Quit All Applications 1.0

Freeware

At only 5k, Quit All Applications 1.0 is a very small, very handy utility that does one thing very well. When you double click it, all applications will quit. So what? Well, I keep a copy of this in my Apple menu, and have found it useful many times. However, there are a few problems with it that Powerbook users may want to watch out for, such as when you use it, your Battery Monitor program will also quit. Ouch. But creator David Giandomenico has told My Mac that a newer version, due out the same time as this review, should add features such as allowing the user to selectively kill applications and exclude applications, as well as being able to rebuild the desktop. (‘ala TechTool).

As it stands, Quit All Applications 1.0 is a good program, though lacking in features soon to be addressed in the next version. (Note: the next version will be shareware, not freeware.) You can contact David Giandomenico at 100016.1053@CompuServe.COM. My Mac will look for the next version for a review soon.

DS9DS9,

Thanks for writing in, Sue! I get many letters about back issues, and though I have helped Sue out already, I figured I would print this letter in the hope that others will find it useful.

To find all back issues of My Mac, do a keyword search on AOL for "DS9DS9". You will find all back issues there, except the elusive #7. For some reason, it will not show up? So, if you want issue seven, you must go to Macworld Online, and search the "new uploads" area. You must hit the "more" button a million times, but it is still listed there. Macworld also has a folder for electronic publications, so perhaps it will be moved their as well.
For those of you wondering, I do not send out back issue’s. Sorry, but I really do not have the time, or money! However, with the Web page under construction, perhaps we may post a few there as well? I have also tried to use AOL members "FTP" option, but have yet gotten it to work. I’m sure it is not hard to do, I simply have not had the time to play with it!
 

Mr. Robertson,

sealman9@aol.com (at least for now at aol.com)

I have talked to a few AOL tech’s and Rep’s as well. The problem, quite simply, is that the Mac Web browser is buggy. It was rushed into production to meet demand. See, AOL had already released a beta version of a web browser for the PC users, so they figured (correctly) that all of the Mac users would get upset, as they did not have that option, even though we Mac users were paying the same rate as the PC users, and did not have the same benefits. Just one more slap in the face for those of us who own a superior system.

I would suggest that, if using AOL again, and it locks up on you, try hitting "Option-Command-Esc" key, rather than a hard shutdown. This will force the computer to "force quit". And though it does not always work, it is better for you mac than a hard shutdown. And if you wish to continue using AOL, I would suggest trashing the Browser, and just use AOL as before. It is just not worth all the headache!
 

All you loyal readers of "My Mac" remember me, don’t you? Sure you do, I’m the one with the self drawn caricature of myself in the header. The one that looks like an escaped felon, (according to my wife). To all you new readers of "My Mac," welcome aboard!

As we all know, spread sheeting is one of the most interesting subjects in the world. Just the word Spreadsheet probably has you sitting on the edge of your seat in anxious anticipation. No need to take notes though, there won’t be any test!

I’ve been having somewhat of a problem staying current on my record keeping for my small, one man business of owning and operating a truck. Sometimes referred to as "My large car" on the CB radio if it’s light splattered, chrome decked and fully loaded with all the bells and whistles! If not quite so fancy, but has a minimum of eighteen wheels, then it’s just, "My big truck". A little industry specific terminology I thought I’d share with you.

Upon awakening this morning I was determined to catch up on all my monthly business expenses. I keep track of most of these expenses by hand, ( That’s with pencil and paper, for those who may have forgotten ) while I’m on the road spending all this money I don’t have.

Did I mention that I haul cars on my truck? Just in case I didn’t, I haul cars on my truck. There, I mentioned it. Forget the above question. You’ve seen us car haulers’ on the freeway. I know I’ve seen you. You’re the driver of that little four wheeler who can’t roll your window up fast enough as I start to pass you on a rough road in my empty eighteen wheeler with all those metal decks and loose chains banging and clanging, making enough racket to give a dead person a migraine headache. I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize for the noise and offer a solution. So, I’m sorry and go faster! I got off the subject again I see.

Once a month I get a settlement, along with a statement of all my other expenses that the company I lease to pays for; they then deduct this amount from my settlement check. These deductions are mostly comprised of fuel taxes, road taxes, mileage taxes, heavy vehicle use taxes and any other taxes o’l Uncle Sam can dream up. Other cost deducted includes work they do on my truck in their repair shop and damage claims the company pays that can be traced back to me. A good example of a damage claim would be if a brand new Volvo falls off my truck while I’m doing 65mph on a downtown L.A. freeway. If I can’t knock all the dents out, put the car back on my truck, and deliver it to the dealership without him noticing even a small scratch, then I have to pay for all repairs to said Volvo. My cargo insurance deductible is five thousand dollars per occurrence, so my wallet feels the sting of the first five G’s. Pete hates when this happens.

What I needed to do today was gather up all my hand written expense records, phone bills, bank statements, settlement statements, checkbook register and whatever else I needed to fill up all those little empty rectangular boxes in my spreadsheet. I can hear a lot of you out there saying, " Why didn’t the dummy at least keep his banking records in a program such as Quicken". The answer is simple, For the same reason I have 6 months worth of empty rectangular boxes in my Spreadsheet file! Can we all say, procrastination!

But today was different, I was determined to bring everything up to date. I sat down at the Mac, hit the power switch and watched as everything loaded. I then opened the file menu, scrolled down to "Find" and sat there staring at the screen asking myself, " What the hell did I name that file? " I wasn’t really sure, but the word "expenses" seemed like a good place to start. I struck the mother lode on my first try, in fact I had 3 choices; truck expenses for 1993, 1994 or 1995. I double clutched, or rather clicked on 1995. As the file was opening I could see the dust coming out my floppy drive slot. Been a while since I opened this baby up, I thought. Unfortunately all the boxes in all the rows, for the last 6 months still lay there empty, just as I left them. You high salaried Claris Corp. programmers need to come up with a "bug fix" for this problem.

I admit, I’m not very comfortable in the Spreadsheet environment. I don’t have a PhD in whatever it is you professional Spreadsheeters’ get your degree in. I barely have a high school education and wouldn’t have that except for the generosity of the U.S. Navy and the G.E.D. program. However, that never keeps me from diving head first into things I know absolutely nothing about, in the hopes of coming out on the other side having learned a little something. I was spreadsheet illiterate, but I had a need for it, so I dove in, arms and legs flailing.

I use the Spreadsheet application in ClarisWorks as opposed to something like Microsofts Excel 5.0. Why? Well, aside from the obvious reason of learning to crawl before you walk, I had another reason. I couldn’t stop laughing long enough to place my order after reading that a full install of Excel 5.0 takes up 27MB of hard drive space and get this, 24MB of RAM, "without" virtual memory to run! Actually, I don’t have a PowerMac, which it requires. I just thought I’d mention it because it always blows me away when I see system requirements like these for any non-graphics program.

Although I keep referring to "ClarisWorks," I do not blame them for the language used in spreadsheeting. I realize that spreadsheets were around long before software companies ran out of spaces to put between their two word application titles! I only use them as an example because their’s is the only spreadsheet application I own.

Let me ask you, "Do these people speak English?"

After reading ClarisWorks – Handbook for Macintosh, I have but one question. Where did they come up with this verbiage? PhD school? Or maybe it was LMICSWCCMTTI (Let’s Make It Complicated So We Can Charge More To Teach It) school.

I don’t need nor want to get this intimate with my spreadsheet program. So, in the spirit of Claris Corporation’s desire to produce applications that are easy to use, light in storage demand, with a clean as a whistle interface and inexpensive, I submit to them a few changes I made in my copy of ClarisWorks – Handbook for Macintosh, Chapter 6, "Working with spreadsheets". I think this new verbiage cuts to the chase and allows us blue-collar-we-don’t-want-to-learn-a-new-language-just-explain-it-to-us-in- simple-terms-so-we-can-get- the-hell-out-of-here types to finish quicker and move on to something a little less exciting before we start having heart attacks from all the fun your spreadsheets give us.( And if anyone believes this, I have a bridge for sale in the mountains of Bosnia.)
Just send these small changes off to your printer before the next version of ClarisWorks is released. Make the corresponding changes in your online Help files and you will have made the world a better place to live.

This works for me.
Happy New Year to all My Mac readers!

p>MY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION

Hi there. Let me introduce myself – my name is Mike Wallinga. Tim’s mentioned me once or twice. I’m the starting right offensive tackle on my school’s football varsity team. This year we were co-champions of our district and qualified for the state playoffs. Our 7-3 overall record and 6-1 district mark were both the best ever in school history, and I was named second team All-District. That’s by no means my only accomplishment – I’m also in band, choir, and drama – but it’s the one I’m most proud of.

Tim’s asked me to write something for him, and I am quite a bit late in fulfilling his request. (Ed’s note: Way back in issue #2!) Since I’ve put it off for so long, as I write this,I’m getting ready to flip the calendar over to 1996. So what better to write about than the traditional New Year’s resolution?

My resolution is not to lose weight, be a better person, save the
environment, or anything like that. My resolution is to not be ethnocentric about the Macintosh. That is, to not be blindly biased for the Mac and against Windows without really knowing the merits of the latter operating system. Likewise, I hope to encourage my PC-using friends to do the same and give the Mac a chance.

I have four types of PC-using friends, and I am going to share with you a quick example of each. In my experiences, these are the only four types of PC users I have ever known.

First, we have Shane the Predjudiced One. He is even more anti-Mac than I am anti-Windows. A proud user of a Gateway system, he enthusiastically will tell anyone that will listen that whatever a Mac can do, a PC can do better. Shane’s one of my best friends (all four of these guys are), but he’s just a little… misguided.

Next, I’ll give you the examle of Joey the Misinformed. Or, maybe I should uninformed. Better still, I’ll say both. Because that’s what Joe is. He users his computer – a Packard Bell – for the standard word processing and game playing, and really has little interest beyond that. He has recently inquired what the big deal is over Windows95. His only opinion concerning the Macintosh is that "nobody uses them except schools."

Third, there is Ryan. I really can’t give Ryan a title. He’s a mixture. He is the only one of my foursome that has upgraded to Windows95. While admitting that Win95 makes his Gateway much more like a Mac, and although I’ve forced him into admitting that the Mac is overall easier to use, he still prefers to use his Wintel machine. I’m not quite sure why. He feels it is reliable and also likes to be one of the "popular crowd." We recently tried to fax each other a report for school via our modems. It didn’t work either way. Neither one of us could get our machine to answer the phone; instead it just rang away (or the answering machine kicked in). Even though he couldn’t get it to work, either, it was, of course, the Mac’s fault. A PC wouldn’t mess something like that up… (Oh, and while I’m on the subject,the Mac’s PC Exchange does not work and is not reliable. Just ask Ryan.)

Fourth, there is Scott the Ray of Hope. He is (almost) everything a computer user should be. Informed, competent, productive, and unfortunately a PC user (I said almost). However, Scott is different. He stopped over at my house a couple weeks ago to get some information form me from my Grolier Encyclopedia CD-ROM (the one thing Scott lacks is a CD-ROM drive). As the article was printing in the background, we passed the time browsing through the contents of my hard drive. The first thing that amazed him was that everything had custom icons that were just, well, there. I dunno, but I’m guessing this must not be the case in the Wintel world. Probably those dumb DOS programs, I suppose. I’ve been over to Scott’s house a few times and seen his computer in action, and I must admit that I did not see the pretty icons. Of course, we were in DOS playing some games at the time…

Anyway, after getting over the icons, Scott saw the numerous games on my drive and had to try them out. He was impressed that DOOM was on the Mac (I had recently downloaded the first episode of DOOM I). He was even more impressed with the game play and sound quality. I showed him Marathon next, but he said that was "too complicated." (You mean you actually have to aim your gun up or down? No way!) Various shareware titles also caught his eye.

We then moved on to paint programs, such as Rainbox. Definitely cool stuff. Play audio CDs? Pop one in the drive. We finally ended our Mac adventure/tour with a quick sign-on to eWorld, including a quick fly-by of my favorite World Wide Web sites. Quite cool and easy.

By the end of the night, Scott was a believer. He liiked the Mac. Just for fun, I gave him a disk of System sounds and custom icons so he could play with them on our school’s Macs. Scott agreed that the Mac was not a bad computer; it was a very, very good computer. He also said that if his family was ever going to buy a new computer (which was not in the near future), it would still probably be a Windows machine. Hey, you can’t have your cake and eat it too, I guess. But at least I found a Windows user with an open mind that was willing to accept and even embrace some of the Macs advantages.

And that’s how I decided on my own New Year’s resolution. If a Windows user could learn to love the Mac, certainly the reverse could also happen. I may stay – will stay – a Mac enthusiast and a Mac user by choice, but at least maybe I could learn to use a Windows machine and accept it. Maybe I could also convince Windows users to learn to love the Mac, even if they kept Windows as their platform of choice.

Wouldn’t that be the ideal world? Regardless of preference or personal use, people could still learn to love and accept users of other operating systems and even the operating systems themselves. Much like we strive for racial equality today, we could strive for equality, desegregation, and mutaul respect among different kinds of computers. What a thought… Windows and Mac users walking hand in hand along the information superhighway…

Then I realize I’m being melodramatic and unrealistic. Besides, the usual New Year’s resolution doesn’t last the month of January, so in a few weeks I’ll probably be telling you how much of a moron Bill Gates is.

Aw, heck! Why wait? Why postpone the inevitbale?

Bill Gates is a moron, and that’s that.

Classic Beep

First of all, I have never owned a "classic mac", but I had used one, many years ago. So when I came across this sound file on AOL, I just had to download it to hear that old classical mac sound. All I can say is, we have come a long way, baby!

This file is only 3K in size, and is freeware. It is worth downloading only if you had a classic mac and want to hear that familiar "beep", or if you are new to mac’s and wish to hear the way mac’s used to sound. Kind of like listening to stories from your grandfather!

I have saved you the trouble of downloading "Classic Beep" to hear it. All you have to do is click on the icon above, and you will hear the beep of yesteryear! But if you like it, do download it from AOL! I myself sort of like it, and use it as a reminder of just how far we have come in sound quality!

Star Trek Startup init. 1.0

As many of you know, I am a Star Trek fan, and as such, I download many things Star Trek. Most of the shareware programs, sounds, and graphics are pretty decent on the whole, but Star Trek Startup init. 1.0 is pure crap.

I hate to use the word "crap", as it is very rude and unprofessional. However, in this case, there really is no better word to describe this "program".

What Star Trek Startup init. 1.0 does is replace your startup screen with a very out of focus, badly drawn picture if what is suppose to be a Star trek computer terminal. It also has a message, that the author states can be changed with ResEdit. If by some chance you like this program, and I shudder at the thought, you will want to change the message. It is bad enough the picture is so, well, BAD, but Rusty Silver (the creator) misspelled the word Request. Rusty, it is not "Reguest", O.K.?

The shareware if five bucks, which Mr. silver should send me for wasting my online time by downloading this. I take solace only in that I can warn the rest of you about garbage like this.

Last Month, we compared having a direct Internet connection using an Internet Provider vs. using a major Online service, such as America Online. People who spend 12 hours or more online per month using a major Online service had a bill that was higher than the fee an Internet Provider would charge for Unlimited Internet access. So if you find your Online expenses increasing, upgrading to a dial up PPP account with an Internet Provider could save you a substantial amount of money and give you an unlimited on-line experience. The World Wide Web is also quickly becoming more graphically friendly and will make expensive online services obsolete.

Another benefit of having an account with an Internet Provider is the storage space they allow you to use on their machine for your own Web page or Home page. The monthly fee for Internet access usually includes 5 to 10 mb’s of disc space. So the only thing you have left to worry about is designing your home page.

Your home page can contain anything you like. You can have your picture on it, or your life story, special Interests and hobbies, or even links to other Web sites. Do you have your own company? If so you can easily put your company on the Web for instant access to the rest of the world.

HTML is the language used to develop your home page. HTML is extremely easy to master and there are lots of programs out there that make building your home page even easier. Web Weaver 2.5.2. is a good example and is available for download from many places on the Internet. For an excellent tutorial on how to create a Web page of your own take a look at the Maricopa "Writing HTML", a tutorial for writing WWW pages, at:

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/index.html.

Or Yale University’s World Wide Web Authoring Manual at:

http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/StyleManual_Top.HTML.

Take some time to read these tutorials about HTML. Practice writing HTML pages and then viewing them using your Web browser. Then the next step is to decide what the content of your Web page will be. What do you want the world to be able to see. More on this next month.

Here are some other interesting Web sites I hope you will enjoy.

MacWeek has a terrific Web site with everything you could ever ask for about Mac’s, software, tip’s, reviews, and much more. Of course it’s no My Mac, but for a look at the second best just look to:

http://www.zdnet.com/~macweek/

Are you interested in news and gossip magazines, Time Warner has an excellent site called "Pathfinder". Here you can peruse all the latest magazines like People, Time, Money, Fortune, and many more. Lots of graphics, a nice site unless you have a slow modem. Pathfinder is at:

http://pathfinder.com.

"The Spot" is an Episodic Web site. I’ve heard about it from many different people so I thought I would check it out. Here you have a well financed project that seems to be a mix between MTV’s "The Real World" and "Melrose Place". If your curious what these California folks are up to look them up at:

http://www.thespot.com.

Let me know what you think of it!

Where are you today. How is the weather there. Would you like to see what the weather is like right now on the beach in Santa Cruz, California. Just head over to:

http://sapphire.cse.ucsc.edu/SlugVideo/dream-inn.html

where the University of California has a camera aimed right at the beach. The Picture is updated about every five minutes and they have a variety of angles to choose from. Some more live Cam’s around the world here:

http://www.dataplace.nl/dp/pages/foto.htm

…will bring you to the beach at Zandvoort, the Netherlands! Have you ever been to Boston, MA. For an excellent view of the Boston’s Beacon Hill go to:

http://www-1.openmarket.com/boscam/boscam/index.htm

l

The bridge you see is the Longfellow bridge and the cam is in Cambridge. OK, one more, have you been to the Berlin zoo in Germany. Well here is a cool view of the Berlin Railroad Station at the Zoologischer Garten, with Hardenbergplatz bus terminal in front at:

http://www.fokus.gmd.de/step/view.html

Ok so it’s not the actual zoo, but it is in Germany and the pictures updated every few minutes.

Have you heard of a guy named Gates. You know the one that wishes his company was as good as Apple. Well some folks over at MorseMcfadden PR have this page called Walls’ 96. Here you can see the progress of Bill’s mansion on lake Washington. Get a load of what’s inside and soon participate in a contest to guess how many Windows there are! For a glimpse of this amazing lakefront getaway go to:

http://www.morsepr.com/mmdocs/bill.html .

Do you have a home page of your own or a favorite site you would like to see here in this column. Let me know at:

orchard@wn.net or at Evz1@aol.com.

If you have any questions or comments let me have em, and I’ll include them with next month’s column.

Also next month, how exactly do you put your home page on the Internet. Straight from your Mac to the Web. We’ll look at simple Web page construction and some extra features such as background images and colors. We’ll also look at how to make sure the search engines, like Yahoo, have your Web page in their database. This way, people all around the world will be able to access your page. If your interests include something like stamp collecting, and someone in Australia does a search for stamp collectors, they will be led right to your page.

There is one thing I did not mention last month that I feel is extremely important. If you are using AOL or e-world, and you do not have Art Valve installed on your computer, than you are wasting time and money waiting to download useless icon artwork. Art Valve fools AOL into thinking that you already have the artwork and instead of the fancy Icons that you usually have to wait for, you instantly get a nice quick black and white AOL Icon. You can read a great review of Art Valve in MyMac #6. My humble opinion is that the Online companies use the download time as a tool to get our bills a little higher. They should provide a way for us to select whether or not we want to see their expensive art work. In any case, if you don’t have Art Valve, get it!

Happy New Year !
Ev_

A little prelude before we get to the "interview". First, as David is a very busy person, and I work many hours for the Postal service each day, a live interview was simply not fesable. So this interview can be seen more as a
Q & A via email.

Second, I read many Mac related columns and articles each week, but only count a select few as "must reads" each and every month. The Desktop Critic is at the top of that list. It is the first page I turn to in Macworld when I open a new issue. And if I cannot, for some reason, wait until the new issue hits the stand, I will download it from AOL’s "Macworld online". So it was great pleasure for me when David Pogue agreed to this "interview".

Not being a celebrity myself, I can only guess what types of questions are asked the most. So I decided early on that I would try to get a little creative with my questions. Are they questions you would have asked? Perhaps not. But they were the best I could think of, while trying my best to be just a little different!

With that, let me thank David Pogue for the time he spent reading and answering these questions. He’s a great guy, and a great writer. On with the interview!

My Mac: Here’s the deal. You just found out Bill Gates is a distant relative, and he dies, leaving you everything! What would be the first thing you would do with Microsoft?

DP: I’d turn over the Macintosh division to Casady and Greene, and leave the Windows division just as it is. In 10 years, it would take care of itself …

My Mac: Apple is sold, and the new company hires you as the new company president. Where would you take Apple Computers?

DP: The first thing I’d do is help myself to the cool stuff in the Apple Store and the R&D departments. The second thing I’d do is find somebody qualified to run the thing. I’ve got no management interest whatsoever!

My Mac: If you had to pick the best Macintosh of all time, what would it be? Why?

DP: There’s something about the SE/30 that makes it stand out in my brain. It had the simplicity and stability of the old Macintosh line, but (at the time) the high horsepower of Macs to come. These days, you can’t even count on a brand-new, fresh-from-Apple Power Mac to be glitch-free; I’d prefer more stability to more bells and whistles.

My Mac: As many readers may know, you recently got married. How’s family life? And is she into Mac’s as well?

DP: If you can find your actual soulmate, there’s nothing like marriage!

Jennifer is a fantastic plastic surgeon, just setting up her office. Yes, she’s a Mac person, so we’re having a blast setting everything up: customized FileMaker databases to track her patients, a modem to transmit her billing information each day, a Mac-based pager system, and so on.

My Mac: What is it like working for Macworld?

DP: It’s like being a car nut, and being put in charge of testing new sports cars at Mazda. Or being crazy about Billy Joel, and being invited to be his songwriter. I guess what I’m saying is that it isn’t like a job at all! Free software arrives, you play with it, you write about it — and you actually get paid!

Furthermore, Macworld treats its writers like royalty. I wouldn’t trade this job for anything.

My Mac: What is your deadline like?

DP: Generally, whenever I turn in today will arrive in my mailbox copy of Macworld in about seven or eight weeks. Therefore, I’ll usually start working on an article about three months before it will be published, although the deadlines vary depending on the kind of article (column, review, or feature story).

My Mac: Any other projects in the works? A new "Mac Secrets" type book, perhaps?

DP: I just finished “Macworld Mac & Power Mac SECRETS,” third edition — 1200 pages, about 1000 of which required total rewriting! It took my coauthor, Joe Schorr, and me many, many months to complete — exhausting! It comes out at the end of January 1996. (This time around it comes with a CD-ROM, which made it an even bigger project.)

Of course, I’m also very proud of “Mac FAQs [Frequently Asked Questions],” which appeared in August.

Next up: new editions of “Macs for Dummies” and “More Macs for Dummies,” and then a new novel!

My Mac: Do you eat your pizza crust first? (Sorry, the TV is on close by!)

DP: Never. I also have this weird habit, left over from childhood, where I don’t actually eat the piece of crust where I’ve been holding it.

My Mac: Who is your favorite writer?

DP: He doesn’t really exist. But I love the storyline concepts of Michael Chrichton, the humor of Dave Barry, and the nonfiction intelligence of Andrew Tobias.

My Mac: If Guy Kawasaki and Andy Ihnatko got into a fight, who would win? (My money is on Andy! He looks bigger in his picture!)

DP: Andy’s bigger, but Guy’s in better shape!

My Mac: Have you ever done a interview before, and did you think the questions would be anything like this?

DP: I’ve done lots of interviews by telephone, radio, television, live online chat — but never a written interview like this one!

My Mac: How long did it take you and Joseph Schorr to write "Macworld Mac & Power Mac Secrets?"

DP: The first edition took two of us, full time, seven months. You’d think it would take dramatically less time with each new edition, since all you really have to do is update and expand, right?

Nope. The second and third editions took us about five months each!

My Mac: In your opinion, will the new CHRP computers signal an end to the Mac’s, like the Macintosh did to the Apple II?

DP: Well, what’s a Mac? The ones from Apple will BE Macs, except that they’ll be able to change personality (by running other operating systems). But since they’ll still run the Mac OS, and all our favorite programs, I don’t think they’ll qualify as non-Macs.

My Mac: What shareware/freeware programs do you think every Mac user should have on his/her hard drive?

DP: TypeIt4Me — by far the most labor-saving software ever written. SmartKeys — another huge time saver that makes you look a lot better in print. And a Launcher-type icon palette like The Tilery. Gotta have it.

My Mac: What commercial programs do you use the most, and why?

DP: QuickDex is my life — it’s incredibly fast, incapable of crashing or corrupting its data, and blasts through telephone voice-mail systems like a juggernaut. I use it for names, addresses, numbers, passwords, notes, to-do lists, everything.

I also use QuicKeys for macros; so much of life on the Mac is repetition that if you aren’t using a macro program to execute repeated stuff for you, you’re wasting your computer. And I use ClarisWorks for just about everything else in my daily work. Yes, ClarisWorks — its fast, fast word processor makes Word 6 look like a dead hippopotamus, and the other modules are great for everyday work.

I guess you can tell that I like speed and stability more than features.

My Mac: Don’t you like the music in the Aptiva commercial? The one that sounds like little girls singing some strange Indian song? I do, and I feel guilty about it! And don’t you just HATE the Intel jingle? I do! (Wish I could have my mac play that during a system crash! The horror!)

DP: Hmmmm … actually, I haven’t really had time to watch TV since about 1931.

My Mac: Last question: How does someone go about trying to write for Macworld?

DP: Actually, if you can write well, it’s amazingly easy. Macworld — actually, every magazine — is always scouting for good writers. (Unfortunately, judging from what I’ve seen online, not many people actually know how to write, but that’s another question.)

My suggestion would be to write a couple articles for an e-zine or a user-group newsletter. Then you’ll have something to send Macworld when you present yourself — you’ll already be a published author! That’s how I got started, anyway. It also helps to have a specialty; mine was music software.

Macworld will also send you, for free, their Writer’s Guidelines. Write to them at 501 Second St., San Francisco, California, 94107.

And with that, I now return you to your regularly scheduled ezine!

Mac & PowerMac Secrets 2nd. Edition
Price: $39.95
Publisher: IDG Books

It is not easy for a writer who usually writes about software to do a review on a book, but I will attempt to do so. Many good things can be said about Macworld Mac and Power Mac SECRETS, from it’s comprehensive index, the pleasant writing styles of David Pogue and Joseph Schorr, and the usefulness of the information provided within it’s one thousand plus pages.

The word “SECRETS”, as you can see, is huge on the cover. And while there are indeed many secrets within, it provides much more information than simply revealing some OS and programing secrets. It is more like a directory to your Macintosh. For instance, the writers go so far as to tell you not only what is inside your System Folder, but what each of them actually do. Very helpful information for both new users, and for troubleshooting as well.

In chapter one, the Finder is explained, from what it is, to what it can do. Most new users will find this informative, while the more experienced user will not. I will lay odd’s , however, that even the most die-hard mac user will learn something either new or informative, in each of the 33 chapter.

But this book is called SECRETS, and as such, the writers have included a plethora of them! I will not, however, tell you any, as I do not want to be sued! To learn some really neat and worthwhile secrets of your mac and some of it’s applications, your must buy the book yourself! (Hey, I paid my forty bucks!)

Do you have a question, but do not know where to look for the answer? Chapter 32 is for troubleshooting, explaining such things a Bus error to the flashing Apple menu. Thinking about networking your mac’s? Look in chapter 31, The Networking Chapter. Or perhaps you have ResEdit, Apple’s free resource editor, but do not know what to do with it? Yes, there is even a ResEdit chapter (21).

So, does it sound like it would be worth forty of your hard earned dollars yet? Wait, there’s more! Included with the second edition is three floppy disks, full of some of the best commercial and shareware programs you could ever want. Included are ResEdit, Color It! 2.3 (worth the price alone), WYSIWYG Menus, True Type fonts from Bitstream, Before Dark, Sounds from KaBoom! , MenuChoice, MultiClip Lite, PopChar, AppDisk, CP Undelete, Sunset screen saver, SuperClock! , System 7 Pack! , and more. In fact, you get over 45 programs with Macworld Mac & Power Mac SECRETS. Many of them are shareware, and you are still required to pay the shareware fee, the only real downside to the whole book.

On a whole, Macworld Mac & Power Mac SECRETS, second edition, is a great buy, and well worth having on any mac users desk. The god news, however, is that there is a third edition shipping, so if you are planning to buy this book, I would suggest waiting until that comes out, due this month!
(Look for more info. on this book on the next page, a interview with one of the books writers, David Pogue.) New software shipping with the third edition include: A Zillion Kajillion Rhymes, Add/Strip, Anagrams, Apeiron, ArtValve, Blood, Cache-22, Chiral, Clockometer, ColorSwitch, Conflict Catcher 3 Demo, Control Strip modules, Dialog View, Disk Rejuvenator, DiskFit Direct, DragAnyWindow, DragStrip, DropStuff, Dvorak Keyboard Layouts, Easy Envelopes+,Easy KEYS, Eclipse Screen Saver, FC Text-Picture, File Buddy, Folder Icon Maker, Googool Eyes, GURU, Helium, Holiday Lights, Label Secrets Pro (exclusive program to this book only!), Mac Identifier, Mac Secrets Outtakes, Macman Classic Pro, Maelstrom, MenuChoice, MIDI Files, Movie2Snd, Oracle, PhoneBook Plus, PowerPCheck, PowerSecretary demo movie (a voice-dictation system for the Mac.), PrintChoice, Program Switcher, QuickPop, QuickTime 2.1, Remember?, ScrapIt Pro, Sleeper,
Snapz, Sound Builder, Startup Screens, StuffIt Expander, Super Comments, Swoop, TechTool, The Tilery, To Do!, X-Words,and Zonkers! Sampler.

This book is great, and though mac users are notorious for not reading manuals, each such user should have this book within easy reach.

p>Select Phone
Price: $99.00
Company: Pro CD, Inc.

90 million business and residential listings. That’s what the ad for Pro CD’s Select Phone states. Impressive. And so is the six discs and programs you get when you buy this handy CD Rom set.

Many features grace this program. You can, of course, search for a name or address. You can click on a button to find out who lives next door to that person. You can enter a SIC code for looking up business of a certain type, like Macintosh vendors in the 90215 area code. You can search for phone numbers numerically adjacent to the one you choose. Heck, Select Phone even has the ability to dial the number for you!

I tested Select Phone exhaustively for a few months. I threw everything at it. I searched by name. Phone number. Address. Area code. Zip code. SIC Code. You name it, I did it. And along the way, I found Select Phone a good value, although it does have a few minor problems.

First, it needs to be better updated. This is a problem I really see no solution to, though, as how do you update a CD Rom? Well, when I first tested Select Phone, I tried a SIC code search for a friend in the Chicago area for a business related venture. He wanted all the corporate party planners in the Chicago and Detroit area, both address and phone number. So, after learning the proper SIC code, I went to work. My attempt’s to find anything was disappointing. I had a Chicago yellow pages directory in my lap, looking at a huge listing of party planners, many of them of the corporate type. Select Phone, however, listed next to none. Curious, I entered one of the phone numbers from the directory into Select Phone’s search field, and got a "No listing" response. The search of the same SIC code in Detroit, however, yielded much better results.

According to Pro CD, the problem was that, while many cities are updated with every version release, not every city is updated every time. And Chicago happened to fall into that category. They would, I was told, send me the next version release, which would have the updated Chicago listings.

Pro CD is very committed to this product, and after waiting three months, they also showed their support for their customers by sending me the new version, free of charge. Hat’s off to such fine customer relations on Pro CD’s part!

When I first tested Select Phone, it was a five CD set. The newest version for 1996 is a six CD set, so something must have been added to warrant a sixth CD! And when I tried my SIC code search as before, almost all the listings I showed in the directory was now included, but not all. Pro CD does not, however, make a claim that every phone number, business, and person is listed in Select Phone, as this would be impossible. But is there enough right now to warrant a consideration on your part to buy it? You bet!

My next test was only for fun. Select Phone is good for this as well! You can spend hours trying to look up old classmates, or see if there are any listings for famous people. Heck, I thought, lets see if Elvis is listed in California! (He is, or at least a business and some dedicated fans!) Or how about James T. Kirk, Captain of the Star Ship Enterprise! Yup, him too! In fact, in California, there are four James T. Kirk’s, but only one with the title Capt.!

Select Phone has some very helpful post-search options as well. You can copy a name or listing to your "Tag manager", a hard drive application for storing your searches, so you can swap CD’s in as needed. You can also export listings to other software, like a Clarisworks database, or a Microsoft Word document. You can print out tagged items from your Tag manager to a printer, with the option of printing on address labels, like Avery 5160 laser printing labels, perfect for a small business.

Is Select Phone worth buying? For a small business, definitely yes. You will use it often, even though at times, a search can take a long time. (Hint: narrow your search parameters as much as possible.) For a Macintosh or PC user who never calls much outside his or her own town; not really. Oh, sure, you will have fun looking up stuff for a little while, but the novelty will wear off, at which time Select Phone will become a dust magnet.

Select Phone’s overall quality is very good, as is Pro CD’s customer service. All in all, I would recommend you get it if you could really use it. Otherwise, use directory assistance.

Many of you have written in asking me to print more tips and trick, so I will try to do just that. If you have a tip or trick, and wish to share it with other mac users, send it in! I will print as many as you send in, and try to test them all beforehand to verify that they do work.

 
America Online Software Tips.

Do you have a document or picture you have been unable to open? Simply use the "open" command from the AOL software, select the file, and viola! AOL software is very good at opening the strangest things. I have had a few picture files that Graphic Converter, my favorite stand by, has been unable to open, but AOL did with ease!

Do you have a file you want to stuff, but do not have Stuffit? Once again, AOL comes to the rescue! First, select "Compose Mail", then choose "Attach file". Next you will be asked to select the file you wish to attached to you email. After you have done so, select "compress file", at which time AOL will ask you to save the stuffed file, with .sit at the end. AOL will now stuff that file. After this is done, simply close the letter, and do not save. You now have a stuffed file! Also, the reverse is true. If you have a compressed file, and do not have the correct software (like a .zip file) , you can use the "Open" command to select that file. AOL will expand it for you!

You do not need to be online to do use any of these tricks.

 
Startup Tip.

What is the first thing you do when you start up your mac? Well, if you are like me, you never turn the darn thing off! But when I do start up, I always check my email. So I put a alias of AOL in my startup folder, located inside the System folder. Now, every time I start up, AOL jumps to action without me having to touch anything. For you Performa and 7.5 users, your Launcher also opens when you start up. This will be a problem, as you mac will launch items in the startup folder in alphabetical order, thus AOL will launch before the Launcher. This will make you go back to the Finder, and you will have to manually go back to AOL after the launcher opens. To avoid this, simply put a space before the "L" in the launcher, so it will open before AOL starts up.

 
Font Trick.

Did you just download a font, and want to see what it looks like before you drop it into your system folder, then open a word processing program to type? Simply double click on the font file while holding down the Option key! A window will appear, displaying that font in 9,12,and 18 point. Go try it! It will save you from dumping it out of your system folder if it is not what you hoped for.

Folder Fun 1.0

This neat little program has one feature only: to create as many folders as you want at blazing speed. And I do mean blazing! Simply click one Folder Fun, select how many folders you want to create, select where you want them, and presto! Each folder is listed 1-2-3 and so on, not "Untitled 1, Untitled 2, ect.."

Matthew Nolan, creator of Folder Fun, has made it freeware, so it will not cost you a dime. (Nice guy, eh?). You can do a Keyword search of "Pioneer Software" to find it on AOL. Or write to "PioneerSW@aol.com" for locations via the Internet.

I tried Folder Fun 1.0 out, and found no problems at all. To be honest, and I told Matthew this myself, I am not sure why someone would really need it for? I cannot imagine a reason anyone would need 100 empty folders? But, if you do, and want them NOW, then Folder Fun 1.0 is for you!

p>MAXRam 1.6

This is one shareware utility that ALL users of Connectix’s Ram Doubler should have!

MAXRam will increase Ram Doublers multiplier value from 2 to 6. What does this mean? Well, if you have 8 megs, and use Ram Doubler, you will get 16. With MAXRam, you will get 48! Of course, this is only 48 megs of "virtual" memory, just like Ram Doubler’s 16.

MAXRam 1.6 ONLY works with Ram Doubler 1.6. If you have a older version, you can upgrade free of charge by downloading Ram Doubler 1.6 updater, found on all the major BBS’s, online service’s, or via the internet at "support@connectix.com".

Spencer Low, MAXRam’s creator, has indicated that this will be the final version of MAXRam, due to a increase in school work. Understandable, of course, and I wish him the best of luck in school.

So how well does MAXRam work? I have spent hours using it with almost every program I have, and have had only a few minor problems. The first, and this is expressed in MAXRam’s "read me" file, is a slow down in processing. In other words, your mac slows down some. It is a trade off, I suppose, but for the added benefit of six times the Ram, it is a easy one to make.

Shareware cost is only $5.00, well worth it. Figure Ram Doubler is around $50.00, and all you get it twice the Ram. By spending an extra five bucks, you get six times the Ram. A good deal any way you look at it!

MAXRam can be found on AOL, or on the Internet at: "http://www.crl.com/~spencerl/".

Performa 6300CD – Review
Price: $2,799
Company: Apple Computer, Inc.

Here is the computer for the experienced high-end home computer user! With 100 megahertz of raw power, and 16 megabytes of RAM, this computer is powerful enough to handle all of today’s power hungry applications. And, with the expandability that it offers, it has room to grow with you. The 6300CD also offers a internal apple 600i quad speed CD-ROM drive, a 1.2 gigabyte hard drive, and a 28.8 internal modem with built in speaker phone and digital answering machine. It also comes with a built in Apple Superdrive floppy disk drive, built in speakers, an Apple Plain Talk microphone, and 16-bit stereo sound. The multiple scan 15″ display wraps up the package. Everything but the mouse pad!

The 6300CD also comes pre-loaded with the norm for Performa’s, such as At Ease, eWorld with internet access, Claris Works 4.0, Quicken5, Mac Gallery Clip art, Click art Performa collection, Mac Link Plus Easy Open Translators, The American Hertiage Dictionary, Virex, The 1995 Groiler Multimedia Encyclopedia on CD-ROM, Maxis Widget workshop, Club kid soft CD, and much more!

The 6300′s expandability options include 5 expansion ports and 4 expansion slots, including a bay for and internal TV-tuner, a video slot for a video input card, a communications slot, (which is filled up by the 28.8 modem), and 1 LC-compatible PDS slot. The 6300CD also comes ready for MPEG for full screen, full motion video.

The only downside of the 6300CD is that it uses a Power PC 603e processor instead of the regular 603. The difference is that the 603e is slower because of it’s smaller design. Do not let that discourage you, though! The 6300CD is blazing the way for all the performa’s of the future, and should make many owners of this awesome machine happy and proud. It is much faster than my Performa 6115CD, which was the fastest Performa ever made! This is a great computer, and I highly recommend it.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season, and have made the customary trip to the store to exchange that sweater for the correct size? I have, and I think the checkout lane was shorter on Christmas eve!

I would like to welcome Mike Wallinga, writer and editor from Wall Writings. Mike, being very busy, had to give up publishing a whole issue month after month, so I am happy to include Wall Writings as a part of My Mac. Look for it this and every month.

By the time most of you read this, the Web page will be up and going! Very special thanks to Evan McCarthy for taking on this project! Sorry that I cannot give you the URL yet, but as we "go to print", we are not sure ourselves! I will have more details next issue.

This month, a new feature called "The My Mac Interview" debuts, with an interview of everyone’s favorite desktop critic, David Pogue. I hope to bring you more interviews in the future, but nothing is planned as of yet. It not easy convincing people to do it, let me tell you! David is the first, and I cannot thank him enough for his time. Look for it in this issue!

That’s it for now, as I want to keep this page short. This is the largest issue to date, and I do not want it to get too much bigger!

Tim Robertson