If one or more of the above 'contact-info-only' links are broken, try searching through Used Computer Mall offered some leads to used Mac vendors last time I checked.

Old Mac Ware Sources Contents

Maybe the most crucial software you might want for an old Mac is a web browser and related internet utilities and the info to configure them. In many cases an older Mac will be too limited in RAM, hard disk space, or performance to adequately run modern web software. Its OS version might be incompatible too. Netscape 4.5 and up and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.5 and up both require PowerPC Macs; these browser versions also require OS 7.6 or 7.5.3 or later, respectively. Got a 680xx Mac? If you have a 68030 or 68040 CPU, Internet Explorer v3.0 through 4.0.1 is said to be compatible with them. More info on compatibility may be available here.

Download sources:

Here's other possibly helpful links:

• The Final Option: Need a cheap PC to supplement your Mac, for business or gaming software purposes? Or maybe the 'new Apple' under Steve Jobs has scared or angered you sufficiently to drive you to Windows PCs? If so, you can find some bargain sources for new, used, and refurbished PC wares in J.R.'s Dirt Cheap PC and Killer Deals Page. Just keep in mind the PC world has problems of its own.

Old Mac Ware Sources Contents

Old Mac Ware Sources Contents

• Common problems/solutions with newer Macs

(I keep meaning to get the PowerBook G3 log posted too, but haven't yet had the time. Anyway, in the text below I'm mainly referring to G3 Macs like iMacs of various stripes running Mac OS 8.x through 9.x, or somewhat older PowerPC Macs.)

System crashes. I'm talking the USB using Macs, like iMacs here. Are system crashes driving you nuts? Already tried everything from pruning your peripherals and extensions, using disk utilities, to re-installing the OS? Maybe you should upgrade to 9.0.4. That move helped me personally quite a bit. The newer iMacs also sport reset buttons rather than paper clip holes, making it much more convenient to restart that frozen Mac several times a day. Certain keyboard press combinations are claimed in the manuals to restart iMacs too, but it seems rare that they work these days.

The RAM problem. If you're got a PowerPC Mac with only 32 MB physical RAM you likely need more. Desperately. More RAM, even just a total double 32, like 64, may relieve you of a few crash problems while also speeding up your system in some ways.

Most Mac users should also have their virtual memory turned on, and set to at least one more MB than the amount of physical RAM in the machine. I like to set it to 256 MB or so myself. Keep in mind this uses space on your hard drive.

The other RAM problem. Lots of Mac users upgrade their RAM because they keep getting insufficient memory messages from applications. Then after the upgrade they continue getting the messages, and can't understand why. The reason is usually that they need to manually increase the amount of RAM individual applications can use in each program file's 'Get Info' box, accessible in the Finder. To do this you have to locate the application file on your disk, click it once to select it, then choose 'Get Info'...'Memory' from the File menu. This brings up a new window with entry boxes for the memory sizes you'll allow a program to use. Adding 1000 to 2000 K to a program's current 'minimum size' when it's been complaining about memory is a reasonable thing to do. If it still complains afterwards try adding another 1000 to 2000 K. The reason for adding it roughly 1 or 2 MB at a time is because you don't want to squander your available RAM; the more one app uses the less there'll be available for others to run at the same time.

The other box is 'preferred size', and your Mac will prompt you to boost it too if your minimum size is larger than your preferred size. Preferred size should be larger than minimum. Preferred size is how much RAM your app will use if it's the first app opened. Minimum size is what your app will use if it's not the first application to be opened.

Apparently Windows PCs automatically set these parameters, saving their users the trouble-- at least in most cases. So PC users can rightfully claim in this one instance that their machines operate more easily and conveniently than a Mac.

The USB problem. No, it's not your imagination; USB on the Mac is fraught with problems. Plugging or unplugging USB peripherals can be traumatic in some cases. If your iMac starts acting badly after plugging/unplugging USB devices, the USB software is likely the cause-- not other items.

Sometimes reading a device's user manual, pdf file on disk, help files, and read me files can help you solve problems you encounter-- or at least learn why they're happening in the first place (Emphasis here on 'sometimes').

Try to avoid unplugging/plugging USB stuff when those devices and/or your iMac are powered down. Everything should be live. Try to avoid having lots of USB peripherals if you can. Try to avoid the use of USB hubs. Yeah, I know USB is practically useless without a hub, but if your USB device configuration gets very large or complex at all, it can easily start giving you fits.

Once you find a configuration of USB connections where everything seems to work halfway decently, and with a minimum of crashes, LABEL YOUR USB CABLES so that you can always plug everything back into the same exact USB ports again. Why? Because some USB devices can be terribly finicky about which port they are plugged into. We have an HP printer here that absolutely refused to install in several different hub ports, or even into one of the iMac's built-in ports-- but finally worked when plugged into the iMac's keyboard's extra port(!)

In USB-related crises, connecting all your USB stuff up while everything is powered up (even when your iMac is frozen), and then switching all the peripherals OFF, and shutting down the iMac, waiting 60 seconds or so, then powering everything back up again (peripherals FIRST!), might help sometimes.

Often an iMac will inexplicably freeze up just booting from the OS install disk that came bundled from Apple, making OS re-installations that much more difficult. Often you can prevent this by unplugging ALL your USB and Firewire peripherals EXCEPT for your keyboard and mouse. If you have a non-standard iMac keyboard and mouse, you might even need to replace them temporarily with the original KB/mouse to get past the freezes for OS re-installation (keeping in mind the need to disconnect/connect such items when the iMac is powered UP rather than OFF).

Note that locating a problem peripheral's company website and downloading a driver update for it may sometimes solve or reduce the problems you're experiencing with the device.

If any one USB device gives you too much trouble after trying all the above, you might want to consider ridding yourself of it, or replacing it with a competitive product. Of course, it may still be tricky getting rid of the related extensions and perhaps other stuff it put in your OS...But in most cases you can likely use the Extensions Manager to disable much of it (Mac users really need a tutorial in the use of the Extensions Manager too, as it is very quirky in 8.x and later OS versions, but I don't have the time to create one here; sorry).

The third party software and peripherals problem. Again, it's not your imagination. Many of the extra peripherals and software applications you buy for your Mac either don't work at all, work poorly, or interfere with other functions of your system. In general, the more stuff you add to your Mac, the worse it'll run. This also seems true for PCs these days-- but as the PCs are 95+% of most companies' business, and Macs just 5% or less, the PC bugs tend to get fixed faster and more often than the Mac bugs. So on average you can usually pile more stuff onto a PC before it breaks than you can a Mac.

The moral here? Be very picky about what you buy to add to your computer. Check out several differently sourced reviews first and don't buy things that seem problem-prone. You'll be amazed at how much time, money, and frustration you'll save by being a minimalist where adding to your system is concerned.

Wondering about Mac Disk Utilities? Alsoft DiskWarrior seems a decent choice (we recently bought and used it with success, after finding it recommended in many reviews), but of course to be comprehensive you'd want both it and Norton Utilities (if you can afford both), plus maybe TechTool Pro too. However, if you have the time to learn the ins and outs of your system, cruise various Mac troubleshooting forums, and read all available manuals and read me files, you can often get by with just rebuilding the desktop occasionally, actively managing extensions, re-installing the OS occasionally, resetting the PRAM sometimes, and using the bundled Apple Disk First Aid once in a while.

Keep in mind you may be forced to learn the ins and outs of your system anyway in order to fix certain problems, despite owning all the disk utilities in the world, if your luck turns bad or stays in the red on a regular basis.

ALWAYS consult MacFixIt for more detailed and expansive information for Mac problems like these!

Old Mac Ware Sources Contents

• Miscellaneous new unorganized links

Old Mac Ware Sources Contents