I'm hoping the problem is now taken care of. I've become 'gun-shy' because of this whole thing. I click on my browser and wait anxiously to see if everything comes up all right. I try not to worry, but it will take a bit of time to trust the connection. Even so, I am still happier with this than AOL. Why? Speed and stability. And, to be honest, when I finally do get through to Media One support (Media One is my Internet provider), the techs take their time working with me until it is solved.

Now, on to the Helpful Hints!

Apple Menu: You've seen me mention the Apple menu many times over the years. It's a handy-dandy drop down menu in the upper lefthand corner of your screen. The apple is always there, no matter what you are doing. You can do different things with this menu. For instance, when you are on your desktop, and not in any program, if you go to the first item in that menu, "About this Macintosh," it tells you about the memory on your Mac. Even better, if you have your balloons turned on (by going under the Help drop down menu at the desktop level and choosing Show Balloons), you get detailed memory information.

If you are in a program, the item changes to "About xxx" (In this example, xxx stands for the program you are in). A dialog box opens up that was created by the software developers and tells you information about the program. Sometimes these information boxes are valuable, sometimes not.

Your Control Panel resides under the Apple. This option contains many neat items like Appearance, Apple Menu Items, Extensions Manager, Monitors & Sound, TCP/IPŠ I suggest you go through each item and become familiar with it. These items control the functionality of your Mac. By becoming familiar with their uses, you can customize your Mac to your preferences.

You can also put program aliases under the Apple, thus reducing clutter on your desktop. How? Make aliases of the items you want to put in your Apple Menu. (Do this by highlighting the item, then press Command M. Voilą! An alias is made!) Then, go to your System Folder and open it. You'll see an Apple Menu folder. Open it. Now, create a new folder if you want to group everything together. I recommend using folders because you can keep groups of aliases in folders to keep your Apple Menu clean and uncluttered.

Name the new folder anything you want. Drag the aliases into the folder. You're done! The next time you use the Apple Menu, your new folder and its contents will be there.

Special thanks to Buzz Buzzell for suggesting this hint.

By the way, just what is the desktop???: The desktop is your Mac. The equivalent would be the top of your desk at work. The top of your desk supports items, like your computer and phone. The Mac desktop supports whatever programs/documents you open.

Pop Up Folders: This is a feature I love. It bears resemblance to a feature on Windows, however, I quite simply like the Mac version better. It is cleaner and turns the control of the folders over to me. So, what am I talking about? It will be easier if I tell you how to do it.

While you have an open folder on your desktop, go to View on the menu next to the Apple. Under View, select the As Pop-Up Window option. Your folder changes shape slightly and the folder title now looks like a tab. Click on the desktop and the folder closes. You'll notice a tab at the bottom of the screen with the name of that folder. Click on it once and the folder reopens.

I find this very handy for folders I need to access on a daily basis.

Sherlock: This is the improved Find File. The best thing about Sherlock is you can use it not only for your hard drive and any mounted disks/external drives, but you can also search the Web! Press Command F, for Find, and Sherlock opens up. Play with it to see how well it works. I have not yet been disappointed.

Internet Site of the Month: The Writer's Exchange is a list of fantasy, fiction, and sci-fi zine links. Go to http://sonador.com/exchange/sub11.htm. Great reading for late nights. Enjoy!

Have a great March 2000!

Barbara Bell
pr@mymac.com