Watch Out for This

"Tagged.com promises photos but delivers headaches," warns John Carter. "Have you been 'Tagged' lately? Don’t become a victim of this annoying e-mail ploy that automatically signs you up for an expensive voicemail service.

"A radio and TV personality and his wife recently had lunch with another show host and his significant other. After the meal, the first couple received an e-mail from Tagged that said his friend had some pictures available online. They naturally assumed the pictures were taken during their meal together and wanted to see them.

"The catch was that they had to register at Tagged.com in order to view the supposed pictures, according to the e-mail. Once they completed the registration, they received another e-mail saying they had been signed up for a voicemail service. The cost? $14.95/month automatically billed to their home phone number! They immediately called to cancel the service and got a real runaround before they were able to do so.

"Several days later, they received an e-mail from his friend explaining that Tagged is a virus-like program that goes through your address book and falsely blasts out notifications about photos online.

"Snopes.com has a lengthy explanation about the dangers of Tagged. Don't fall for it if you receive an e-mail asking you to register for Tagged. Be sure to let the sender know you received the message, and then direct them to read the Snopes briefing." You can also see what wikipedia reveals about them.

Two More Problems

Another problem, or as we call it, a challenge! John Carter steps up with some enlightenment. "Another program that doesn't work is Smallimage2. It will not launch in Snow Leopard. So if you need to resize an image or lower the compression of a JPG file, use Preview. There are two kinds of Preview applications: the one that comes with the OS and the one that comes with PathFinder. Either one gets the same results. What you don't get is the ability to batch process a bunch of images unless you know how to write a script.

"If anyone knows of an application that will batch process images to resize them and that works in Snow Leopard, please post."

Then, in another email John tells us, "I just updated to OpenOffice 3.1.1. It has a major problem in Snow Leopard (reported by me). In Finder or PathFinder, right click on a document (any type, it seems) and open with OpenOffice. Crash!

"However, if I first launch OpenOffice and then start a blank text document, then close it without making any entries, I can then open any type document in OpenOffice. There is no other way to open an existing document with OpenOffice that I know of. This problem does not exist with NeoOffice!"

Have You Seen the PMUG Library?

Let's take a look at how to make a PMUG book checkout. Roger Lakner has added about 15 books this year, and updates the website. Take a look and consider the possibilities!

See something you’d like to read? Contact Randy Calvert, PMUG librarian and he’ll bring the book to the next meeting, or make other arrangements for you to borrow it. Do you know of a book not listed that you’d like PMUG to buy? Contact Roger Lakner, Ambassador.

Some Difficulties with Snow Leopard

"After upgrading to Snow Leopard, on many occasions, several programs have crashed during a save operation," so begins a report just received from John Carter. He goes on, "The save does not complete and any changes not already saved are lost. The programs in question are: NeoOffice, GraphicConverter, and Screenflick. All programs are the latest version available.

"The only thing that seems to help is to do frequent saves on small changes and not wait to save at the end of all changes/additions. Screenfick is the one program that does not lose the intermediate file during a save operation, but may require several attempts to save before one of them is successful.

"If you have a Canon MP830 printer and you want to do a scan using MP Navigator, forget it. It never seems to finish 'Processing calibration data from a scanner.' But if you scan the document from the front panel of the MP830 using the platen, it works just fine even though it takes a minute or two to warm up the scanner. The application that launches to grab the files from the printer is Image Capture. I have been unable to use the printer's ADF from either the front panel or from MP Navigator.

"Image Capture crashed once setting up for a scan operation (when clicking on the 'Show Details' button). Image Capture also seems to hang occasionally when changing resolution between scans and starting a new scan (message: Scanner is warming up). 'Force Quit' does not show the application as not responding, and pressing 'Cancel' during this time does not abort the process. Using 'Force Quit' caused the printer to hang and had to be powered off only by pulling the plug."

Trying Other Browsers

Do you use other browsers besides Safari? David Passell briefly shares some experience here. "I have been trying other browsers lately: Firefox 3 is now out; I don't like it too well because of the way 'manage bookmarks' is presented. Can't see them all at the same time so I can eliminate duplications (which in my case are many). See it here.

"Opera 10 so far is very good in that regard. See it here. It also has the total visibility of menu bar bookmarks and open tabs. Also, in addition to giving me a way to set up an Operamail.com address, Opera also picks up all mail from my ISP server and displays it as a menu item. It is a great all-in-one browser (a little like the old Netscape). I guess those long days and nights in Norway give the developers lots of time."

Earlier, David was writing about Cookies and Security Preferences. Now he comments, "The largest number of Tracking Cookies came when I first ran Safari.Before that I hadn't had any for a long time. If you eliminate the cookies as you describe it gets them all from Safari, but if you have other browsers they may be waiting if you use them."

Does It Work Now?

David Passell writes, "I have been using MacScan, the possible subject of a future meeting, for over a year and it has detected and removed 50 tracking cookies. Here are the latest for August 31, and September 4. (Double click on images to enlarge them.)

"Tracking Cookies are considered harmless as far as security is concerned, but they may spawn a junk E-mail. Some of you fearless pioneers using Snow Leopard might try downloading the trial version, see if it finds anything, and report back. Here is their address and more info. MacScan - Mac OS X Anti-Spyware Security and Privacy Protection ...
Isolates, detects and removes spyware, keystroke loggers, and trojan horses for Mac OS and Mac OS X."

FREE Photoshop, Photography & Web Classes

John Carter sends great news about free classes. "For those of you with time on your hands between 11 AM and 1 PM, Creative Techs is offering FREE ONLINE courses on Digital Photography, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Lightroom. The course is available using a combination of GoToWebinar and TinyChat. GoToWebinar is where the lessons take place and TinyChat is where you can interact with other students and the instructors." Here's the site for details and info on creative, business, marketing clips along with recent tips.

Using G-3 PowerBook?

Member Sam Jacobs writes, "Does anyone presently in the MAC Users Group still use the old G-3 powerbook? I know that this system is quite old but it is still functional and I know that someone may still use one of these old units. I have a scanner, a label maker, Epson printer and other hard drives etc. Before just throwing it out, I thought that Iwould ask you if anyone is still using this old machine. Since they are not USB connected, I don't know if there is a converter from the old circular connection that would convert the round to a make it work with USB???
Thank you, Sam M. Jacobs (Click on his name to email Sam.)

More on Snow Leopard

First thing this morning we hear from De Prez Allen Laudenslager recommending this article, “Faster, Bigger, Longer: How Snow Leopard Will Improve Your Hardware,” (8-31-09) article from Wired. Longer lasting batteries, bigger hard drive, faster everything, and tweaks gives SL more than $30 worth of new features. Yes!
Then scroll down to the link to “Apple Euthanizes PowerPC Macs with Snow Leopard.” Sigh!

Next Allen refers us to an article on Gizmodo with a list of apps that don’t run on Snow Leopard, followed by comments sent in, so far. Keep informed on your friendly PMUG news blog.

John Carter adds, "GnuCash does NOT work in Snow Leopard. If anyone has installed GnuCash on their Mac and want to continue using GnuCash then I recommend you install VirtualBox, then install Ubuntu 9.04, then install GnuCash in Ubuntu. You can copy your GnuCash file over to Ubuntu and continue using it with no side effects. And since you can run Ubuntu right alongside Mac OS/X (at the same time), you don't lose anything. In fact, you gain all the free applications that you can run in Ubuntu."

And here's today's note (9-1) from John Carter, "Quickbooks 2007 doesn't run on Snow Leopard and Intuit has no intention of supporting QB 2007 on 10.6. Intuit 'may' provide a bug fix for QB 2009 on 10.6, but don't hold your breath.

"Is there an alternative to QB on 10.6?Maybe MYOB Accounting Edge? Accounting Edge has been touted by some as way better than QB for business accounting."

Adventure With Snow Leopard

Taking time out of his busy day John Carter files this detailed report about his adventures with installing Snow Leopard. Got a minute?

"I just finished upgrading to Snow Leopard this morning. Total time under two hours, but that also involves a little extra work. This memo is more about warning others what NOT to do, and that is essentially to NOT go blindly through the upgrade process.




 "I wasn't sure if the upgrade would update my printer drivers unless the printer was plugged in and turned on, so just for safety I plugged in and turned on my printer, including a printer attached to an IBM laptop. Since the laptop printer is shared and the laptop itself is hardwired on my LAN, I was hoping that the upgrade would detect it and allow me to use it as a remote printer.

"During the upgrade I neglected to look for the 'Customize' button before doing the upgrade (it is on the left side of the window and I was only looking on the right side), so I had to go to the optional upgrades on the DVD. So please click on the Customize button, select all the options you want to install (if you don't know which options you want, at least click on Rosetta and X11). I don't recommend installing all the additional language translation, so you should check only those languages that you think you might want or need (primarily for translating from another language to English).

"After the upgrade finished (including the options), I needed to update those applications that I installed using 'fink.' One of those packages is 'GnuCash.' Unfortunately, the fink update failed while looking for dependencies for 'evolution,' which is another mail program that some time ago I thought I would try, but it failed the installation procedure for lack of supporting files (so I never got to try it out, and to this date there are numerous files laying around for evolution that aren't needed). This is a problem I will have to resolve eventually. Fortunately, GnuCash still runs, but the GUI front-end I installed (GnuCash Launcher 2.0) will not run (not supported in Snow Leopard). So I continue to execute GnuCash from a Terminal on the command line. No big deal.

"As for the Snow Leopard upgrade itself, there was one window at the end that showed a list of applications, one of them being Mail. Having no idea what that was about (not mentioned in the instructions), I pressed OK and the window went away. I think I should have clicked on each one of those applications in turn to see what it would do. I suspect that each application would come up and then present me with an option to update for Snow Leopard. Read on to find out why I think this.

"When the machine rebooted and I logged in, I was presented with a large number of update windows (about 7) that flashed across the screen with icons bouncing up and down in the dock. Frantically, I tried to read all the short message - to no avail. Finally, I just clicked on one of the 'Install' buttons that stayed on the screen long enough to read it. That message essentially said that in order to use the application it was referring to that I had to install Rosetta. At that point, I got an installation window that said Rosetta was going to be downloaded. It finished successfully. But I still had a number of jumping 'update' icons in the dock.

"I clicked on each of the update buttons in the dock and was presented with exactly the same install message for each one. My choice was to ignore or to install. Not wanting to miss anything, I installed every one, and every one was exactly the same - so maybe I didn't miss anything.

"Bottom line, I'm going to list a few applications that I frequently or occasionally use.

"What works:

• My Canon MP830 printer works, but I am unable to print to the remote HP Laserjet 3150 printer on the IBM laptop (it says it is ready, but when I print to it, it then says it is busy and doesn't print). The upgrade did not automatically detect the HP printer, so I had to add that printer manually.
• Mail. When I opened Mail, I was presented with a window to do an update. I did that.
• NeoOffice works fine, what I looked at anyway.
• Adobe Reader v8
• Adobe Photoshop CS v8.0.
• Safari took a 'long' time to recreate all 24 images in 'Top Sites' (you might have fewer images), but it works.
• Firefox 3.5 appears to work, but I haven't tried everything yet.
• Skype, Gimp, Fetch
• Coda - after installing a Snow Leopard compatible update.
• Delicious Library - after installing a Snow Leopard compatible update.

"What doesn't work:

• Bento (will not launch) - but I presume that no one is really using it anyway. This is an Apple application designed to allow non-programmers the ability to create small and potentially useful databases. I guess they don't see it as a useful tool after all.
• Cyberduck (will not launch)

"No sense going further with testing. It will either work or it won't, and what doesn't work I'll put out of my mind.

"If you used fink to install applications that do not have a GUI front end (like GnuCash), I recommend that you run the following commands from a Terminal before installing the upgrade:

$ fink selfupdate

$ fink update-all

"I did this out of self-preservation, but it didn't help me regarding 'evolution.' I have submitted a ticket to SourceForge on that issue."

How to Burn Several Times to the Same Disc

A helpful tip comes via John Carter, alerting us to Small Dog Electronics. Their home page posts a long, sort-of-boring-looking list, but go here for directions in how to burn several times to the same disc. This company in northern Vermont also displays their dogs' photos and short intros. John adds, "You might be interested in reading all the tips they have there — when you have time."

Free Old Macs

This just in: David Passell informs us, "I was a Computime yesterday (08/27/09) and they have five G4 Macs and three very old iMACS (no firewire and difficult memory and HD change). They also have the old blue-white monitors; very large and heavy. They were from a school.

"The G4s may not have RAM. The name plate states 400MHz, 128 MB sdram, 10GB HD/Zip/DVD. Copyright 2000. They have 2 firewire and two USB (probably 1.1) ports plus VGA.

"They will give them away to anyone who is interested. I only had room for a usb mac keyboard:). I think they have several of those too. There is another party who recycles PCs who is interested in them only for their HDs."

Anticipation!

Today's the day! As we anticipate Snow Leopard De Prez Allen Laudenslager wants us to know how to do it. He's copied from Daring Firewall an article by John Gruber, "I Believe in Murphy's Law." "How I upgrade to a new version of Mac OS X, from 2007:

So, in short:
1. Do a complete backup clone to an external FireWire drive.
2. Test that the backup is indeed bootable and up to date.
3. Unplug the backup drive.
4. Boot from the installer DVD and perform a default upgrade."

Can you jump from Tiger to Snow Leopard? Read for details and cautions from Wired.

More details are here at Apple Insider.

Note: Your Mac must have an Intel processor in order to run Snow Leopard. See the list of technical specifications from Apple.

Jim Hamm sends some links to articles that will help us check items before installing Snow Leopard. "For example," he says, "is your printer compatible with Snow Leopard?"

From Macworld. From Apple Support. And another from Apple.

Now, whoever is first to put in Snow Leopard, let us know how it went for you. . . Mine was just delivered by FedEx.

Out of Ink? Probably Not

This printer ink secret comes from John Carter. Don't dispose of your ink cartridge when it says it's empty. Watch this:

Adding Video to Email

Maybe you already know how? De Prez Allen Laudenslager writes, "I was trying to send a video clip as an email attachment and it shows up as a thumbnail, way too small to be viewed, as I am composing the message. That really threw me! I checked with Apple and that's normal and when you actually send the email the clip is about 2 inches square and big enough to view. If you save the attachment, then all the features of Quicktime become available.

"After I sent the email, I looked in the sent folder and the video clip looks right (about 2 inches sq) in that copy of the message."

With no experience in adding video to email I turned to Apple's site for help. Anyone else conquered that challenge?

More Widgets

Widgets can give some quick information at the click of one key, coming up in front of whatever you're running. And so many choices!

Jim Hamm sends us links on the top 20 widgets: The first twelve and then eight more. He says he definitely likes the iStat Pro. And look at all the info it displays here. Want to see the whole huge list of Widgets? Look at this.

Solving a Big Problem

Here's something to copy and print out for yourself. It may solve a big problem someday.

Jim Hamm, (De Previous Prez) is always looking for helpful advice. He alerts us,"A friend's iMac wouldn't boot up and turn on yesterday. Following is an email she sent to me and the corrective action she took after a technician at AppleCare told her what to do with her iMac.

"If one has a Mac laptop — instead of the iMac like she has — I presume one would disconnect the battery to terminate all power to the computer. If it's a newer MacBook Pro, without a removable battery, I don't know what one would do to terminate the power. Call AppleCare, I suppose, and ask them. Or maybe laptops aren't affected this way since they are somewhat insulated against power surges by their built-in battery. I'm going to print a copy of this for future reference in case I ever need to do this."

Here Jim quotes a friend, Nancy: "Remember I told you that my iMac wouldn't turn on? I tried to force restart it, but that didn't work either.

"This AM I got up and she booted up perfectly. I then called AppleCare and here's what I was told — it was static buildup probably caused by a power surge. I was told this is 'normal' but not something you want to happen frequently. He gave me a remedy to be used in the event you suspect you have a hardware problem. But, again, it's not to be relied on as a permanent fix because it can ruin the logic board. However, on occasion it is OK to do and will actually purge the computer of that extra static electricity buildup. It's called a PRAM reset, i.e, 'reset the power chip.' Here's what you do (Remember the computer is not on):

Disconnect the power cord from the computer (not the wall, leave it plugged into the wall)
Disconnect keyboard and mouse
Disconnect any other peripherals

Wait about 30 seconds, then plug in power cord and keyboard with the mouse attached.
Hold down Command + Option + r with your left hand (keep them down)
Press the power button
Press and hold the P while still depressing the other keys

Wait to hear three slow "bongs" (they're about 20 seconds a part - the same noise the computer makes when it's booting up).

Release the keys
Shut the computer down
Turn it on again.

"And there you have it - resetting the power chip or PRAM reset for beginners! Something to share with the others." Thanks, Jim, for sharing this info from Nancy.

Office, Free?

Some of you may have decided to download NeoOffice for all of your Documentation, Presentation, and Spreadsheet needs (because it's free). Now what? John Carter shares some details here.

"Would you like to get to know this application a little better? What better way than with a tutorial that guides you through several practice items for each type of document? You can get this tutorial online as an eBook in PDF format here.

"That site contains links to several documents in the section labelled 'Download Documentation.' The one I recommend is OpenOffice.org 3x Conceptual Guides to get a thorough treatment of all aspects of NeoOffice. Please download any and all documents that pique your interest. And don't forget to grab the OpenOffice Lesson Files (a zip file that you have to unzip) that go with the OpenOffice.org 3x Conceptual Guides. Download all these files to the same folder in your hard drive where you can easily access them.

"Even though these documents are written for OpenOffice, they will work for NeoOffice. The differences will be slight, if any, and the compatibility is 100%.

"There are significant advantages to using NeoOffice over OpenOffice, mainly speed and in additional features added specifically for the Mac.

"The NeoOffice documentation shows how to create a PDF file using 'File->Export as PDF...', but sometimes that method doesn't result in a 100% accurate rendition of the file. The method I prefer to create a PDF file is to use File->Print, then select 'Save as PDF...' from the PDF button in the first print window:

"This gives you a 100% compatible output with the way it looks on the screen."
--

What's Happening With Microsoft Word?

The headlines (August 12, 2009) grab our attention. "Texas Judge Rules Microsoft Can't Sell Word Anymore." This article goes on to explain, "Microsoft Word's XML systems violate patents by Toronto-based i4i Inc. Word uses XML in reading and writing XML, DOCX, and DOCM files. The lawsuit alleges that MS violated i4i's 1998 XML patent #5,787,449. The injunction will go into effect in 60 days and prevent Microsoft from selling or demonstrating Microsoft Word. MS will have to pay i4i about $290 million in damages."

"Wow!" exclaims Jim Hamm. "Wonder why this patent violation took over 10 years for i4i Inc. to recognize and file suit, or maybe it's been working in the court system for 10 years. I presume MS will appeal this decision. In a decision like this, I wonder if retailers that have MS Word in stock can continue to sell the product until they run out?"

Here is one pertinent article, "i4i says it's 'not out to destroy' Microsoft Word."

Another article headlines, "Court Ban on Microsoft Word Won't Hurt Users."

This is i4i's own website here.

Where Did I Put That Manual?

Ever ask yourself, "Where is my user guide?" Hmmmmmmm.

John Carter remarks, "So much time wasted looking all over the place for the instruction manual to tune the TV set, find the printer cartridge replacement how-to, the meaning of the blinking LED on the dashboard." He suggests we look here. An impressive list of manufacturers is posted. Looks like a site to bookmark.