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QuicKeys and Contextual Menus: a follow-up

Regarding a previous report that QuicKeys conflicts with Mac OS 8 contextual menus, numerous readers wrote in to say they were having no problems at all. Robert Croy offered one suggestion for resolving this conflicting testimony: "I believe that QuicKeys Toolbox is no longer needed if you upgraded to the PPC version. Throw it away and no more conflict." I have not yet confirmed this.

Retrospect problem with PowerBook 3400?

Michael Wise writes: "I have found a conflict with Retrospect 4.0 and the Apple PB 3400. When backing up 3400's over TCP/IP, the Retrospect server's connection to a 3400 frequently fails with a 'error 519 network communication failed' message. We have duplicated this on all of our 3400's running 7.6.1 and OT 1.1.2. I have not yet been able to duplicate the problem on a 3400 running 7.6.1 and OT 1.3b2. Dantz says they are aware of the problem and suggest backing up 3400's over AppleTalk … Read more

Mac OS 8 Desktop Pictures not working?

I have gottenvarious reports of users unable to get Desktop Pictures to work, even immediately after a Mac OS 8 install with no third party extensions added. At least in some cases, it appears that this is due to an improper placing of the file by the Installer. It needs to be in your Control Panels folder to work.

However, in a couple of cases, readers (such as John Barnett) are reporting that they get an error message (when trying to launch Desktop Pictures) saying that the file needs to be placed in the Control Panels folder - even though … Read more

Fixes from Apple Tech Info Library files

Here are summaries from three recent Apple Tech Info Library files. All of them address issues raised by recent emails to MacFixIt.

a. 30141: Apple Serial Modem and PowerBook 3400: Q. The Mac OS 8 Apple Serial Modem Read Me states that it works with the PowerBook 3400 internal modem. However, I can not select internal modem in the Preference File. A. The following steps will allow you to select the internal modem:

Install the Apple Telecom 3.2.2 software from the Mac OS 8 CD. The installer software is located in the CD Extras Folder: Apple Telecom: Serial … Read more

Fixing Communicator slow typing in email

A previously reported problem with Netscape Communicator is its slow typing speed when sending email. Tom Brown says that Netscape Tech Support offered a work-around: "Go to Preferences, then to Mail & Groups and then to Messages. Uncheck "By default, send HTML messages." It worked for Tom. However, he reports that you lose the ability to change a message's font, size, color, etc.

Update: Steve Dagley writes "The issue with slow typing in Communicator was one of the things addressed in the 4.01a release. The other major change in 4.01a, besides the security … Read more

Acrobat Exchange minor glitch - and a work-around

Michael Lewis writes of a problem with Acrobat Exchange (the PDF editor application): "I would get an unexpected quit error whenever trying to open a PDF document from the File menu. If I drag-and-dropped the PDF file onto the Exchange app, the document opened with no problem." Adobe confirmed this problem and offered a work-around: "Open the General Controls control panel and select anything other than 'Documents folder' in the Documents section of the panel." It worked.

Option-drag from Launcher in Mac OS 8; and dragging buttons in Mac OS 8 Option-dragging items from the Launcher … Read more

Squeezing more room on a floppy disk: Disk Charmer

In regard to the previously reported problem of not being able to fit OSL on a floppy Norton startup disk, another suggestion (offered by several readers, including Urs Calibran and Rafael Cruz) is to use Fabrizio Oddone's Disk Charmer formatting utility, which reportedly frees up a bout 14K more space than when you use Apple's Initialize command. Disk Charmer is available from Info-Mac or from its own web site.

Maybe you can use Fastback in Mac OS 8

It has been reported several times now that Fastback was dropped in Norton Utilities 3.5 and will not even launch under Mac OS 8. However, if you want to take your chances on using it, you can get Fastback to run in Mac OS 8. Here is the scoop as emailed to Michael Johnson directly from someone at Symantec: "The most recent version of Fastback is 3.2.1. However, 3.2 and 3.2.1 will refuse to run if launched under OS 8, because they still think OS 8 is a synonym for Copland. However, you … Read more