SHAREWARE NEWS

September 1997

by Louis Bookbinder

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Last SMUG Picnic

(in 1997)

Labor Day, 1 September, Noon, at Pine Grove, Mitchell Park, Palo Alto

Directions: on East Meadow between Middlefield Road and Alma (Central Expressway), not far from Middlefield. Park near the tennis courts, carry your goodies past them toward the bridge over Adobe Creek. We are under those pine trees on the right (hence the name). Bring something to Barbeque, something to share. Frisbees or baseballs or volleyballs would be fun. Suntan lotion. A good attitude.

SHAREWARE SAMPLE

This month's Free Sample Shareware has not been selected.

SMUG September '97 Disk of the Month

Bonus 2 disk set

Assembled by Thomas Carlson

Disk 1

Finder/Hide Others
Applescript which hides all apps when in Finder. Free

Jon's Commands 2.0
Jon's Commands provides added functionality in the form of about 30 commands which can be called from AppleScript. To examine the AppleScript syntax of each of the commands, simply drag the Jon's Commands file onto the Script Editor (or one of the commercial script editors), or use the Open Dictionary command to open Jon's Commands. To install Jon's Commands, simply drop it into the Scripting Additions folder inside your Extensions folder which is in your System Folder.

MicNotePadLite408
An application to record sound. Free

PowerBar Pro
PowerBar Pro is a powerful and flexible application launcher and toolbar utility for the Apple Macintosh family of personal computers. It's a great way to access your most frequently used applications, files, folders--just about anything that resides on your Mac--with a simple click of the mouse! $25.00

"PPC Inside" Icon
This is an icon created as a parody of the "Intel Inside" advertisements that have been appearing lately. It has ICN#,ic14,&ic18 components. Free.

Set View Options
An AppleScript Droplet used to change global views of windows in MacOS 8. Requires Jon's Commands.

Shutdown-Controller 1.0 PPC and 68k
Shutdown Controller provides a 'controlled' way to shutdown unattended Macs. Shutdown Controller allows you to shutdown your Mac automatically selecting at what time and indicating a group of 'Critical Applications'. $8.00

Trash It! 3.5.1
Trash It! is a control strip module that loves to delete things quickly through its optimized deletion routines. A special feature of Trash It! is that it can delete busy files/folders that the Finder chokes on when emptying the trash. When Trash It's icon is clicked upon, all the items in the trash get deleted, no matter what. It also deletes files/folders/volumes that are dropped on its icon. When a volume (ex. hard disk, floppy) is dropped, a dialog appears allowing you to either reset the desktop, erase everything on the the volume, or cancel.

Disk 2

Default Folder Version 2.7.2
Default Folder is a control panel that enhances Open and Save dialog boxes to make it easier for you to manage files on your Macintosh. It provides many of the essential features of the commercial SuperBoomerang and Directory Assistance utilities, but without the infrequently used extras that take their toll in compatibility, memory, and CPU usage. Shareware $25

Mac Identifier 2.1
This is a shareware control panel designed for system 7.5.x/7.6.x users who can't stand the thought of their Macintosh not knowing its own model designation or what itself looks like. It is also useful for network administrators who manage networks consisting of any7.5.x/7.6.x-based Macintoshes. $5.00

NetLink Remote 1.2
NetLink Remote is a network extension that allows youto use AppleTalk over a modem. When you connect with NetLink REmote, you can do anything that is possible when on a local AppleTalk network. You can use AppleShare to work with remote files, play ApppleTalk only games like Marathon and F/A-18 Hornet, or use any other software that supports AppleTalk networking. $15.00

OneStep 1.1
OneStep is an extension that transforms your Mac's user interface into one based on the NEXTSTEP look and feel. Features include NeXT-like windows, menus, pop-ups, scroll bars, button, folder and trash icon, and more. $15.00

Smart Scroll 2.03
Smart Scroll enhances regular scroll bars so they show how much of a document is displayed in a window. The indicator tab in scroll bars becomes proportional : If a window is displaying half of a document, the tab will be half the scrollbar size. $12.00

TakeABreak 2.0
Sometimes we forget how long we are working on the computer (I know I do!). We need to be reminded to stop and take a break to give your eyes a rest, maybe get up and move around a bit. This Control Panel is designed to notify you to Take a Break from working on the computer at certain intervals that you define (every 30 minutes, every couple of hours, etc.). It can notify you by playing a QuickTime™ movie, playing a sound or showing a window (or all of the above). $10.00

The Zip Label Printer Pro 4.03
The Zip Label Printer Pro prints labels for Zip Disk cases. Pictures can also be added to the labels, and can be scaled and repositioned. The Zip Label Printer is the perfect program for helping you organize your Zip Disks. Shareware $7.50

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SECURITY ALERT!

Visit http://macos.apple.com/macos/latebreak/ for up-to-date news and compatibility information on Mac OS 8. See also http://www.themacintoshguy.com/.

Don't use Speed Doubler with MacOS 8! The new finder is PPC native (finally!). Also watch out for Now Utilities 6.7 or earlier. Another: RamDoubler 2.0.1 disables the floppy drive under MacOS 8.

Watch out for system heap fragmentation in MacOS 8. If previously working programs will no longer load, reboot.

Little bug (or 6-legged feature) here in MacOS 8: You can select multiple (contiguous) items in the Find File list. Now try dragging them to the trash. BOIOIOIONNNG! Try one at a time. (The item stays in the top list, but its location heirarchy (bottom list) should change. It won't if you drag multiple items.)

In a pop-up window, selecting make alias or duplicate from the contextual menu (Control-click) will cause a system crash - Apple

Remember how MacOS 7.6 gave us the ability to save comments in the Get Info window? Under MacOS 8, you can no longer enter comments in Get Info for files on floppies!

Do NOT use Desktop Printing 2.0.2 with MacOS 8. Or Glidel. Or Snitch.

AfterDark before the new version 4.0.3 (coming soon) will not work in MacOS 8.

My date and time disappeared! Now I know why - I have Conflict Catcher 3.04 - that and MacOS 8 disbles the date/time.

AutoDoubler and DiskDoubler will not work with MacOS 8. No upgrade plans.

Netscape quit with type 182 error under MacOS 8? Just relaunch.

Open Transport 1.2, which comes with MacOS 8, fixes a lot of bugs. On the other hand, OT/PPP disables some Global Village modems.

Non-8 bug: Netscape Communicator has a flaw which allows a Javascript applet to snoop on your web activity. Fix available.

You cannot boot from a MacOS 8 CD-ROM with extensions off. It needs AppleTalk on to boot, because it loads Open Transport. You also need Appearance Manager - it can be anywhere in the System Folder. Note: Appearance Manager must load before Kaleidoscope.

Tip O' the Month

From Your Shareware Team

MacOS 8 allows you to grab a document icon, and tunnel down into the folder you want to drag and drop. Cool. But if you need to have all those droppable apps in one place, create a new folder on the desktop, fill it with aliases to all those apps, set small icons arranged by name, resize to a single column, make it a pop-up window. It now sits safely on the bottom of the desktop as a tab. To drag-and-drop, drag your document to the tab, the window will slide open, and you can drop where you will. Then the window will close back to a tab while your app launches. - Thomas Carlson, from MacAddict. (Have a mug, Thomas!)

Cute little Netscape trick I found invaluable: make your bookmarks file your home page! This way when you start Netscape, you have all the bookmarks ready to click. And you can edit in real time! Here's how:

In the Netscape File menu, click on Open (command-O)
Navigate to the Hard Drive, then System Folder, then Preferences, then Netscape folder, then Bookmarks.html. Open. There is the page you want for your home page.
Click on the location bar which has the path to this bookmarks file.
Copy (command-C)
In the Netscape Options menu, click on General Preferences.
Click on the Appearance tab if not already selected.
Click on the window near the bottom which says Home Page Location. If it has something else in it, select it and delete it.
Paste (command-V)
Close the General Preferences window.

From now on, when you set a bookmark, it will appear on your home page. And you can move things around and group in folders, add lines......

SIMPLY MAC

Mac basics we sometimes forget

New MacOS 8 goodies: to find the original of an alias, select, hit command-R. To delete, select, hit command-delete. And watch out for those Spring-Loaded file folders! Control-click for a special pop-up (contextual) menu. Another: windows have an extra-thick border. Why? Just drag on any border to move the window! And remember I told you to use Put Away instead of Eject Disk? Eject Disk now works just like Put Away, under MacOS 8. And Just TRY the new color picker!!!

Two view settings can save you time and space: icon size and snap-to-grid. Did you know that if snap-to-grid is turned off, you can still snap an icon to the grid if you hold down Command when you release the icon? Or not snap to grid if it is turned on. New in MacOS 8: you can set both of these independently for the desktop and each folder window! (In fact, you cannot set all views simultaneously).

Pre-Mac OS 8, if you wanted a list of all files in a folder, open the folder, select all, copy, paste into a text application. Trouble was, the list was limited to 255 characters! NO MORE! Under Mac OS 8, the limit is much higher.

Use Find File to see how many versions of Internet Config you have. It comes included with Fetch 3.0.x, and Netscape (sometimes), and MacOS 8. You only need the latest - version 1.3. Check out Simpletext, too; the latest is 1.4.

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NEW PRODUCT RELEASES

My choices, only, out of hundreds of items every month. Includes commercial products, not just shareware. These do NOT include beta releases. You might check out Version Tracker for more.

APPLE