Mac in my Life

mac heads

2009-10-25T02:05:00.000-07:00

I bought my first macbook more than an year ago. Every day I learn how Mac does things differently and everyday I unlearn the windows way. Mac does surprise me many a times. But moving from Windows to Mac, I've to admit, is still not easy for me. Despite the crashes, despite the busy screen, despite the Not responding task manager, sometimes I just wish I am working on windows. This especially happens in times when I am back from work, tired and exhausted. Well perhaps this has more to do with the fact that am not familiar with the 'Mac way' than with Mac itself. Since I have 3 OS running on my macbook, thank god, I can always restart. So, coming back to the gist of the post. I happen to recently watch a documentary named Mac heads. The year is 2007 and Steve Jobs was gona make the Mac world presentation. Mac heads, waiting all night, representing all the continents sans Africa. The usual Mac great Windows die bashing was on air. And...And...One girl actually said that she never knowingly slept with a Windows user....oh come on! give me a break!....I'm a fan of Steve and I think Macs are cool. But I never thought people would go to such an extent that you make your life's decisions based on whether he or she is a Mac user. Now that's a little over-stretched to me. Perhaps I wouldn't understand because am not really a Mac head. I am just a visitor moving form Windows to Mac and never been this Mac geek who owned these pretty cool G-books. But, I indeed start to wonder what would be the marketing tactics of Apple if Windows were not to be there. Shouldn't they be trying to fix on Mac needing a reboot for almost every update. Even Windows doesn't need a reboot after MS-Office installation. The fact of the matter is, people resist change. change is darn hard and change is shit. Be it moving from Windows to Mac or Mac to Windows, it is change. If you're used to something, you just want to keep it. Mac heads, get real. That's cooler.

Entertainment on Macbook

2008-11-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

I have got a Macbook white that I bought before Apple came up with the new aluminum casing and I like it very much. Apple is famed for packing extraordinary sound quality in small and sleek ipods and yet there are always surprises in store. My macbook cannot punch as much sound in Leopard as does the same Macbook on Windows. It surprised me, shocked me and just baffled me to realize this anomaly. I am yet to read some good sound quality feedback from the new macbooks.

But all the guys who are complaining about sound quality in macbook on Leopard, try Windows. I run XP.

deleting files on macbook

2008-06-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

1. There is a nice option on windows to delete the files directly without junking them in Recycle bin. On Windows loaded on macbook using bootcamp, it took some time for me to find it. Here you go:

fn + Shift + delete

2. "delete" button on windows loaded on macbook is actually backspace in a common keyboard. You can get te forward deletion by holding the fn key and hitting delete

fn + delete = forward deletion

"windows right click on macbook"

2008-06-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

I have Windows XP loaded on Macbook using Leopard supported bootcamp. I was looking for windows right click on macbook. It turned out to be easier than I thought.

Place two of ur fingers simultaneoursly on the track pad and click the mouse button.

Thats the right click. Simple, if u know it :)

Boot key Combos - macbook

2007-12-02T08:40:00.001-08:00

Finding the boot key combos can be a challenge for a newbie...But, here is the link I found

http://www.jacsoft.co.nz/Tech_Notes/Mac_Keys.shtml

How to uninstall hotfix on Win XP via Recovery console

2007-12-02T06:59:00.000-08:00

This link is helpful for guys who would like to know how to uninstall hotfix on Win XP, if safe mode doesn't work. I haven't tried it, but may be needed for future reference.

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/spuninst.htm

till laters...

Win XP fatal error: c000021a

2007-12-02T06:47:00.000-08:00

While booting windows from my dual booting Mac, I got the following error:

"Stop: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
The Session manager initialization system process
terminated unexpectedly with a status of
0xc000026c (0x00000000 0x00000000).
The system has been shut down."

I had no other go than shutting down the system. So I was worried, if its my macbook hardware that could be causing these errors. On all my years of Windows experience, I haven't experienced a fatal error that wouldn't even let me login to the system. Anyways, coming back to the point. Some forums gave me a hope that this isn't macbook specific and it has got to do with Windows Hotfixes. Yes, I did loads of them, just last night.

Probable Cause and solution:

So, they suggested me to remove the following Hotfixes.

Very importantly - 890859
Other one I removed, also suggested, was - 891781
Others suggested but not found in my system were 893066 and 893086

I also disabled automatic updates and just enabled notification when there is an update.

Right Click on "My Computer" --> Properties --> Automatic updates tab --> Notification option

Ref link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306525

How to get in Safe mode in macbook:

Keep pressing F8 while the system boots. You are presented with an option if you would like to get into Safe mode. I did. Used Add/remove Programs. removed the hotfix primarily 890859 (reference link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222)

Did this fix it?

Not 100%. I am able to boot into the system now. But, out of few times I tried, I was successful 50% of times to login to windows and rest times, I was faced with the same error. So, there should be some other fixes that are causing the problems now. At least, I am 50% successful. Rest of the 50%, I would be still trying to fix it.
Will update, once I am.

till laters.....

PS: Ref links:
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=45101&start=0
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306525

Mac in my life

2007-12-01T23:43:00.001-08:00

Owning a Macintosh is like owning a part of history. Even for a techie, doing the switchover from an all pervasive Windows world to the Macintosh world is not an easy decision. Its a change. A real change. And, a change is easier said than done. Change in this case, is to forget all those shortcut keys you have known. Forget the windows key you imbibed. Also, more importantly forget to get everything working right out of the box. I have a hard disk, that is at least 4 times bigger than my previously owned laptop offered me, yet with a Mac, I cannot just write into this disk without formatting into HFS+ format. What would I do with almost 200 Gig of data??? trash them in a trash can??? Booooo.....

But then, as Steve Jobs used to say, thats what makes it exciting. Today Macs are, as always, beautifully designed and one has got a great sales man in Steve "Apple" Jobs. Just watch one of his product presentations. He makes you feel like "you wana own one of these beauties". But, is this the one which convinced me to buy a 2.16 GHz Macbook. Well, I would say, not just that. Many more. You get into a world something new. A macworld. Full of street smart techies. A world that you won't be able to experience unless you own a Mac. On top of that, with Bootcamp, Mac lets you get more productive by letting you install a Windows. Did I say, I already been there, done that. Now, I have a dual booting system.

Having windows and Leopard on a Macbook is attractive for me. Windows makes a life lot easier for all those lazy whizkids. It makes me more productive with a tool that I use all the time at work and home. MS-Office. Well I know, if you are a Mac guy, you would chip in with "we do have Office for Mac". But dude, you know what, that doesnt sell to me. Office is something I know on Windows and am comfortable using on Windows. For doing something knew, I would rather use Neooffice on Mac than using Windows. You know, the whole point being learning something new. whats the point in using MS office on Mac, again??

So here is the bottomline. I love Mac, but unlike die hard Mac and Linux fans, I don't hate Windows. Like Steve Jobs said then, in 1997, and more recently in the 2007 "D" conference, Apple can gain a lot "working together" with Microsoft, than "working against" Microsoft. This really sells!