Re: OSX 10.3.7 newbie issues

In article <1hfw1c8.oata2y9fybnkN%schnorrer@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
schnorrer@xxxxxxxxxxx (schnipp) wrote:

First off my ?? used to work but no more, so I'm at the mercy of
google.groups which has very little. Can ?? be re-activated on this
install?

What is "??" ? I suspect you tried to type some Mac-specific character(s)
that Google can't recognize. Can you put it into words?

When I go to 'software update' just to refresh the OS (a whopping 17mb
chunk for dialup!) I decline all the glitzy stuff but after the
inevitable failure it again starts working on the glitzy stuff. Can I in
fact update 10.3.7 or are they trying to tell me to caugh up cash for
Tiger and forgetaboudit?

You could try downloading the 10.3.9 updater from Apple's web site, using a
web browser that can resume a download after a failed connection.

If it's too much for you to download via dialup, try the local Apple Stores
and authorized Apple dealers. They might be willing to download the 10.3.9
updater for you and burn it onto a CD-R or load it onto your USB memory
stick (if you have one). If you can't find a retailer who will do it, see
if you have any friends who have a better internet connection.

Buying Tiger wouldn't solve the Software Update issues, sooner or later
you'd run into 10.4.x updates that are too big to download via a slow
dialup connection.


Keychains: For over a year I never saw a Keychain request and my dialup
password was auto-remembered each time. This summer with a new (choker)
password Internet Connect will not allow storage of pswd without
satisfying this new popup Keychain request.

What does the Keychain dialog say? It's difficult to help you without
knowing exactly what your Mac is telling you.

No security issues here so really I
don't need no stinkin Keychains......

Yes, you do. Keychain saves you the trouble of having to type all those
hard-to-remember "choker" passwords, not to mention the login names.
That's it's main purpose. It also lets you look at your passwords and edit
them with the Keychain app.

Keychain's security is just a sensible safeguard to make sure a password
isn't used by the wrong program or sent to the wrong web site. If that
security were removed, some hacker could create a trojan or virus to steal
all your passwords, or an innocent-looking web site could ask for the
password to some big commercial web site or ISP. Even your dialup
account's password is worth protecting; hackers & spammers just love to use
stolen login accounts for their dirty work.

When online now a box pops up: "you have incoming call__ do you want it?
Internet Connection will pause". This is new!!

Did your phone company add call waiting recently, perhaps as part of a
free-trial promotion? If you've had it for some time, maybe those alerts
are a new feature in the last OS X update you installed. Or maybe you're
just spending more time online and/or getting more phone calls, so they're
more likely to try calling when you're online.

Problem: when box pops up my Mac-Mini creates no beep at all, so I can
be standing right there and not be aware that a call is coming in and
miss it.

Try turning on your Mac's artificial speech options in System Preferences
-> Speech -> Text to Speech. "Announce when alerts are displayed" and/or
"Announce when an application requires your attention" would probably do
the trick. You'd probably want to set the alert option to zero seconds so
you hear the alert soon enough to catch an incoming phone call. If you
find them annoying, turn them on only when you're away from the computer.

I have trouble with some finder boxes being too tall such that I can't
access the icons or lines at the bottom.

Clicking the green "+" zoom button in the top right corner of the window
should resize the window so it fits on the screen. If for some reason that
button is off the screen, try the Window -> Zoom menu command.
.