TOP
DVD Appears
Tip level: Intermediate
On Mac models released last summer -- specifically the Power Mac G4,
latest iMacs, and G4 Cube -- if you have a DVD-ROM inserted in the Mac's
DVD-ROM drive, the Apple DVD Player launches before the Multiple Users
login screen appears. While this may or may not be a breach of security,
at the very least, it's a bit annoying.
For those of you who haven't guessed already, the workaround for this
little problem is to make sure that those of you using Multiple Users
don't leave a DVD-ROM in the player when you shut down or restart your
Mac.
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DIGITAL CAMERA BUYING
GUIDE
Just in time for the after-holiday sales, you can snack on some marketplace
wisdom from the New York Institute of Photography (NYIP)!
Say, Mack! How many Mega-Pixels you packin'?
Is that a digital zoom, or are you just happy to see me?
Find out the answers to these, and other, important questions with the
NYIP's Digital Camera Buying Guide:
Digital Camera Buying Guide
http://www.nyip.com/tips/digitalbuy1100.html
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Netscape Communicator
PAGE-DOWN SHORTCUT KEY
When viewing a Web page in Navigator, pressing the space bar on your
keyboard acts as a Page-Down key, skipping one screen down the page
from your current view.
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Microsoft Office
POWERPOINT: USING SLIDE MASTER
When you need to put an object on every slide in a slide show, don't
waste time trying to make sure all of the objects are perfectly aligned
on each slide--use the Slide Master instead.
Let's say you want your company logo on the same place on each slide.
Open a new slide and choose View, Master, Slide Master. Now, you can
place the logo. Let's assume the logo is in the GIF file format. You'd
choose Insert, Picture and locate the file. Click the picture to select
it and then click OK to insert the picture.
To get back to your slide show, choose View, Slides. At this point,
you'll see the logo just where you placed it. Press Ctrl-M to insert
a new slide, and there you'll also see the logo. If you need to resize
or relocate the logo, just choose View, Master, Slide Master again and
make the changes.
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Microsoft Internet
Explorer 5 CONTENT CONTROL
If you share your computer with people who have little (and sometimes
sticky) fingers and boundless curiosity, you might consider setting
up Microsoft Internet Explorer 5's filtering feature, called Content
Advisor. Choose Tools, Internet Options. Select the Content tab to bring
it forward. Click the Enable button. Select a category, then move the
slider to adjust levels of language, nudity, sex, and violence allowable
in MSIE 5. Choose OK. When prompted, enter a password (and enter it
again to confirm). Click OK twice to close all open dialog boxes and
save your changes.
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Microsoft Office
WORD: CHANGING STYLES
Wondering how to change styles in Word? If you want to change a style
in the Normal.dot template, you can click on an occurrence of the style
you want to change and then choose Format, Style. When the Style dialog
box opens, click Modify and click Format. Select the type of change
you want to make (Font, Paragraph, and so on) and then make your changes.
When you're finished, click OK.
Back in the Modify Style dialog box, select Add To Template to make
sure you add the change to your Normal.dot (or the current) template.
Click OK again. Back in the Style dialog box, click Apply.
When you modify styles in the Normal.dot template, you need to be aware
of the fact that some styles are dependent on other styles. For example,
many of the standard styles are based on the Normal style. So, if you
change the Normal style, you'll change all the others as well.
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IBOOK FIREWIRE UPDATE
Those of you with iBooks, take note of some updated software on Apple's
servers: The iBook FireWire Battery Update. If you've been having trouble
charging your iBook's battery, this may fix it.
Here's the scoop from Apple:
"The iBook (FireWire) Battery Update corrects a problem with battery
charging in some FireWire-equipped iBook computers (the battery doesn't
recharge after a long period of inactivity) . .. . The iBook (FireWire)
Battery Update 1.0 runs on iBooks with a built-in FireWire port that
are using Mac OS 9.0.4 from a local disk."
iBook (FireWire) Battery Update
http://asu.info.apple.com/swupdates.nsf/artnum/n11887
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Word Shortcut Key
Assignments
Tip level: Intermediate
Yesterday I told you how to print a list of your customized keyboard
shortcuts in Microsoft Word. Today I'd like to tell you how to print
a complete list of Word's keyboard commands.
Select Macros from the Macro submenu in the Tools menu. In the resulting
Macros window, select Word commands in the Macros In pop-up menu. Scroll
down the list of macros and highlight ListCommands. Click Run and in
the next dialog box choose either "Current menu and keyboard settings"
or "All Word commands."
Word will then generate a Word file that lists all the keyboard commands.
Print this list at your leisure.
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This week's browser
tip: Clear Your History
If you share a machine with others or just want to protect yourself
from snooping, learn how to clear out your History list. Sometimes you
visit sites you might not want others to know about! You can get rid
of specific addresses by choosing History from the Window menu, then
deleting the offending URLs. Or just get rid of the whole thing by choosing
Preferences in the Edit menu, then Advanced in the Web Browser settings.
Click the box that says "Clear History."
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Photoshop MERGING
LAYERS INTO A NEW LAYER
One of the most beneficial Adobe Photoshop features is layers. Layers
allow you to composite an image without losing the ability to independently
manipulate each image object. However, at some point you'll want to
merge all the visible layers into a new layer.
A quick method for doing so is to copy the content from all the visible
layers and paste the merged content into a new layer. To do so, press
Ctrl-Shift-C on the PC or Command-Shift-C on the Mac to copy the content
from all visible layers. Then, press Ctrl-V on the PC or Command-V on
the Mac. Photoshop creates a new layer and pastes the merged content
in that new layer.
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Microsoft Office
EXCEL: USING EVEN AND ODD FUNCTIONS
Let's suppose you have a workbook that deals with inventory that ships
only in pairs, and you need to make sure that the numbers match up.
Suppose even further that someone takes an order and then types 3 into
the Number Ordered cell. Here's how to make sure that you get the correct
number. You can force Excel to display the next highest even or odd
number.
Let's say that you enter the number of items ordered in cell A5. Go
to cell C5 (or the cell of your choice) and enter
> Even (A5)
Now move to cell C6 and enter
> Odd (A5)
Next, enter 3 into cell A5 and cell C5 will display 4 rather than 3,
making the order correct. Cell C6 will display 3.
Here's how it works: Even rounds up to the nearest even number, and
Odd rounds up to the nearest odd number. To get a better feeling for
how these functions act, enter a series of numbers into cell A5 and
see how cells C5 and C6 respond.
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Word Custom Key
Assignments
Tip level: Intermediate
Care for a printout of your Microsoft Word customized keyboard shortcuts?
Simple enough. Just select Print from the File menu, select Microsoft
Word from the General pop-up menu, and Keyboard Assignments from the
Print pop-up menu. Press Print to receive a printout of your custom
keyboard commands.
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MAC OS MORE DOWNLOADABLE
FONTS
Previously, we looked at a couple of dynamite Internet font resources
to spice up your computing. Today, one more to chew on:
MyFonts.com is a Web site devoted to fonts done by font aficionados.
There's the TypeXplorer, a tool to browse the 10,000 font database by
adjusting thickness, width, height, and other font variables. Find a
font you like and the TypeXplorer displays a graphic preview, even allowing
you to "testdrive" the font with your own text. You can browse by font
styles, font names, font designers, or font foundries.
For the most part, you'll have to pony up some cash to become the proud
owner of the fonts on this site, but it's a great place to explore the
fascinating world of digital typography and the designers behind it.
MyFonts
http://www.myfonts.com/
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MAC OS DOWNLOADABLE
FONTS
Tired of all those system fonts your Mac came with? Well, my typographical
friend, lucky for you the Internet is just teeming with free fonts,
which you can download and install to jazz up your word processing or
graphic design.
Simply download that special font that's caught your fancy, unstuff
it and drag it to the Fonts folder in your System Folder. Fonts for
Macs and PCs differ somewhat, so in your search, you'll want to look
for either Mac PostScript fonts or Mac TrueType fonts. Both are widely
available.
One of my favorite font sites is Chank.com. Chank.com is the work of
Minneapolis' Chank Diesel, self-proclaimed Alphabetician. His site blends
wise-ass humor with a constantly updated selection of custom-designed
fonts, many of which are free. Among the feathers in his cap is the
typography used on a lot of Taco Bell advertising.
Chank
http://www.chank.com
Another mighty fine font site with a number of free selections is Astigmatic
One Eye Foundry. A free font section can be found here:
Astigmatic One Eye Foundry Free Fonts
http://www.astigmatic.com/aoeff/freefonts.html
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Photoshop MOVING
OBJECTS IN PHOTOSHOP
Adobe Photoshop's interface philosophy might as well be "If there's
a right way, there should be three ways."
For example, there are several ways to move an object in Photoshop.
You can select an area of your image and click and drag the selection
to a new location. Also, you can press Shift to constrain the movement
of the selection to a 90-degree axis. Another method is to not use the
mouse at all. Just press Ctrl in Windows or Command on the Macintosh
and press the Up, Down, Left, or Right arrow keys to move the selection
in one-pixel increments. Yet another method is through a menu command.
Choose Edit, Transform, Numeric and enter X and Y values in the resulting
dialog box to move your selection a specific amount.
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Adobe¨ Photoshop¨
OPENING A DIALOG BOX WITH THE LAST USED SETTINGS
Adobe Photoshop will kindly remember the settings you last used in a
dialog box. This is a great feature you can use to apply and reapply
the same settings to an image or image layer. However, you have to know
how to recall those settings.
To open a dialog box and set the dialog box attributes to the last used
setting, press Alt on the PC or Option on the Mac and choose the function
from the menu.
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Netscape Communicator
SAME E-MAIL ON TWO COMPUTERS
A reader writes: "I use more than 150 filters to sort my inbound e-mail
on my desktop computer. Sometimes I receive my e-mail on my laptop instead
of my desktop computer for a few days while I'm traveling. When I return
home, how can I take the messages out of my laptop's in-box and run
the unsorted messages from my laptop through the filters on my desktop
computer, so that the e-mail is sorted into the proper folders using
my filters?"
Ah, a common dilemma. The simplest solution would be to tell Netscape
to leave messages on the Mail server when you check mail while traveling.
In Netscape on your laptop, click Edit, Preferences. Under the Mail
And Newsgroups preferences, select Mail Servers. Click your primary
mail server from the box on the right and click Edit. Under the Pop
tab in the resulting window, place a check in the box next to Leave
Messages On Server.
Now whenever you check your e-mail using your laptop, the messages will
be left on the server and merely copied to the laptop for your perusal.
When you get home and check e-mail using your desktop computer, the
messages will still be there as though you had never checked your mail
(as long as you don't make the above changes to Netscape on your desktop
system.) There will be no need to make any transfer from the laptop
to the desktop. Furthermore, when you check mail from your desktop using
this method, the messages will be deleted from the server so they don't
continue to take up space until your next trip.
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Netscape SEND A
BLIND CC
Ever wondered how to send a blind CC to someone? The blind CC hides
from the primary intended recipient of a message the names and addresses
of additional recipients. It also makes crystal clear to all those hidden
recipients exactly whom the message was originally and primarily intended
for by listing that Alpha recipient in the To field.
Let's say you decide to send an e-mail message to the CEO of your company.
Imagine you'd also like to send it to your Mom, because you tell your
Mom everything. However, you don't want the CEO to know you're CCing
Mom. You'll definitely want to use the blind CC function.
When you're ready to send a message this way, put the address of your
official, visible-to-all recipient, the CEO, in the To field. Now, in
the Message Composition window, click the View menu and choose Mail
BCC. You'll notice a new Blind CC field in your mail message. Put Mom's
address in the BCC field. Actually, you can add as many addresses as
you like to this field. Just separate each address with a comma and
a space. It's a great way to hide a long list of recipients.
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Adobe® Photoshop®
FINELY TUNED CROPPING
Regardless of the magnification, keenly manipulating the Crop selection
with the Crop tool is a difficult task especially if the area is one
or two pixels along the edge of the image canvas.
When this occurs, instead of using the sometimes clumsy Crop tool, create
a selection around the entire image. Then, use the arrow keys to move
the one or two pixels over to exclude the image area you want to crop
out. Next, choose Image, Crop to crop out the edge.
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Microsoft Office
POWERPOINT: CHANGING LINE SPACING
Want to change the spacing in one of the PowerPoint pre-existing layouts?
The trick to changing a layout lies in the Line Spacing dialog box.
Let's illustrate how to do this using a sample slide. Run PowerPoint
and select a blank presentation, then click OK. Choose the 2 Column
Text layout (in PowerPoint 95, it's third from the left in the top row)
and click OK.
Now click the first column and add some text. Add three or four lines
so you'll have something to work with when you change the spacing. Use
the mouse to select all the text that requires a spacing change. With
the text selected, choose Format, Line Spacing. When the Line Spacing
dialog box opens, use the Line Spacing spin box to set a new value.
In general, you'd want to increase the line spacing. If you need to
decrease the spacing, be careful that you don't decrease it so much
that the text looks cramped.
After you make your line spacing selections, click OK to record your
selections and close the dialog box.
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Microsoft Office
WORD: HOW TO USE NON BREAKING HYPHENS
A reader writes, "I have a problem with Word. When I enter my hyphenated
last name, Word will often separate the name and place part of it on
two lines. Is there a way to tell Word to keep the entire name together?"
Sure. Let's say your name is Clarence Worthington-Smythe. All you would
have to do is type in the name up to the hyphen and then press Ctrl-Shift-
(hyphen) and type the second part of the name. You can use this technique
even if your name is Clarence Worthington-Smythe-Rhys-Collins-Jones.
Just use Ctrl-Shift- (hyphen) to enter the hyphens.
Note: When you press Ctrl-Shift- (hyphen), the hyphen will look extra
long, like an em dash. Don't worry--it will print just fine.
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Netscape COMMUNICATOR:
Another Way to Remove Long Recipient Lists
Our tip has covered this subject several times before, but the list
of different ways to get around this simple problem is endless. Today
we offer yet another way to get rid of lengthy recipient lists from
the top of messages that have been forwarded and forwarded and forwarded
again. Select the message in question and click Message, Edit Message
As New. Delete all the superfluous information and save the message
any way you care to. Your options are to save the message as a file,
as a draft, as a message template, or to resend the message to yourself.
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Microsoft INTERNET
EXPLORER 5: Web Mail Trick
One of our subscribers read our tip last month about picking up Web-based
mail through Microsoft Internet Explorer 5. We pointed readers to popular
services like Hotmail, Yahoo, and others for grabbing mail on the road.
He recommends another service, Mail2Web, which allows you to pick up
POP3 e-mail mail via the Web, but doesn't require you to sign up for
an account. Check it out:
http://www.mail2web.com
Mail2Web also offers version for PDAs and mobile phone mail access.
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System Maintenance:
Seeing Double Double? DOUBLET SCAN
Tip level: Intermediate
If you're like most folks who have a Mac equipped with a high-capacity
hard drive, you have a number of duplicate files on that drive. To find
those duplicates (and trash them) take a peek at Giuseppe Giunto's $25
shareware utility, Doublet Scan.
With Doublet Scan you can search for duplicate files based on name,
type, creator, date modified and created, and size. Until you pay the
shareware fee, you're limited to trashing 10 files from within Doublet
Scan. You can find your copy at http://www.macdownload.com.
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TIP OF THE DAY:
Easier COMMUNICATOR Bookmark Access:
PROBLEM: You'd like to make certain Bookmarks visible
on Netscape Communicator's toolbar.
SOLUTION: Netscape's browser provides a Personal Toolbar that appears
just below the Location Toolbar. You can put bookmarks there by surfing
to the page you want, then dragging the page link icon (the small icon
just to the left of the address box) to the Personal Toolbar.
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Hard Drive Upgrade
Options
Tip level: Intermediate
A recent user had received a new multi-gigabyte ATA hard drive and wondered
what options he had for installing this drive in his beige G3. The beige
G3 natively supports only two IDE devices -- the internal hard drive
and the CD-ROM. Therefore, he can:
1. Replace the original internal hard drive with the new one.
2. Replace the CD-ROM drive with a SCSI CD-ROM (or, better yet, CD-RW)
drive and use the original CD-ROM drive's IDE data cable for the new
hard drive. Even if you don't choose to go this route permanently, this
is a good method when you want to copy data from your old drive to the
new one.
3. Buy a ProMax (www.promax.com) TurboMax PCI card. This card allows
you to add two IDE devices to your Mac.
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MAC OS - The Magic
of Kensington Turbo Mouse
It's worth occasionally pointing out those little investments that make
computing a more pleasant experience--and one of my great faves for
nearly a decade has been the Kensington Turbo Mouse.
This device, which retails for $109, beats your average mouse hands-down
for ease of use, ergonomic correctness, and functionality. With up to
four programmable buttons, you can set it up to double-click automatically,
send things to print with a single click, or even open your favorite
applications with a single click.
Three cheers, the folks at Kensington have finally elected to make the
Turbo Mouse in a USB configuration, so if you've got a USB-capable Mac,
now you can know the wonders of the Turbo Mouse, as well.
Kensington Mice and Trackballs
http://www.kensington.com/products/pro_c1018.html
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Adobe PHOTOSHOP:
Keyboard Shortcuts for Every Day
As you know, Adobe Photoshop has well over a hundred keyboard shortcuts.
Fortunately, it isn't necessary for you to keep every keyboard shortcut
in memory. However, there are a few that we use every day.
The first keyboard shortcut is D. Press D to reset the Foreground and
Background color slots on the toolbox to the default Black and White.
The next keyboard shortcut is X. Press X to exchange the Foreground
color for the Background color and vice versa.
The other keyboard shortcuts are the 0-9 number keys. Press the 0-9
number keys to change the opacity of the selected Paint tool. Pressing
the 0 key sets the opacity to 100 percent, 9 to 90 percent, 8 to 80
percent, and so forth.
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Netscape NAVIGATOR:Bookmark
URLs in Mail or News Messages
In Navigator 3.x, you can't bookmark a URL that appears in a mail or
news message. However, if you're online when you come across the URL,
you can click it, switch to the browser window, press Ctrl-D to bookmark
the page, then press Esc to stop the page from downloading further.
Navigator can bookmark the page before it even begins to render.
If you're off-line, you can manually create a new bookmark for the URL.
Click the URL, choose Copy Link Location, press Ctrl-B to open the Bookmarks
window, and choose Item, Insert Bookmark. Fill in the Bookmark Properties
box and click OK.
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PHOTOSHOP: Changing
the Matte Color of the Full Screen Display Mode
As you may remember from our previous tip, you can use Adobe Photoshop
Display modes to showcase the image in the active window. When you preview
the image in Full Screen Mode, Photoshop uses a default gray matte to
display the image on. As you know, a background color can play tricks
on a viewer's color perception. Fortunately, you can change the color
of the background displayed in Full Screen Mode.
To do so, click the center icon at the bottom of the toolbar to switch
Photoshop's display to Full Screen Mode. Then, select a foreground color
from the Swatches palette. Next, choose the Paint Bucket tool, then
press Shift and click the Paint Bucket tool in the Full Screen Mode
background. Photoshop fills the background with the foreground color
you've chosen.
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Microsoft INTERNET
EXPLORER 5: Move and Resize Toolbars
If you don't like the look of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5's toolbars,
you can easily change them.
You can hide toolbars by selecting View, Toolbars, and deselecting the
ones you don't want. (Active toolbars appear with a check next to their
names). You can also move a toolbar so it shares the same line as another
toolbar. Click the vertical bar on the left of a toolbar until you see
a double-sided arrow icon. Move the toolbar to the position you want,
then release the mouse.
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Freeing Up RAM
Previously, we discussed the importance of adequate RAM to keep today's
memory hungry applications running in top form. Today, a "classic" OS
quandary.
Say you're running a bunch of applications and want to recapture some
RAM by quitting one or more programs. You quit them, but when you check
the About This Computer box, the numbers remain unchanged and no RAM
has been made available.
Why doesn't quitting apps free up memory?
Your system memory (RAM) is fragmented, which means the free memory
is broken up into little chunks (metaphorically, that is--your actual
RAM is in fine shape). Memory fragmentation occurs after you open and
close a lot of applications. To fix this situation, you'll have to quit
everything and restart your Mac. You'll now find that more free memory
is available.
With the approaching advent of Mac OSX, this problem goes the way of
the big lizards.
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NETSCAPE: Get Around
the Limitations of Long Lines
You can use View, Wrap Long Lines to keep your mail messages from falling
off the edge of your screen. But if you want to make that the default
setting in Navigator 3.x, you're out of luck. Upgrade to Navigator or
Communicator 4.x and those long lines will wrap permanently.
What if you want to print out a letter with long lines? Sorry, those
lines won't wrap when it prints. You'll have to cut and paste the message
into a word processing file, clean it up, and print it out.
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Adobe¨ PHOTOSHOP¨:
Showcasing Your Work
When you preview one of your creations on your computer, don't show
it off in the midst of palettes and menu bars. Isolate your work using
Adobe Photoshop's display modes. You're familiar with the Standard Screen
Mode. The remaining two display modes--Full Screen Mode With Menubar
and Full Screen Mode--showcase only the active image window.
To switch between the Standard Screen Mode, Full Screen Mode With Menubar,
and Full Screen Mode, click the Display mode icons at the bottom of
the Photoshop toolbox. Alternatively, you can press F to rotate between
the display modes.
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MAC OS - UNDERSTANDING
RAM
These days, RAM is king when it comes to running modern applications.
Here's the forklift analogy to help you understand the difference between
hard drive memory and RAM memory: Your hard drive is like a warehouse
full of boxes of information--the more memory, the larger your warehouse.
Software like Web browsers, graphics programs, and email are like forklifts
that move the boxes around--and RAM is the fuel that runs the forklift.
The more RAM, the more stuff you can move around.
Get it?
So if your software runs slowly (especially memory hogs like Adobe Photoshop
or a Web browser with a full arsenal of plug-ins like Flash, Shockwave,
RealAudio, etc.), your path of least resistance is to buy a RAM upgrade.
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MAC OS - THE LAST
DITCH EFFORT
The military has a situation called FUBAR. It stands for "Fouled up
beyond recognition" (approximately). You undoubtedly know that this
also happens on your Mac sometimes, usually resulting in a frozen screen
or a system that just won't respond. Usually at that point, you've got
to restart and maybe lose what you were working on.
For these times, I'm going to tell you the secret LAST DITCH EFFORT.
If you've got a system that's not responding, but the mouse is still
movable; or you've got a frozen clock cursor, but nothing else is working,
you can try to shake things loose using a programming command demanding
your Mac to GO TO THE FINDER, DO NOT PASS GO: Command-Power. (Yes, I'm
referring to the Power-On button on your keyboard.) If an empty dialog
box pops up, you may be (and that's a big maybe) in luck. Try typing
"g" or "g finder" (no quotation marks) and hitting return. If Fate smiles,
this command will toss you out of whatever snafu has happened back into
the loving, but confused arms of the Mac OS. At which point you should
restart your Mac IMMEDIATELY.
Be aware though: While this command has saved my hiney on numerous occasions,
I'd say it works less than 50 percent of the time. If it doesn't work,
your system will probably freeze and you'll have to do a hard restart
(which you were going to have to do anyway, right?).
To hard restart a frozen Mac, hold down Shift-Command and press the
Power-On key. (Last note: Sometimes even this doesn't work and you have
to unplug your Mac or press the Power or Reset button on the Mac itself--if
your Mac has such a button.)
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Word Processing:
Get in STYLE
Tip level: Intermediate
If SimpleText is just too basic a text editor for you, give Marco Piovanelli's
$10 shareware text editor, Style, a try. In addition to supplying all
the features of SimpleText (except speech), Style includes support for
URLs and AppleScript and offers a search and replace function. Plus,
Style lacks SimpleText and TeachText's 32,000 character limit. You can
find your copy at http://www.macdownload.com.
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NETSCAPE: Ready,
Set, Reload
Who needs menus when you can perform many Navigator functions right
from the keyboard? To reload a page, simply press Ctrl-R.
TOP
NETSCAPE: Open Message
Composition Window Quickly
You don't need to be in the Netscape Mail window to write a message.
Press Ctrl-M any time you have Navigator open--whether you're in the
browser, mail window, or news window--and the message composition window
opens.
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PHOTOSHOP: Select
Similar Command
As you probably know, there are many ways to create a selection in Adobe
Photoshop. Unfortunately, there's no one perfect method for creating
a selection. On the contrary, Photoshop pros utilize every selection
tool in the Photoshop toolbox to create selections.
One selection method that's often overlooked is the Select Similar command.
This command allows you to add every pixel that matches a currently
selected pixel to your selection. For example, picture a red-and-black
checkerboard. Select one red square. Then, choose Select, Similar. Photoshop
adds every red square to your original selection.
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Netscape COMMUNICATOR:
Summary Files--An Explanation
A reader writes: "When I empty the trash, Netscape builds summary files
with several different titles. What are these summary files and why
do I need them to take up disk space I was trying to free up?"
Rest assured, you are indeed freeing up disk space. Netscape uses summary
files to index their corresponding folder. Summary files keep track
of their respective message files. For each mail folder (represented
on your hard drive with its own file), there is a corresponding .snm
file. For example, your Inbox is represented on disk by a file called
Inbox, and another file called inbox.snm. It's best not to delete them
manually; they take up very little space.
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Today's Tip: OS
X Naming Convention
Tip level: Intermediate
If you give a volume the same name as one of the basic folder used by
Mac OS X Public Beta -- Applications, Library, Mac OS 9, or System,
for example -- those folders may not be visible.
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Netscape COMMUNICATOR:
No Ads in Messenger
Several readers have offered a way to avoid having to look at that annoying
ad in Netscape Messenger without editing sensitive Netscape configuration
files. Simply close the Message window in Netscape Messenger.
Click View, Show, and uncheck Message. The message pane in Messenger
will disappear, leaving you with the Folders and Contents panes. When
you click a message in the Contents pane, Communicator will open an
entirely new window containing that message.
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More on FileTransfer
Protocol (FTP)
Last time we talked about logging on to FTP (file transfer protocol)
sites with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5. Here's a recap:
To open an FTP site, click in the Address Bar and type:
ftp://ftp.thesiteyouwant.com
Substitute the real URL for "thesiteyouwant,"
of course.
If the site requires a password, choose File, Login As. The Login As
dialog box appears. Type your user name and password, then click OK.
(Some don't require a password--for instance, ftp://ftp.aol.com doesn't.)
To download a file, right-click it, then choose Copy To Folder. The
Browse For Folder dialog box appears. Choose a folder where you want
to store the file, then click OK.
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Today's Tip: MountCheck
Errors & OS X
Tip level: Intermediate
If you've run Disk First Aid (DFA) 8.5.5 on an OS X volume, you've probably
been notified that MountCheck has found minor errors. Attempting to
repair these errors with DFA does no good -- although DFA reports success,
the error message persists on subsequent diagnoses.
These error messages are, themselves, errors. Versions of DFA prior
to the recently release DFA 8.6 spit out this bogus error because they
are unfamiliar with OS X's unique structure. Therefore, to get the real
dope, download a copy of DFA 8.6 here:
http://asu.info.apple.com/swupdates.nsf/artnum/n11894
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MAC OS: TIME FOR
SOME MOUSE-WASH
Let's get down to the basic cheese. If you're going crazy trying to
get that pointer to point correctly, it may be because your mouse is
swimming in dust-bunnies.
Every now and then, when you find yourself banging your mouse around
trying to make it behave, take a time out and give it a defunking instead:
Flip it over, carefully push and twist the plate surrounding the ball,
and the back will pop off. Plop out the ball, and inspect the workings.
A good hearty BLOW is likely to dislodge free-floating bits of grunge.
Also you can gently take your finger and guide the wheels that touch
the mouse, while pushing slightly off-center to dislodge the Ring of
Grime that may have built up on those wheels.
For particularly tough build-up, use a cotton swab dipped in a bit of
rubbing alcohol. The alcohol will help break up that grime, and then
quickly evaporate.
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NETSCAPE: Close
Browser Window Quickly
Press Ctrl-W to close the Netscape Navigator browser window quickly.
Make sure you've saved or bookmarked the page you're on, however, because
the browser window closes immediately.
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PHOTOSHOP: Keeping
Your Preferences Safe
Photoshop preferences allow you to customize various program features
to suit your own tastes and work habits. You can set preferences for
everything from cursors to units of measurements to the way Photoshop
saves files.
Once you get the preferences just the way you like them, you can make
sure they stay that way. You can lock the Photoshop Preferences file
to prevent anyone from changing or removing your preferences settings.
To do so, open the Adobe Photoshop Settings file (located within the
application file). Next, select the Photoshop 5.x Prefs file and "lock"
it:
In Windows, right-Click on the file and choose Properties from the pop-up
menu. In the resulting Properties dialog box, select the Read Only option
and click OK. On the Macintosh, select the Photoshop 5.x Prefs file
and choose File, Get Info. In the resulting dialog box, select the Locked
option and close the dialog box.
Once you lock the Preferences file, a user can open Photoshop and change
the preferences but only until the program is closed. When the user
closes Photoshop, he or she will see a message stating that the Preferences
folder is locked and that it will not save any changes made to the preferences.
Therefore, when you open Photoshop the next time, your preferences will
be the same.
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Netscape COMMUNICATOR:
Inbox on the Personal Toolbar
Diligent reader Michael P. has offered his method of putting a button
for the Messenger Inbox on the Personal Toolbar.
1. Open Messenger.
2. Pull the Messenger window down so you can see both the Personal Toolbar
and Messenger on your screen.
3. There is an icon to the left of the word Inbox in Messenger. Drag
this icon to the Personal Toolbar.
Afterward, you can use the Edit Bookmarks window to rename the button.
Click Bookmarks, Edit Bookmarks. Under Personal Toolbar, click Inbox
and select Bookmark Properties. Give it whatever name you prefer and
click OK.
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Microsoft INTERNET
EXPLORER 5: File Transfer Protocol--What is it?
FTP (file transfer protocol) is a way of uploading and downloading files
from Internet file servers. You don't need a separate program to access
an FTP site--Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 does a pretty good job. In
the Address Bar, type:
ftp://ftp.thesiteyouwant.com.
Note that you should insert the real URL for "thesiteyouwant.com."
That will let you log on to an FTP site anonymously. If the site requires
a password, you may see an error message. That's OK. Just choose File,
Login As. The Login As dialog box appears. Type your user name and password,
then click OK. You can then access files and folders on the FTP server.
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HARDWARE UPGRADE:
USB 2.0 will Beat Firewire as Standard PC Port
For the average PC user, the battle between the FireWire (aka IEEE 1394)
and USB (Universal Serial Bus) interfaces may finally be over. The year
2000 saw finalization of the USB 2.0 specification. This spec boosts
USB's data transfer rate up to 480 mbps, from version 1.0's shuffling
12-mbps rate.
Major PC makers have announced no plans to include FireWire ports in
their mainstream PCs, but have said they will include USB 2.0 ports
in PCs in the coming year.
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NETSCAPE: Use Find
Command to Search Web Pages, Mail
Looking for a specific word, name, link, or what-have-you in a Web page?
Press Ctrl-F to bring up the Find dialog box. Enter what you're looking
for in the Find What field, then select the direction for the search
(based on where your cursor is now). Now click Find Next to initiate
the search. For a more specific search, choose the Match Case option,
which ensures that only those results with matching capitalization are
returned. To repeat the search, press F3.
If you use the Find command while you're in the Netscape Mail window,
you can search both mail headers and individual messages.
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PHOTOSHOP: Maintaining
the quality of a JPEG
To maintain the quality of a JPEG, never save it twice. The reason for
this is simple. As you probably know, when you save an image as a JPEG
file, it is compressed. If you resave a JPEG, it is compressed again.
As you might guess, each time you compress an already compressed file,
more and more information is lost. Therefore, the quality of the image
is likely to suffer.
To prevent having to resave a JPEG file, save the image as a JPEG file
only when you've completely finished editing the image. In fact, once
you've finished editing an image, it's a good idea to save a copy in
its original format before converting it to a JPEG. That way, you can
make the new changes to that copy and save a new JPEG rather than resaving
the old one.
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Netscape COMMUNICATOR:
Persistent Default News Server
A reader asks: "When I first installed Communicator, I entered a news
server. I have now changed news servers and cannot remove the original.
No matter how I delete it, it returns as the default server. How do
I get rid of this pesky entry?"
There is hope. The general consensus on a solution is as follows. Start
Messenger and click Edit, Preferences. Under the Mail & Newsgroups preferences,
select Newsgroup Servers.
In a box on the right side of the Preferences window is a list of servers.
One of them will have the word Default next to it. This is most likely
your original newsgroup server from before the change. Using your mouse,
select your current newsgroup server and click the button labeled Set
As Default. Click OK to save your changes.
Now, in the Messenger window, you will still see both the old and the
new newsgroup servers listed. Click the old one and select Remove Newsgroup
Server. You will be prompted for confirmation; just click Yes and you're
set. The point of all this is that Netscape does not allow you to remove
a server that is set as Default.
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Today's Tip: PowerBook
/ iBook FireWire Limitations
Tip level: Intermediate
Interested in knowing how many FireWire devices you can plug into your
Firewire equipped PowerBook or iBook?
According to Apple, these portables support up to 63 powered FireWire
doodads, though you can only connect 16 devices in one chain.
If you're connecting unpowered FireWire devices -- devices that pull
their power from the PowerBook or iBook rather than a power supply --
you're limited to a single device (which, by the way, sucks power out
of your battery).
TOP
PHOTOSHOP: Zooming
In and Out with the Navigator Palette--PART 2 OF 2
Last time, we discussed using the Navigator palette to zoom in and out
of an image. As you recall, to zoom in or out of an image, you click
and drag an area of the Navigator palette thumbnail. Adobe Photoshop
will move the image view and zoom to magnification you set.
In addition to clicking and dragging to zoom in and out of your image,
you can specify a magnification. To do so, place your cursor in the
Magnification text field in the Navigator palette, enter a value, and
press Enter. (Keep in mind the value must be between .039% and 1600%.)
Photoshop will set the magnification of the image to that value.
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Microsoft Office
EXCEL: Forget the Data, Print the Formulas
A reader asks if there's a way to print an Excel worksheet showing the
formulas rather than the data. There is a way, and here it is: Before
you can print the formulas, you have to get Excel to display them. Choose
Tools, Options, and when the Options dialog box opens, click the View
tab. Now, select the check box labeled Formulas and then click OK to
close the dialog box and record the change.
You'll see that the worksheet now displays the formulas instead of the
results of the calculations. So choose File, Print while the formulas
are displayed, and the printout will also display the formulas.
Note that the viewing selection we described will remain in effect until
you change it or load a new worksheet. A new worksheet will automatically
default to displaying the cell values rather than the formulas.
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Microsoft INTERNET
EXPLORER 5: Find Advanced Security Help
The Advanced tab in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5's Internet Tools dialog
box (Tools, Internet Options, Advanced) allows you to customize your
security settings.
To find out more about security options, click the question mark in
the upper-right corner of the dialog box. Then click the security option
about which you want to learn more. You can use this tip for getting
info on any feature in the Internet Options dialog box. However, the
security options tend to be pretty foreign to most people--the Help
button, labeled with a question mark, can clarify them.
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PHOTOSHOP: Zooming
In and Out with the Navigator Palette--PART 1 OF 2
We've been discussing using the Navigator palette to move around an
image. However, the Navigator palette allows you to do more than move
around an image. You can zoom in and out of specific areas.
To do so, first launch Adobe Photoshop, open an image, and choose Window,
Show Navigator to display the Navigator palette. Now, to zoom to a specific
area, press Ctrl in Windows or Command on a Macintosh, and click and
drag over an area on the Navigator palette thumbnail. Notice the image
view moves and zooms in or out to the area you clicked on.
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Netscape Communicator
NETSCAPE COMMUNICATOR 4.76
Netscape has released Communicator 4.76. As with the last few minor
updates, this new version has no cosmetic changes. Netscape chose long
ago to stop development of Communicator 4.x and to concentrate on the
forthcoming 6.0 release. All upgrades of 4.7x leading up to the release
of 6.0 will be for bug fixes and security updates only.
That is not to say that 4.76 is completely devoid of new features. Users
who download the full version of 4.76 will also have the option of installing
the latest version of AOL Instant Messenger (4.0) and the latest Flash
Player and RealPlayer plug-ins. Furthermore, Netscape has opted to include
BeatNik, a plug-in for viewing Web pages enhanced by BeatNik's new audio
technology. To read Netscape's release notes for 4.76, browse to:
http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/4.7/relnotes/windows-4.76.html
To download, browse to:
http://home.netscape.com/computing/download/
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Microsoft Office
WORD: Adding a Watermark to a Document
A user points out that it's easy to add a watermark in Word 98, but
asks if you can add one in Word 6. A watermark is text or a picture
you place beneath the text on your page. You might want to use a watermark
to label a page "confidential" or "urgent." To add a watermark, first
decide what you want the watermark to be. If you want to play along,
you can use Clip Art for the example.
You'll need the Drawing toolbar, so if it isn't visible, choose View,
Toolbars, select Drawing, and click OK. Now, choose View, Header and
Footer. When the Header and Footer window opens, click the Text box
button in the Drawing toolbar. Use the mouse to draw a frame for your
watermark.
Now, choose Insert, Object, Microsoft Clip Art Gallery. Select a picture
and click OK. Use the mouse to size and locate your watermark. Select
the picture and then click the Send Behind Text button in the Drawing
toolbar (the icon is a circle behind a page of text). Now, double-click
in the document to close Header and Footer.
To view your watermark, switch to Page Layout view (View, Page Layout)
or choose File, Print Preview. Although Word will dim the watermark,
we suggest that you avoid dark or very busy pictures for your watermarks.
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Microsoft INTERNET
EXPLORER 5: Sort Favorites Alphabetically
An oldie but a goodie--the Favorites menu sorts shortcuts chronologically,
not alphabetically. If you like things filed A to Z, try the following
trick.
Click the Favorites menu in the toolbar (not the Favorites button).
Click a Favorite, then choose Sort By Name. That should do it, though
you'll need to periodically repeat this process to keep the list in
alphabetical order.
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Microsoft Office
Manager
Tip level: Intermediate
Longtime Microsoft Office users who have upgraded to Office 2001 may
be mourning the loss of Microsoft Office Manager (MOM) -- the control
panel that provides easy access to components of Microsoft Office as
well as quick launch capabilities for applications you care to add to
the MOM menu. These folks may now dry those tears. Microsoft has released
a version of MOM that's compatible with both Microsoft Office 2001 and
Office 98.
You can find your copy here:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/download/default.asp
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USB: "USUALLY SUPER,
BUT..."
The Universal System Bus was a great idea when it debuted a few years
back, and still is (though it will probably eventually be superseded
by Firewire). Through USB, you can have external devices like CD-Burners,
digital cameras and hard drives which you can "hot swap." That is, you
don't have to turn your computer off to plug them in or unplug them.
The System is constantly scanning for new devices and will "see" them
when you plug them in, assuming the right drivers are in place. This
was a big improvement over SCSI, or PC's Parallel Ports, which require
you to shut down the computer before plugging or unplugging any devices.
(Note to those of you still using SCSI devices: it's absolutely hazardous
to not turn off your Mac before changing connections.)
Like most things, however, USB is subject to conflicts and flakiness
and sometimes you may find that you've got something that gets along
less than amicably with your system.
If it seems like your system is freezing and the culprit is a new USB
device, try booting up the computer without that device plugged into
the USB port and then plug it in after the system has fired up.
If you've got an incompatible USB device, a complaint call to the manufacturer
is also highly recommended. Compatibility of Mac hardware has always
been a cornerstone of the Apple community. It's harder to police, though,
in the converging PC world of USB and Firewire.
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PHOTOSHOP: Changing
the Color of the Navigator Palette Preview
In our previous tip, we discussed the Navigator palette. As you may
recall, the Navigator palette displays a red rectangle over a thumbnail
of the current image. The red rectangle represents the current view
of the image.
In most cases, the red rectangle is easy to see. However, if your image
has a lot of red tones, the preview rectangle becomes almost invisible.
Fortunately, you can change the color of the preview rectangle. To do
so, choose Windows, Show Navigator to display the Navigator palette.
Then, choose Palette Options from the Palette menu. In the resulting
dialog box, select a more appropriate color and click OK.
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Microsoft Office
WORD: Setting Page Margins
A user writes, "When I print a Word document, the last line is often
lost. Do you know why this happens?"
Most likely the printer margins are set incorrectly. Most printers require
a fixed minimum margin. The amount of margin is specific to the printer.
This requirement is necessary because the entire sheet isn't available
for printing; the printer's paper-handling mechanisms must have something
to work with.
Choose File, Page Setup and click the Margins tab. Now check your margins.
Note that Word will try to protect you from this problem. To see what
happens, make the bottom margin 0 (zero) and click OK. Word opens a
dialog box telling you that your selection is outside the printer's
range. If you click Fix, Word will set the bottom margin to the printer's
requirement. If you click Ignore, Word will use your zero setting.
Although Word will select the minimum requirement for you if you click
Fix, you should add a bit to that. If Word selects 0.2 as the minimum,
you should go for at least 0.3.
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ADOBE PHOTOSHOP¨:
Moving Around an Image with the Navigator Palette
In our previous tips, we demonstrated ways to move around an image other
than using the scroll bars. As you may recall, our first suggestions
were to use the Hand tool or the keyboard shortcuts that allow you to
move around an image.
Another option is to use the Navigator palette. The Navigator palette
displays a small red rectangle over a thumbnail of your image. The red
rectangle represents the current window view of your image. To reposition
the view to any area of your image, click an area of the thumbnail.
Notice Adobe Photoshop immediately repositions the red rectangle and
your image to that area. Using the Navigator palette, you can easily
move around any image. To display the Navigator palette, choose Window,
Show Navigator.
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NETSCAPE MESSENGER:
Retrieving Deleted Messages
A user asks: "Occasionally I delete a message from my Trash folder in
Netscape Messenger. Is there anywhere I can go to retrieve it?"
If you've deleted it from the Trash folder, then no. The Trash folder
is the last line of defense for deleted messages. When you delete a
message from a regular folder, it goes to the Trash folder as a precaution.
You can then empty the Trash folder by clicking File, Empty Trash On
Local Mail.
If you delete a message directly from the Trash folder, then you've
consigned it to oblivion. It's best to let deleted messages stay in
the Trash folder until you're absolutely sure you don't want them. Then
empty the Trash folder and, as a further precaution, compact the Netscape
folders by clicking File, Compact Folders. This minimizes the amount
of disk space your Netscape mail takes up.
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Microsoft Office
EXCEL: Locating AutoSave After Installing It
A while back, we described how to install Excel's AutoSave Add-in. AutoSave
automatically saves your worksheet at preset intervals. Several readers
followed the instructions and got AutoSave installed, but now they can't
find it to make use of it.
Let's start at the beginning. If you don't have AutoSave installed,
choose Tools, Add-Ins. When the Add-Ins dialog box opens, click the
check box to the left of AutoSave and click OK.
So, where is AutoSave? It's in the Tools menu. Choose Tools, AutoSave.
When the AutoSave dialog box opens, make your selections and click OK.
You could add AutoSave to the toolbar, but that seems rather pointless
since this is the kind of thing you set and then ignore.
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INTERNET EXPLORER
5: Put Your Address Bar in Full Screen Mode
When you surf with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 in full-screen mode
(press F11), do you ever wonder where the Address bar goes? To see it
again, click an empty area of the taskbar and choose Toolbars, Address
Bar. Now you get full-screen browsing, with the benefit of telling MSIE
5 where you want to go. Sheesh.
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PRINTER TIP:Turn
Off Manual Feed Alerts
Tip level: Intermediate
If your Mac alerts you every time you choose to manually feed a piece
of paper into your printer, there are two ways to switch off this warning.
The first way is to click the printer's desktop icon and uncheck the
Show Manual Feed Alert by selecting it from the Printing menu.
The second way is to launch Print Monitor (found in your Extensions
folder), select Preferences from the File menu, and click the "Give
no notification" option.
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Disk First Aid 8.6
available: fixes issues with Mac OS X and more
Apple has released Disk First Aid 8.6 to correct problems associated
with Mac OS Extended format hard disks (see previous) and with Mac OS
X.
Excerpts from Read Me:
Disk First Aid 8.6 corrects problems that may occur on Mac OS Extended
format hard disks that were initialized with Mac OS 9.0.X. When starting
up you may see the "Happy Macintosh" icon, but then the computer stops
responding. This most often happens when your hard disk is nearly full,
or if you have a very large number of files and constant file activity,
such as a busy AppleShare IP server running Macintosh Manager.
Requirements
Disk First Aid 8.6 is intended for PowerPC-based Macintosh computers
using Mac OS 9.0.X. Disk First Aid 8.6 has been tested only with the
U.S. English version of Mac OS 9.0.X.
Enhancements
This version of Disk First Aid repairs some kinds of damage to Mac OS
Extended volumes that have become extremely fragmented and fail to start
up. Disk First Aid 8.6 also improves the compatibility of Mac OS Extended
format hard disks with Mac OS X.
This version of Disk First Aid is able to repair more kinds of problems
on a startup hard disk. However, Apple recommends that you start your
computer from a different disk (such as a CD or floppy disk) before
repairing the startup disk.
A reader informs us, with respect to Mac OS X, that the update "Fixes
some of the problems seen with earlier versions of Disk First Aid and
OS X volumes. It also checks and fixes the Wrapper System file if it
is damaged and it no longer returns the spurious MountCheck errors."
TOP
BACK
UP THE MAIL FOLDERS--PART 1 OF 2
Users who are worried about a system crash playing havoc with their
mail folders may want to think about backing them up on a regular basis.
Communicator stores all e-mail information (folders, sent messages,
templates, drafts, and so on) in a folder called Mail, which is a subfolder
to the Preferences folder on your hard drive.
To back up this information, simply create a new folder called Backup
(or whatever you prefer) and copy all of the Mail folder's contents
to this folder. Select all then click and drag the contents and drop
them into the Backup folder.
Do this regularly and you'll have an emergency stash of e-mail, which
you can use if your mail folders get corrupted. To restore the backup,
just select all and click and drag the Backup contents back to the Mail
folder.
Remember, a backup is only as good as the last time you updated it,
so back up often.
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POWERPOINT: Re-coloring
ClipArt
A reader writes, "I know I have inserted ClipArt into
slides and then recolored the picture. I'm working on a slide show now,
and I've inserted some ClipArt. My problem is that I can't recolor it.
To fill you in on what happened, I inserted a picture of a girl at a
desk. Then I ungrouped the picture and removed the girl, leaving only
the desk. Now, I'd like to change the desk's colors, but I can't find
the Recolor command. Can you help?"
Unfortunately, when you ungroup a ClipArt picture, you can no longer
recolor it. Say you insert a picture, then select it, and choose Draw,
Ungroup. When you do this, you get a dialog box warning you that you
are converting the object into a PowerPoint drawing. Once the object
is converted into a PowerPoint drawing, you can't use the Recolor command.
The trick here is to recolor the picture before you delete the unwanted
portions. If you want to recolor an object, insert the picture and then
click it and choose Recolor. Recolor the picture and then select it
and choose Draw, Ungroup. Now, you can delete what you don't need.
TOP
OS X Slowdowns
Tip level: Intermediate
Those running OS X Public Beta may find that after logging
in and out of this new Mac OS, performance decreases. Apple reports
that this decrease is due to use of the Classic environment over a number
of sessions. Apple's solution to this problem is to simply restart your
Mac. However, if the Mac takes a performance hit when the Classic environment
is repeatedly run, it might make sense to leave the "Start up Classic
on login to this computer" option in the Classic preference unchecked.
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Microsoft releases
Office Manager utility
Microsoft Wednesday released version 1.0 of its Office Manager utility.
The utility installs in the Mac OS to make use of applications easier.
Microsoft Office Manager adds an icon to the menu bar. Clicking on the
menu will bring up options to better manage program on your computer.
You can use the menu to launch any application on your Mac or to switch
between running applications with keyboard shortcuts.
While intended for Microsoft applications, the utility can also be useful
for other applications. Similar to other menu utilities, Office Manager
allows you to quickly launch or switch between applications. The utility
can also be customized to list specific applications, which again are
not limited to Microsoft programs. With the utility, Mac users can reduce
hand and wrist movement between the keyboard and mouse.
Microsoft does note that the utility may not be
compatible with Now Utilities. According to the company, using Microsoft
Office Manager with Now Utilities might cause icons in the Microsoft
Office Manager menu to appear much smaller than usual.
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/download/default.asp#mom
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PHOTOSHOP: Navigating
around an image with the Keyboard
In our previous tip, we suggested using the Hand tool as an alternative
to the scroll bars. The Hand tool allows you to click and drag the image
to the area you want to view. Another alternative is to use the Viewing
keyboard shortcuts.
For example, to scroll the image view up one screen, press the Page
Up key. To scroll the image view down one screen, press the Page Down
key. Further, you can limit the shortcuts to scroll up or down ten pixels
at a time. To do so, press Shift as you scroll up with the Page Up key
or scroll down with the Page Down key.
TOP
This week's browser
tip: Tab the Way You Want To (INTERNET EXPLORER 5)
Internet Explorer 5 lets you choose between tabbing through every link
and text field on a page or just text fields. To choose between them,
go to Edit/Preferences/Web Browser/Browser Display. In the Keyboard
Accessibility section, choose whichever radio button matches your preference.
No matter which one you choose, you can always temporarily switch to
the other method by holding down the Option key.
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Microsoft Office
EXCEL: INDENTING COLUMNS
Once you've crunched the numbers in an Excel worksheet, you often go
back through the sheet to make it look better. In some cases, you might
like to have the entire worksheet start in the second column. The problem
is that you've already used column A. You can easily insert a new column.
All you have to do is click column A and choose Insert Columns. The
whole worksheet moves over by one column.
But what if you don't want the indentation to be quite as large as the
default column width? In the label area, move the mouse pointer over
the line between A and B, then drag the line to the left until the spacing
is just right for your worksheet.
TOP
Clear Your Address
Drop-Down Menu
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 keeps track of URLs you enter in the Address
bar. Click the downward-pointing arrow at the far right side of the
Address bar to jump to an address you've typed in before. You can clear
the list, but this will erase your entire History list (click Ctrl-H
to see your History).
To clear the Address drop down box--and your History list--choose Tools,
Internet Options. Click the Clear History button. Click OK. You may
need to restart MSIE 5 to see the change.
TOP
Remote Access Anomaly
Tip level: Intermediate
If you've performed a clean install of your System software and have
configured Remote Access to answer incoming calls, your Mac may not
answer those incoming calls the first time the Mac is started after
the clean install. Apple recommends that for the answer function of
Remote Access to work properly, you restart your Mac a second time.
TOP
How to Be a Dingbat
One of the great triumphs in desktop publishing is the dingbat, an efficient
way to store non-alphabetical characters in a font format. The most
ubiquitous (but far from the only) set is Zapf Dingbats. Zapf Dingbats
(named for venerable typographer Herman Zapf) is always ready to help
out with the handy arrow, bullet or whatnot.
Figuring out which letter on your keyboard corresponds to which Dingbat,
however, can be a headache.
Fortunately, Key Caps can help here. Just open Key Caps from the Apple
menu, and select Zapf Dingbats from the fonts menu (if you don't see
it, you may have to reinstall it from the System CD). Now you'll see
all the letters on the little keyboard display change to a melange of
crosses, stars and doodads. Holding down modifiers Option, Shift and/or
Control yields an even greater selection.
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Adobe Photoshop:
Navigating around an image with the hand tool.
An Adobe Photoshop user asks:
"I have a small monitor but I work on rather large images. As such,
it's very time consuming to use the scroll bars to constantly navigate
around the image while I work. Any other suggestions? (Don't say get
a larger monitor; I can't afford to upgrade the monitor yet.)"
There are several ways to navigate around an image without resorting
to the scroll bars. The first option is the Hand tool. Choosing the
Hand tool allows you to grab and move around an image any direction
you wish. What's more, the Hand tool is always available to you through
several keyboard shortcuts.
You can press H to choose the Hand tool on a Macintosh. Alternatively,
you can temporarily convert the current tool to the Hand tool. To do
so, press Spacebar on a Macintosh.
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Finding out what
buttons do
Some readers have pointed out that we don't really have to explain what
a button looks like for the readers to identify the button. All you
have to do is move the mouse pointer over the button, and the button
will identify itself. This is true, but to be as clear as possible,
we still think it's a good idea to describe those buttons.
For those of you who might be unaware of this feature, open any Office
program, then move the mouse pointer over one of the toolbar buttons
and wait a second or so. The button's name will appear in a little text
box.
TOP
Messages in all
the wrong places
If you read mail from more than one computer, you may
find it frustrating to have some mail on this one, some on that. Here's
a way to ease the problem. Set one computer to leave messages on your
mail server rather than erasing messages from the server once downloaded
(as is done by default). For instance, set your laptop to leave mail
on your server. In this scenario, messages you read on your laptop will
still download to your desktop PC when you get home.
In Outlook Express, choose Tools, Accounts, and select the Mail tab.
Double-click your e-mail account. Select the Advanced tab. Select Leave
A Copy Of Messages On Server. Close all open dialog boxes. Now, when
you download mail from your laptop, a copy stays on your server. On
your desktop, the mail downloads your PC, then gets removed from the
server.
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Necessary Extension
for Powerbooks
Tip level: Intermediate
If you want your PowerBook 3400 or PowerBook G3's Ethernet
port to function as Jobs intended, you must have the PowerBook 3400
Modem extension or PowerBook G3 Series Modem extensions installed and
enabled.
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Accented
Characters
One of the typographical tricks that separates the uber-Mac user from
the crowd is being able to conjure up those accented characters, like
the u in uber or the e in resume. (Of course, this tip is formatted
in plain text, so much of the effect is lost. But you know the characters
I'm talking about.)
In any event, it's easy to insert these characters using the venerable
Key Caps application found in the Apple Menu. Just fire it up, select
the font you're using, and press a combination of modifier keys (Option,
Control and Shift) to see a shuffling of the various available characters.
Extra tip: To get most accent marks that appear over a letter requires
two keystrokes; one for the accent and another for the letter. Example:
to type an accented e, you first press Option-e (it will appear that
nothing happens), then you type "e" ... and before you can say "Jan
Tschichold," there's your accented e. To put that accent over an a,
you type Option-e, and then press a. You get the idea.
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Photoshop:
Preserve Transparency for Type Layers
In recent tips, we've discussed using the Preserve Transparency option
to confine painting or editing to the existing object on a layer. For
example, if there were a red ball on a layer with Preserve Transparency
turned on, you could choose a paint brush, sloppily paint all around
the layer, and still change only the color of the red ball.
You cannot turn Preserve Transparency on in type layers. The only way
to affect the transparent area of a type layer is to convert the type
layer into a normal layer. To do so, choose Layer, Type, Render Layer.
At this point, you can turn Preserve Transparency on and off as you
normally would.
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Microsoft Word: Creating New
Styles
When you need a special style for a certain category of Word documents,
it's not difficult to create your own. When you assign formatting to
styles, you can easily apply that formatting to other paragraphs or
entire documents. To create a style, choose Format, Style. When the
Style dialog box opens, click New. Give your new style a name. A style
name can be up to 253 characters in length, as long as you don't use
backslashes, semicolons, or brackets. Select Add To Template and then
click Format, Font. Choose the font and font size and click OK. Now,
you can click Format again and this time choose Paragraph. Set up the
paragraph the way you want and click OK. You can click the Format button
and choose any of the selections that you might want to apply to your
new style. When you get back to the Style dialog box after having made
all your selections, click Apply.
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Photoshop: Toggling Preserve
Transparency On and Off
In our previous tip, we discussed how to use the Preserve Transparency
option to confine your modifications to the object on a layer. Much
like selecting an area of an image, Preserve Transparency preserves
the transparent area around the existing objects on a layer.
This is a great feature, but it can get in the way when you want to
add pixels to a layer. Fortunately, you can quickly toggle Preserve
Transparency on and off with a keyboard shortcut. In Windows or on the
Macintosh, press / to turn Preserve Transparency on or off.
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Netscape Communicator:
Save as Type
A reader asks: "When I try to save a file in Communicator, a dialog
box appears with the default Save As Type set to HTML Files. Is there
any way to change this default?"
Netscape can save the HTML pages you visit as either an HTML document
(the default, as you've noticed) or a simple text file. You cannot change
the default; Netscape will always show HTML every time you save a file,
allowing you to change it by hand. Saving a file as simple HTML will
allow you to open it later using Netscape Communicator, Microsoft Internet
Explorer, or any other application capable of interpreting HTML code.
However, you can give the file any three character extension you wish.
When you double-click the file in Explorer, whatever viewer or editor
is appropriate for that extension will open it. For example, most people
who use Microsoft Word have it associated with all files with the extension
.doc. If you were to save a document from the Web and give it the .doc
extension, you could then easily double-click it and have it opened
with Word. The same is true for .txt files and Windows Notepad.
Remember that just because you give a file the extension .jpg or .avi,
it doesn't mean those files instantly become digital pictures or video.
HTML code will always be HTML code; it all depends on how you choose
to view it.
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Microsoft Office Word: Working
With Lists
When you're working with lists in a Word document, you can use option-click
to manipulate the list. To try this, create a short list. Now, select
the list and option-click it. You'll see a pop-up menu that contains
the following helpful commands:
Cut
Copy
Paste
Bullets and Numbering
Promote
Demote
Skip Numbering
Stop Numbering
Font
Paragraph
Note that Promote and Demote are grayed out unless you're using a multilevel
list.
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Hide
Your Read Messages
When you get back from vacation, you may find yourself overloaded with
messages. You can organize your Outlook Express Inbox to suit your needs.
After downloading all your mail, you might want to hide the read messages
so you can quickly address your unread mail. Select View, Current View,
Hide Read Messages. Now all you'll see are the e-mails you haven't read
yet. To see them all again, choose View, Current View, Show All Messages.
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Photoshop: Preserving
Transparency
Most Adobe Photoshop users know you can use selection to confine your
painting, filters, and editing to a specific area of an image. However,
you may not know you can use the Preserve Transparency option on the
Layers palette to accomplish the same goal.
For example, to modify an object (add special effects, apply color,
or manipulate tonal levels) without affecting the areas of the layer
in the transparent area outside an object, first choose Window, Show
Layers to display the Layers palette. Then, activate the target layer
and select the Preserve Transparency check box. Now you can paint or
apply any modification to the layer without affecting the transparent
area outside the existing object.
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Junk-Mail
Date Tricks
A reader asked: "Since the change to the year 2000, I
have received random e-mail by mass mailers, not individuals, which
seem to have a good time and date, but Netscape shows them as 12/31/69
4:00 PM. Do you have any idea why this seems to happen randomly and
on mass mailers?"
This question raises the issue of the ethics of junk e-mailers (spammers).
Many Internet companies lease or sell bulk lists of e-mail addresses
to third-party companies, which then use the addresses to send mass
junk e-mails (spam) that advertise anything from investment opportunities
to discount ink jet cartridges to pornography. Because of loopholes
in the communications laws governing spam, the mail usually comes from
bogus accounts on nonexistent servers. You can't reply to tell the spammer
to stop, and you can't really report these mystery servers to anyone.
One of the many tricks spammers use is predating e-mails. By spoofing
the date tag on an outgoing message, they play on the ignorance of an
e-mail client. By default, most e-mail clients (Netscape Messenger included)
present new messages organized by date and time. If a message arrives
with a spoofed date tag that shows it was sent on the impossible date
of 12/31/69, that message will show up first in your list of new incoming
messages when you check your mail. Thus a spammer has the dubious advantage
of being at the top of the list. I receive so much spam these days,
I can usually count on having to delete the first two or three messages
I get.
This is a likely (slightly alarmist) reason for the strangely dated
e-mails you receive. Possibly a simpler explanation is that in fact,
the outgoing mailer's e-mail program has a Y2K bug that is giving messages
the wrong time and date stamp. It could be as simple as that.
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Tile
Windows Vertically or Horizontally
If you open a lot of windows on your system (Ctrl-N to
open a new window), your desktop gets messy in a flash. You can quickly
organize all the open windows on your system. Just option-click the
Windows Date/Time area at the bottom right corner of your Desktop. Then
choose Tile Windows Horizontally or Tile Windows Vertically.
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Word:
Printing a Special First Page
Many Word users need to print the first page of a document
on paper with a preprinted letterhead, and the remainder on standard
paper. If your printer has more than one bin, you can put all the letterhead
paper into one bin and the remainder of the paper into another bin.
Now, choose File, Page Setup. When the Page Setup dialog box opens,
click the Paper Source tab. In the First Page list box, select the tray
that holds the preprinted letterhead paper, and in the Other Pages list
box, select the tray that holds the blank paper. Click OK to close the
dialog box and save your changes.
If your printer doesn't have more than one tray, but
does allow manual feed, you can choose Manual Feed for the first page.
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Quick
QuickTime Movie Player
Tip level: Intermediate
If you happen to have your browser open and would like
to take a peek at a QuickTime movie file sitting on your desktop, there's
no need to launch QuickTime Movie Player. Just drag and drop the movie
into your browser window. The QuickTime plug-in (if installed) will
play the movie from within your browser.
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Jam
Down, With A Keystroke
Well, it's hard not to rock with all the built-in audio
gadgetry that's made it into the Mac OS these days. But if somebody's
complaining and you've just GOT to turn down your AppleCD Player, just
slap that ol' keyboard shortcut, Down Arrow.
Here are a few more key commands for AppleCD Player:
Up Arrow increases the volume.
Right Arrow moves to the next track
Left Arrow moves to the previous track
Command-Right Arrow will fast-forward through a track
Command-Left Arrow rewinds through a track
Remember, you've got to have the AppleCD Player as the
front-most application for these shortcuts to work.
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Microsoft
Word: Inserting Page Numbers