Tuesday, August 5, 2003

Safari's spinning beachball of death Safari has been painfully slow lately, giving me the spinning beachball of death on almost every page. Turns out, it was doing exactly what I told it to do - auto-filling web forms. I un-checked all three auto-fill preferences, and it's working great. 9:29:48 PM

	Wednesday, July 30, 2003

Calendar I haven't been using iCal much anymore, mostly because it's so slow and bloated, but still need to have a quick look at a calendar once in a while. Calendar is a great little freeware app that sits on your desktop at whatever size and transparency level you like. 4:05:03 PM

	Thursday, June 26, 2003

No flash Each time I've tried to get into Macromedia's forums recently, I was stopped at the border by the Flash police telling me I didn't have the right version installed. I kept downloading and reinstalling Flash to no avail. Finally, I checked my Internet plugins folders and discovered there were two competing versions. My User folder had the old version, and System folder had the newer one - /Users/me/Library/Internet Plug-Ins = old version /Library/Internet Plug-Ins = new version I verified the modification dates and version numbers and trashed the old ones, and it's working fine now. 6:11:28 AM

	Tuesday, May 20, 2003

Mailing list archives Searchable archives are great to have for mailing lists, but not so easy to set up. When available, they're usually done by a volunteer from the list who jury-rigs something to funnel their messages into a database. I was doing a Google search following yet another request for this capability, and discovered that WebCrossing has a very easy way to mirror external mailing lists. I just happened to have a 4.0 version, and had it set up in an afternoon. I don't know what's going on with WebCrossing v5.0, but the free version seems to be just a simple web server now - no discussion forums at all. Version 4.0 was full-featured, with your license determining the limit on how many pages could be accessed per day. The free version also displayed WebCrossing's logo. This would be a good project for a PHP wizard! 4:57:42 PM

Eudora inline graphics One of my users wanted a logo under his e-mail signature, like in those spiffy vcards he keeps receiving. Eudora doesn't fully support vcard format, but you can get a logo in there by selecting Insert Graphic... from the Text submenu under the Edit menu. This message can be saved as Stationary, and assigned to your personality. Of course, it sends an image file along with every one of your messages, but I'll leave the appropriateness of doing so for others to argue :) I tried inserting an image link using HTML code, but Eudora ignored it. This would have avoided sending the file with each message, but many people turn off HTML preview due to virus issues. Personally, I prefer Plain Text format 1:32:22 PM

	Friday, May 16, 2003

Audio balance bug One of my laptop users complained that there was no sound coming from his left speaker, and wanted to send it out for service. Fortunately, Apple has posted a Knowledge Base document explaining how easy this is to fix, using the Sound Control Panel - In some cases the audio balance may unexpectedly drift towards the left or right channel. This can happen if you rapidly press the volume up or down keys while the computer's microprocessor is under heavy load. You just drag the audio balance slider to the middle. 12:55:12 PM

	Saturday, May 3, 2003

Incessant requests for keychain access MacOS X's Keychain Access is a handy place to store passwords for mail servers, file servers, etc. However, I have my POP client check for new mail every 5 minutes, and Keychain Access' requests can become quite irritating. You can eliminate this by using the Keychain Access app (Applications > Utilities). Click the desired key's name, select the Access Control tab, and click the "Always allow access to this item" radio button. Save Changes, entering your Administrator Password, and select Allow Once. Always Allow will be greyed out, but it only applies to this Keychain Access app session; the application to which you're giving carte blanche will not ask for the password again. 6:12:24 PM

	Friday, April 25, 2003

Microsoft Project converter I was asked to open a Microsoft Project file, which is difficult because a) we don't have Microsoft Project, and b) even if we did, it only runs on PCs. Unfortunately, the usually great MacLinkPlus does not have an MS Project converter. It just so happens that AEC Software, makers of FastTrack Schedule, has a web page where you can send them an MS Project file for conversion into FastTrack format - no charge. FastTrack Schedule is an excellent program, costing hundreds of dollars less than MS Project, and it's available for Mac or Windows. It took them less than an hour to e-mail the converted file back to me. They have a free Windows utility that does conversions, but you need a copy of MS Project for it to work. Thanks, AECSoft! 1:55:15 PM