Being an open-ended format,
the meeting resulted in varied discussions covering a wide spectrum
of topics.
Showing
off his new unibody MacBook, Bob S. presented the first question of
the meeting: Why isn't this working? (For some unknown reason, the
wireless connection kept dropping off after logging into the library's
wifi network.) Bob finally fixed the problem by doing what most of
do - kept fooling around with stuff until it mysteriously started working.
Tom
B. shared some striking
photos sent from Mexico by John D, one of our HPORTMUG members.
Tom
B. asked if anyone had used the built-in VPN option of Internet Connect
on Macs or knew how to set it up. No one did. VPN stands for Virtual
Private Network and is useful in assuring secure privacy when using
public wireless networks. Open Internet Connect and click on Help in
the Menu to find out how
to set up VPN. Also a free VPN software called Hotspot
Shield is available for download but many users resent the ads
incorporated into it (read reviews at
Versiontracker). Commercial VPN software is available as well.
Jerry
L. shared some tips about cleaning the ink head on his printer when
it became dried out from lack of use. He used water as well as alcohol
to soften the dried ink and all seemed to work well afterwards.
Tom
B. showed a couple excerpts from
recent documentaries that aired on CNBC about the history of Apple.
One is called Welcome
to Mac (1hr 30min) and MacHeads (1
hr). DVDs of both are available on-line. Both movies contain interesting
interviews with various people associated with the development of Apple
computers.
Bob
S. discovered that PhotoBooth uses a 'flash' when capturing your picture
in dim lighting. And we all saw with our own eyes that this was true
as Bob demonstrated. The Mac display goes blank white at the instant
the camera shutter fires, illuminating the subject. Amazing how clever
those Apple designers are!
AppleWorks
6 - for those who still use this wonderful application (works
on OS 8.1 - 10.5), if it seems to be getting sluggish and launching
slowly, try trashing the Recent Items. (Go to HD > Users > Home > Documents > AppleWorks
User Data > Starting Points > Recent Items - delete all the
shortcut aliases, then empty Trash. Relaunch AW and notice the difference
in speed.
iFixit -
now has step-by-step repair tutorials for iMacs (as
well as all Mac laptops). Also iFixit has a new feature called Gadget
Teardowns of contributed photo tutorials from readers for a variety
of items including a Droid, a Starbucks Barista coffee maker, TV Remote,
even a banana.
Wayback
Machine - see archived pages of any website from 1996 to present.
For example, this is what Apple.com looked like in April
1997.
NEWS
WikileakS.org
goes dark - more creepy things about Wikipedia, WikiLeak,
and WikileakS.
(what's with the 's' now?) - maybe it's good to avoid sites where
truth is determined by mob rule.
Chicken
wire vs. WiFi - having trouble getting a good wireless connection?
(Maybe this was Bob's problem).
AppleJack -
the one fix to have if nothing else works. Read a
good review and explanation at MacFixit of what exactly AppleJack does.
In a nutshell, this is how to use AppleJack:
At Boot up chimes, hold 'Command S'
for single user mode;
At prompt, type 'applejack auto restart'
Takes about 10 minutes to perform.
Runs these 5 tests:
Correct any Disk problems.
Repair Permissions.
Clear out Cache Files.
Repair/check several plist files.
Dump the VM files for a fresh start.
Showing
off his new unibody MacBook, Bob S. presented the first question of
the meeting: Why isn't this working? (For some unknown reason, the
wireless connection kept dropping off after logging into the library's
wifi network.) Bob finally fixed the problem by doing what most of
do - kept fooling around with stuff until it mysteriously started working.