Well there it is, the name you always thought would be great for the beach house of your dreams or the tavern you always wanted to run is being used by a software company. Disappointed? Well, this appropriately named software utility from Working Software, Inc. lives up to its name and frankly is a simple “stroke” of genius.
These days, while everyone is developing hard drive recovery programs, the folks at Working Software have addressed the smaller and more common issue of system crashes. No, this cdev won’t prevent the inevitable bomb or freeze. It will, however, allow you to recover anything you’ve typed since simply installing it into your System Folder. This utility was given 41⁄2 mice in MacUser Magazine and also received a glowing review in the September 1991 issue of Macworld, and I can see why. It is a simple yet valuable addition to any system folder.
Last Resort automatically works in the background as you type and has no noticeable effect on the speed of your Mac. Your every keystroke is saved in time- and date-labeled text files. These files can be easily accessed and edited. For some those points could also be regarded as drawbacks which we will address later.
Last Resort will save every keystroke, backspaces included, in sequential order even when you move from place to place to edit a document. This is the aspect of this utility I find most appealing. Of course, even though I save very frequently, I still have some peace of mind while I work. I know I can retrieve every painfully pecked character. More so, when writing I tend to make multiple revisions on the fly. I’ve always wished I could retrieve previous thoughts long since vaporized. Now I can. That to me is well worth the price of admission.
Remember this is not a file saver, per se. When you open a Last Resort file this is what you’ll see: text, sometimes out of order, and boxes, lots of boxes. Those rectangles are symbols for backspace keystrokes. Every time you misspell a word and go back to correct it , it’s there in all its inglorious ceremony. Missing, however, will be all the pictures and imported/pasted files. But hey, remember this is just a safety net, a last resort. You can go back and add those things while cleaning up the salvaged text and in no time have a restored document. Since this is a Control Panel device you can access it quickly from the Apple Menu and in doing so, control the time and increment of strokes saved and also delete any previous files.
One word of caution for those of you who demand security in your work, Last Resort records passwords as well as confidential information without distinction. You should not, of course, leave Last Resort files where eyes other than yours can have access to them. The Control Panel contains a pause button which will temporarily disable this cdev. Also as I previously mentioned you can purge any and all files from the Control Panel. Which is something you will want to be doing anyway.
You can imagine the hundreds of scenarios which might occur in which Last Resort will be, or dare I say, WOULD HAVE BEEN helpful. And while we’re talking scenarios, here’s one from the recent direct mail piece I received from the company about Last Resort:
“I was finished spellchecking the first 25 pages of my thesis- the result of 4 days work and it looked pretty good. I stretched and yawned as I saved the document and as I stretched I kicked the power cord...”
T. R.
Salt Lake City, Utah
Gee, I guess now if only Working Software can develop a grammar checker as good as Last Resort, T. R. might get to finish that there thesis.
Requires a MacPlus minimum and System 6.7 or later.
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