My Must-Have Tips For Your Mac April 28, 1999 Learning the world of computers can be somewhat overwhelming. Even purchasing the equipment you need is daunting. If you are lucky, you have friends or family members who are experienced computer users who will sincerely help you get the kind of system you want and need, as opposed to what they wish they could have. They (these experienced users) tend to talk a foreign language when they discuss the darn things and sometimes friends want you to have one of everything. If they are young they don't remember when we had 2 or 3 television networks to choose from, no remove controls, and thought test patterns were actually kind of interesting. Chances are, particularly at the beginning, you don't want one of everything. You think it is going to take forever to just learn to use the computer. You don't want to even think about a zip drive or a scanner, or a camera that you can watch on the screen. Hopefully you have a Macintosh so that no matter what kind of Mac it is, you can learn to use it fairly quickly. Be sure though that you have the correct operating system for your machine. If you purchased a older second-hand machine don't let anyone talk you into putting the most current operating system on it. It will just cause you problems. Choose an operating system that is most compatable. If you aren't sure what it is then take a poll and get the one that is recommended the most. Even with all these things under control, I found over time that I needed an idea about what were the most important things I needed to know to get the most out of my machine. I needed to feel some sense of accomplishment to keep me coming back when things didn't go the way I wanted them to. I didn't have such a list, but I would like to suggest one now for novice users to adopt if they wish. Some of these things may seem too simple, but in the long run they are things I wish I had known from the beginning. Don't turn your machine off without shutting it down properly. A computer is unlike most other pieces of machinery and for those of us who grew up with electric typewriters, radios, coffee makers, and toaster ovens; it may not be apparent that one really must go through the shut down process every time we turn off our computer. I can't tell you the technical reason for this, but I would compare it to a shock to the system, sort of like getting knocked out by a baseball that hits you in the head. You wake up fuzzy with a headache. The computer has to sort things and put them away and complete other tasks that are part of the shut down process. If it doesn't, it will be fuzzy headed the next time you turn it on and you will end up with another headache yourself. Perform periodic maintenance, even if you have to ask someone how to do it. Think of it as changing the oil in your car. You may not be able to tell any difference but the hard drive will work better just as your car engine will. Choose a basic utility program like Norton (see April 21, 1999 column) and get comfortable with it before anything goes wrong. That will keep you in charge. Find one or two games that you really enjoy and play them frequently. While you are enjoying yourself you are unconsciously learning operational aspects of your machine and, if you make a mistake that flubs things up, it will not be as catastrophic as it might when you are working on a serious project. Pick out the word processing program you are going to use and practice. There are lots of things you can learn through some simple practice sessions and it is much less frustrating than trying to learn while working on something important. Producing documents on a computer are not as simple as putting a piece of typing paper in a manual typewriter and typing it until you get it right. A recent reader-letter really reminded me of how important this can be. Learn how to change margins, how to make tables, how to change the type fonts and the size of the print. Learn how to use color, how to bold and underline, and how to cut and paste. With each basic skill that you understand, you are learning things that will work across all platforms and programs. This will even prove true if you have to use Microsoft Windows because they copied so many of the Macintosh features that your skills will cross over with you. Practice until you have given yourself ownership of the program, i.e.; it works for you. Back up important stuff. This is one of those pay me now or pay me later lessons. Sooner or later you are going to loose something really important because your system crashes or your software goes bad or any number of other horrible things. If you use a system that accommodates floppy disks, back up important stuff on them and be sure to label the disks. If you have an iMac then use the virtual floppy drive systems (see January 20, 1999 column) or even invest in a zip drive. If you have no other recourse then print copies of important stuff. Think about the most important thing you have on your machine and what you would do it it disappeared. Don't try to learn everything at once unless you have a photographic memory. That means most of us. If you take training in a program, even from a professional trainer, and then don't use it you will forget everything you learned. Why? Because it is so foreign. If the most important thing you want to do is create and maintain a family tree then get the software you need (see column from October 21, 1998) and learn all the components of it. Those skills will then stay with you and you can branch out to something different. Don't install everything that you see and periodically remove things you don't routinely use. It is really tempting to get everything that looks interesting or fun, but installing too many things will clutter your system folder and can slow down your performance. If you want to prove this to yourself you can do what I did. I had an older machine than I have now, but it had lots of memory. However, it took a long time to come up. Since I could turn off the monitor (to save energy) while leaving the computer turned on I just left it on for days and days and days. One day I suddenly realized that everything was running slow. When I really thought about it I figured that every thing I had done on it from playing numerous games of solitaire to searching for stuff on the net was still there, somewhere on my hard drive. From that time on, I have turned my machine off at the end of the day. Rebuild your desktop from time to time. For information on how and why see the column from October 28, 1998. If you have system 8.5 or better and you experience a crash, always let Disk First Aid verify the disk on restart. Disk First Aid comes with the newer system and using it will prevent problems later on. Talk back to your machine. It won't help and it won't change anything but it makes you feel better. So, this is my list. My thanks to other staff members of The Mac Observer for sharing their recommendations for inclusion in this column. If readers have additions please let me know and I will include them next week. If you have any tips, hints, or thoughts on these topics, make sure you write me so that I can share your thoughts with other readers.