My friend 'optimizes' his hard drive every month or so, and has advised me to do the same. What are the benefits of optimizing my hard drive? Should I optimize my hard drive on a regular basis?
 
The process of ‘optimizing’ a hard drive involves organizing and grouping stored data in a sequential way, to minimize hard drive seek time and speed hard drive response. Over time, a hard drive can become ‘fragmented’. Because of data being continuously written and erased from your hard drive, ‘pockets’ of unused hard drive space form throughout your drive. When a larger file is saved to the drive, it may be broken up into smaller pieces and stored in these small, non-sequential pockets. The result is fragmentation; if allowed to persist and grow, it can cause performance degradation in your Mac. For instance, a large QuickTime movie may playback poorly if the computer must search all over the hard disk to stitch together the file.
A disk optimizer like Norton Speed Disk will carefully organize the data on your hard drive, organizing system files, documents and applications together in chunks. The observable benefits of such organization are quicker file access and application load times, a smoother start-up, and better playback of QuickTime movies. Overall, your Mac will feel a bit zippier.
I’d personally recommend optimizing your hard drive once every three months. Starting up from a floppy and running Speed Disk can be a tedious chore, but it can put the spring back into your Mac’s step. — CM.
 
 
ARRRGGGHHH! System 7.1 and its zillion enablers are driving me nuts! I created a start-up disk with a virus checker on it for my LC 475, and I can’t use it on my Quadra 660av. And the Quadra enabler is too big to fit on the disk with both a system and the virus checker! How can I start up my Quadra from a floppy, with a virus checker?
 
Pop the disk you created for the LC 475 in the Quadra 660av, and turn the 660av on. Wait until the dreaded “This Macintosh requires system software version 7.1 or later…” message appears. Then, depress the command () key and reset key at the same time. A dialog box (the debugger ) will appear on your display, with a ' > ' prompt. Enter the letter ‘G’, and press return. Your Quadra will now bypass the enabler, and boot up with the LC 475 disk—allowing you to run your virus program.
Though this trick will work for a variety of newer Macs running System 7.1, we don’t recommend you operate your Macintosh without the proper enabler for extended periods of time.— CM.
 
 
When I record with my QuickCam, my Mac will sometimes become mute—and the only way I can get the sound back is to restart. How can I get around this?
 
When the QuickCam software records video and sound, it will turn off audio output to prevent ‘feedback’. On some Macs, in some situations, the QuickCam software will not turn your Mac’s audio output back on after recording. Playing with the volume controls will reveal that your Mac has become mute.
Though it eluded me for days, there is a simple workaround to this problem (that does not involve rebooting your Mac): simply go into your Sound Control Panel, and choose to ‘record’ a new sound. After making a recording, the system software will kick in and turn audio output back on. You needn’t save the sound you record, either—all you must do is play the sound after recording, to verify that your Mac’s audio output has actually been reactivated.— CM.
'About this Macintosh…' is MacSense's new regular technical help and hints column. Got a question? Or a suggestion? We'd love to here it. Send your questions and helpful hints to MacSense1@aol.com. Next month: essentential key combinations for Mac troubleshooting.
