October 2000 || Volume 01, Issue 03

Helping You Help Yourself

Well, it was another quiet month on the help@macosjournal.com front which (hopefully) means that people are running pretty smoothly. Silence is golden? Sometimes. However, the tent is always open for help in all your Macintosh endeavors.

Since we are throwing around cutesy little sayings lets throw another on in: "Physician, heal thyself." What am I talking about? There are many places to go on the Internet to cure what ails your Mac. That being the case, the next time you system starts acting up, here are some recommended places to check out.

Apple Web Sites

The Apple Tech Exchange - http://support.info.apple.com/te/te.taf
This little gem is great. You can brows by product and find discussions on their use and how to fix them. I have found help there many times myself. And the cool part is that Apple Tech Support reps participate for official answers.

The Technical Information Library - http://til.info.apple.com
You can search volumes of ReadMe files and other documentation on Apple hardware and software. If you are struggling with configuration or troubleshooting part of the OS or anything else Apple, this would be a good place to start. It also points you in other directions for help.

The Apple Software Updates page - http://asu.info.apple.com
If you are having a software issue it is always best to see if there is a newer version of it. If there is there is a good chance that the problem you are facing has been fixed.

Apple Product Specs - http://www.info.apple.com/applespec/applespec.taf
This is a fabulous page. If you are wondering how much RAM you system can handle, what kind of ports it has, whatever, you can find it here.

A Mirror of Apple Sites - http://mirror.apple.com
This is kind of an obscure little site that doesn't get much publicity. Not only is it a mirror of Apple's software site, it also mirrors several other substantial Mac software sites. A good place to look if you can't find that little control panel you used to run back in the day.

Non-Apple Sites

VersionTracker - http://www.versiontracker.com/index.shtml
This site keeps track of software updates for not only stuff from Apple, but also from software developers great and small. So the next time Microsoft Word is acting up make sure you have the latest patch from Redmond.

MacFixIt - http://www.macfixit.com
General Purpose Source This is sort of a community-tech-support site. If you are having trouble with anything from AppleWorks to you Cable Modem, you can find a forum there.

MacTech - http://www.mactech.com
For the Extra Technical This site is for all of those of you who know and care about the difference between the pin-out on a SCSI vs. a SCSI2 plug.

Now the only problem with recommending a website for help is that if your modem breaks or your cable/DSL goes down, you are out of luck. So read up in advance! Happy teching. And if you have any questions, just email help@macosjournal.com or use the Medicine Man Help Form.

Corby Stephens - corby@macosjournal.com
Corby's Page - Feedback Form