Mac World Macintosh Secrets for Apple Macintosh

The biggest secret to getting the most out of this book is understanding its structure. Each topic is divided into two halves. The first part is a general discussion, like a miniarticle. It’s followed by the Secrets: thousands of excellent, undocumented, often never-before-published hints and tips for pushing your Mac to its max.

Part by Part Here’s how the primary book sections are broken down: Part I: System Software Revealed unearths insider information about the free software you got with your Mac — namely, the System software that fills that mound of white System disks (and 4MB of your hard disk). But we won’t mention only the Finder (and aliases and labels and Trash and the Desktop file), but also the important Installer, your control panels, and your Apple menu. And, best of all, this part identifies all the System-folder clutter you can throw out. Part II: Secrets of the Machine takes you into the actual mechanics of the Mac. You won’t go so far in that you’ll need a degree in electrical engineering; you’ll just learn enough of the inner workings to be useful. This part, for example, actually gives a decent explanation of how to use virtual memory. It includes a Disk Chapter, a Memory Chapter, and special coverage of the PowerBook laptops. Chapter 9 even contains detailed Mac-by-Mac model descriptions so that you’ll know what you bought, how it can be upgraded, and how much technology has marched on since you bought your machine. Part III: Application Tips covers the programs you probably use in day-to-day work: major players like Word, Excel, and FileMaker, as well as software like ResEdit that can help make the Mac more yours. This part is a whole book-within-a-book, with enough expert insight to make you say “Wow” at least once on every page. 4 Macworld Macintosh SECRETS Part IV: Attachments is about everything you attach to your computer — printers (and, therefore, fonts), modems (and what to dial up with them), scanners, CD-ROM players, NuBus cards, and networks (includ- ing remote networks and using AppleTalk Remote Access). At the end of this part is a troubleshooting chapter that, among other things, contains our Rule of Three: a troubleshooting trick that solves about 99% of typical mysterious Mac crashes and odd behaviors. Part V: The Macworld Macintosh SECRETS Software Vault describes the 40 fantastic programs that come with this book. And, incidentally, we’ve provided the Macintosh SECRETS Software on three high-density 1.4MB disks. 

Contents at a Glance

Introduction 1

Part I: System Software Revealed 7

Chapter 1: Your First Software: The Finder 7

Chapter 2: Finder Command Secrets 9

Chapter 3: Control Panels, Extensions, and DAs 45

Chapter 4: Everything Else in the System Folder 1 19

Part II: Secrets of the Machine 1 53

Chapter 5: The Performa Chapter 155

Chapter 6: On, Off, and Everything In Between 169

Chapter 7: The Disk Chapter 189

Chapter 8: The Memory Chapter 219

Chapter 9: Mac-by-Mac: What You’ve Got and What You’re Missing 249

Chapter 10: Keyboards and Mice 291

Chapter 11: Monitors 303

Chapter 12: PowerBooks Exposed 321

Chapter 13: Buying and Setting Up 361

Part III: Application Secrets 367

Chapter 14: Multitasking 369

Chapter 15: Word Processing 399

Chapter 16: Page Design 457

Chapter 17: Number & Data Crunching 477

Chapter 18: Graphics 499

Chapter 19: Other Utilities 569

Chapter 21: Multimedia Unmasked 607 Part IV: Attachments 637

Chapter 22: Inside Fonts 639

Chapter 23: Macintosh Printing Secrets 683

Chapter 24: Scanning Secrets 735

Chapter 25: Mysteries of the Modem 745

Chapter 26: A Short CD-ROM Chapter 767

Chapter 27: Mysteries of the SCSI Chain 775

Chapter 28: NuBus and Other Slots 785

Chapter 29: The Networking Chapter 793

Chapter 30: Troubleshooting 835 Part V: The Macintosh Secrets Software Vault 851

Introduction to Part V 853

Chapter 31: The Macintosh SECRETS Commercial Software 857

Chapter 32: The Macintosh SECRETS Shareware 929 A Final Dialogue 959

Appendix A: Glossary 961

Disk Contents at a Glance 1016

Installation Instructions 1020