Floppies don’t have to take a long time to erase. Hold down the Option/Command/Tab keys and insert the disk. It’s faster.
Did you ever open a folder (or several of them) and later have to run around the screen and close them all? If you only want the window open for a little while, hold down the Option key as you open the folder. When you next return to the Finder, all the windows opened in this manner will be closed.
Some applications look for a System Folder and can’t “see” the System and Finder if they aren’t in it. Some also look for a printer driver so they can figure out page sizes and scaling. If all you are going to do with the System/Finder/no folder disk is replace the System and Finder on your hard disk—no problem. (Thanks, Paul Chance of ProVue.)
Here are the keyboard equivalents to use in the dialog box you get when you click Open under the File menu. Tab is the same as Drive, Return or Enger open the selected item, the Up and Down arrows move you through the files, Command plus the Up arrow back up one volume, Tilde (~) goes to the last entry, and slash (/) goes to the first entry. Typing the first letter or letters of a file name take you to that part of the scrolling list.
That last hint should give you some clues about naming files. Start each file name with a “code” character which places it in the order you want in the dialog box.
How do you start your Mac with an internal hard disk from a floppy and prevent the hard disk from mounting at all? Boot with the Command/ Option/Shift and Delete keys held down.
When making QuicKey macros, use a whole handful of oddball modifier keys when defining macros which will become parts of a sequence macro. Why? Because you will never be using the parts by themselves—only the whole sequence. Give the sequence an easy-to-remember keystroke, not the parts of it.
Never start keeping books on any brand of computer and throw away your paper and pencil record right away. Wait until everything is working just right for a few months. Back up your data, and keep parallel pencil records for a while. Just use a little common sense until you know everythint is working just right.
Here’s how CMUG member Steven Camidge, of Canada, solved the “first page jam“ problem on his Imagewriter. He leaves the paper hanging in the section of the printer containing the tractor (before it enters the roller). When he turns on the ImageWriter, he presses the form feed and is off and running with no problems.
If you keep using a PageMaker “publication” as a template, instead of using the “template” mode, it will keep “remembering” things you deleted long ago. Pretty soon it gets sluggish. A Save As… will clean it up. Or, better yet, create a PageMaker template and use it.
Talk about bum dope. I just read in a MUG newsletter that the Control key moves you down through layers of text and objects in PageMaker.
Naw! It’s the Command key.
FatBits (Conejo/Ventura CA MUG) editor John Grzywacz-Gray says he keeps forgetting this one. I do, too.
To automatically number the pages in PageMaker, use Option/Com mand/P in the desired location on the master page. Then change font, style and size as desired.
I know you cn do it, I just keep having to look up the keystroke that does it.
Triple click selects a whole paragraph in PageMaker.
Do you need to kern headline letters in PageMaker. Don’t do it one letter pair at a time. Make the headline a separate text block. Select it. Get the Spacing Command in the Type menu. Set Minimum and Desired to negative numbers (start with -10 and -20). Set the Max to 0. Now PageMaker tightens the headline. Redo it a couple of times using different negative numbers until you get the feel of it.
If PageMaker’s dictionaries are in the System Folder, PageMaker opens up a bit quicker. If you have been keeping them in the PageMaker folder (they also work from there), you might put an empty folder in the PageMaker folder reminding you that you placed the dictionaries in the System Folder.
I use empty folders a lot for little for friends I send disks to.
It’s a fact! ResEdit 2.0 (FINALLY) is a “real” product. With the manual, it is $30 from Apple.
Amusing puzzle for today. Name another major program besides MS Word 4.0 which does not use Com mand/A for Select All. You get nine single spaced pages of keyboard equivalents in Word 4.0, but you have to use the non-standard Command/ Option/m for Select All.
Q. Why do people underline on a typewriter?
A. Because they don’t have italic, like you do on a Mac.
Q. Why do people use hyphens for a dash on the typewriter?
A. See question above. The Mac has an em dash, an en dash, and a hyphen. The en dash, usually used for a hyphen, is Shift/Option/|.
One of the main areas of ignorance for new Mac owners (and a lot of owners who have had a Mac for more than a year) is the use of the Clipboard and Scrapbook. For heaven’s sake, learn these two tools. You are running in first gear if you are not using these handy devices. If you don’t know how to use them, ask any “power user,” whatever that is.
Anyone will help you learn. That is what is so nice about Mac users.
This is a power users’ tip: Organize your hard disk, because you ain’t a power user until you do.
The System Folder icon, Startup Device, can be removed unless you have two or more hard disks.
I just finished importing 14 graphs into PageMaker. Did I open and close the Scrapbook 14 times? Nope. Once.
After opening the Scrapbook, I parked it in the lower right corner of the screen, jacked up the PageMaker window a fraction of an inch, and merrily clicked back and forth between the Scrapbook and the PageMaker document.
This is just another way of letting you know that most DAs can be left on screen for repeated use.
There are several DAs which benefit from this technique. For starters, an address book, HyperDA, Scrapbook, KeyCaps and DeskPaint come to mind.
Great Big Hint: What happens to Shareware if you don’t pay your fees? ‘Nuff said.
Warning! HP DeskJet printers with Orange Micro LS use 208k to boot up. If your system uses 350±k you have very little left in a 1 meg machine to run any program and print. You might want to try MacPrint instead. I have a client who has made repeated buys of MacPrint, so someone is happy with it.
Open About Word… in Word 4.0, hold down the Command key and click on the icon for an amusing interlude.
Some people are experiencing oddities if they have both Word 3.0 and Word 4.0 Settings files in the System Folder. Get the 3.0 Settings file out of there. You can keep it in the Word 3.0 folder.
Can you run odd small paper sizes through the LaserWriter? Yes, but be sure that the paper is at least 5.5 inches long (front to back, not side to side) so that both sets of rollers in the LaserWriter can grab it at the same time. Only then can the paper be guided accurately through the printer.
Using CE Software’s Aask INIT “kills” INITs that it turns off. They will not work, even if copied to other disks and systems, if they have been turned off with Aask. If you want to copy an INIT which has been inactivated by Aask, first reboot the Mac WITHOUT using Aask. Your INIT is now OK again. (Thanks, Intelligent Mac, Mensa MUG.)
Camera DA may be dangerous to your documents. Maccers are reporting damage to docs after using it.
If you have an SE30, throw your copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator away. It won’t work on the SE30, and good ‘ol Microsoft says they have “no plans for updating it.”
Ray Fanger promises to bomb Microsoft off the face of the earth as soon as his Falcon upgrade arrives, so he can mount his smart bombs and air-to-ground missiles and take off for a mission over Washington State.
Yes, Spectrum Holobyte is taking care of their customers and upgrading Falcon to work on the SE30.
Kudos to Spectrum Holobyte and ten pounds of you-know-what in a five pound sack to Microsoft. Yeah, and set it on fire on their doorstep.
I have been watching people use LCD overhead projection equipment to make presentations on the Mac. They sit with their back to the audience, facing the large screen on the wall.
Wrong! Sit facing the audience, and use the Mac’s screen for reference. Have a cohort watch the screen on the wall and let you know if if needs slight adjustment.
Let the audience look at your face, not your back. Did you ever think about why an overhead projector has the beam of light projecting BACKWARD as you face the projector? Why do you think they did that.
Upgrading a Mac ][ to ][x costs $2199 plus $599 for the FDHD floppy drive. However, Jean Louis Gassé says you can get a considerable boost simply by buying the $499 PMMU chip. He recommends this as a “low cost” upgrade for the ][.
One of Canopener DA’s great features is the ability to open most corrupted files and pull out grphics and text. $125, Abbott Systems, 1-800-552-9157.
I used Heavy Franklin Gothic in a letterhead in First Header in Word. It printed out with gross looking spaces between words. The fix? Go in and change JUST THE SPACES between words to a smaller (14 point) size. That fixed it. Remember this when you get “funny” spacing.
When you press the “next card” button in HyperCard, you are immediately on that card. With the new SuperCard, count on waiting 14-16 seconds for the card to flip. (Thanks, Chris Faria, The MacPacker, The MacPack, Richardson, Texas.)
To reset the default font in Word 4.0 to your choice of a LaserWriter font, select Define Styles from the Format menu. Click Normal, pull down the font menu and select the font you want for default. Click Set Default. Say Yes to the change and OK to exit.
Of course, while you are in Normal making style changes, you can also change the default margins, tabs, etc. (Thanks, Bob Cecil, MacPacker, The MacPack, Richardson, Texas.)
Brand new Mac owners: since Apple only allows you 90 days of warranty, give your new Mac a king-size burn-in test by leaving it on ALL THE TIME for a month or so. That should give defective parts plenty of time to dummy up and slip into la-la land.
Check your renewals on Mac magazines closely. It isn’t always better to renew. The message is that “once we’ve gotcha, why do we need to entice you with subscription bargains.”
Besides, sometimes a freebie is offered with a new subscription. This never happens on renewal.
When you re-subscribe instead of renewing, write a letter to the magazine telling them what you did and why you did it.
They would much rather have you renew, although you can’t tell by the prices.
And never renew early unless you get an excellent deal out of it. Don’t let them collect the interest on your money.
Here’s another way to recover a trashed MacWrite document. Open the ReadMacWrite DA, call up your document using “To File and Screen.” Hopefully, the DA can open the file. It’s worth a try. Be warned that there may be a lot of junk in the file. Not to worry—just delete the junk and save the good stuff.
MacPaint 2.0 prints ever so S-L-O-O-W-L-Y. The fix is to Copy and Paste into MacWrite or Word, or whatever else will take it. Print it out from there.
As you remember, I use a vinyl 3-ring notebook cover for a mousepad. Newfoundland MUG suggests a laminated place mat. Be sure to choose a smooth, non-textured mat, and pick a pretty picture. Might as well enjoy looking at it, too.
Speaking of mice (who was?) if your new (SE, SE30, ][, ][x or ][cx) Mac mouse has a strip of brown Teflon™ in front and a half circle of the brown stuff on the rotatable disk, I guarantee that power users will wear it to a frazzle in short order.
It’s covered by AppleCare, so make sure your replacement has a white BLOCK of Teflon, not just a coating, in each location. It’s thick enough that it should last awhile.
And if you have an older (128, 512, 512E or Plus) mouse and the front feet are worn, get those little Teflon pads that attach to the bottom of the mouse. You are working too hard if you don’t take care of your mouse.
I have seen some mice so worn that I felt they were destroying the user’s enjoyment of the Macintosh.
One source says that the best LaserWriter output of scanned art is obtained at 48% wiuth Bitmap Smoothing turned off.
I guess I wonder why 24% isn’t usually a better printout, unless you have to have the larger image.
Be sure you get the Works 2.00a upgrade from 2.o. The new upgrade doesn’t eat files.
If your ORIGINAL copy of Excel 2.2 has a creation and modification date of Fri., May 5, 1989, 12:00 pm, you have a buggy copy. Call customer support for a replacement. Microsoft is really ashamed of this buggy version, since the FIXED version still bears the 2.2 version number.
Wouldn’t want to admit to a 2.2a, would we, Bill? All in all, this is pretty cute, since unless you know the date secret, you will never know if you have a buggy copy or not until you have a problem. Boo!
LaserWriter cartridges are sensitive to extended storage, heat and cold. Store them in modest temperatures for limited amounts of time. Better to keep an empty on hand and send it for recharge 30 days or so before you need it.
Of course you should have at least two cartridges with toner in them around, just in case one screws up. I’m talking about the third (spare) cartridge.
Even fine toner rechargers, like Tech•Nique, can’t be expected to replace a cartridge which you left sitting around for months on end—or stored ina hot location! Be fair!
If you make a color startup screen for a Mac with color capability, be sure you use the System color palette to create it.
Make your own DA address book with CreateTextDA. Export your address book as a text file from whatever database it is located in. Now double click CreateTextDA and it will make your list into a scrolling address book. The DA produced is something like SysErrors DA or HyperTalk Dictionary DA.
Be sure you set your margins for the DA very wide, since CreatTextDA does not provide for word wrapping.
If you have a Mac with color, don’t use color all the time. If you are working in black and white, turn off color and see a substantial descrease in scrolling time.
Here’s a hint on getting all the best Macintosh hints and tips. BEST: Read 70+ Macintosh periodicals a month. NEXT BEST: Read Mouse Droppings the following month, because Mouse Droppings editor, Phil Russell, does read 70+ Mac pubs a month. WORST method, read just a few of the hints and rumors in just about any MUG newsletter, 30 to 60 days later.
