eNewsletter February 2009
Meeting January 15, 2009
Steve Jobs on leave
On the day of the meeting it was announced that Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence for medical treatment.
iLife ’09 and iWork ’09
ILife’09 and iWork ’09 had just been released and can be purchased for $79 each (plus local and state tax). Preliminary information on these major upgrades (upgrading requires the full price of $79 each) was discussed. For later information see separate items below.
Volunteers Needed
Don Webb reminded the group that he intends to resign as President as soon as a new President can take over. Also Randy Repass indicated that the role of Ambassador did not fit well with his available time and desires. The Group therefore needs volunteers, one to take on the duties of President and another to take on the duties of Ambassador. Along with these there are needs for a Webmaster and for an eNewsletter editor.
Randy pointed out that we have an excellent meeting place with excellent facilities (the Meeting Room with projector and screen) and that judging from his clients there is a real need for a Mac Users Group in this area. His clients interests, however, differ from what has been the focus of our meetings. Perhaps we should consider a change in focus of the Group to make it more attractive to the younger Mac users. It was decided that this subject was too big to continue in the regular meeting and a special meeting was arranged to be held in the Stowe Coffee House at 10 am on Saturday, January 24. All present were invited to attend.
Mail
The rest of the January meeting ws devoted to discussion of problems with and features of the Macintosh Mail application along with Members helping Members. One of the problems encountered in Mail and its solution is covered below in the Tip of the Month.
Meeting at Stowe Coffee House January 24
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A special meeting to plan a revised focus for MUGS was attended by (left to right above) all of the current officers (Don Webb, President, Randy Repass, Ambassador, Lynn Noah, Secretary, and John Buttolph, Treasurer) plus Charlene Sroka (far right) and Jan Reynolds (not shown).
Randy made many suggestions for meeting formats and subjects that he believed would make the Group more attractive to the younger people that he sees among his clients. These ideas will be tested in the next three meetings.
Tip of the Month - lost files and folders.
Many of us have sometimes looked for a file or folder and have been unable to find it where it was supposed to be. Sometimes it may be a large folder containing many files that we frequently use. It happens in the organization of files and folders on the desktop and on our hard disk and in Mail in the files in the different mailboxes.
The most probable cause of this is accidental dragging by the mouse. When we are not carefully watching, the mouse button may be unwittingly held down while the mouse is moved enabling it to accidently pick up a file or folder and drop it somewhere else.
To find the lost file or folder, use Spotlight. Although Spotlight can easily be activated by clicking on its icon at the extreme right at the top of the screen, a much more convenient way to activate Spotlight is to simultaneously press ⌘(Command) and the space bar. Then in the Spotlight entry bar that appears at the upper right, enter the first few letters of the name of the file or folder that you are looking for. A list will appear. On the list, hold the cursor over the name of the desired file or folder and after a second or so the location of that file or folder will appear. It may be necessary to examine each of several entries because Spotlight may have, for example, one entry for your internal hard drive and another for your external backup drive if you have one. When you have learned the location of the missing file or folder you can easily arrange your windows to drag it back to where it belongs.
iLife ’09
iLife ’09 has been available for the past month and comes installed in new Macintoshes. There are many new features which those with it installed in new computers will enjoy. You can get an overview of the new features at:
Those of us who have been using iLife ’08 will have to pay the full price of $79 plus tax. Is it worth it?
Look carefully at the descriptions of new features. Do you need these? Then look at one or more of the reviews, for example,
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/software/apple-ilife-09.aspx?page=1
If you then decide that the new features are worth the price, go ahead and buy it.
iWork ’09
Similarly, iWork ’09 has been available for the past month. I have been using it. For the vast majority of all my work I do not find myself using the new features, but each person’s needs are different. Check out the new features at:
http://www.apple.com/iwork/
Then look at one or more reviews before you make up your mind. A review can be found at:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/159202/apples_iwork_09_finetunes_feature_set.html
February Meeting
The February meeting will be 7:00 pm in the Stowe Free library.
After a few minutes of Apple and MUGS news, Don Webb will give a “Member Profile”. There will then be a presentation by Randy Repass or by someone that he has chosen for the purpose about FaceBook and other social networking sites. This will be followed by a tutorial on iWeb and the final 40 mminutes will be devoted to Members helping Members.
Don Webb, Editor
February 17, 2009
Made on a Mac with iWeb
