A Message From Dru

Hope y’all had a very happy New Year.

•••••Don’t EVER mess with Siri!!! http://vimeo.com/83350609

•••••Happy Birthday Mac! The Mac turned 30 on January 24th. Read the or ig ina l NYTimes review on Page 6.

•••••Special thanks to Facebook friend, The Hive, for this year’s header art.

•••••I’m taking a survey. Let me know which musical act(s) you would pay to see in concert. And what you would pay for those tickets. [Think BIG! My first concert planned is Billy Joel!]

•••••For all you who have asked —

My band, LoveSong, is on hiatus while my finger is on the mend. The finger, which I dislocated and broke, way back in November, is healing, slowly. Very frikkin’ slowly. <sigh>

•••••

Just a persistent reminder—Our office hours are Sunday thru Friday, 8:30 am - 5:30 pm. We’re closed on Saturdays. (And actually we close early on Fridays [this time of year] so I can get ready for Sabbath services)

•••••I’m still offering iPad 101 and iPad 201 classes at the RIchardson Senior Center, 820 W. Arapaho, in Richardson. Classes are Monday evenings. 7 - 8 pm for the beginners class and 8-9 pm for the advanced class.4 x 1 hr. Classes. Cost is $90 for all 4 classes! New classes start February 3. Sign up TODAY!

•••••BTW - I have a relationship with a vendor who can supply you with top quality pre-owned iMacs and MacBook Pros at very reasonable price. And as an extra incentive, we include over $4,000 worth of FREE software! What software, I hear you ask? Hows about Adobe Creative Suite 5 or 6 (depending on the Mac), Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac, Aper ture , Log ic , Compressor, VMWareFusion + Windows 7 (64-bit Ultimate), and much more. White iMacs start at $599. White 13” MacBooks start at $499. Supply is always ‘catch as catch can’ so don’t delay or your Mac will be gone!

•••••

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INDEX

Page 2For Your Information

“Knowing Your Startup Key Combinations for Intel Macs”

Page 3NEWSLINE

Page 4Ask the Tech

Page 5Opinion

Page 6Product Review

“APPLE WEIGHS IN WITH MACINTOSH”

Page 7Hints & Tips

Page 8 Comments

Page 9‘One More Thing...’

MacFactsM a c H e l p D e s k , I n c

a Macintosh Solutions Provider•

S u p p o r t , S a l e s , T r a i n i n g , & S e r v i c e

(972) 783-9787 • (214) 336-7162 (Cell)e-mail address - support@machelpdesk.com

Web site - http://www.machelpdesk.com

The

Hiv

e

Knowing Your Startup Key Combinations for Intel Macs

Whilst the idea of the computer mouse (essentially an inverted trackball) has been around since the 1960s, many people were still using keyboards as the sole input method some twenty years on. Even after the mouse b e c a m e a s t a n d a r d c o m p u t e r accessory in the mid-1980s, many programs relied on keyboard shortcuts to perform particular functions.

Even with new input devices, in addition to mice and trackpads, there is still a place for keyboard shortcuts. In this tutorial, I will show you the various keyboard key combinations that perform particular tasks when starting up your Mac.

Keyboard TwisterThere’s a joke, at the expense of PC users, that says a PC keyboard only needs three keys: Ctrl, Alt and Delete, this being the key combination required to force-quit rogue programs, to bring up the Close Program dialogue box or to invoke Windows Security.

It’s sometimes known as the three-fingered salute, and requires the use of both hands to achieve the key combination, given that the spacing of the keys is such that operation with one hand is impossible.

Tip: Ctrl-Alt-Delete is not a default keyboard shortcut for anything in Mac OS X. In the Mac OS X Server login screen, however, pressing Ctrl-Option-Delete (the Option key is sometimes marked Alt on a Mac keyboard) will show an alert saying This is not DOS.)

Mac-Specific Keyboard ShortcutsThis tutorial, instead, concentrates on some very specific key combinations to achieve particular effects when starting up your Mac.

Startup Key CombinationsStartup key combinations are invoked immediately following the startup chime, and before the grey Apple logo appears in the middle of the screen, when you power-on your Mac.

The object of these key combinations is to perform different functions, many of which are useful in the maintenance of Macs. The key combinations listed in this tutorial are specifically for use with Macs with Intel processors.

Tip: If you have a Windows keyboard, you can usually use the Windows key as the substitute for the Command key on the Mac keyboard.

Tip: If you are having difficulty invoking startup key combinations, ensure that you p ress and ho ld t he keys immediately after the startup chime. Alternatively, use a wired keyboard where possible, to rule out any issues possible with Bluetooth keyboards.

Available Key Combinations

Boot From External Device

Pressing the C key immediately after the startup chime will enable the option to boot from a range of media such as a bootable CD, bootable DVD or a bootable USB drive. This might include OS X install media (up to OS X 10.7 Lion) or USB install drives that you have created for other versions of OS X.

Apple Hardware Test (AHT)

Pressing the D key immediately after the startup chime will boot your Mac

into a suite of diagnostic utilities that enable you to test the hardware of your Mac. This is a useful way to rule out any hardware issues when trying to diagnose a possible problem with your Mac (which is why you may not have heard of it and, no doubt, have never used it!)

Tip: Remember D for Diagnostics.Reset the PRAM/NVRAM

This one is a bit of a finger-twister and, unless you are more dextrous than I, you’ll need both hands. The PRAM, on PowerPC Macs, or NVRAM, as it is on Intel Macs, is the non-volatile (random access) memory that stores various information about your Mac. This information includes:

• speaker volume• screen resolution• startup disk selection• r e c e n t k e r n e l p a n i c

information, if any•

Resetting the NVRAM, on Intel Macs, may be one way of solving an issue related to the above areas.When you invoke the Command-Option-P-R keyboard combination, keep the keys held down immediately after the first startup chime and release them upon hearing the second startup chime.

Select a Startup Volume (Drive)

Pressing the Option key immediately after the startup chime will show you the available startup volumes.

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PAGE 2 - FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Apple Reports First Quarter ResultsiPhone and iPad Sales Drive Record Revenue and Operating Profit

Apple announced financial results for its fiscal 2014 first quarter ended December 28, 2013. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $57.6 billion and quarterly net profit of $13.1 billion, or $14.50 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $54.5 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion, or $13.81 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 37.9 percent compared to 38.6 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 63 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

The Company sold 51 million iPhones, an all-time quarterly record, compared to 47.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 26 million iPads during the quarter, also an all-time quarterly record, compared to 22.9 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4.8 million Macs, compared to 4.1 million in the year-ago quarter. 

Apple’s Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $3.05 per share of the Company’s common stock.  The dividend is payable on February 13, 2014, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 10, 2014.

“We are really happy with our record iPhone and iPad sales, the strong performance of our Mac products and the continued growth of iTunes, Software and Services,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. "We love having the most satisfied, loyal and engaged customers, and are continuing to invest heavily in our future to make their experiences with our products and services even better."

“We generated $22.7 billion in cash flow from operations and returned an

additional $7.7 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases du r ing the December quarter, bringing cumulative payments under our capital return program to over $43 billion,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO.

Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2014 second quarter:■ revenue between $42 billion

and $44 billion■ gross margin between 37

percent and 38 percent■ operating expenses between

$4.3 billion and $4.4 billion■ other income/(expense) of

$200 million■ tax rate of 26.2 percent

•••••Overlooked in Q1 report, Apple soars in enterprise sectorLargely overlooked by analysts and investors obsessed with Apple's iPhone segment -- to the exclusion of otherwise strong revenues and growth -- were new numbers on Apple's penetration of the enterprise market, which has seen tremendous growth in the latest figures. Bolstered by BlackBerry's unravelling and a shift towards letting employees use their own preferences for mobile devices, Apple completely dominates the mobile enterprise market.

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer revealed that the iPhone is now at 97 percent share among Fortune 500 companies, and in 91 percent of the Global 500. The numbers for the iPad are equally impressive: 98 percent of the Fortune 500 are using Apple's tablet, and 93 percent of the Global 500 are as well.

Obliterating even the iPad's dominance of the consumer tablet market, the iPad made up 90 percent of all corporate tablet activations, and the

iPad accounts for 78 percent of the total US enterprise market (a figure that includes the government and educational institutions). The iPhone held a 59 percent marketshare in the overall US enterprise market --but more tellingly, Apple's iOS platform accounted for 95 percent of all app activations, suggesting that alternative platforms used in enterprise are not much engaged with the Internet. Apple's numbers in enterprise were referred to as "unbelievable" by CEO Tim Cook.

Oppenheimer mentioned a number of corporat ions that use " tens of thousands" of iPhones, including two that have "50,000 iPhones each" -- business analysts Deloitte, and defense and utility contractor GE. Other companies mentioned as big iPhone users were American Airlines and Cisco, among others. Large enterprise iPad customers included British Airways and the National Football League, along with Kindred Healthcare, reports Business Insider.

Noticed by a current Electronista editor who put his time in the military was the mention by Oppenheimer that iOS 7 h a d q u a l i fi e d f o r F I P S 1 4 0 - 2 certification, a crucial qualification for many military contractors that might want to buy iPhones. Also mentioned were additional enterprise features added to iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, the combination of which may clear the way for more Apple product use in military circles.

Cook acknowledged, however, that competitors were also working to make or keep their products competitive in the enterprise arena, noting that the business area is a "longer road" to contracts and rewards than the consumer market. He did add, however, that "I think we've done a lot of the groundwork, as you can tell from these numbers that I've given you, and I would expect that it would have more and more payback in the future."

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PAGE 3 - NEWSLINE

Q: I just retired and would like to buy a Mac desktop computer and begin learning a computer. Would you lead me in the right direction on what to purchase for the beginner and where I should go to purchase computer?

A: The best thing to do is go to a store that has iMacs and MacBooks on display and try one out. Some of the big box stores in the major cities are Apple authorized dealers, and they will have displays of Macs and employees to help.

You might want to get a MacBook, because the displays are large and and easy to see, and the MacBook, if course, is much more portable. But an iMac will be about the same price and have, of course, a much larger screen and a full size keyboard.

If you don’t want to go to a store and are sure you want an iMac or a MacBook, you can order online from a big online store like macmall.com or even directly from the Official Apple Store.

When you unbox the Mac you get from a store or from online, you’ll find quick start instructions. And when you start it up for the first time, it will walk you through adding your personalization, setting up your internet connection (which you should have ready to go f rom the phone /cab le /sa te l l i t e

company) and getting started with using it.

You also need to get a book or two to go with the iMac or MacBook. Apple ships all Macs with documentation on them, but it’s very helpful to have a book to work through. Some of the best are Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Mavericks Edition: David Pogue (Mavericks is the name of the newest Mac operating system.) Get that one if you are moving from Microsoft Windows to a Mac. If you’re not moving from Windows and you are starting from scratch with a Mac, get OS X Mavericks: The Missing Manual: David Pogue. A big book store will have those on the shelf, or you can order online.

And once you get the iMac set up ad running, you can check out the videos that Apple has for learning how to do things. Go to Apple – Support – Videos

And if you get confused or are anxious about any of this, call me at the office.

Q: The trackpad on my older Macbook has gotten so polished by use that it’s slick and it’s difficult to use and control the cursor. What can I do?

A: Well, I’ve had the same problem with my Macbook. Until I figured out a fix, I had to struggle to get the cursor moving easily on the slick surface, and any moisture on my finger would make the pad sticky.

So I have a fix, but it is very un-Apple like. Well, maybe it is Apple-like, because it is simple and quick. Maybe this is what they do in the back-rooms of the Apple Stores and Apple repair places, who knows?

The secret weapon? Sandpaper. I use a small piece of 150 grit sandpaper to very gently rough up the plastic surface of the trackpad. You do this VERY carefully. And don’t get any sanding residue in the keyboard. All it takes is a few swipes.

You don’t, of course, want to sand through the plastic of the trackpad. Just a few circular motions with the sandpaper will rough up the plastic to where it has a little friction and gives more resistance. And that will give much better cursor control.

So find a scrap o f sandpaper somewhere and give it a try. It should be 150 grit or finer, but anything like 400 grit won’t do much.

I’ve had to do this every year, it seems, for my old Macbook. Just remember to sand it a bare minimum to give the trackpad some friction.

Q: What’s with the question mark in the folder tool bar? What does it mean and how can I get rid of it?

A: That question mark is what’s left of a folder or disk image or mounted vol-ume in the finder that went away or was ejected. And what’s left is an empty space (see image below) for the missing item, so OS X displays a ques-tion mark. But the question mark is easy to get rid of.

Right click or control click on it and a pop-up menu will appear. Select “Remove Item” and the question mark will disappear. Poof, it’s gone.

The strange question mark

But also realize that in that same menu, you can select “Customize Toolbar…” and you can drag and drop and rearrange the items in the tool bar. That might come in handy. You may find some functions you would like to have in the toolbar, and some you don’t need , so customize away.

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PAGE 4 - ASK THE TECH

Why Nothing Apple Does Is Ever Good Enough

No matter how many iPhones and iPads Apple CEOTim Cook sells, it's not enough for Wall Street

Apple is kind of like a wildfire. It burns so hot, it creates its own weather.

How else to explain Wall Street’s rats-off-a-sinking-ship reaction to another quarter of stratospheric sales and profits from the cash machine that Jobs built? The only rule with Apple is: No matter how well it does, a whole different school of stock market physics seems to apply.

On Monday, after the markets closed, Apple reported its most recent quarterly earnings, and investors responded by dumping their shares. The company’s stock price dropped as much as 9 percent in after-hours trading. With most companies, such a sell-off comes after a big loss, tepid projections for the future, or quarterly numbers that failed to meet the expectations of Wall Street analysts. But in Apple’s case, it arrived after the company reported $13.1 billion in profits on sales of $57.6 billion, beating the Street’s consensus.

— The problem with Apple is that all the numbers have become so large

that it’s hard to comprehend how they get any larger. —

The company said it sold a record number of iPhones for the quarter (51 million), as well as a record number of iPads (26 million). And big profits and sales are predicted to continue. For casual students of capitalism, all this sounds like everything is going right.

Instead, the big drop in Apple’s stock price has become something of a ritual purge every time the company announces big news. Similar disappointment greeted CEO Tim Cook’s announcement of the iPhone 5s and 5c back in S e p t e m b e r. T h e 5 s l o o k e d especially great — best in class, even — but for Apple, sometimes even great isn’t enough. The same holds true for sales and profits. It’s not about how big they are. It’s about how much bigger they could be, but aren’t.

Too Big Not to FailDuring the first decade or so of the new century, Apple went from a company that made a device that transformed the music industry to a company that made a device that transformed every industry. And its revenue growth reflects that trend. As the iPhone went from coveted status symbol to ubiquitous tool of the mobile age, sales began to rise. Once the iPad was introduced, Apple’s growth rocketed, setting the standard that has been nearly impossible to match as the market for smartphones and tablets has matured — a dreaded word. While iPhones and iPads are still setting new records, overall growth is flat, and this past quarter’s iPhone sales

came in below expectations for the holiday season by 5 to 6 million units. Apple’s numbers represent a healthy consistency but not that next level of nose bleed-inducing altitudes .

It’s possible Apple could once again reach those heights with the release of a category-creating wearable gadget or smart device, and some of the pessimism around Apple arises from the reality that the company has yet to do this. Rumors of such Apple hardware have been around for ages. Apple poaching former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts was seen as the surest sign yet that the company is getting into the wearables game. The trouble is that Wall Street wants an Apple smartwatch now, and it hasn’t seen one yet.

Meanwhile, activist investor Carl Icahn sees other deficiencies in the Apple machine. Icahn’s version of “not good enough” is Apple’s $100 billion stock buyback plan, which he believes the company should hike up to $150 billion. So he’s using Twit ter to badger Cook and company almost constantly.

In a sense, the problem with Apple is that all the numbers have become so large, they can’t get any larger. Then again, a majority of the world’s people still don’t own smartphones. If Apple can figure out how to get its devices into even a fraction of those hands — which it has struggled to do in emerging markets, compared to Google Android — maybe it could finally add enough billions to its balance sheet to make everyone happy.

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PAGE 5 - OPINION

APPLE WEIGHS IN WITH MACINTOSH

I recently stumbled upon a 1984 New York Times review of the original Mac, and it was fascinating to see a person’s first reactions to a computer that has become so incredibly influential over the years. This made me search out first reviews of a few other Apple products, including the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. I’ve always found these first reviews to be incredibly interesting, and a way to go back and see what people at the time thought of products that would become so historically significant. What I found was that most reviewers couldn’t see the revolution that was happening right before their eyes and instead were stuck in the past and mostly focused on relatively insignificant concerns. — Linus Edwards

NYTimes—January 24, 1984

WHEN it comes to apples, I've always preferred tart, crisp ones like Granny Smiths or Idas to McIntoshes. It seems to me, therefore, that as a new name in Apple Computer's growing orchard of machines one of those would have done admirably. What could sound more ''user friendly'' than a Granny Smith computer around the house. Then again, maybe Apple had hamburgers on the mind in naming its new computer - in hopes of its Mac becoming as much a part of the American mythos as the golden arches are.

Names, and the i r concomi tant marketing strategy, aside, today's launching of the Macintosh by Apple, unlike I.B.M.'s recent introduction of the ra ther unexcept ional PCjr, presages a revolution in personal computing. Like all major innovations, this one entails a high risk of failure.

Apple lost the first battle, begun with its $10,000 Lisa. The second assault is with a machine only a fourth the cost of its big sister and almost as versatile.

One computer the Mac definitely cannot be compared with, though many people will try, is the PCjr. That would be like comparing apples and peanuts. It just cannot be done. The PCjr is a more limited product offered at a lower price. The only real connection between the two machines is that the introduction of both computers was anxiously awaited for what seems a decade.

The roughly 17-pound Macintosh comes in a square bushel-basket-size canvas tote bag with an oversized zipper. The preproduction version I saw did not sport the Apple-with-a-bite logo. The addition of this emblem could well turn the bag into a classic status symbol, and even if the computer s t a y e d h o m e , t h e b a g w o u l d accompany people on the move, stuffed with picnic goodies or laundry.

As to the computer itself, unpacked, it sits like a towering, square, robotic Cyclops, its single disk drive an off-center mouth. The machine definitely has personality, though its high profile, designed, no doubt, to reduce the amount of desk space needed, is a bit startling.

The first thing to take me by surprise as I sat down at the Macintosh was not the mouse pointer used to move the cursor on screen, which everyone has been expecting, but the size of the screen itself. With a scant nine-inch diagonal, it presents a diminutive five-by-seven viewing image. My personal dislike for small screens made me chalk up an immediate minus on the Mac's scorecard, particularly since I found myself, as I usually do when con f ron ted w i th a min isc reen , hunkering right up to the computer,

much closer than comfort called for, as I flicked it on. Then came the second surprise.

The Mac display makes all the other personal computer screens look like distorted rejects from a Cubist art school. With a 512-line horizontal by 342-line vertical, the display conveys an image that is refreshingly crisp and clear. The use of square dots rather than the standard rectangular ones at each of the almost 200,000 line crossings adds even more to the sharpness of the picture. After a couple of hours of looking at this screen, going back to the Apple IIe at home brought tears to my eyes. What the Mac adds in visual clarity, however, it takes away in chromatics. At present, only a black-and-white screen is available. Apple appears to be aiming this computer at the small-business and educational markets rather than the home entertainment segment, so perhaps the company feels that color is not necessary. Certainly the machine could not be delivered with the rainbow at the current price of roughly $2,495. Even so, I suspect the absence of color capability is a mistake, one which, along with the diminutive screen size, will hopefully be rectified eventually by add-ons for those wanting them. As it is, if you can live with the small screen, and the lack of color does not bother you, there is simply no personal computer that comes close to the Mac in display quality.

Another startling feature that I became aware of after a few minutes, although it may be a minor point to some people, is the absence of fan noise. The vacuum cleaner sound effects so annoying to many people and so prevalent in small computers is totally nonexistent. The reason is simple: The Macintosh has been sound you will hear is the clicking of the keyboard.

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PAGE 6 - PRODUCT REVIEWS

Fix a plug-in-related PDF printing issue in Safari

After upgrading to Mavericks, I ran into an issue where I couldn’t print from a site that used a Silverlight-based Web app. In particular, when I tried to use ‘Open as PDF’ or ‘Save as PDF’ from the Print dialog box, instead of getting a nice PDF, I’d get bupkis. Zip. The big goose egg.

It turns out that this is due to the new s a n d b o x i n g r u l e s t h a t A p p l e implemented for Safari plug-ins. The feature is intended to keep you safe from security exploits that affect plug-ins, but it can result in unintended side effects—such as, in my case, not being able to print.

After a lot of searching, I finally came across the solution. You can tell Safari to let you run certain plug-ins in “unsafe” mode; sounds scary, yes, but fortunately you can enable that mode on a plug-in by plug-in basis, and only for specific sites that you designate.

Running a plug-in in unsafe mode can h e l p fi x p r o b l e m s c r e a t e d b y sandboxing, but you should limit which sites get the privilege.

So the next time you’re visiting a problematic site, fire up System Preferences in Safari, go to the Security pane, and click on Manage Website Settings. On the left, select the plug-in in question—in my case, Silverlight—and you’ll see a list of currently open websites that are using

that plug-in. From the drop-down menu next to that specific site, choose Run in Unsafe Mode. You’ll be warned that this means that the plug-in on this site can access your personal documents and data, but forge ahead and click Trust.

Now, quit and relaunch Safari, and revisit the site in question. (This forces Safari to reload the plug-in in its new, u n s a f e m o d e . ) I f t h e p l u g - i n sandboxing was indeed the culprit, you may find that your woes are now cured.

Of course, it should go without saying that you should follow this procedure only for sites that you’re sure you can trust. By and large, the Safari’s sandboxing features help keep your data safe; but if you’re running into problems where even trusted sites aren't working as they should, this solution might save you some hair-tearing.

•••••If you put your phone on airplane mode, it will charge twice as fast.

•••••Take selfies using the remote on your earbuds.

Just click the volume + button on the remote on your Apple or Apple-compatible earbuds while in camera mode to click and shoot, or the middle button (play/pause) while in video mode.

No more selfie arm!•••••

On the iPad: Did you know that a) you can add more apps to the home row and b) you can add folders to it?

A lot of people don’t even know how malleable that bottom dock is. You can fit a couple extra apps in there (the default is four, but it fits six) or swap apps in and out. Just click any app and hold until you get the jiggly icons.

And you can move folders into the dock as well. Your most important apps are always just two clicks or fewer away.

•••••When ending a sentence, instead of typing a period and then a space, just tap the space bar twice.

Tapping the space bar twice adds a full stop, a space, and capitalizes the next letter. It may not seem like much, but when you’re composing a lengthy message, this little hack will really im-prove the speed of your typing once it becomes second nature.

•••••Use this simple Siri command for taking naps.

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PAGE 7 - HINTS & TIPS

Crazy Things People Do With Old Macs

App le f an en thus iasm i s legendary, and over the years we've seen plenty of portraits and tributes celebrating the cult of Mac. But what about people who can't bear to let go of their old Apple devices, but want to turn them into something... useful? Check out this list of DIY devices people made from old Apple parts, and get some ideas for how to preserve your Mac into the distant future.

Reddit user 100uf made a grill out of the computer tower for his old Mac. His verdict: "Coals could have been closer, but it works!"

•••••

Craftsman Jake Harris has made a business turning old iMacs into colorful aquariums.

•••••Etsy user Randall Littleton sells this lamp made from spare Mac parts for $99.

•••••Meanwhile, Etsy user Allan Young is turning old Mac mice a n d k e y b o a r d s i n t o o l d -fashioned pendulum clocks.

•••••It's hard to beat the enthusiasm of netizens who turn their old Macintoshes into snail mail boxes.

•••••

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PAGE 8 - COMMENTS

Start Up Keys, cont.This is particularly useful if you have your hard drive partitioned with two (or more) operating systems from which you wish to boot your Mac. Or, in the case of maintenance and recovery, when you need to boot from an external drive.

Eject a CD or DVD

Pressing the Eject or F12 keys immediately after the startup chime will eject any removable media, such as an optical disc.This is a useful option on those occasions when you just don’t seem to be able to get OS X to eject a DVD from the SuperDrive.

That said, the reliance on optical media is diminishing now that modern Macs are supplied without a SuperDrive.

Target Disc Mode

Pressing the T key immediately after the startup chime will allow another Mac with a FireWire port (the target Mac) to be used as an external hard drive connected to another Mac (the host).

Target Disk Mode is useful for accessing the contents of a Mac which cannot be booted from its own hard drive.

Safe Boot Mode

Pressing the Shift key immediately after the startup chime will start up your Mac in a way that performs particular checks and prevents certain software from automatically loading or opening.

This is particularly useful if any maintenance is required on your Mac and can be used to resolve or isolate certain problems that exist on the internal hard drive (startup volume).

Single-User Mode

Pressing the Command-S keys immediately after the startup chime will start up your Mac in single-user mode.

Single-user mode is a mode in which a multiuser OS X operating system boots into a single superuser for the purposes of maintenance.

OS X System Recovery

Pressing the Command-R keys immediately after the startup chime will start up from the OS X Recovery System

•••••Macintosh, contKeyboards are a very subjective matter. This one is certainly more comfortable and responsive than those to be found on the Apple II series. It is also light enough to rest comfortably o n o n e ' s l a p , w h i c h i s w h a t manufacturers seem to think people do with these things, although I personally have never seen anyone work that way. Furthermore, it solves one of the minor mysteries of personal computer engineering that has long bothered

me; namely, why does the keyboard cord always have to plug into the rear of the computer so it inevitably becomes snarled coming around the side? The answer is that it does not. The Mac's keyboard plugs quite naturally into the front of the computer and never seems to get hung up.

That is one plus for the Mac's design - followed by a negative. There is no numeric keypad on the board. A separate one may be attached, but then, counting the mouse's tail, you have three cables snaking their way back to the machine. All in all, I get the feeling, as I do with I.B.M. PC products, that a lot of outside manufacturers are going to be cranking out modified keyboards for owners who do not like the standard model.

As to the mouse, it is part and parcel of the Mac revolution, and it will probably be the reason you either sign up for or turn your back on this machine. To a large extent, the Macintosh works with what has been termed a ''finder environment.''

You find either a word or an icon or pictogram on the screen representing what you want the computer to do, then slide the mouse on your desk to move the cursor into position over that screen object, then press the button on the mouse to activate that particular part of the program.

For instance, there is a menu bar at the top of the screen with the words ''file,'' ''edit,'' ''U,'' ''special,'' and so on. Slide the cursor over to ''file,'' click the mouse button, and a window beneath the word opens up w i th such commands as ''open,'' ''duplicate,'' ''get info,'' ''close'' and ''print.'' To print what is in a file, all you do, essentially, is bring the cursor down to ''print,'' press the mouse button and release.

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Macintosh, contThe fundamental difference between the Mac and other personal computers is that the Macintosh is visually oriented rather than word oriented. You choose from a menu of commands by s imply pressing the wander ing mouse's button rather than by using a number of control keys or by entering words.

•••••Thanks for taking the time to read this month's newsletter.

Hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments or suggestions for stories (or would even like to write a story ~ hint, hint, hint), please send them to me at: machelpdesk@tx.rr.com

Feel free to share this newsletter with a friend. The newsletter archives are located at: http://www.machelpdesk.com/page6a.html

Y'all come back now, y'hear

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