Last month Jim Breen dealt with some basic troubleshooting with Macintosh systems. This month he continues with some suggestions about updates and available programs, as well as how to find your way around your own Mac's hard drive - Ed.
It is always a good idea to update to the latest versions wherever you can with your programs, as security issues and other problems are often addressed and corrected with updated versions.
If you're updating, however, you should always check the system requirements of the program or update before downloading it to make sure you operating system is compatible and that you have sufficient memory and disk space available.
Mac Microsoft downloads
Internet Explorer 5 OS 8 to 9 OS X
Outlook Express 5.06 OS 8 to 9
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/download/default.asp?navindex=s10
Netscape 7 OS 8 to 9 and OS X versions
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/download.jsp
Netscape 4.08 OS 8 to 9
http://wp.netscape.com/download/archive/client_archive47x.html#4.8
Opera OS 8.6 to to 10.2
http://www.opera.com/download/
iCab OS 7.6 to 9 and OS X version
http://www.icab.de/dl.php
Safari New Apple OS X browser
http://www.apple.com/safari/
Eudora Mail
http://www.eudora.com/download/
Useful Sites
Apple site map. Makes finding information on a particular Apple product easy.
http://www.apple.com/find/sitemap.html
Apple knowledge base. I you need an answer to a problem type your query in the search box or go to a topic
http://kbase.info.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/kbase.woa
Google Mac. Google search engine which only brings up Mac related information.
http://www.google.com/mac.html
NZ Mac.com. A new NZ site for Mac users.
http://www.nzmac.com/
Mac OS X sites for help and tips
http://www.macosxhints.com/
http://mac.unimaas.nl/macosx/macosx_tips.html
http://macos.about.com/library/blmacosx.htm
Using the Help Menu
All programs have a very extensive help index which can be accessed by going to the Help menu and selecting the Help contents. Answers to most questions about the program you have running can be found here. Don’t forget the Mac OS itself also has an extensive help system which is also accessed from the Help menu when you have Finder selected.
Finding What You Want.
Clicking on the Hard Disk icon on the top right of the screen will
display the contents and folders installed. If you have your programs organised neatly
into folders then it is easy to find what you are looking for.To search for a file or program go to File menu and select Find. This will bring up a search box called Sherlock and it allows many different ways to search for what you are trying to locate.
The program or file can be opened directly from the list that appears when you select Find. The actual program will have application listed under the Kind list.
Next Month:Macintosh Practical and System Tips!