Avoid a Lengthy Mac Startup Process; Ensure DOS Compatibility on Your Power Mac; And, with Some Luck, Rescue Trashed Files.
Christopher Breen and Bob Levitus
The Rise-and-Shine Mac
Q. I'd like to avoid the lengthy boot-up process of my Mac in the morning. Is there any way to put it to "sleep" overnight as you can with a PowerBook?
Paul Jackson
via America Online
CHRIS: I haven't had a problem leaving my Mac on for days at a time -- I have an energy-saver monitor I've set to dim after 60 minutes of nonuse. If I know I'm going to leave my Mac unattended for a long period of time, I make sure programs that access the drive by fiddling about in the background -- compressors, Norton File Saver, file sharing, screen savers, optimizers, and the like -- are switched firmly off. The Mac then happily heats my office and pops back to life when I need it later.
But to get to your real question -- yes, there is a way to put your Mac to sleep. It comes in the form of a $20 shareware utility aptly named Sleeper, from St. Clair Software (you can find it online; see end of article). Like the PowerBook's Sleep command, Sleeper spins down your desktop Mac's hard drive and dims the screen.
I found that although its performance was just ducky on my Mac's internal drive and monitor, it wasn't able to spin down my external drive -- St. Clair explains that some SCSI drives don't recognize the SCSI stop command and refuse to spin down.
Warning: Constantly going nighty-night will cause wear and tear on your hard drive. Use Sleeper only at times when you would normally shut down your Mac.
BOB: Another peachy and more ecologically correct way to get your Mac to boot up while you're still tucked snuggly under your covers is to connect a Sophisticated Circuits Power Key (about $70) or Power Key Pro (about $100) to your Mac. You can program either device to wake your computer a few minutes before your alarm clock goes off. An added bonus: The Power Key software can run a QuicKeys sequence after starting up your Mac. I use this feature to have CompuServe Navigator grab my e-mail for me. So every morning when I arise, my Mac is warmed up and my CompuServe mail awaits my bleary-eyed perusal. I have to sit through the lengthy "march of icons" only if the Mac crashes and I have to restart.
Dog-Eat-DOS World
Q. I want to purchase a Power Mac 6100/66 with a CD-ROM player and a DOS Compatibility Card. Will the CD-ROM player read both Mac and PC CD-ROMs, and can I use RAM Doubler with the DOS card?
Gagan Malhotra
via the Internet
CHRIS: You've heard the old saw regarding the chimera of gratis noontime meals?
BOB: Meaning "There's no free lunch."
CHRIS: Exactly. Gagan, regardless of the hype, throwing a DOS Compatibility Card into your Mac is not like having a separate, living and breathing PC. Yes, it will run a fair amount of DOS and Windows software, but there are limitations -- two of which you have stumbled upon.
To begin with, forget about RAM Doubler; the DOS Compatibility Card recognizes only physical RAM. This memory can be shared memory from your Mac or a 72-pin SIMM stuck onto the DOS card (up to 32 MB can be loaded onto the board).
BOB: Bear in mind that you'll get more speed if you attach RAM SIMMs to the DOS card rather than using shared memory. Also, if you use shared memory, that chunk of RAM is no longer available to the Mac.
CHRIS: As for the CD-ROM drive, it can read Mac as well as PC CD-ROMs if you get the right drive, specifically the Mac's internal CD-ROM drive or any of the Apple CD 300 series of drives.
But woe is you if you attempt to use a non-Apple mechanism or -- horror of horrors -- hook up an external CD-ROM player when an internal player is also in the chain.
BOB: Apple claims that you can access some data on non-Apple drives by using folder sharing, but I wouldn't count on its working consistently.
File-Recovery Program
Q. I'm curious about Norton Utilities' UnErase feature, which brings back files you've accidentally deleted. When I ran it, it presented me with a big list of files I've trashed in the past. My question is, Are all my trashed files still on my hard disk, taking up space?
James E. Rodriguez
West Covina, CA
BOB: Well, yes and no. Yes, the files may still be on your hard disk. And yes, there's a chance some are 100 percent recoverable (see figure 1). But I wouldn't bet on it.
Here's how the Mac handles trash: When you trash a file and then empty the Trash, the Mac makes a note to itself saying, "The space where that file once existed is now available for reuse."
Although the Mac doesn't actually delete your file at that time, it may at any time -- during a save or a copy or the creation of a temporary file, for instance -- write new information to the space on the hard disk where that file is temporarily stored. As soon as this happens, the file becomes essentially unrecoverable.
CHRIS: "Essentially" meaning there's a teensy-weensy chance that you can reclaim small scraps of that file's data with Norton Disk Editor (provided that it's a text file), but for all intents and purposes, the file is little more than a painful memory.
BOB: If you ever accidentally trash a file, the sooner you run UnErase, the more likely you are to recover it.
Windows Widower
Q. I work with three different Macs; each has a different number of monitors connected to it, and the size of the monitors varies. The problem is that when I swap a file between machines, I can't always find the file's windows, because they were saved to a location that's off-screen for my current Mac. How can I find these windows?
Jean-Pierre Baselis
via CompuServe
CHRIS: You could, I suppose, try to develop tidier work habits and always save files with the upper left corner of the window placed directly beneath the Apple menu. But I sense that this isn't exactly the answer you were looking for.
So instead, I'll recommend Alessandro Levi Montalcini's $5 shareware program DragAnyWindow (you can find it online; see end of article). With this control panel installed, you can make windows leap to the location of your cursor. Or you can invoke a user-defined keystroke to place any active window, from any location, smack-dab in the middle of your screen. Another cool feature you'll get for your five bucks is the ability to drag dialog boxes that can't normally be budged, such as the Save and Open dialog boxes.
BOB: I've always skirted this dilemma by using QuicKeys' "zoom window" shortcut. A quick tap of the F14 key, and the active window zooms to the front and center of the monitor du jour.
Of course, QuicKeys is much more expensive than DragAnyWindow, but it's more powerful too.
Saved by Word 6?
Q. Whenever I save a document in Microsoft Word 5, the Save dialog box always seems to open to a folder unrelated to the original file. Is there any way to get Word to default to a particular folder?
Jan Strnad
via CompuServe
CHRIS: Why, of course!
One solution is to upgrade to Word 6.01. The poet Longfellow might explain this procedure as, "Under the spreading Tools menu, the Options command stands; Dumpty dumpty dumpty doo, hiddledee piddledee hands." Oh heck, I can't work the rhymes out, so I'll just give it to you straight: In Word 6, go to the Tools menu, choose Options, click on the File Locations tab, go to File Types and then to Documents, and finally click on the Modify button to change the default location for saved documents.
This is a nice improvement over Word 5, which doesn't let you select a default folder at all, but don't upgrade just to get this feature. There's a cheaper and better way:
Download a copy of Default Folder, yet another cool shareware utility from St. Clair Software (my, they've been busy). This doodad allows you to assign separate default folders for each and every one of your applications. It also places pull-down menus in Open and Save dialog boxes to let you quickly navigate to recently used folders, back to the default folder, or to any mounted disks. To top it off, you can also trash files, create new folders, and modify type and creator codes -- all from within the Open and Save dialog boxes. Not bad for 25 bucks.
BOB: Why does it seem like I'm the one who's always recommending the more expensive solutions? Hrumph. In this case, my solution of choice is Now Software's Super Boomerang. As of version 5.0.1 of Now Utilities, Super Boomerang works flawlessly with Word 6.
It does what Default Folder does, but it also lets you navigate to specific files or folders, using keyboard shortcuts (see figure 2). And don't forget that you get the other eight excellent Now Utilities components along with Super Boomerang for less than $100.
Mac History Lesson
Q. When the system batteries went dead in many of the 300 LCs I manage, I noticed that all the system dates reverted to 8/27/56. It must be a significant date. What happened on August 27th of 1956? I know it wasn't James Dean's death; that was in '55. Was it Steve Jobs' birth date?
Larry Booz
Windsor, PA
BOB: This one took quite a bit of research. I sent out dozens of e-mail messages offering a free T-shirt to whoever provided the correct answer first. Before moving to the bonus round, let's look at a few of the incorrect answers:
A well-known former Apple evangelist who shall remain nameless claims, "8/27/56 was the then state-of-the-art IBM mainframe configuration: 8 mbytes of RAM, 27 mbytes of hard disk, and 56 COBOL programmers. The thinking was that if the LC batteries died, people would gain great appreciation for how far personal computing has progressed because of Macintosh."
CHRIS: Sounds reasonable, if a little obscure. I think Mr. Kawa- I mean, the gentleman, deserves a shirt.
BOB: Peggy Kilburn, organizer of Macworld Expo, opined, "That was a very historic day in New York -- during the 7th-inning stretch, each member of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team stunned the fans and made headlines by suddenly launching into a rousing version of `Hot Cross Buns' on the violins stealthily and speedily supplied to them by the bat boys. Immediately following, it was baseball as usual, causing each observer to believe they had just hallucinated. The impromptu concert was led by Casey Stengel, who was Steve Jobs' godfather; hence the significance to Apple Computer."
CHRIS: Whoa! Hold on a minute! Ix-nay on the T-shirt for this one. Everybody knows that "da bums" played Milwaukee on the 27th in Milwaukee (final score: Brooklyn 6, Milwaukee 3, with Bessent taking the win, for a 1 and 2 record). Honestly, Peg, what kind of nincompoops do you take us for?
BOB: The correct answer was supplied by several people almost simultaneously -- it's the birth date of Ray Montagne, the Apple engineer and programmer who has been designing and looking after the software for the CUDA microcontroller (the chip that controls PRAM and ADB on the LC and other models).
Bob LeVitus is the director of evangelism for Power Computing. The poet Longfellow might have described Christopher Breen thusly: His brow is wet with honest sweat, / He earns whate'er he can, / And looks the whole world in the face; / For he owes not any man.
You can find the shareware and freeware programs referenced in this article in the MacUser and ZD Net/Mac areas on CompuServe and eWorld. See How to Reach Us for instructions on accessing ZD Net/Mac.
Tips / System Software
Faster Desktop Rebuild
If you have several hard disks connected to your Mac but want to rebuild only the startup volume, you can do it with just a little preparation. Instead of using the common method (holding down Command-Option at startup), follow these steps: Open a new document in a text program such as SimpleText. Type a single character. Save the document to the root level of your startup volume (don't put the document into a folder). Name the document Desktop. When a dialog box appears asking if you want to replace the older file that has the same name, click on Yes. That's it. The next time you start up, the Mac will rebuild the desktop of just the startup volume.
Matthew W.
via America Online
Tips / Word Processing
Setting the Table
Have you ever created a table at the beginning of a Word 5 document and then tried to insert some text before it? You can't unless you know this trick:
Select the first cell and insert a page break by pressing Shift-Enter. This puts the table on page 2. After typing the lines of text you want above the page break (and the table), delete the page break.
Eugene Cohen
Chicago, IL
Rotated text in WordPerfect prints on a QuickDraw printer at screen resolution, 72 dpi. Using ClarisWorks' Painting module (you can also do this with other paint programs), here's a way to produce vertical text that doesn't print as an ugly bitmap:
Set the document resolution to that of your printer. Choose the Text tool, and create a text box large enough for the words you want to write. Type and format your text.
Next, use the Selection Rectangle tool to surround the text. Then choose Rotate from the Transform menu and enter the desired value in the Rotate field. With the rotated text still selected, copy and paste it into your WordPerfect document.
Because the resolution of the ClarisWorks text and the WordPerfect text are different, the text you pasted in will inflate to four times its original size. To reduce it in WordPerfect, select Graphics, from the Tool menu, and choose Options. In the horizontal and vertical Box Size fields, enter 24 percent (72 divided by 300) for 300-dpi printers or 20 percent (72 divided by 360) for 360-dpi printers.
Stuart Smith
via CompuServe
Testing for Text
If you'd like a quick way to tell whether a document has been saved as a text file, simply drag it over the TeachText or SimpleText icon. Only text documents will cause the icon to darken.
Jim Leff
via CompuServe
write to help folder/tips
c/o MacUser
950 Tower Lane
18th Floor
Foster City, CA 94404
Don't want to wait for an answer? Post your question on ZD Net/Mac, MacUser's online service, or send e-mail to helpfolder@macuser.com or tips@macuser.com. We pay $25 to $100 for any undocumented tips we publish.
Tips / Now Utilities' Super Boomerang
A New Way to Find Files
Here's a nice shortcut for locating a file that doesn't appear on the Recent Files list but is in the same folder as a file that is on that list. If you hold down the Shift key when selecting a file from Super Boomerang's Recent File menu, instead of the file opening, an Open dialog box appears. It shows the contents of the folder containing the file you've selected. Now you can select the file you want without having to navigate through folders to find it.
More Control Over Startups
Super Boomerang's Auto-Resume feature makes your Mac relaunch applications and documents that were open when it last crashed or was shut down or restarted. If you have that feature turned on (in Super Boomerang's Preferences dialog box) but find that occasionally you want to skip Auto-Resume on restart, just click the mouse or press any key as the Finder loads at startup.
Michael Casdorph, Tech Support
Now Software
figure 1 / The data graveyard may let you resurrect a file you didn't mean to trash, if you use a program such as UnErase. But all too often, the data has already turned to dust and you won't be able to recover a bit of it.
figure 2 / Make saving files as easy as it should be, by using a program such as Default Folder (shareware, left) or Now Utilities' Super Boomerang (right). Each lets you set up a default folder for saving files, so you do less navigating in the Save dialog box. Super Boomerang also lets you navigate with keyboard shortcuts.
