Dear Readers:
Finally, the QMS Magicolor CX color printer seems to be working perfectly! Great quality (not that that was ever really a problem), nice and quiet when it prints, no jamming problems, no streaking. Not having to worry about it daily has really freed up my time! Not to sound naive, but I honestly believe that the problems I have experienced with this printer since the beginning of the year are abnormal. There’s no way QMS could make money on this equipment if they had to provide weekly service on each and every piece they sold.
And, here’s one more tidbit on why Macs are better than Windoze: Most, if not all of you have heard about the millennium bug. For those of you not familiar with this particular bug, well, it’s not really a bug but bad programming. It seems that when the programs were written for PCs, the calendars were based completely on this century. What this means is that when the year 2000 rolls around, these computers will revert to 1900! Bad enough for personal PCs, but bank computers, government computers, insurance computers, payroll computers, etc., etc., are facing this problem. It can be fixed by going back into the programs, but it is time consuming and costly. And, since most businesses are not really computer literate, they don’t realize the scope of the problem nor begun to address it.
But you, as a Macintosh user, will be spared this catastrophe! The Mac clocks will not run into a problem until the year 2040, and that applies only to the older models (and I hope you will have upgraded by then!). The newer models coming out have calendars that will run for thousands of years! When your Mac is dug up by an archeologist in the year 3000, they’ll be able to plug it in (and with a really strong battery) find your calendar right on time!
And here’s a tip for you aspiring writers: Ruby’s Pearls Paperless Elecmag. She publishes humor shorts, mystery shorts, and science fiction/horror shorts. (Please leave out the graphic sex and violence; they try to stay family-orientated.) If you are published, don’t expect to be paid, but do expect to be read. Check out the mag at http://www.gate.net/~ruby. At the very least, you’ll find some interesting reading there.
Helpful Hints
HH #15: Remote Controls- Sheri Maurer told me an amusing tale of her computer and her remote control. When she first got her computer, it continually popped on and off, all by itself! It also kept losing the sound. When she checked the sound panel, she saw the mute button checked or turned completely down. Not only could she not figure out what was going on, but neither could Apple Tech. After much investigation and frustration, Sheri discovered it was the remote control for her Sony TV! Go figure. The point: If you notice these type of problems, move your television. 😉
HH #16: Know where you save your document- Thanks to Fenton Jones for this tip. It was something I had not thought of and I appreciate his passing on the knowledge.
Many times beginners, and sometimes long time users, do not navigate in their Save dialog box. This results in their file being saved in whatever folder they are currently in, usually the application folder. If you immediately realize that this occurred, choose Open before doing anything else and the folder where this file was saved will open up. Take your file and move it to where you really want it to be.
If you realize you saved to the wrong folder at a later time, use the find function on your desktop. When your file appears, just move it to where you want it to be.
HH #17: Serif type- I wrote in a recent article that serif type is the easiest and best type to read. Larry Jacobsen correctly pointed out that this is a sweeping statement and not always true. And, he’s right! In my defense, however, it is basic rule of typography and you can’t really break the rules until you know what they are. And, unless you make a study of typography and/or design, sticking to the basics works for most of us.
Last, but not least: I was scanning through the local newspaper a few weeks ago and found an interesting article on Websites for beginners. There was only one Mac site listed. Now, I haven’t checked it out so I can’t speak on its effectiveness. For those of you who browse through, e-mail me with your thoughts. I’ll include the feedback in my next article. The site is: http://www.hampshire.edu/Hampshire/acad.comput/html/dummys_guide.
And so ends another Starting Line.
Adiós!
Barbara Bell (pr@mymac.com)
Websites mentioned:
http://www.gate.net/~ruby
http://www.hampshire.edu/Hampshire/acad.comput/html/dummys_guide
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