As we close out 2004, I want to thank the many people who have sent emails of encouragement, and especially the many who have asked questions, or needed advice. I hope I’ve been helpful – that’s my goal. To better serve you in the coming year, here’s some information I need you to provide in your initial emails. Having this information from the get-go will cut down on the number of back-and-forth email exchanges we need to get to a solution.

For example, some folks say, “I have an iMac…”. Which iMac is it? A new G5? An older G4 or G3 model? Try to be very specific on the Mac model you have a question about. If you don’t know where to find specifics about your Mac, here’s where to look. If you’re using Mac OS X, click on the Apple menu, then “About This Mac”. The resulting window will tell you which version of the operating system you’re running, and how much RAM you have installed. There you will also see a “More info” button. Clicking that button will open the System Profiler application, which will tell you detailed information (more than you probably ever really need to know) about everything on your Mac.

If you’re using Mac OS 9, selecting “About this Mac” from the Apple menu will also give you system version and RAM information. To open the System Profiler application, you’ll need to go further down the Apple menu and select “Apple System Profiler”. Be patient, as the OS 9 version of the Profiler takes a while to gather all the data.

You can also get information about the versions of other applications on your computer. For example, if you have MS Word open, under the “Word” menu you’ll find an “About Word” selection. This will bring up a window with detailed information about the version of Word you’re using. In some applications, you can also find your product registration information here, including a product ID key or your serial number if you’ve misplaced it.

There are many great things in store in 2005 for us “Macheads”, “Macophiles”, or whatever we want to call ourselves. While the other ninety-percenters are closing pop-up windows, buying and running virus and spyware killers, and clicking off cartoon dogs and paper clips, we’ll be using the most user-friendly, powerful, operating system around. Ain’t life grand?

© 2004 Peter F. Zimowski