous. See question 4.6 for a detailed procedure for performing a clean reinstall. If the problem continues to occur after you've taken these steps, chances are you've found either a conflict between your application and some other software or a genuine bug in the program. So it's time to ISOLATE THE PROBLEM. (3.6) You need to find the minimal system on which the problem will assert itself. Here are the basic steps of isolating the cause of a system or application crash: a. Run only one application at a time. Occasionally applications do conflict with each other. If the problem does not manifest itself without other applications running simultaneously, you can begin launching other applications until you find the one that causes the crash. b. If you're running System 6, turn off MultiFinder. If you're running System 7, allot as much memory to the application as you can afford. Sometimes programs just need more memory, especially when performing complicated operations. c. If you're running System 7, turn off virtual memory and 32-bit addressing. There's still an awful lot of System 7 hostile software out there including some from companies that really have no excuse. (Can you say Microsoft Word 5.1, boys and girls? I knew you could.) Some of this software only expresses its incompatibilities when certain uncommon actions are taken. d. If you have a 68040 Mac, turn the cache off. Many older programs don't work well with the built-in cache of the 68040. e. Boot from a virgin system floppy. If the problem disappears you likely have an init conflict. You need to progressively remove extensions until the problem vanishes. Use a little common sense when choosing the first extensions to remove. If the problem occurs when you try to open a file, remove any inits that mess with the Standard File Open procedure such as Super Boomerang first. If the problem remains after the obvious candidates have been eliminated, either remove the remaining extensions one at a time or, if you have a lot of them, perform a binary search by removing half of the extensions at a time. Once the problem disappears add half of the most recently removed set back. Continue until you've narrowed the conflict down to one extension. When you think you've found the offending init restart with only that init enabled just to make sure that it and it alone is indeed causing the problem. CONTACT TECHNICAL SUPPORT. (3.7) By now you should have a very good idea of when, where, and why the conflict occurs. If a tech support number is available for the software, call it. If you're lucky the company will have a work around or fix available. If not, perhaps they'll at least add the bug to their database of problems to be fixed in the next release. ====================== PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE (4.0) ====================== You wouldn't drive your car 100,000 miles without giving it a tune-up. A computer is no different. Regular tune-ups avoid a lot of problems. Although there are Mac mechanics who'll be happy to charge you $75 or more for the equivalent of an oil change, there's no reason you can't change it yourself. The following nine-step program should be performed about every three months. TRASH UNNEEDED FILES (4.1) Many of the operations that follow will run faster and more smoothly the more free disk space there is to work with so spend a little time cleaning up your hard disk. If you're at all like me, you'll find several megabytes worth of preferences files for applications you no longer have, archives of software you've dearchived, shareware you tried out and didn't like, announcements for events that have come and gone and many other files you no longer need. If you're running System 7 you may also have several more megabytes in your trash can alone. Throw them away and empty the trash. RETHINK YOUR EXTENSIONS (4.2) Some Macintoshes attract inits like a new suit attracts rain. Seriously consider whether you actually need every extension in your collection. If you don't use the functionality of an extension at least every fifth time you boot up, you're probably better off not storing it in your System Folder where it only takes up memory, destabilizes your system, and slows down every startup. For instance if you only read PC disks once a month, there's no need to keep AccessPC loaded all the time. Cutting back on your extension habit can really help avoid crashes. REBUILD THE DESKTOP (4.3) The Desktop file/database holds all the information necessary to associate each file with the application that created it. It lets the system know what application should be launched when you open a given file and what icons it should display where. Depending on its size each application has one or more representatives in the desktop file. As applications and files move on and off your hard disk, the Desktop file can be become bloated and corrupt. Think of it as a Congress for your Mac. Every so often it's necessary to throw the bums out and start with a clean slate. Fortunately it's easier to rebuild the desktop than to defeat an incumbent. One warning: rebuilding the desktop will erase all comments you've stored in the Get Info boxes. Under System 7 Maurice Volaski's freeware init CommentKeeper will retain those comments across a rebuild. CommentKeeper also works with System 6 but only if Apple's Desktop Manager extension is also installed. To rebuild the desktop restart your Mac and, as your extensions finish loading, depress the Command and Option keys. You'll be presented with a dialog box asking if you want to rebuild the desktop and warning you that "This could take a few minutes." Click OK. It will take more than a few minutes. The more files you have the longer it will take. If you're running System 6 you may want to turn off MultiFinder before trying to rebuild the desktop. If you're experiencing definite problems and not just doing preventive maintenance, you may want to use Fifth Generation's freeware init Desktop Reset. Desktop Reset completely deletes the Desktop file before rebuilding it, thus eliminating possibly corrupt data structures. ZAP THE PRAM AND RESET THE CLOCK (4.4) All Macs from the original 128K Thin Mac to the Quadra 950 contain a small amount of battery powered RAM to hold certain settings that properly move with the CPU rather than with the disk such as which disk to boot from. Unfortunately this "parameter RAM" can become corrupted and cause unexplained crashes. To reset it under System 7 hold down the Command, Option, P, and R keys while restarting your Mac. Under System 6 hold down the Command, Option, and Shift keys while selecting the Control Panel from the Apple menu. Click Yes when asked if you want to zap the parameter RAM. Since you've erased almost all the settings in the General Control Panel, you should now reset them to whatever you want. The one setting that zapping the PRAM does not erase is the date and time; but since the internal clock in the Macintosh is notoriously inaccurate you'll probably want to take this opportunity to reset it anyway. RESIZE THE SYSTEM HEAP (4.5) Even after rethinking their extensions as per step two most people still have at least half a row of icons march across the bottom of their screen every time they restart. All these extensions (and most applications too) need space in a section of memory called the System Heap. If the System Heap isn't big enough to comfortably accommodate all the programs that want a piece of it, they all start playing King of the Mountain on the system heap, knocking each other off to get bigger pieces for themselves and trying to climb back on after they get knocked off. All this fighting amongst the programs severely degrades system performance and almost inevitably crashes the Mac. If you're using System 7, your Macintosh will automatically resize the system heap as necessary; but if you're running System 6 it's important to set your system heap size large enough to manage all your extensions and applications. By default this size is set to 128K, way too small for most Macs with any extensions at all. The system heap size is stored in the normally non-editable boot blocks of every system disk. Bill Steinberg's freeware utility BootMan not only lets you resize your system heap but even checks how much memory your heap is already using so it can tell how much needs to be allocated. If you're running System 6, get BootMan, use it, and be amazed at how infrequently your Macintosh crashes. REINSTALL THE SYSTEM SOFTWARE (4.6) System files can become corrupt and fragmented, especially if you've stored lots of fonts and desk accessories inside them. Merely updating the System software will often not fix system file corruption. I recommend doing a clean reinstall. Here's how: 1. Boot from the installer floppy of your System disks. 2. Copy any non-standard fonts and desk accessories out of your System file into a temporary suitcase. 3. Trash the System file on your hard disk. Also trash the Finder, MultiFinder, DA Handler, and all other standard Apple extensions like Control Panel and Chooser. These will all be replaced in the new installation. If you're running or installing System 7, move everything in the Extensions, Control Panels, and Preferences folders into the top level of the System Folder. 4. Rename the System Folder. Any name other than System Folder is fine. 5. Double-click the installer script on your System disk. Then choose Customize... Select the appropriate software for your model Mac and printer. You could do an Easy Install instead, but that will only add a lot of extensions and code you don't need that waste your memory and disk space. 6. Once installation is finished, move everything from the temporary folder you created in step 4 into the new System folder. If you're asked if you want to replace anything, you forgot to take something out in step 3. You'll need to replace things individually until you find the duplicate piece. 7. Reinstall any fonts or DA's you removed in step 2. 8. Reboot. You should now have a clean, defragmented System file that takes up less memory and disk space and a much more stable system overall. DISK UTILITIES (4.7) Much like system files hard disks have data structures that occasionally become corrupted affecting performance and even causing data loss. Apple includes Disk First Aid, a simple utility for detecting and repairing hard disk problems, with its System disks. It's also available for anonymous ftp from ftp.apple.com in the directory dts/mac/sys.soft/hdsc. Even if you have an earlier version, you should get the latest version (7.1) from ftp.apple.com and run it on all your hard disks. Several companies have released payware disk utilities that detect and repair considerably more problems than Disk First Aid though, interestingly, none of them detect and repair everything that Disk First Aid does. The three most effective for general work are Central Point's MacTools Deluxe 2.0, Fifth Generation's Public Utilites, and Symantec's Norton Utilities for the Macintosh 2.0. A department or work group should have all of these as well as Disk First Aid since none of them fix everything the others do. For individuals MacTools ($48 street) is about half the price of Norton ($94 street) or Public Utilities ($98 street) so, features and ease of use being roughly equal, I recommend MacTools. All of these products occasionally encounter problems they can't fix. When that happens it's time to backup (4.7) and reformat (4.9). BACKING UP (4.8) This is one part of preventative maintenance that should be done a LOT more often than every three months. The simplest back up is to merely copy all the files on your hard disk onto floppies or other removable media. If you keep your data files separate from your application and support files then it's easy to only back up those folders which change frequently. Nonetheless every three months you should do a complete backup of your hard disk. A number of programs are available to make backing up easier. Apple included a very basic full backup application with System 6. With the Performas Apple ships a new Apple Backup utility that can backup the entire disk or just the System folder onto floppies. The previously mentioned Norton Utilities for the Mac and MacTools Deluxe 2.0 include more powerful floppy backup utilities that incorporate compression and incremental backups. Finally if you're lucky enough to have a Tape Drive, network server, or removable media device to use for backups, you should check out the more powerful payware utilities Redux ($49 street, doesn't support tape drives) and Diskfit Pro ($74 street). There are NO freely available backup utilities other than the old HD Backup from System 6. DISK DEFRAGMENTATION (4.9) As disks fill up it gets harder and harder to find enough free space in the same place to write large files. Therefore the operating system will often split larger files into pieces to be stored in different places on your hard disk. As files become more and more fragmented performance can degrade. There are several ways to defragment a hard disk. The most tedious but cheapest method is to backup all your files, erase the hard disk (and you might as well reformat while you're at it. See question 4.10.), and restore all the files. A number of payware utilities including Norton Utilities for the Mac and Mac Tools Deluxe can defragment a disk in place, i.e. without erasing it. Although the ads for all these products brag about their safety, once you've bought the software and opened the shrink-wrap they all warn you to back up your disk before defragmenting it in case something does go wrong. Fast Unfrag is a $10 shareware disk defragmenter by Kas Thomas. It appears to do the job it was designed for (defragmenting the files on a hard disk) and my brief tests didn't reveal any glaring bugs or trash any files. Nonetheless, I'm a bit nervous about this product because the programmer and his skill level are unknown to me, and writing a disk defragmenter is not something I'd trust to a novice. The interface is flaky; the program only works on the disk where the application resides (very unusual behavior for a disk defragmenter); it's unfriendly to background applications (not so unusual for any disk intensive app); and neither documentation, online help, nor an E-mail address are provided with the program. Since this is still a relative unknown I STRONGLY recommend that you backup your files before using it. I'd appreciate hearing any experiences you have with it. Regardless of which defragmenter you choose please note that defragmentation will NOT cure problems with a disk. In fact, defragmenting will most likely make existing problems worse. If you are having trouble with a hard disk do not use a defragmenter on it. Backup, reformat, and restore instead. REFORMAT YOUR HARD DISK (4.10) Just as a floppy disk needs to be initialized before use, so a hard disk must be formatted before it can hold data. You don't need to reformat every three months; but when your system is crashing no matter what you try, reformatting is the ultimate means of wiping the slate clean. Reformatting your hard disk may even gain you a few extra megabytes of space. Not all hard disks are created equal. Some can hold more data than others. To facilitate mass production and advertising without a lot of asterisks (* 81.3 megabytes is the average formatted capacity. Your mileage may vary.) Apple often formats drives to the lowest common denominator of drive capacity. When you reformat there's no reason at all not to reclaim whatever unused space Apple's left on your disk. Unlike floppies hard disks need a special program to initialize them. Most hard disks come with formatting software. Apple's disks and System software ship with HD SC setup, a minimal disk formatter which will format Apple brand hard drives ONLY. Most other manufacturers ship appropriate formatting software with their hard drives. Normally this will be all you need to reformat your hard disk. A number of general-purpose formatters are also available which go beyond the bundled software to include features like encryption, password protection, multiple partitioning, faster disk access, System 7 compatibility, and even compression. Two of the best are the payware Drive7 and Hard Disk Toolkit Personal Edition ($49 street for either). While there are one or two freeware formatters available, none are likely to be superior to the ones bundled with your hard disk. PowerBook users should be sure to turn off Sleep and processor cycling before reformatting their hard drives no matter what software they use. Otherwise disk corruption, crashes, and data losses are a very good possibility. Elliotte Rusty Harold National Solar Observatory eharold@sunspot.noao.edu Sunspot NM 88349