Hi,

After years of Windoze PC-ing I just got an Intel Mac Book with Tiger.
It's great. But I have a few questions.

1. How to defrag the hard disk?
2. How to check for and repair hard disk errors?
3. Printing to local Network printers is causing problems. Is this
because some of our printers are not Mac compatible? Can Macs only
print to Postscript printers?

It would also be interesting to know of some major things you must do
with Windoze but you don't have to do with Macs.

Thanks in advance for any tips and hints. Much obliged.

K

In article <i20ms2hi6fhmkas1ae8v22vhj61hd1rmem@4ax.com>,
 Karen McDonald <karen1215@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> After years of Windoze PC-ing I just got an Intel Mac Book with Tiger.
> It's great. But I have a few questions.
> 
> 1. How to defrag the hard disk?

If you leave your Mac running all the time (highly recommended), in the 
middle of the night it runs a routine of system checks and cleanups. 
Possibly defrag is done automatically at that time, but I can't 
guarantee that.

> 2. How to check for and repair hard disk errors?

Look in the Applications/Utilities folder, there's a Disk Utility 
program... check it out.

> 3. Printing to local Network printers is causing problems. Is this
> because some of our printers are not Mac compatible? Can Macs only
> print to Postscript printers?

Macs can print to many or most non-Postscript printers, but there is an 
issue:

Unlike in Windows, many Mac printer drivers don't work across a network. 
You need to find a compatible driver for your printer. Luckily, there is 
a very good set of open source, networkable drivers known as Gimp-Print 
or GutenPrint... and these are installed by default as part of the Mac 
installation. You may, however, need to do some research and/or 
experimentation to know which driver to select for which networked 
printer. 

You may want to take a look at the list of supported printers at: 

http://gutenprint.sourceforge.net/p_Supported_Printers.php3

You may also want to check out my LowEndMac.com article on using a 
shared Windows printer:

http://www.lowendmac.com/mac2win/06/0201.html
> 
> It would also be interesting to know of some major things you must do
> with Windoze but you don't have to do with Macs.
> 

Check for viruses and spyware?

-- 
- email: alan (at) zisman (dot) ca
- website: http://www.zisman.ca

in article alan-6C0622.07034108022007@shawnews, Alan Zisman at
alan@zisman.ca wrote on 2/8/07 9:03 AM:

> In article <i20ms2hi6fhmkas1ae8v22vhj61hd1rmem@4ax.com>,
> Karen McDonald <karen1215@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> After years of Windoze PC-ing I just got an Intel Mac Book with Tiger.
>> It's great. But I have a few questions.
>> 
>> 1. How to defrag the hard disk?
> 
> If you leave your Mac running all the time (highly recommended), in the
> middle of the night it runs a routine of system checks and cleanups.
> Possibly defrag is done automatically at that time, but I can't
> guarantee that.
> 
>> 2. How to check for and repair hard disk errors?
> 
> Look in the Applications/Utilities folder, there's a Disk Utility
> program... check it out.

Also, if you get the AppleCare protection plan you will get some software
called TechTool Deluxe.  Even if you don't you can purchase TechTool or Disk
Doctor.  They can do more than Disk Utility--though Disk Utility may do
enough.


> 
>> 3. Printing to local Network printers is causing problems. Is this
>> because some of our printers are not Mac compatible? Can Macs only
>> print to Postscript printers?
> 
> Macs can print to many or most non-Postscript printers, but there is an
> issue:
> 
> Unlike in Windows, many Mac printer drivers don't work across a network.
> You need to find a compatible driver for your printer. Luckily, there is
> a very good set of open source, networkable drivers known as Gimp-Print
> or GutenPrint... and these are installed by default as part of the Mac
> installation. You may, however, need to do some research and/or
> experimentation to know which driver to select for which networked
> printer. 
> 
> You may want to take a look at the list of supported printers at:
> 
> http://gutenprint.sourceforge.net/p_Supported_Printers.php3
> 
> You may also want to check out my LowEndMac.com article on using a
> shared Windows printer:
> 
> http://www.lowendmac.com/mac2win/06/0201.html
>> 
>> It would also be interesting to know of some major things you must do
>> with Windoze but you don't have to do with Macs.
>> 
> 
> Check for viruses and spyware?

In article <alan-6C0622.07034108022007@shawnews>,
 Alan Zisman <alan@zisman.ca> wrote:

> In article <i20ms2hi6fhmkas1ae8v22vhj61hd1rmem@4ax.com>,
>  Karen McDonald <karen1215@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > After years of Windoze PC-ing I just got an Intel Mac Book with Tiger.
> > It's great. But I have a few questions.
> > 
> > 1. How to defrag the hard disk?
> 
> If you leave your Mac running all the time (highly recommended), in the 
> middle of the night it runs a routine of system checks and cleanups. 
> Possibly defrag is done automatically at that time, but I can't 
> guarantee that.

For information on disk fragmentation with OS X see:

   <http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25668>

-- 
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>

In article <i20ms2hi6fhmkas1ae8v22vhj61hd1rmem@4ax.com>,
 Karen McDonald <karen1215@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> After years of Windoze PC-ing I just got an Intel Mac Book with Tiger.
> It's great. But I have a few questions.
> 
> 1. How to defrag the hard disk?

You essentially won't have to.

> 2. How to check for and repair hard disk errors?

If you just want to check, you can just launch Disk Utility. To actually 
repair, do the same thing from the install DVD

> 3. Printing to local Network printers is causing problems. Is this
> because some of our printers are not Mac compatible? Can Macs only
> print to Postscript printers?

What kind of printers are they?

> 
> It would also be interesting to know of some major things you must do
> with Windoze but you don't have to do with Macs.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any tips and hints. Much obliged.
> 
> K

-- 
"The iPhone doesn't have a speaker phone" -- "I checked very carefully" --
"I checked Apple's web pages" -- Edwin on the iPhone and how he missed 
the demo of the iPhone speakerphone.

On Thu, 8 Feb 2007 09:16:17 -0500, Karen McDonald wrote
(in article <i20ms2hi6fhmkas1ae8v22vhj61hd1rmem@4ax.com>):

> Hi,
> 
> After years of Windoze PC-ing I just got an Intel Mac Book with Tiger.
> It's great. But I have a few questions.
> 
> 1. How to defrag the hard disk?

The OS does this automatically on the fly, at least for files 20MB in size 
and smaller. Larger files may wait until disk cleanup time at about 02:00.

> 2. How to check for and repair hard disk errors?

Drive Utility, in the Utility folder in the Application folder.

> 3. Printing to local Network printers is causing problems. Is this
> because some of our printers are not Mac compatible? Can Macs only
> print to Postscript printers?

Which printers? You should be able to print to any PCL or PostScript laser 
printer which can be set up as a network printer. Some inkjet printers 
(<cough> particularly cheaper HP inkjets </cough>) don't ship withMac drivers 
which can be used over a network. Most of those printers can be made to print 
over the network (and in PostScript, too!) by 3rd-party drivers. Free 
3rd-party drivers from the GutenPrint (formerly GIMPPrint) project ship with 
OS X and cover the majority of HP printers. Additional drivers are on the 
GutenPrint Project's website, 
<http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3>. Additional free drivers are 
on the HPIJS Project's site <http://www.linuxprinting.org/macosx/hpijs/>.

A quick fix for many network printing problems can be found at the iFelix 
site <http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3015.html>.

> 
> It would also be interesting to know of some major things you must do
> with Windoze but you don't have to do with Macs.

You don't need antivirus, antispyware, or firewall products.

> 
> Thanks in advance for any tips and hints. Much obliged.
> 
> K



-- 
email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com.

In article <geadnRmyF8hciU7YnZ2dnUVZ_qHinZ2d@adelphia.com>,
 J.J. O'Shea <try.not.to@but.see.sig> wrote:

> On Thu, 8 Feb 2007 09:16:17 -0500, Karen McDonald wrote
> (in article <i20ms2hi6fhmkas1ae8v22vhj61hd1rmem@4ax.com>):
> 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > After years of Windoze PC-ing I just got an Intel Mac Book with Tiger.
> > It's great. But I have a few questions.
> > 
> > 1. How to defrag the hard disk?
> 
> The OS does this automatically on the fly, at least for files 20MB in size 
> and smaller. Larger files may wait until disk cleanup time at about 02:00.
> 
> > 2. How to check for and repair hard disk errors?
> 
> Drive Utility, in the Utility folder in the Application folder.
> 
> > 3. Printing to local Network printers is causing problems. Is this
> > because some of our printers are not Mac compatible? Can Macs only
> > print to Postscript printers?
> 
> Which printers? You should be able to print to any PCL or PostScript laser 
> printer which can be set up as a network printer. Some inkjet printers 
> (<cough> particularly cheaper HP inkjets </cough>) don't ship withMac drivers 
> which can be used over a network. Most of those printers can be made to print 
> over the network (and in PostScript, too!) by 3rd-party drivers. Free 
> 3rd-party drivers from the GutenPrint (formerly GIMPPrint) project ship with 
> OS X and cover the majority of HP printers. Additional drivers are on the 
> GutenPrint Project's website, 
> <http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3>. Additional free drivers are 
> on the HPIJS Project's site <http://www.linuxprinting.org/macosx/hpijs/>.
> 
> A quick fix for many network printing problems can be found at the iFelix 
> site <http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3015.html>.
> 
> > 
> > It would also be interesting to know of some major things you must do
> > with Windoze but you don't have to do with Macs.
> 
> You don't need antivirus, antispyware, or firewall products.
> 
> > 
> > Thanks in advance for any tips and hints. Much obliged.
> > 
> > K

Mac OS X has a built-in firewall. You can turn it on or off, and you can 
open ports in it for specific purposes. To control the Mac OS firewall, 
use System Preferences>>Sharing, and select the Firewall tab.

If you have a router, usual practice is to use the router's firewall, 
and turn off firewalls on computers inside the router. That allows file 
sharing inside the router, while protecting the network from external 
intrusion.

-- 
For email, change <fake> to <earthlink>
Bill Collins

In article <i20ms2hi6fhmkas1ae8v22vhj61hd1rmem@4ax.com>,
 Karen McDonald <karen1215@yahoo.com> wrote:

> 1. How to defrag the hard disk?

Mac OS X does some de-fragmenting on the fly for some files under 20 MB 
in size, but you might want to look at iDefrag 
<http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iDefrag.php> if you want more control 
over the optimization of your disk.

> 2. How to check for and repair hard disk errors?

Apple's Disk Utility can repair disk permissions and does an OK job at 
repairing disk errors, but DiskWarrior 
<http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/> is a far more complete solution.

> 3. Printing to local Network printers is causing problems. Is this
> because some of our printers are not Mac compatible? Can Macs only
> print to Postscript printers?

Macs can print to lots of printers. Are there specific printers that are 
not working on your network? What problems are you having?