Burning Pics to a Disc; Toast to the Rescue

Q: I returned from a trip with lots of photos I’d like to share in slideshow form. But I really don’t want to spend time fooling around creating a slideshow. What’s the quickest way to create a slideshow without a lot of editing or a learning curve?

A: If you have the time, iPhoto is the best choice. It does require a small learning curve, but its results are most impressive. If you would like to learn how, go here:

http://www.apple.com/support/ilife/tutorials/iphoto/ip4-1.html

However it sounds to me like you want a quick drag and drop, quickie method.

You’re best bet is the application Roxio’s Toast. Toast has been the preferred CD/DVD app for many years. It has a little known feature called “Photo Disc”.

First, make a new folder with all the pics you want in your slideshow. Make sure the pics are NOT nested in other folders. Review all the pics and confirm they are the correct orientation, that is, rotated right side up. (Use Apple’s Preview application to correct the orientation.)

Open Toast 9 or later. 

To make a Photo disc:

1. At the left side of the Toast window, click Data and choose Photo Disc.

2. Choose optional disc settings.

3. Add pictures to the disc by dragging and dropping them into the Content Area from your hard disk or the Photos section of the Media Browser.

4. Insert a blank, recordable CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc.

Note: The Media Browser provides immediate access to photos in your iPhoto and Aperture libraries.

5. Click the red Record button, choose a recorder from the list, and configure recording options, such as Number of Copies.

5. Click Record to continue.

Toast displays a progress bar and status information as it records your disc.

To play back your images as a slideshow (using Mac OS X v10.4 or higher):

1. Insert your Photo disc into a Macintosh computer.

The disc folder opens.

2. Double-click the Slideshow icon to begin the slideshow.

Always Back Up and have your Mac maintained,

Steve

A Hard Drive Divided; Partitioning

Q: Steve, I’m having a new hard drive installed in my MacBook Pro. Since it’s a larger drive, a friend said I should partition the drive into two volumes. One volume would be for my normal system, applications and documents and another volume for a spare system to boot from should I have problems with my main volume. Someone else I consulted thought that was a bad idea but couldn’t explain why, at least in a way that made sense to me...

Can you shed some light on this?

A: In my opinion, taking a new drive and partitioning it is a bad idea. 

For those who don’t know what a partition is, it’s when you take a new drive (or wipe out a hard drive and restore it “data free” to its original state), then cut it up into virtual pieces. For example, you buy a 500Mb hard drive. Most of the time it’s partitioned as one drive; 500Mb. But you could cut it up in to two or more drives, a 250Mb partition, a 125Mb partition and a 125Mb partition. All three parts equal 500Mb. You would see 3 Hard drives on your desktop although you only have one hard drive inside your machine. You could do this, but why?

Note: Many PC’s are sold this way with a hidden “D”, “E” or “F” drive. It’s called a “recovery partition”, but note that a lot of computers today are sold with a smaller partition that has the operating system recovery on it.  Often this is in place of providing the recovery on another media like CD or DVD.  Often you are given the opportunity to make at least one copy of that media on CD or DVD as well.  These recovery partitions sometime show as another drive, or are sometimes hidden, and are usually four to eight gigabytes in size.

In my view, making another partition is another potential problem that can go wrong. Backing up to the same drive also is not a good idea. If the drive dies, then all the partitions are gone. You lose everything. Having a divided drive now requires double the maintenance and double the risk something could go wrong. Also you won’t have the full size of the drive you’ve bought.

So unless you’ve got a unique reason to partition a drive, I say “no”.

When Your Laptop Gets Soaked!

When Your Laptop Gets Soaked!

Turn it off. If need be, do a hard shutdown.

Blot up excess liquid with a soft cloth. Don't use a wiping motion, that just pushes the liquid around.

Remove any cables, external drives, removable bays and external Network Cards.

Blot up the liquid that may have gotten on the removable media.

Do not take apart the casing. This can void your warranty and you could damage internal components.

Tilt the laptop from side to side to allow the liquid to drain out. Do this gently and do not shake the laptop.

Place upside down so that any excess liquid that you couldn't reach will drain out.

Use a blow dryer if you have one and set it on the coolest setting. Carefully dry the laptop, paying attention to the keyboard and the parts you removed. Keep the blow dryer moving over all parts.

The minimum recommended drying time is one hour but it leaving the laptop to dry for at least 24 hours is preferred.

Once your laptop has had time to dry, reattach the removable components and start up the laptop. If it starts up with no problems, then run some programs and try using the external media.

If the laptop does not start up or there are other problems, it is time to take your laptop to a certified repair service. If your laptop is still under Warranty - follow those procedures.

Tips:

Water is the easiest liquid to clean up on a laptop. It is a case of moving quickly to ensure water doesn’t get into the internal casing.  Other liquids, especially those that are sugar based will makes things sticky and is harder to clean up. Use a slightly damp warm cloth to clean up sugar based liquids.

What You Need:

Clean soft cloth, Blow dryer

Time - to let the laptop dry out.

Always Back Up and have your Mac maintained,

Steve

Computer Disaster: Spills

Spills

If you have kids, you're worried about spills. If it happens, immediately turn off your computer, disconnect the keyboard, and flip it over. While the keyboard is upside down, blot the top with a paper towel, blow compressed air between the keys and leave it to air dry overnight. For laptops, liquid can easily penetrate the hard drive so turn the computer over immediately and then leave it to air dry overnight.

Laptop spills need more attention because liquid can easily penetrate the keyboard and damage internal parts. For laptop spills, immediately turn off the computer and remove any external power source and other items plugged into it. Turn the laptop over, remove the battery, and then bring it to your nearest repair center to check for internal damage. Simply blowing compressed air into the keyboard and letting your computer air dry upside down overnight aren't enough because liquids can sit inside a laptop for days.

For all spills, be aware that anything other than plain water may cause severe damage, and never attempt to dry a keyboard or laptop in a microwave or conventional oven.

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)

You're 35mm Films and Slides are Dying Pt.V

If you value your images you should have them scanned to digital where they’ll be saved reliably for your lifetime and future generations.


Next month I explain the trials and tribulations of trying to yield good results yourself with cheap flatbed consumer based scanners. The results are lackluster.


Professional slide and negative scanning is now a service I provide to save your precious memories. So if you don’t know what I.C.E., ROC or DEE is then perhaps you should bring your film to me for professional conversion to digital. I can restore film and images too.
See my ad to the right... The clock is ticking...

You're 35mm Films and Slides are Dying Pt.IV

Mold growth on slides and negs is a huge problem, as the fungi actually eats into the emulsion layer. Trying to remove the growth with liquid cleaners most of the time results in more damage than good. Also a dry mold can spread spores very easily to other slides. Needless to say damp conditions promote this damage. Once this damage starts it’s hard to stop and precious negs and slides can not be saved.


The bottom line is that slides and negs under normal storage conditions begin to degrade after about 20 years. Some will degrade earlier and some later, based on other factors.

You're 35mm Films and Slides are Dying Pt.III

After doing some extensive research on the subject I’ve found that many people are experiencing a red color shift of their slides and negs. Although some cases are more severe than others it seems the storage conditions are a factor, but maybe not the reason. Negs and slides stored in high humidity and heat have resulted in accelerated color shift and often promoted even worse problems such as mold and fungi growth. More on that in a moment. It seems to be a feeling that poor initial developing is the reason for accelerated degeneration of film, specifically; contaminated or poorly executed rinsing at the time of developing.

You're 35mm Films and Slides are Dying Pt.II

Today’s digital cameras have done away with the film era, as film is getting harder and harder to find and film developing labs are even harder to find.

Unlike digital data, film has a life. A recent article I read said that film shot before 1962 is especially susceptible to degradation due to the early chemistry used, called E1. Shortly after 1962 a process called E6 was introduced which promoted film longevity, among other things.

You're 35mm Films and Slides are Dying

Most of us are old enough to remember film and slides. Slides were my main staple as a kid since aside from developing the negatives, they didn’t require the additional cost of making the prints. In many cases the prints seemed to stray away from the developed negative strips which really didn’t look like anything when held up to the light. Slides were developed and returned in tiny little boxes, often then arranged and loaded into a slide projector. And the bulb would blow when everyone was ready for showtime...


Today’s digital cameras have done away with the film era, as film is getting harder and harder to find and film developing labs are even harder to find.

The PDF, Acrobat and Preview

Want to quickly read a PDF file but don't have (Adobe) Acrobat Reader? Wonder why Apple no longer includes Acrobat Reader with the new Macs for a long time now...?
That's because Preview will read PDF files. Just drag your PDF file on top of Preview and Viola!
Preview also opens most JPGs (Pics) too... Preview is to PDF and JPG files as TextEdit is to text.

Mac Users and .exe Files

I'm amazed how many macs I work on have ".exe" files floating around on the computers.
Mac users, don't download any files from the internet that end ".exe". These are PC Windows files and can not do anything with them. Often times a website will assume you're using a PC and a not a mac, so you'll see a "download now" button.
When you download you'll see a "Downloads" window appear on your desktop. If you see the downloading file ends with ".exe".  Click the stop downloading button next to the file, you'll see an "X". Stop the download, you're wasting your time.
Steve "Dr. mac" Woron

Still Don't Know What a Widget is?

Q: What is a widget? I hear this term frequently. So what is a “Widget” and why should I care?

You'd be amazed how many mac users still don't know what a Widget is or how many have never used one. Widgets are mini-applications that you download and install into Dashboard to add new functionality. Dashboard is only available in Tiger (OS 10.4). Systems before Tiger do not offer this software.

To access Widgets press F12 at anytime and the Widgets installed by default zoom to the front of your screen. Default Widgets include a forecast, calculator, measurements conversion table and even a language translator.

To have the forecast give your zip codes 6 day forecast, click the little “i” in the lower right hand corner. The Widget flips around. Input your zip code and click done. The Widget flips back now with your zip code specific highs and lows with the six day out look. To make all the widgets go away, either click anywhere that’s not on a widget or hit F12 again. The Widgets zoom off screen.

One particular Widget I find useful is the GAS Widget. When your zip code is entered, it finds the best gas price per gallon near you and even gives you the option of finding other close gas stations and their best prices. To find that widget and others go to : http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/ They are free to download and use.

What Does the Apple System Profiler Do?

Q: How do I find my Apple System Profiler (ASP) and what does it do?

A: In OS 9 –Go to the Apple menu and choose Apple System Profiler. In OSX –Go to your hard drive\applications\utilities and choose the Apple System Profiler.

The Apple System Profiler provides information about your computer's software and installed hardware devices. It includes information about the version of system software you're using, how many and what kind of devices are connected to your computer, and what applications are installed on your computer.

The information that the Apple System Profiler provides can be invaluable when trying to reproduce a particular problem. You should always include an Apple System Profiler report when submitting a bug report. Many times, software and hardware problems are specific to an exact configuration. The Apple System Profiler is the best way to get detailed information about the configuration you are using.