Question — I started with a Mac Plus just last year and I want to upgrade. I am planning to buy an SE/30 with 8 MB RAM and a 100 MB internal hard disk. I’ll be using standard programs for spreadsheets, word processing and graphics — nothing really fancy or exotic. I am uncertain whether I should use System 7 instead of system 6.0.5 which I have been using. What do you advise?
Answer — There is no doubt about it, System 7 is the current and future system software for the Mac. It is much more powerful and, with the System 7 Tuner extension (available from user groups and electronic information services such as America Online), System 7 performs well, albeit somewhat more slowly than system 6.0x. Since you will have a Super Drive, i.e., a floppy drive that accepts 1.44 MB floppy disks, get version 7.0.1 — it is available only on the high density floppies. If you want better speed, use SpeedyFinder7 cdev, System 7 Pack!, and/or FinderEdit to turbo-charge and customize your system. These great shareware programs are available from user groups as well as electronic bulletin boards, just like System 7 Tuner. You can use ResEdit to improve your system software, but I don’t recommend that route for a beginner. By the way, I don’t care what you’ve heard or read elsewhere, you need at least 4 MB of RAM to use System 7 effectively. What you plan to buy will be fine with System 7.
Is my Mac a scatter brain?
Question — I have been using a Mac for a couple of years and thought I was familiar with the territory. But I keep hearing about hard disk fragmentation and programs for defragmentation. My hard disk has slowed down a bit over the years. Do I need to do something like this to it?
Answer — This is a complex topic, so I’ll be a bit superficial for the sake of clarity. A hard disk is divided into storage areas called sectors. Your files — anything you have on your hard disk — are stored as magnetic data in these sectors. Many files are too large to fit in one sector and are stored in two or more sectors. Ideally all parts of such a file are stored in adjacent sectors. When a file is stored in non-contiguous sectors that is called fragmentation. It takes the Mac longer to work with fragmented files because the “head” in the hard drive that reads the data must move (sort of like the stylus on a record player) over a larger area to access all the data that comprise the file.
Fragmentation is an inevitable process as you add and delete files on your hard disk. Generally you will not notice slowed disk performance if only about 10 percent of the files on your disk are fragmented. The novice Mac user with new hardware shouldn’t have this problem. However, if you’ve been using your hard disk for a long time and have never reinitialized and rebuilt it, you probably have some fragmentation.
If you are experiencing slowed hard disk performance, you can use a program like ALSoft’s DiskExpress II, or Norton Utilities’ Speed Disk to check for fragmentation. These programs also can “defragment” the hard disk, a process that involves re-writing all of the data on the disk so that all elements of a file are stored in contiguous sectors on the disk. It can take a good deal of time on a large or very fragmented disk. Also, since data are erased and re-written there is a potential for loss of files. Back-up your hard disk before you use a defragmentation program. As a general rule, I recommend beginners stay away from these programs, if possible.
A more common cause of hard disk slow down is an excessively large Desktop file. The Mac stores needed information about all the files on a disk — floppy or hard disk — in an invisible Desktop file. Every disk has a Desktop file. (System 7 uses two such files per disk but don’t be concerned with that.) The Desktop file of a given disk retains information about every file ever stored on that disk, even those you’ve deleted. Each time you boot-up the Mac from your hard disk, it reads the hard disk’s Desktop file before it constructs the desktop that you see on the screen. The bigger the file, the longer it takes the Mac to boot-up. I have seen Desktop files larger than 4 MB! That sort of thing will really slow you down.
Every Mac user should clean up the hard disk’s Desktop file regularly — once a month at a minimum. (You can do this by reinitializing the hard disk but that erases the whole thing and you have to restore all your files. No fun!) The best way to clean up is to “rebuild” the Desktop file. When you do this the Mac looks at every file on the disk and stores the information it needs about those files in the new Desktop file. Information about files no longer on the disk is deleted. You end up with a smaller, more manageable file. (Be aware that any text that is in the comment section of a file’s Get Info box is lost. If you don’t use the Get Info comment areas — and who does? — don’t worry about it.)
To rebuild your Desktop file depress the Option and Command keys simultaneously as you start your Mac. Keep them depressed until you are presented with a dialog box asking if you want to rebuild the Desktop file. Release the keys and select the OK button. The process may require a few minutes so be patient. If your Desktop file was excessively large, you should notice a definite improvement the next time you boot-up the Mac. Don’t wait for this to become a problem. Rebuild the Desktop file every month and you’ll be okay.
By the way, the Desktop file of a floppy disk can get real large, too — especially if you add and delete a lot of files over a long time period without erasing the entire disk. Did you ever notice that some supposedly “empty” floppy disks have less available space than you think they should? Just erase the disk or depress the Option and Command keys when you insert the disk into the drive to rebuild the disk’s Desktop file and regain the “lost” space. (That’s a free tip folks — no extra charge.)
The law of the letter
Question — I’m lost. I have a bunch of fonts, some are TrueType some are Type 1 taken from AOL and the Disks of the Month. How are these fonts different, how do I use them and which is best?
Answer — The Mac needs two types of information about fonts. It must know how to display the font on the screen and how to print it. TrueType fonts contain both types of information in a single suitcase file. They look nice on the screen and the printed page no matter what type size you use. Because they are in a single file they are easy to use — just install them into the System file. Under system 6.0.x use Font/DA mover to install a TrueType font. With System 7, open the suitcase file by double-clicking it, and drag the font file that is inside the suitcase into the System Folder. It will be placed in the System file for you.
Type 1 fonts have two parts — the screen information and the printer information, often referred to as the screen font and the printer font, respectively. The printer font contains all the information, written in a format called PostScript, that your printer needs to print that font at any size. It is a “system extension” and is stored in the Extensions Folder within the System Folder. (With system 6.0.x, it is placed in the System Folder itself.) Laser printers have some built-in printer fonts so you don’t need to have those printer fonts in the System Folder too. Read your printer manual to determine which fonts are built in.
The screen font is in a suitcase file. Each screen font file contains the information for only one type size. You should install a separate screen font for every type size of a particular font that you will use. If you select a type size for which you do not have a screen font installed, the Mac will use the printer font data to approximate that font on your monitor. It will look pretty bad on screen. (It will print fine because the printer uses the printer font not the screen font.)
When you get a Type 1 font that is not built in the printer, put the printer font into the System Folder. Install the accompanying screen fonts it in the System file just as you would do for a TrueType font.
Some printers, like the ImageWriter, don’t read PostScript files, so they cannot use Type 1 fonts. Don’t despair. If you want to use them on a non-PostScript printer, get Adobe Type Manager. It translates the PostScript printer fonts for your non-PostScript printer. The output isn’t as clean as that from a laser PostScript printer, but it beats the ImageWriter alone. ATM also smoothes out fonts on the screen so you don’t need to install every size screen font available. So even if you have a laser PostScript printer, if you use a lot of Type 1 fonts ATM will improve your screen images and save disk space.
Free the mouse, fry the Mac
Question — What should I do when my mouse freezes? Some people tell me to unplug the mouse from the Mac then plug it back in. I’ve heard that isn’t safe. What’s right.
Answer — You heard right. Never unplug any peripheral from the Mac while its power is on. Sure, I understand. The Mac froze and if you restart it, you’ll lose your unsaved work. But unplugging the mouse or keyboard is not the answer.
If you’re using System 7 there is a possible solution. Say the mouse freezes while you are in one application and you have unsaved work open in another application. You can’t rescue any unsaved work in the frozen application. Sorry. You might be able to save the work in the background application. Depress the Command, Option and esc keys simultaneously. If you are lucky you’ll get a dialog box asking if you really want to “Force Quit” the application. Click on the “Force Quit” button. Once the frozen application has quit, go to the other, open application(s), save your work and quit all applications. Restart your Mac before you attempt any more work.
If you cannot force quit the application, depress the restart button or turn the Mac off then back on. You’ll lose all of your unsaved work this way but it’s safe.
Learn a lesson from this experience. Save frequently! Command-S is the motto! I suggest you always save your work before switching applications under MultiFinder (system 6) and in System 7. The files you save will be your own.
A friend, a Mac consultant, tells me that, by unplugging a mouse with his Mac running he blew a fuse on his Mac’s motherboard one time. It was easily replaced, but some repair people, taking advantage of a less experienced Mac user, might have swapped the entire board. That’s big bucks! He also had two clients blow controller boards on hard drives by unplugging. It’s a bad idea!
Double click limbo
Question — I get the Disk of the Month each month from my user group and I download interesting things from America Online. Often when I double-click on something from one of these disks or something I downloaded, I get a box telling me that the application is busy or missing. Why do they put out stuff that I can’t use?
Answer — Not all files work or open when you double-click on them. For example, Control Panels, INITs, printer fonts, etc., won’t open. They are system documents that work through the system software. I suggest you read the documentation that accompanies before you try to use it.
Also you must remember that many items are compressed to save disk space before they are distributed on disks of the month (from your user group) or on electronic information services. Often these files end with the suffix ‘.sit’ or. ‘cpt.’ or a similar string. You must decompress these files before they can be used, utilizing a program like StuffIt Expander, StuffIt, Compact Pro, Extractor, etc. These decompression/compression programs are available from user groups and electronic information services and come with excellent instructions on their use. Once you’ve successfully expanded a file you then have to attempt to use it.
Let’s examine the situation in which you have a document that can be opened, i.e., say a word processor file or a graphics file, not a control panel, INIT, or printer font, etc. When you double-click on such a document, the Mac checks it to see what program originally created it. Then it looks to see if you have that program. If you do have it — no problem — the document is opened in that program. If your Mac can’t find the program it will give you the hated “application is busy or missing” dialog. If you get this dialog you have some alternatives. Many programs will open documents created by other programs, but you have to use a different technique. If you believe the document contains text, start-up your word processor and select “Open…” from the File menu. The Open File dialog box will appear allowing you to select a file. (If you do not know how to operate this dialog, complete instructions are in the manual that came with the computer.) If you see the document listed inside the standard Open File dialog box, select it, click “Open” and it will be opened. If the document is a graphic, try the same technique with your graphics program.
It is a good idea to have one copy of Apple’s TeachText on your hard drive since many instructions are created in that ubiquitous program. The bottom line, and one most Mac users hate to accept, is that you really should read instruction documents (the “Read me” files) that typically accompany any software you want to use.
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