Vol. 2 Issue 14 Sept. 2005
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Bobbie's Comments:
My favorite site.. http://www.hidacc.av.org/
Hi Members,
Well here we are in Sept. already. I couldn't believe it was that time already as I went into the stores and I saw all kinds of Halloween things displayed, and when Halloween is over it will be time for the stores to stock it with Christmas. I know, you do not want to hear that, but we are never ready for the holidays it seems. Where does the time go?
It wont be long before we start seeing our snowbird friends returning.
I feel so blessed that the church has acquired the large T.V. set and we are allowed to use it. We all can now see what is going on.
This month I thought I would share as many tips as I could find with you... Hope you can use many of these ideas.
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Identify Your Cords
This may be archaic but I have read where some people took colored electrical tape to color code their plugs, and hardware. You can buy this tape in a package of 5 colors.
You can put a piece on each end of the cord or cable and a matching piece on the device it's connected to. If you need more, simply add a second color to the line.
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Preventing Mac Disasters
Macworld’s February issue had a great article on preventing Macintosh disasters. Briefly, here is what Macworld had to say. They list eight steps you can take to keep your Mac working well.
1. Verify Preferences
Preferences can get corrupted. To verify your Preferences, the simplest way is to get Jonathan Nathan’s free Preferential Treatment application at http://homepage.mac.com/jonn8/as/. If you find a file which not only shows up as corrupted, but is not a preference for an application which is working fine, quit the offending application, trash the corrupted Preference file, then restart the application. Applications rebuild the preference file if one is not found. You may have to redo by hand some custom preferences.
2. Repair Permissions
The more you download shareware or install new applications, the more often you need to repair Permissions. Open the Utilities folder in the Applications folder, locate Disk Utility and open it. Use the First Aid pane. Select the indented icon of the drive on which you wish to repair Permissions (Macintosh HD in this case) and click on “Repair Disk Permissions.” Always Repair Permissions immediately after installing any new software. Plan on running Repair Permissions weekly if you tend to download a lot of software.
3. Delete Cache Files
Cache files are temporary places where your Mac keeps information for a limited amount of time. Sluggishness in an application or in the System can mean that you have cache files that need to be removed. Titanium Software’s free OnyX 1.4.9 will remove caches. Find it at http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html. This tool does not get rid of application-specific caches. If you like French Fries, try this. If you only like Freedom Fries, you will have to look elsewhere. Titanium is a French company. Macworld suggests getting rid of cache files twice a month. Cache files are located in System > Library > Caches and in Users > Username > Library > Caches folder.
4. Delete Log Files
Log files simply record system and application-related activity. They just keep growing over time. They don't get very big, so if you choose not to get rid of them, there is no space penalty. Titanium’s free OnyX, mentioned above, gets rid of Log files. MacWorld also tells you how to use Console, located in the Utilities folder, to delete Log files.
5. Update Prebinding
Prebinding makes applications load faster. Updating prebinding can make applications launch faster. Once again, Titanium’s free OnyX updates prebinding when you choose optimization in the Maintenance scripts in Titanium. Prebinding is simply a way your Mac records the code an application needs to use to launch. Users of Panther do not need to update Prebinding, but there is no harm in running it.
6. Automate Maintenance
OS X runs some scripts automatically. The scripts delete unnecessary data your Mac creates as it runs. If your Mac is awake when the scripts are scheduled to be run, you have no worries. The scripts run between 3:15 and 5:30 am. So if you turn your Mac off at night, you need to run these scripts yourself. Titanium’s free OnyX runs them under the Maintenance Tab.
7. Take Good Care of Your Hard Drive
There is a SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) system that checks on your hard drive and warns of failures before they occur. You can run SMART using DiskWarrior. Disk Warrior is the tool that most Mac experts say is the finest tool you should own. You should own DiskWarrior, but before you use it, be sure to reboot using your Install CD. Do NOT proceed with an Install, but go to the Installer menu and select Disk Utility. In Disk Utility, run Repair Disk.
8. Prepare a Maintenance Toolbox
Why wait until you have a problem to download the tools you will need. It will be obvious to you that you need OnyX and DiskWarrior. MacWorld also adds SmartReporter, which is free at http://homepage.mac.com/julianmayer/. You might add Jonathan Nathan’s free Preferential Treatment application. DiskWarrior does check SMART status, so you might not feel a need for SmartReporter.
So there you are. Eight ways to keep your Mac in top shape. Be sure to go to the web site listed in the first paragraph and read the entire article. There is far more to keeping your Mac in good shape than this short review describes. -- Phil Russell
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Identity Theft
We hear so much on Identity Theft today that I thought I’d share some information I have found on the subject.
I do not know about you but I do put a lot of information out there on the web when I am buying something. But I am also careful what information I give.
Identity Theft Resources
1 Federal Trade Commission Identity Theft Website
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft
2 California Department of Consumer Affairs, Office of Privacy Protection Website http://www.privacy.ca.gov/cover/identitytheft.htm
3 California Public Interest Research Group (CalPIRG) Mistakes Do Happen (article about credit report errors) http://calpirg.org
4 Consumer Credit Reporting Industry Opt-Out Prescreen Website (remove your name from pre-approved credit and insurance mailing lists) https://www.optoutprescreen.com
5 AnnualCreditReport.com (official website from which to get your annual FREE credit report) https://www.annualcreditreport.com
6 City of Sacramento Police Department Website (online form to report identity theft) http://www.sacpd.org/crm_rpt_instructions.asp
7 NoPayPal! (consumer complaint website targeting PayPal) http://www.paypalsucks.com
8 Passwords, Passwords Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink (an article from Small Dog News, September 17, 2004) http://www.smalldog.com/newsarchive/kibbles_display.php?id=376
Key Tips from Federal Trade Commission:
If you think your identity has been stolen, here's what to do now:
1 Contact the fraud departments of any one of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit file. The fraud alert requests creditors to contact you before opening any new accounts or making any changes to your existing accounts. As soon as the credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the other two credit bureaus will be automatically notified to place fraud alerts, and all three credit reports will be sent to you free of charge.
2 Close the accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently. Use the ID Theft Affidavit when disputing new unauthorized accounts.
3 File a police report. Get a copy of the report to submit to your creditors and others that may require proof of the crime.
4 File your complaint with the FTC. The FTC maintains a database of identity theft cases used by law enforcement agencies for investigations. Filing a complaint also helps us learn more about identity theft and the problems victims are having so that we can better assist you.
Additional Key:
1 Get direct phone/email contact information from all sources
2 Change your passwords
3 Cancel unneeded accounts
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Bring Important Stuff to the Top
It has occurred to me that some of you might not be hip to the trick of bringing a file or folder to the top of the alphabetical list by placing one or more spaces in front of the name. Really handy!
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Force Open a Document
To force an application in the Dock to try to open a file, Command/Option drag it onto the application.
Compressing Files
It’s a pain to send a large file over the Internet, or a horde of smaller ones. Fortunately, OS X has built-in tools to ease this.
Select the file or files you want to bundle for shipment in Finder, then select File > Create Archive.
This will write a copy of the files selected to a single, compressed “zip” file that can be unpacked at the other end.
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Here are some fun sites you may want to visit...
Tired of speeding tickets...try this out. http://www.jdelshad.com/balloons/
Speed Traps
This web site lists all of the speedtraps in the U.S. by State and City. Take a look at your area and see how this site stacks up … in my area it seems to be ‘right on.’ Happy motoring! http://www.speedtrap.org/speedtraps/stetlist.asp
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Here are a few more interesting sites sent in by members.
These are from Pam
What does Apple's announcement about the move to Intel processors mean? http://www.powermax.com/intel.html
PowerMax is proud to offer a trade-in, trade-up program to our customers.
Check out this link: http://www.powermax.com/home/tradein.html
I love Disk Utility
Here is another: http://www.powermax.com/newsletter/boltAug05-mgaf/diskutil.html
The Packet8 VideoPhone http://www.packet8.net/about/video.asp
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Well it is not a joke of the month and it has nothing to do with computers .... but it sure is interesting ...
SO - YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING?
Everything you always wanted to know...................
A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
A snail can sleep for three years.
Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
Almonds are a member of the peach family.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't pear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt."
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
If you are an average American, in your whole life, you'll spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right.
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel fuel that it burns.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous
There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.
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