Tips from the Pro: Mac Tips and Reminders
by Michael Pearce

Here are topics I frequently stress in my ComputerChips column, both for the benefit of new readers and as a prodding stick to those who have seen them before but never remember to do them. The top three are:

1. Repair Permissions. Do this every time you install new software. Do it both before and after running Apple's Software Update, or otherwise run system updates. Tiger (10.4) users might also want to click the Verify Disk button, at the bottom of the window opposite Repair Permissions. You want to find out if you are getting directory errors before they cause severe problems.
   
   To do this, open your hard drive, open the Applications folder, go to the bottom of the list to the Utilities folder, open it and double-click on Disk Utility. On the left side of the window is a list of volumes, including your main hard drive. Click on that icon, the one with the name of the drive, usually Macintosh HD unless you have renamed it. That's when the Repair Permissions and Verify Disk buttons will appear. (OS9 users can ignore this tip.)
   
   
2. Erase New Flash Drives and Hard Drives. Using the same Disk Utility, above, select the name of the new drive and click on the Erase tab in the upper middle of the window. You have to do this with new unformatted drives, and the Mac will prompt you when you first plug it in, but all Flash drives and many hard drives are formatted FAT 16 or 32, which is a Microsoft format. Although the drive will mount on your desktop and allow you to copy files to it, you should always make a Mac disk out of it with Disk Utility unless you will specifically be using it to move files between Macs and PCs. The PC format can be very destructive to Mac files under the right circumstances, and you could instantly lose every file on the drive.
   
   
3. Buy a lambswool duster. I got mine at Sheepskin of Oregon on NW Glisan for $5 but they are sold in other stores and on the Web. Accept no substitutes. It has a 6" handle and there is no better tool for swishing dust off of your display and keyboard. Not so good with CRT displays because the static charge they develop also attracts sticky oils from the air, but liquid-crystal displays attract only dust.

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