Mac Factor’s 101 Tips

1. Never buy a publication with this kind of article on the cover. It’s a clear indication that the editorial direction of the magazine is spiraling out of control.

2. Never buy a first generation anything from anybody except for the iMac, which is clearly a second generation machine released ahead of schedule.

3. Never read anything by John Dvorak. Frankly, he’s the Jerry Springer of computer journalists and will write anything, no matter how preposterous, to get your attention.

4. Never read a series of tips that overuses the universal negative qualifier ‘Never.’

5. Always back up your important files. Do it now. Right this second. You’re not doing it? You deserve to lose everything.

6. Always remember that you’re lucky to be a Mac user. You could be one of the great unwashed—plagued by absurd error messages, annoying system freezes, and a relentless series of meaningless upgrades from our friends in Redmond.

7. Always read My Mac Magazine (<https://www.mymac.com>), MacCentral (<http://www.maccentral.com>), MacIntouch (<http//:www.macintouch.com>), and MacFixIt (<http://www.macfixit.com>). The rest are sometimes interesting but often superfluous.

8. Don’t send humor over the net unless it’s something VERY special. Few users appreciate scrolling through jokes forwarded hundreds of times—particularly when they’re not funny.

9. Don’t give up the Mac penetration fight. Even if your organization has hundreds of PCs and doesn’t want to hear it, tell them again, but this time with more humility.

10. Listen intently to anyone who tells you to upgrade your processor. Chances are that you may be better off buying an entirely new system.

11. Don’t wait on the sidelines too long. One of my old economics professors used to say, “In the long term, you’re dead.”

12. Read My Mac Magazine (<https://www.mymac.com>) from cover to cover. Some magazines are well worth their price.

13. Generally, don’t send graphics over the net unless it’s absolutely necessary. Remember that the prospective recipient may not have the fast access you have, and downloading a superfluous graphic can be very irritating.

14. Download and pay for GraphicConverter right now. It is perhaps the most important utility you can own if you work with graphics from different sources.

15. Never buy a book for ‘Dummies.’ They trade on your insecurity and often are written by dummies.

16. Don’t try to use a spreadsheet to do what a Word Table can do better, that is, display text in rows and columns.

17. Never use spaces to align text. Spend the few minutes it takes to learn about TABS and the interactive ruler. Using Word, tables can also be an easy way to align columns of text.

18. If you’re a professional, buy Office 98. It’s the single most important piece of productivity software ever released on any machine.

19. If you must insert more RAM or an additional board in your Mac, buy a cheap, throwaway, anti-static wrist band at your local Radio Shack and make sure you’re grounded before you touch the board or the interior of the computer.

20. If you can’t comply with #19, above, turn the computer off, keep it plugged in, and touch the power supply to drain off static charges prior to any installation.

21. Don’t trash an old Macintosh. Donate it to a local school and write the value off your taxes. Most Macs run Microsoft Word 5.1 or ClarisWorks plenty fast enough to use effectively in a writing class.

22. Be very cautious with utility software. Programs like Conflict Catcher can be very confusing even for experienced users.

23. Don’t worry excessively about disk fragmentation. It’s something you should probably monitor every couple of months.

24. You still haven’t backed up those important documents?

25. Don’t let anyone else attempt to ‘organize’ your system. I spent several hours trying to correct a situation for a friend whose son got him ‘organized.’ In fact, he deleted some important files that were impossible to undelete.

26. If you can afford it and have a supporting model (one with slots), install a second video board and hook up two monitors. This is particularly useful for surfing the net on one of the monitors, while word processing on the other.

27. Read the Microsoft documentation. It’s cool not to read manuals, but the Microsoft documentation is usually excellent.

28. Don’t miss ‘All Along the Watchtower,’ the complete WhyFiles expose which can be downloaded from <https://www.mymac.com>.

29. Never use a preposition to end a sentence with.

30. Don’t make fun of Windows users. It makes them furious and alienates them from the Macintosh Way.

31. If you’re an educator working with the Mac, buy AppleWorks. It’s by leaps and bounds the finest integrated software on the market.

32. Recommend AppleWorks to Windows users. It provides graphics support in that environment accessible only in much more expensive packages.

33. If your system can spare the RAM, set up a RAM disk and put your Netscape Communicator cache there. This will significantly increase the speed of cache access, minimize browser-based disk fragmentation, and let you automatically clear the cache every time you turn your computer off.

34. Leave your computer on twenty-four hours a day. This eliminates the peaks and valleys that can accompany a power on or power off. Turn off the monitor for long periods of inactivity.

35. It’s time to splurge for a surge protector or uninterruptable power supply. Make sure you fill out any warranty and keep track of any advertised liability insurance that they offer.

36. Visit my web page at <http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/3423/mick.html>.

37. Clean the protuberances off your mouse balls.

38. Read the complete My Mac series on using FileMaker Pro. FileMaker Pro is easy to use, powerful, and very utilitarian for tasks from home inventories to contact lists. It’s also available on the Windows platform, where its main competition is Microsoft Access. (Access is also powerful, but much more difficult to … access.)

39. Learn the Outliner in Word. It lets your organize your writing without being intrusive. That is, by simply switching from page layout view to outline view you can focus on a document’s structure.

40. Learn to use the Scrapbook and Note Pad. These remnants from the early days of the Mac are important tools for storing and retrieving information.

41. Subscribe to a Mac magazine. Mac print magazines are struggling, and require user support to survive.

42. Never use multiple tabs to align columns of text. Set a tab on the interactive ruler and use a single tab to get to it.

43. Use a reasonable screen pattern. Many compete with the desktop icons for attention.

44. Clean out your Navigator Inbox and Message Log File. Chances are you’re saving a copy of every message you send and eventually, this will become burdensome.

45. Don’t argue with a PC user about the Mac’s obvious superiority. You can never win these arguments and it’s much more effective to show than to tell.

46. Purchase Apple computers, peripherals, and software, and you support innovation. Apple was the first company to mass market the personal computer, the mouse, the 3.5 inch floppy disk, the Graphical User Interface (GUI), the Laser Printer, the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), the built-in CD-ROM Drive, predictable color (ColorSync), the QuickTime animation/movie system, peer-to-peer networking (Appleshare), built-in networking (AppleTalk), HyperCard, video editing, multiple monitor output, the ADB expansion bus, the Universal Serial Bus, and computers with style (the iMac). Meanwhile, Dell and the rest of the PC clones have brought absolutely nothing new to the table.

47. Consider a G3-based PowerBook in lieu of a desktop system. The new PowerBooks are slick and fast and the screens are something to behold. Mine includes S-video and VGA out, a SCSI, serial, ADB ports, built-in Ethernet, a 56K modem, hot-swappable CD and floppy drives, two PCMCIA slots, and two interchangeable bays for batteries and drives. Crucially, the keyboard seems full-sized compared to most portables and the touchpad is large and conveniently located for easy access.

48. Take the time to learn the Style Editor in Word. It will save you countless hours of work and standardize your documents.

49. Never keep a personal computer for longer than 2 or 3 years. Sell it at a loss and purchase a new system or you risk a complete write-off shortly thereafter.

50. Never take the time to read 101 tips. Clearly, when you get beyond fifty, you’re in filler territory. That’s why I’ve employed a little poetic license and stopped here.