Simple Mac questions...

[Michelle Widell]

So I'm trying to download a kid's game on the Mac from versiontracker.com. I click on the link for "Bubblomania", and the IE screen starts filling up with gibberish. (This is really making this pc user feel like an idiot..)



Ok, all I had laying around that I can use is a Windows keyboard (Windows key, no Option key), so I find somethng about "you may need to hold down your "option" key when you click on a download link, to get the file to download to your hard drive". Scott said that the Option and command (alt) keys are reversed without drivers loaded, so I held down the Alt key and clicked on the download link, and got a Download window. The file size said it was 15.0m online, but it only downloaded 9,215 bytes.



What am I doing wrong?

 

[Jeff C]

I think if you click, and hold down, then move the mouse sideways, you should get some options, kind of like right-clicking with Windows. May allow you to download the program.

 

[Michelle Widell]

Well, I can get it downloaded, but it's only 9,215 bytes instead of 15 meg.



I'll try a different file...

 

[Michelle Widell]

Ok.. I'm getting somewhere. I got the gibberish and the small file when using IE. I tried the same file with Safari and it downloaded just fine.

 

[Mark S 3]

Hi Michelle,



Sounds like an IE problem. The file you are trying to download has a DMG (Disk Image) extension, so I'm guessing IE doesn't know how to handle it correctly.



Have you tried using Firefox or Safari instead? I just download the file myself using Safari with no troubles at all. Sorry, can't help with IE, I don't have that on my computer



Jeff, you make that sound complex. All you really need to do is plug in a 2 button mouse. (Or left click and hold down the cntrl key)



Michelle, if you still have trouble, e-mail or MSN me and I can walk you through a bunch of things.



Also, check out: <a href='http://live.watchmactv.com/'>http://live.watchmactv.com/</a> for a bunch of videos on how to use the Mac.

 

[Mark S 3]

Whoops, you beat me too it. Way to go!

 

[Brian Teitell]

i got a question. Ok the school I'm at just got mac laptops but we cannot install anything because when you try to an administer thing pops up and asks for the administers password. Is there anyway to override this?

Thanx,

Brian

 

[scott r]

Generally, IE doesn't play very well with OS X. Use Safari, Firefox or Camino (my personal favorite).

As for the administrator's password thing...no, you can't make it go away. It's a security feature to keep anyone from installing software. There MAY be a way to override it, but I have never heard of a way. It's a "feature" that's not really meant to be overridden. Sorry.

 

[Michelle Widell]

Yah, Safari seems to work really good. I'm trying to get used to navigating the mac ... My kid will probably figure it out faster than I will.



Now that I've figured out how to install software, how about removing it?

 

[scott r]

Personally, that's one of my favorite things about the mac, whenever you want to get rid of an application, just drag it to the trash. 9 times out of 10, that does the trick. The preferences can be trashed, but for the most part, it really won't matter if you trash them or not, unless it's installed a startup item, which most applications don't.

There's also no registry to mess with. If M$ was smart, they'd get rid of the registry too. It's nothing short of a pain in the butt. OS X is incredibly simple once you get used to it. Everything is put exactly where it should be and it's very logically laid out. You can't say that about Winblowz. OS X does take a bit of getting used to if you're coming from windoze, but once you DO get used to it, you'll wonder how you used winblows for so long!!

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Microsoft use of INI files and later the REGISTERY aren' so much bad because they are a necessity; their error was in making the end-user aware of these things.



TJR