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An Answer

In reply to David Passell's earlier request asking about iMovieHD 6, Art Gorski sends an answer. "This article indicates that Apple removed the free download when iLife '09 came out.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/01/imovie-hd-fading-into-the-ether-as-apple-removes-download.ars

"Bummer. All you can do at this point is buy an old DVD of iLife '06 and do the free Apple updates. Amazon has it for $50 and other places on-line may have it cheaper."

And my search has turned up http://discussions.apple.com/search.jspa?search=Go&q=iPhoto+09+slideshow which is the Apple forum for questions and answers. See if your circumstances fit in to any of these replies from Mac users. Let us know how it turns out.

Have a Solution for iMovie?

With iLife 8 on David Passell's Mac, purchased 1-08, he has the latest version of iMovie '08. He's found a problem with trying to get the previous iMovie HD6. This is the version that Bill Williamson demonstrated at our PMUG meeting last week.

Can anyone help? Read on. . .

" A couple of people in the last Mac Meeting said that I can get iMovie HD 6 by 'simply' going to the Apple site and downloading it. It has not turned out to be that simple.

"First: I went to the Apple Site to downloads, and I found iMovie HD 6.0.3 (I never found iMovie HD 6.0.4 which is supposed to be the latest) and I downloaded its .dmg. When I tried to install, red exclamation points and a dialog told me that I needed HD 6.0.2.

"Next: I went back to the Apple Site and downloaded 6.0.2. When I tried to install that package a similar indication told me I needed version 6.0. No version 6 is available. That is probably because it must have been purchased with an earlier system. That is similar to the 8.1 upgrade which actually is for those who have purchased iLife 09. (You don't find out about this until you try to install it and dialog says 'it is unnecessary.'

"I also looked on my installation disks that came with the Mini. I did not find it.

"So I am stuck. It does not appear that Apple provides this 'downgrade' in a transparent fashion. Does anybody have a solution for this? Perhaps somebody will provide a download for it. Regards: David"

Beginning Mac Class to Start

Here's what you've been waiting for! Alert your switching-from-PC friends, and you plan to come, too.

PMUG's new SIG (Special Interest Group) class, "Beginning Mac," will start Friday, March 20, at 10 am in Founders Suite B at the Prescott Public Library - the same room where PMUG General Meetings are held. The SIG sessions will go from 10 am till noon, with a break after the first hour. Additional dates, at this time, are Tuesday, March 24 and Thursday April 2, same room and time. The dates have to vary due to availability of the room at the Library.

Please mark your calendar and attend if you are new to the Mac and would like to learn more about the basics of using and enjoying it. Bring your questions, too.

If you have a Mac laptop, bring it to the session, fully charged, plus paper and pencil to take notes, and your library card (if you have one) in case you want to connect to the internet. The instructor will have a Mac to project information onto a screen for those that can't bring a laptop.

Must be a PMUG member for this class, and there's no charge for the session. We plan to continue them as long as there is sufficient interest.

De Prez Jim Hamm is key instructor, so you know the class will be informative and fun!

Details About Safari Beta

Want a little more technical info on the new Safari Beta? Here's http://daringfireball.net/2009/03/safari_4_public_beta a commentary about one person's likes and dislikes about it. De Prez Jim Hamm comments that it was an interesting read.

Anyone else using the new Safari Beta? How's it going? Personally, I like the Top Sites, and have set up a dozen of my most-frequently visited sites. When something new has been posted it is indicated by a star. You can rearrange the Top Sites. Anyhow, it looks snazzy.

Grab a Screen Capture

In OS 10.5 the screen captures are saved as PNG files by default. However, it’s possible to change them in a variety of formats including JPG and GIF. Here’s what David Passell recommends:
http://www.maclife.com/article/feature/terminal_tips_every_mac_usershould_know The article is "25 Terminal Tips Every Mac User Should Know."

Scroll down to tip #8 which gives directions to change file format for screenshots. (Note: this article continues for 5 more pages.)
After following those directions, David tells us to Quit the Terminal and restart your computer. Then try it out, using CMD-SHIFT-3 for the whole screen or CMD-SHIFT-4 for only the part that you scroll over. You should be able to find Picture n.jpg which launches with Preview. “Worked fine with me,” are his closing remarks. Thanks for the info, David, you’ve been one busy guy today!

Switchers Encouraged to Consider Mini

Know any switchers who want to upgrade from PC to Mac? If they already have monitor, mouse, and keyboard all they need is Mac Mini. David Passell has been happily using his Mac Mini which he describes as "post September 2007 Mini (2 GB RAM) and, except for the Super Drive getting dirty and needing cleaning, has never had any problems." He recommends an article from PC magazine which links to this review, http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2342488,00.asp

More On Safari


Is it time to try it?  With a little time on my hands this afternoon I tracked down a review of Safari http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/business/appleaday/blog/2009/02/new_version_of_safari_kicks_ap.html

Writer David Zeller explains the features, and closes with a complaint and a remedy.  A reader, Jack, gives the link to reinstall Safari 3, in the event that problems are experienced. http://support.apple.com/downloads/#internet

Now, to try the Safari Beta for myself. . .  

Using Safari Beta

A short review of Safari Beta comes from David Passell. He says he's been using it a lot, and he finds it very smooth and fast. He cautions, "Some of their preselected sites leave tracking cookies.  Primarily it seems to be CNN.com and Monster.com" adding, "Other than that, I like it." He refers us to http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/03/03/1235842416419.html  David mentions that he has MacScan that locates, isolates and lets him remove cookies.  

Let's Learn

Like to learn with short video tutorials?  A new Mac website, http://www.themacu.com/index.html  offers some great features. Watch a video introduction of the training they provide. They also offer Mac related news, reviews, best deals on hardware, software, and peripherals. With Q and A you can ask questions or view already posted answers. Coming soon is training for iPhoto ’09, iMovie ’09, iWork ’09, Image Editing with Pixelmator and more. They offer a free 15 day trial, then membership for a fee of $6 per month. Downloaded training files are yours to keep. Thanks to Dan Simpson for passing along this info.

Lakner's Love Story Published

Our own Roger and Mary Beth Lakner were featured in the Valentine's Love Stories featured in Prescott's Daily Courier, Friday, February 13.  Here's the article:

"Five years ago this February, Roger moved from the Bay area of California to Prescott. He had recently become a widower and was determined to begin a new life in a totally new place. 



"He had chosen Prescott as his new home through the internet. His new house was in the Cottages at Prescott Lakes. 


"Being an early riser, he was often out working in his garage, especially assembling a workbench and cabinets.


"Mary Beth, who lived in the house directly across the street, often would notice Roger working in his garage. She was glad to have another new neighbor. 


"Before moving to Prescott in September 2003, Mary Beth had been divorced after a long marriage. She decided to retire early and begin a new life in a place completely different from Wisconsin, where she had lived for many years. She chose Prescott partly because her daughter and son-in law lived in Prescott at the time. She had visited them and liked the area.


"One Wednesday in March, Roger and Mary Beth met while walking back and forth to the shared mailboxes nearby. They talked and talked, standing outside in the hot sun. Mary Beth had gone to a few functions for singles by then, and she invited him to join her at a singles dinner that Friday. Roger thought that sounded fine, but he also suggested, "Why not tonight?!" So they decided to go out for their first dinner that night. From that day on, they dated often and soon fell in love. Both feel blessed to have moved directly across the street from one another! Last year, they moved once again to a larger house that they chose together.


"Roger and Mary Beth celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary in January 2009 and are planning many more!"

Do You Like Cookies?

Not the kind Ginger Carlson brings to PMUG, we’re talking about Internet cookies. When on Google do a Command + , (comma) and see the list of cookies you’ve accumulated. 

I mentioned to my writers’ group about taking cookies off after you’ve been to a website. Several questioned my opinion, so I decided to take a more professional look at the subject. I note that going to any site with the word “about” in their URL brings up a lot of cookies. I got 11 cookies just from typing in “about.com.” Their expiration dates range from today until 2199. Imagine that! Each has a name and secret code, unknown to an ordinary person.

What’s your experience with Cookies? Do you have security concerns?

Under Safari Preferences, Security you have some choices to make. I’ve clicked “only from sites you navigate to.” Or, you could look up 24,200,000 sites to see what others have to say about “cookies computers privacy.”

What's New at the Library

Prescott Public Library began the month of February with an all-new web page. The new page is the brainchild of Systems Librarian Rob Lowe, who worked with public services library staff to develop the user-friendly look and feel. Give it a whirl at
http://www.prescottlibrary.info.  See today's events on the home page, along with a catalog keyword search and volunteer Lesley Schuler's event "slide show." Find your favorite databases under the "Research" tab and "Reserve a Room" under "Services."

Dealing with Software Update "Blues"

Apparently, some Mac users have had a problem right after Software Update has run on Leopard.  It's called the "blue screen of death" for the frozen field of bright blue when restarting the computer. De Prez Jim Hamm found the following tip from "Make Mac Work."  http://www.makemacwork.com/startup-fails-with-blue-screen.htm    This is most often caused by a corrupt dynamic loader cache, a feature which replaced "application prebinding" in OS X 10.5 and tells the system where to find available shared libraries.  Without a roadmap to these libraries the computer can't boot properly.  

"If the affected system is running 10.5.6, you can remedy this problem by booting with the 'Shift' key held, triggering a Safe Boot sequence and deleting the damaged cache files.  If you're running an earlier version of Leopard, Safe Boot won't remove the caches, so you'll have to boot the machine from a DVD or external drive and remove the files manually from /var/db/dyld/ instead.  Once the cache files have been removed the machine should restart normally."
Here, Art Gorski comes to the rescue. He adds the following info to clarify, "Booting with Shift key held down in 10.5.6 automatically deletes these cache files. Restarting the Mac should work fine then."   Art continues: See  http://applejack.sourceforge.net/ which says, "Using AppleJack you can repair your disk, repair permissions, validate the system's preference files, and get rid of possibly corrupted cache files.  The important thing is that you don't need another startup disk with you.  
"You can boot your Mac with the Command and S keys held down and enter Single User Mode, which dumps you to a command prompt.  There you can type AppleJack to launch the utility.  One of the options in this program is to delete cache files.  Once done with AppleJack, just type 'reboot.' This method will work with older versions of Mac OS X."
Hopefully, this won't ever happen to you, but it might be good to print up these directions and file them where you can find them.  

Puzzles & Prizes

You could earn free Mac software by solving "secret agent fantasy" puzzles, according to a site sent to us by Dan Simpson.  Take a look at http://www.macheist.com/about/s/about/  Looks like a lot of people have joined this MacHeist site.  When I looked at it there were 608 members on line in their forum, with 288,492 members total. Dan says, "It is really quite fun."  Be sure to let us know if —when — you win!