Dirty Apple Keyboards

Q: My keyboard is filthy from dust, airborne particles and fingerprints from over the years. Is there anyway to clean it and not buy a new one? It’s pretty dirty...

A: Actually there is. The best bet is to get a can of compressed air and turn the keyboard upside down (obviously not attached to the mac) and blow in between the keys with the compressed air. You might want to do this outside or over a sink as lots of “stuff” comes out.

(Compressed air can be purchased at camera stores or bigger department stores in the electronics section. Best Buy and larger computer stores should sell them too.)

Next, take a cotton swab and dip it in rubbing alcohol. It should be damp, but not wet. Run the cotton swab around the outside of the keys. Rub the tops of the keys. If you have a laptop, follow the same procedure but take extra care with your machine. Do this monthly.

Note: I thought I was the only one to try this but several times I’ve put different Apple keyboards in the dishwasher and I just read it was suggested in a copy of Mac World. So if your keyboard is beyond gunky and sticky, go ahead, put it in the top rack of the dishwasher. Set the washer to rinse only with NO soap. Afterwards let it drain with keys facing down. It could take days to dry but I’ve saved a couple keyboards from spills and just plain wear this way...

How to Cut Microsoft Office Loose and Never Miss it! Option 4

Option Number 4: TextEdit

Ignoring the power and convenience of TextEdit would be a big mistake. TextEdit is a highly versatile word processor, including tools to format and layout your page, edit and stylize text, check spelling, create tables and lists, import graphics, work with HTML, and even add music and movie files. TextEdit is a Jack-of-all-trades app that few people use enough.

 It’s a distilled version of Word without all the bells and whistles that most people don’t even use anyway... 

TextEdit used to be called SimpleText in the OS 9 days.  It loads instantly and of course TextEdit is free on every Mac. 

Pros: Free, loads very fast, included on every Mac; Cons: Slightly under-featured

How to Cut Microsoft Office Loose and Never Miss it! Option 3

Option Number 3: OpenOffice

OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose. 

It is basically Office created for free on Mac or PC with 100% compatibility by a team of programmers sick of Microsoft. Pros: Free, powerful, for PC and Mac new and old; Cons: None

How to Cut Microsoft Office Loose and Never Miss it! Option 2

Option Number 2: Apple iWorks; Pages

Pages is the successor to the word processing portion of Apple's multipurpose office suite, AppleWorks, which was discontinued in August 2007. 

Pages is a word processor and page layout application developed by Apple. It is part of the iWork productivity suite and runs on the Mac OS X operating system. The first version of Pages was announced on January 11, 2005 and was released one month later. The most recent Macintosh version, Pages 4, was released on January 6, 2009 as a component of iWork '09. On January 27, 2010, Apple announced a new version of Pages for iPad with an all new touch interface.

Pages is marketed by Apple as an easy-to-use application that allows users to quickly create professional-quality documents on their home computer.  A number of Apple-designed templates comprising different themes (such as letters, résumés, posters, and outlines), are included with Pages.  Among Microsoft Office applications, it competes with both Microsoft Word and Microsoft Publisher, and has compatibility with both. 100% compatible between Macs and PCs.

Pros: Apple product, stable, full featured; Cons: requires purchase 

How to Cut Microsoft Office Loose and Never Miss it!

The first thing I see owners of new macs scramble for is Microsoft Word. “Where’s Word?” “How do I get Word on this?” “Can I use my old version of Word on my new mac?”

You can almost see the panic set in. Microsoft would have you believe that there is no other alternative than to fork over $350 for their Office suite so you can use Word. 

Granted it considered the industry standard, but p-sssst, there are other cheaper and better alternatives. Some are free.

I can hear the reluctance now. Will it open and save all my existing Word documents? Probably yes if you’re not a “power user”.

Scientists and others in the psychological, sociological fields have asserted that humans use maybe .01 to.10 percent of our brain. Most Word users use less than .08 of its features, so why pay for them? Many people don’t use all of Office anyway. It’s a lot like buying a pizza for only the pepperoni.

Option Number 1: Google Docs

A free service from Google that allows you to upload and save documents from your desktop, edit them online from any computer, and invite others to read or edit your documents. Files are stored in Google's secure servers. Search for “Google Documents.” So you can’t lose them or delete them by mistake.

I can’t say enough good things about Google Docs and how handy it is. All you have to do is google “Google Docs” and create an account. It only takes a few moments. Not only can you create documents online you can also create spreadsheets and presentations. Yes you can even download the file if you need to.

Google Docs is the best of both worlds; online access from any computer with an internet connection and all the power and features of Word. And it’s all FREE! 100% compatible between Macs and PCs. Pros: Free, powerful, sharing; Cons: Requires internet connection (not really a “con”).

Safari and the Spinning Wheel of Pain... pt.2

At this point, power off your DSL or cable modem for 1 minute. Also power off your router if using one. Now power everything back on and check eBay or Yahoo.

As a note, sites can get overcrowded with visitors so try another site before blaming your computer or service. Another good tip is to reboot your modem at least every two weeks. Your IPS provider probably does small upgrades to services and fixes which can’t be realized by your connected computers until the modem is rebooted on your end. If you have continued slow downs call your provider for a line test.

Safari and the Spinning Wheel of Pain... pt1

Q: I often will be online and either the spinning wheel appears for a long time or Safari will crash all together. Surfing the internet seems painfully slow and I have broadband DSL. What am I doing wrong?

A: You are probably doing nothing wrong. People are quick to blame their computers first because that’s the technology staring them in the face when the trouble happens. The truth is, many smaller non-pro websites are built wrong, have compatibility issues and sometimes just poorly coded. This causes browser problems with some applications whether it’s Safari, Firefox or even on Windows using Explorer.

If using Safari, the first thing is to quit it, (if you haven’t been forced to already) and relaunch it. Under the Safari menu select “Empty Cache”. Now go to a site that’s known to be reliable such as eBay. Click on any auction and see if it comes up. Or click on a news story link on Yahoo.com. If the browser is very sluggish, it’s your broadband service. (cont'd)