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Mac Daniel's Advice is a team effort - see our staff page for the current list of experts ready to offer their advice. And if you're wondering how to improve your old Mac, or even what upgrade options you may have, pop on over to the staff page, read the profiles, pick someone, and send your question.

Columns marked BOMD are the Best of Mac Daniel and have been among the most popular archive articles at some point in the history of the Mac Daniel column.

Dan Knight, publisher, Low End Mac

• Restore stability to a troubled Mac with a clean system install, Keith Winston, Linux to Mac, 2008.01.15. If your Mac is misbehaving, the best fix just might be a fresh reinstallation of Mac OS X - don't forget to backup first.
• Bringing G3 iMacs and other G3 Macs into the Tiger Age, Dan Knight and Bill Brown, 2007.12.07. Tips on hard drives, memory, WiFi, and getting Mac OS X 10.4 installed on G3 iMacs and other older G3 Macs.
• Multiple users on the same Mac at work, 2007.11.15. How to set up a Mac so multiple users can log in and use it - and use the same pool of work files.
• 1 working eMac from 2 broken ones, 2007.11.14. A pair of matching eMacs, each with a different failure, results in one working eMac and lots of leftovers.
• Problems running Classic mode in Tiger, Dan Knight, 2007.11.08. After upgrading to Tiger, the old Classic installation stopped working. Where to find the pieces to get everything up to date.
• Better and safer surfing with Internet Explorer and the Classic Mac OS, Max Wallgren, 2007.11.06. Tips on which browsers work best with different Mac OS versions plus extra software to clean cookies and caches, detect viruses, handle downloads, etc.
• I can no longer move files using Mac OS X, Dan Knight, 2007.11.05. Drag and drop stopped working. Here's how to make things work again.
• Hacking Mac OS 7.6.1 so many Mac OS 8 apps will run, Max Wallgren, 2007.10.30. With a little ResEdit work and a second copy of your System Folder, you can run a lot of OS 8 apps with Mac OS 7.6.1.
• Interchangeabilty and compatibility of Apple 1.4 MB SuperDrive floppy drives, Sonic Purity, 2007.09.26. Apple used two kinds of high-density floppy drives on Macs, auto-inject and manual inject. Can they be swapped?
• Maintaining Your Mac: Solving Mac disk and hardware problems, Adam Rosen, Adam's Apple, 2007.09.07. Dealing with damaged directories, messed up file permissions, PRAM problems, and stuck discs.
• Maintaining Your Mac: Fixing Mac glitches and sluggishness, Adam Rosen, Adam's Apple, 2007.08.24. If you're Mac is acting oddly or seems slower, here are several steps you can take to fix glitches and reduce or remove sluggishness.
• 4 steps for resurrecting old Macs, Sonic Purity, 2007.07.18. Hardware problems may be solved with a thorough cleaning, deoxidizing electrical contacts, replacing failed capacitors, and/or repairing broken solder joints.
• Fixing the hinge on the 'Blackbird' PowerBook 500 series, Mike Huttinger, 2007.07.16. Simple, step-by-step instructions for repairing a failed hinge on the PowerBook 520, 540, and 550.
• Operation FlashBook: Running Tiger from flash on a PowerBook G4, John Muir, 2007.05.29. With the hard drive failing and Compact Flash prices falling, it was time to consider running the PowerBook G4 from flash. Looking back at 6 months, was it worth it?
• Appearance Manager allows Internet Explorer 5.1.7 to work with Mac OS 7.6.1, Max Wallgren, 2007.05.23. Want a fairly modern browser with an old, fast operating system? Mac OS 7.6.1 plus the Appearance Manager and Internet Explorer may be just what you want.
• Format any drive for older Macs with patched Apple tools, Tyler Sable, Classic Restorations, 2007.04.25. Apple HD SC Setup and Drive Setup only work with Apple branded hard drives - until you apply the patches linked to this article.
• Making floppies and CDs for older Macs using modern Macs, Windows, and Linux PCs, Tyler Sable, Classic Restorations, 2007.03.15. Older Macs use HFS floppies and CDs. Here are the free resources you'll need to write floppies or CDs for vintage Macs using your modern computer.
• Adding an Intel Mac mini can be cheaper than upgrading a Power Mac G4!, Dan Knight, 2007.02.14. Looking at the cost of upgrading memory, adding a fast hard drive, and a GHz-plus CPU upgrade, buying a new Core Duo Mac mini makes a lot of sense.
• Setting up a NetBoot server for your Macs, Ted Hodges, Vintage Mac Living, 2007.01.18. If you have an ethernet network and several NewWorld Macs, NetBoot will let you run several Macs with the same disk image and setup.
• Using FireWire Target Disk Mode to install OS X on Macs without DVD drives, Charles Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 2006.09.14. Two methods for using FireWire Target Disk mode to install OS X on a Mac that can't read DVDs.
• Translucent gray box in OS X, AFP Connection Problem in Classic stump Mac Daniel, 2006.07.12. One Mac has been displaying a gray box for months, another started doing the same thing a week ago. And booting Classic always results in a problem with AFP Connection Status.
• Control 2 or more computers with one Mac, one mouse, one keyboard, and no KVM switch, Neil Reicher, 2006.02.23. Freeware and ethernet let you share one mouse and keyboard among multiple computers without the tangle of a KVM switch and myriad cables.
• Adding a DIP switch and overclocking Sawtooth's bus speed, Chris Placzek, 2005.11.30. How to install a DIP switch and overclock Sawtooth's system bus to 120 MHz.
• Is Serial ATA a viable alternative to Ultra ATA and FireWire?, Dan Knight, 2005.10.25. If you're thinking of adding a FireWire 800 card or Ultra 133 controller to your Power Mac, take a good look at Serial ATA before you make your decision.
• How big a hard drive can I put in my iMac, eMac, or Power Mac?, Dan Knight, 2005.10.24. A lot of older Macs don't know how to deal with drives over 128 GB in size. We look at three options.
• Choose FireWire 800 over USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 for best throughput, Dan Knight, 2005.10.07. Today's 7200 rpm hard drives are bottlenecked by the most common data busses - FireWire 400 and USB 2.0.
• Creating a new user to solve display problems, Dan Knight, 2005.08.03. Got a task or program that just doesn't work at your normal working resolution? Create a new user account with the resolution you need.
• Getting iSync to work with an unsupported cell phone, Dan Knight, 2005.08.01. Just because your cell phone isn't plug-and-play with iSync doesn't mean you can't make it work. Here's what worked for me.
• Using one keyboard, mouse, and monitor with your USB Mac and PS/2 Windows PC, Dan Knight, 2005.03.30. Three KVM solutions that support both USB and PS/2 computers, along with two other suggestions for making things work.
• Mac OS X and the Blue and White G3 firmware update problem, Jeff Adkins, Mac Lab Report, 2005.03.01. "Catch-22. The firmware update requires that you be running the Classic Mac OS, and the Classic OS won't run until the firmware update is installed."
• Can I install the hard drive and CPU from my Power Mac G4 in an iMac?, Dan Knight, 2005.02.21. The iMac uses a standard IDE hard drive, but you can't plug in a G4 pulled from a Power Mac. However, there are other CPU upgrade options.
• What's the fastest browser on the Mac? Across platforms?, Dan Knight, 2005.02.14. Comparison of browser speed for many different browsers on Mac OS X, OS 9, Linux, and Windows XP. What's fastest?
• I have a new hard drive, but how do I move everything from the old one?, Dan Knight, 2005.02.07. How to use an external drive enclosure and freely available software to duplicate your old drive on your new one.
• Which iMac is it? A quick guide to differentiating CRT G3 iMacs, Dan Knight, 2005.02.02. Two form factors, nine CPU speeds, and fifteen different colors. How can anyone keep this straignt?
• Should I buy a used G4 or a new Mac mini?, Dan Knight, 2005.01.17. Does it make any sense at all to buy a used Power Mac G4 these days when the Mac mini offers so much value?
• lots more listed in the Mac Daniel archive: 1998/99, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004/05

Best of Mac Daniel (updated 2003.05.09)

These 15 articles are over six months old and have had the most readers per month during the past six months (12/02 through 5/03). These are older articles, so prices and other details may have changed since they were first written.

1. Flash memory improves PowerBook, 2002.11.14
2. Overclocking the blue and white G3, 2002.07.10
3. How to make a bootable restore CD, 2000.06.21
4. Best used PowerBook, PB upgrade options, 1998.12.30
5. Installing memory upgrades, 2001.02.05
6. Upgrading an old G3, 2002.03.15
7. New type of G3 daughter card, 1999.05.20
8. Picking a PCI video card, 2001.08.20
9. Connecting your Mac to your stereo, 2001.06.25
10. Introduction to overclocking your Mac, 2002.06.24
11. Sharing your Internet connection, 2002.09.05
12. Upgrading a Power Mac 7200 or 7500, 1998.10.24
13. Partitioning your hard drive, 2002.01.21
14. Desktop pictures, 2001.03.26
15. Recording audio on your Mac, 2002.01.28

Other articles on upgrades

• Mac Upgrade and Repair Bible
• That extra 10%, Mac Musings

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