Cover by Mike Gorman
MyMac Magazine #23, March 1997
This Month: A New, Improved Internet Experience – Cleaned and Polished
Welcome to all the Mac lovers out there. It’s just me again. In the past few months, I have grown a little disenchanted with this whole online experience – the huge files, the slow transfers, the multimedia-intensive Web pages that take forever to load, the applications that are total memory hogs and cause my computer to freeze and crash, etc.
But in the last month or so, my faith in the Internet has been renewed. I love being online, and I find it worthwhile, rewarding, and gosh-darn fun. The occasional system crash and busy signal aside, I can now live with the few inconveniences associated with the ‘net. The benefits are worth it.
So, what caused me to change my tune?
One Word – SPEED.
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QuickTime VR (Virtual Reality) is a technology from Apple that lets you control a Continue reading »
QuickTime movie. It’s not a normal QuickTime movie, but a panoramic picture that you
look around in. You can turn, look up and down, and zoom in and out. The term virtual
reality is a little deceiving because of what people expect from it. Most virtual reality
computers have special gloves and headsets you wear so that you can move your head and
your view changes. QuickTime VR does not do this. You cannot walk around like in those
virtual reality computers.
All this sniveling about who manufactures the better computer has finally driven me to prove, once and for all, who builds the most reliable, innovative and user friendliest computer on the market today.
To accomplish this, I conducted my own scientifically controlled Benchmark tests on several of the leading personal computers being sold today.
I used my own funds to carry out these Benchmark test so I could maintain the highest level of credibility – even though thousands, and in one case, tens-of-thousands of dollars were offered to me if I would slant my findings favorably towards one computer manufacturer or another. In fact, as soon as one company heard that my findings would be printed in the highly regarded and esteemed My Mac Magazine, that manufacturer increased his bribe to $75,000. I, of course, refused these sorry attempts at bribery so that I could give you, Dear Constant Reader of mine, the true, scientific, unbiased, untainted and totally honest results that you deserve and have come to rely upon when reading Miner Thoughts. Besides, my honesty and credibility cannot be bought for a penny under $100,000.
I could have conducted these Benchmark tests at a lab just like the big boys do at Macworld, MacUser, and PC Magazine but I opted to go out in the real world to do my testing. Some of you may question my sanity for choosing the Gorilla exhibit at the Seattle Zoo to conduct these tests, but if you’ll please bear with me and trust me, I will, as always, prove to you that there is a method to my madness.
Ready? Let’s go Benchmarking!
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Virex 5.7
Company: Datawatch
Estimated Price: $69.00
http://www.datawatch.com
Right about now you’re all saying, “A virus detection program for my Mac, what for?” Because even though there are thousands of viruses for the PC types and 50 or so for us Mac users, it’s better to be safe then sorry. Yes, I still use Disinfectant, but I needed something that gave me a better margin of safety when it came to downloading items off the Internet, bulletin boards or receiving items through e-mail.
Datawatch’s Virex 5.7 is a definite improvement over the Virex 5.5.3P2 which came with my Macintosh Performa. Easy to install, Virex 5.7 first prompts you to scan your hard disk. After you’ve done this, the dialog box offers you several options on how to proceed, including removing previous versions of Virex. You then choose on installing the Virex Control Panel, the Virex Control Strip module (for those of you using Control Strip on your Mac or PowerBook) and the Virex DropScan. (more on DropScan later) You continue, choosing where to install the Virex application, picking the “accelerated for Power Mac” version and deciding if you want to keep your previous preferences from your earlier version of Virex as they are. Click “INSTALL,” then quit when you’re done and you’re all finished with the install. Virex is also capable of being installed over a network system, with a site license, of course.
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Greetings to one and all! When last we met, we were discussing batteries for older Macs. In this article, I want to tackle another common problem that I often see with LaserWriter II’s. Man, I love these faithful, old workhorses. If you just need a simple laser printer, you know like I do that they just can’t be beat but, as with everything else in our world, they have their occasional maintenance problems. Let me explain…
Has your printer(I’m referring to LW II’s, any flavor, nt, ntx, sc, f or g) ever displayed the two red lights flashing simultaneously at startup? You know that this means trouble. If you have access to the handy-dandy manual for it, you’ll see that this indicates a faulty fuser assembly. Honey, these ain’t cheap. So, you take it to your local Apple service guy (Yes, I still believe in Apple service guys. Why? Because I am one!) and he changes the fuser and ends up frustrated because the lights still flash and the fuser is ice cold (it’s supposed to be HOT!). So he puts it aside so he can do that easy battery replacement and forgets about it…for now…until you call wondering why it’s taking so long to get fixed. Trust me, he’s frustrated and would love to get that thing out of the store.
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Mac OS 7.6
Company: Apple Computers, Inc.
Estimated Price: $99.00
http://www.apple.com
Mac OS 7.6 is finally available, and there are many questions surrounding the new release. Formerly known as Harmony, Mac OS 7.6 is the first release in Apple’s incremental system software release strategy. Yes, changes have been made, but is this release really worth it? Read this review, then decide if 7.6 is for you. It is well worth it to me, in more ways than one. One of those ways is my trust in Apple. Apple finally kept a promise, they got a system release out on time, and that is exactly what I needed.
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THE GUERRILLA WAR Continue reading »
James Coates wasn’t the only victim of the over-zealous Mac faithful during the Apple/NeXT marriage (see last month’s column). PC Week (Jan. 20) ran an article on some recent attacks on computer writers and IT managers lead by Guy Kawasaki. (A picture accompanying the article showed Kawasaki done up in an interesting interpretation of the Mac OS logo as war paint.) The author of the EvangeList had a few other people on his hit list, earning them the cyber equivalent of a cherry bomb in their mailbox. Generally the attacks consist of an uncontrolled flood of vicious e-mail. There are other methods, however. A Newsweek writer (Barb Kantrowitz) was subscribed to “a sex-related discussion group.” She also received an e-mail which made particularly good use of turn-of-the-century ideology by asking: “Why don’t you go and bake brownies and leave this to the boys?” On the PC side of the computing world, Kawasaki is definitely redefining what it means to be a Mac lover. After all, if you can’t persuade people of your point of view through intelligent debate and hard work, leading the troops to sexist name-calling and pedantic cyber tricks is bound to win the war!
Dear Readers:
Let me share a recent horror story with you…
I returned from my extremely restful vacation and decided to do a little work on my Performa 630CD. I turn it on. I hear beeps, but no image on the monitor. I fiddle with the brightness and contrast knobs, nothing. I try rebuilding my desktop, no image. I swap out the monitor and still no image on the monitor! By now, I am truly frantic. My Christmas mailing list is in there, my resume (which I love to update) is in there, my checkbook is in there! What happened?!
I did notice a puddle on the floor about four feet away. We discovered the filter on the fish tank had clogged and backed up while we were away, draining about a third of the tank onto the basement floor, but that was several feet away from the desk. No connection, or so I thought. So, immediately on my first day back at work I call my local ComputerTown technician. He said that it might be the port where the monitor plugs in to. If that were the case, it would be extremely expensive to replace as the port is connected to the logic board. Fabulous. Now I’m thinking my vacation money would have better spent repairing my system. Had I only known!
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I got this letter in my e-mail the other day. Now, I’m sure the advertiser did not mean for it to show up in My Mac Magazine, but that is the risk you take if you’re a moron. This has GOT to be the biggest fraud I have ever read about. Let me first share with you the letter, and then give you my reasons why I say that.
Hello, I am Kenneth Kindsteen, Ph.D., a nationally known psychic and I sense an aura of stress emanating from you and I can help you rid yourself of it right now. I want you to make a free call to my Psychic facility and learn today what your future holds for love, family, and money. And before you become skeptical or a non believer about the possibilities for solutions in your life by calling a Psychic, why don’t you just take advantage of THE ONE FREE CALL! Please don’t be afraid. Call right now!
First, as you know, I got this via e-mail. Now, I am no Psychic, and am not even sure I believe in that sort of thing. Truth be told, I have never really thought about it much. No, I am not saying that Psychic abilities are untrue, nor am I saying that I believe in them. I have no opinion on the matter either way. But I do have a problem with THIS person, and this e-mail.
“I sense an aura of stress emanating from you…” his letter says. That emanation you are receiving is from the fact that I pay for my online time and am forced to read garbage e-mail from idiots like you, pal. Besides, this e-mail was sent via bulk rate to thousands of recipients all over the ‘Net. Some of the people reading this in My Mac, I would bet, received the same letter, or one just like it. I bet, Mr. Kenneth Kindsteen, that you did not even know my NAME when you sent this letter. Or where I live. But somehow, magically, you can sense an aura from me? Two words, pal: “Yeah, right!”
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GoMac 1.0
Shareware $19.95
Company: Proteron, L.L.C.
It’s not very often that I can look at a PC, and wish I had a feature I see there. In fact, other than the way menu’s pull down, there isn’t any. (And MacOS 8.0 will change that.) Well, there is one thing I like about Windows 95. The Start Menu at the bottom of the screen. And now, thanks to GoMac 1.0, we Mac users can have one, too!
GoMac is a great shareware product. It seems that I go a long time between finding programs on the shareware side really worth my time to rave about. Symbionts, SnapTo, Snapz Pro, and a few other come to mind. Programs that, to me, rival what the the commercial vendors are doing, or surpass them in very real ways. Now, after a long search for the “Next Big Thing” in shareware, I have found another program that fits that bill to a tee. Folks, GoMac is really that good!
What IS GoMac, and what does it do? GoMac is a control panel that adds a navigation menu to the bottom of your screen, very much like the Windows 95 Start menu does. In fact, that was the basis for this program. And Proteron, L.L.C., the company behind the program, did a wonderful job of creating it for us Mac users.
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To start with, I’d like to thank those readers who contact me with their technical problems, I’m always happy to help out a fellow Mac user. This month Tech Tips will cover general printer troubleshooting, how to determine the cause of the problem and which areas to look at for the resolution.
Problem one: Printer won’t print, error message on the computer. This one is a very common occurrence for my clients. The main issue is that “won’t print” is enormously vague and can vary widely by printer type. Let’s start with a couple basics.
Can you print another document? If not, then try another program. If nothing will print, follow the steps below. If a different document/program will print then there are different software issues that will be covered in a future article.
What type of printer is it? If it is a laser printer, did it print out the startup page (if it normally does)? If it is an inkjet printer, did the printer make its usual ratchet noises (from the print head moving back and forth)? On either printer type, is the ready light on, not blinking, and no error lights on? If the answers were yes to these questions, we can hope that the printer itself is ok, or at least consider it the last item to check since it appears to be working. If you had difficulty answering any of these questions, mainly because you’ve never paid attention to your printer, I suggest watching what it does when you power it on – that way you know what is “normal” for your printer and can speed up any troubleshooting on your own.
Welcome to a new feature of My Mac! Here, we offer a page for readers to write about any subject they’d like. Many times this may simply be a letter too long for the e-mail page, though we encourage everyone to submit an article for this page. This is your space, and we need your help to fill it! Also, we would like a better name for this page! “Your Turn” is fine to start it off, but we need you to name this column. Any ideas?
This month, I would like to present a letter we received from Sean Lynch. Sean’s letter was a little too long for the e-mail page, but I enjoyed it so much I wanted to share it with all of you.
As Mac users, we hardly go a single day without using our Macs. We use them, we know them, we love them, we hold them close to our hearts. When they disobey us, we chastise them. When they act irrationally, we get mad and, in some sad cases, physically abuse our precious machines.
The fact is, we go day after day using our sweet machines without ever sitting back and thinking about them. . . and I mean deep thought. Of course we don’t, that’s a waste of time. So, let’s all sit back for a moment and waste some time as we reflect on some various Macintosh certainties…
“Where’s that darn button?!”
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Comments. Be heard!
MyMac Podcast #385
MyMac Podcast #384