Book Review: Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide
Macintosh
Troubleshooting
Pocket Guide,
by David Lerner
and Aaron Freimark.
72pp.
O’Reilly,
2003. $12.95
The Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide began
life as a FAQ document
distributed by Tekserve,
the renowned Mac-only
repair shop in New
York City. This
pocket-sized guide
is intended to save
readers an unnecessary
tech-support call
or trip to the repair
shop, as well as
to help identify
those instances
where a professional
repair is called
for.
Don’t be deceived by the book’s small size—it
packs an impressive amount
of information and common
sense into its 72 pages,
beginning with advice for
avoiding going to your
your technician or consultant
in a panic. That advice?
Save multiple copies of
critical files on multiple
drives, disks or tapes,
storing at least one in
another location, use antiviral
software and keep it updated,
run Disk First Aid monthly
after backing up, and,
most importantly, own the
software you use, read
the manuals and keep the
original CDs in a safe
place.
The
text’s question and answer format reads like a conversation with a patient and occasionally ironic tech support guru. A sample Q&A:
“My
hard
drive
has
trouble
getting
going,
but
it
always
starts
up
after
a
few
tries.
Should
I
bother
backing
it
up?”
“No,
your
data
is
of
no
importance
and
you
can
probably
recreate
it
within
a
few
months.
After
all,
you
have
lots
of
paper
printouts
to
copy
from
and
you’re a fast typist. Seriously, if your computer or hard drive is doing anything unusual—squeaking, chirping, having trouble getting going, read/write errors, missing or damaged files—take
it
as
a
reminder
to
do
a
complete
backup
to
another
drive,
removable
media
or
over
the
Web.
Please!”
The
book helps with common
dilemmas like figuring out
what model Mac you’re using (often essential when talking to telephone tech support staff), connecting old devices to new Macs, and figuring out what displays your Mac can support. Troubleshooting tips for both OS 9 and OS X are covered. You’ll
learn about dealing with
various bombs and crashes,
how to troubleshoot a
keyboard
and mouse that stop working
(plug the mouse directly
into the computer and
restart
- if the mouse works,
the
problem is in the keyboard),
and which operating systems
are best for particular
older Macs.
The
book concludes with a
list
of websites for organizations
that accept donations
of
old computers, and with
a brief plug for TekServe
that left me wishing
they’d
open a branch office
in
Oneonta. This great little
guide may just save your
bacon one day. Highly
recommended.
– Elsa Travisano
Copyright ©2003 by Elsa Travisano. This article appeared in the May 2003 issue of Newsbreak, the newsletter of MUG ONE - Macintosh User Group of Oneonta, NY
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