Re: Mac and Xy

[Russell Urquhart russurquhart1@xxxxxxxx]

On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 08:29:11PM -0700, J R FOX wrote:
>
> --- On Fri, 7/31/09, Harry Binswanger  wrote:
>
> would be using a Mac for several years, and never run into issues
> where it would be necessary to call in a Mac consultant.

I've been running my Mac(s) now for 10 years, having been a PC person, and i think i have a balanced
view on things PC and Mac. I think your assumption has merit, if, imo, for nothing else than both
machines are computers running operating systems. A hardware device, comprised of additional
hardware components, running a modern OS will have pro and cons. I just recently had to pay to have
my desktop mac hard drive restored. (After a reboot the drive failed to even be seen, much less
mount.) The techs were able to recover everything, so no harm, no foul. Two week later, the hard
drive in my laptop crashed while installing an OS upgrade. (This was a little more costlier to
recover, but i DID get my apps/data back, but the drive is kind of data only, no mountable OS.)

Now, all of these mishaps could/should of been avoided had i kept any sort of backups. This is being
remedied as we speak. That said, i think that the internal directory structure under OS x, if it
gets corrupted, can be more finicky than DOS/Windows. But this is a guess at this point.

(I have a personal conspiracy gestating that Hard Drives, nowadays, are lasting for shorter and
shorter period of times than in the "Good Ol' Days"!)

When you have your mac working, however, i think you can go for longer periods of times without
mishap. (But still back up!!! :) )

Certain things macs handle for you under the covers. (E.g. You can edit a 2+ Gb video file under
32-bit OS X. How? Don't know, but i can.) I actually know how, but you get the point.

Also, fyi, when you uninstall an application by dropping the application in the trash can, ALMOST
all files are deleted. A .plist file for the application still remains in the Library directory. I
think the reasoning is this contains your preferences for that application, so if you reinstall, you
haven't lost your preferences. I use AppZapper to removes ALL traces of an application.

Russ