New Mac User, New iMac 2Ghz G5 20", Having some Probs.

[degminsec]

Hi Everyone. I've been reading your forums for a while, and I finally decided to take the plunge and switch to Mac. I've been a fairly savvy PC user for many years. This iMac G5 is BEAUTIFUL. And so far, my transition has not been too bad. The OS is fairly intuitive, I've been able to network to a shared drive on my old PC and get my data files transferred over, and I can't get over the elegance of the hardware and software. I am having a few problems, though, and I thought I'd ask the pros.

1) The computer seems a bit slow! It's a 2.0 Ghz, with the standard 512 of ram. My friend has a 1.25ghz eMac running previous OSX, and it seems like that mac works faster (less lag between clicking an app on the dock and it starting up). Is this because I need more ram? the eMac has 512 also, so I assumed the step-up to G5 would make it seem significantly "peppier". Does Tiger just require more ram than previous OSX?

2) Despite not having installed too much yet, I'm getting a LOT of crashing programs... especially from iLife suite - iPhoto has crashed a few times when I double click on a photo to edit it. Safari has crashed a couple of times. And I bought photoshop elements which seems to crash sometimes too. Is this normal? Could it be related to my 512 ram? (I am having a lot of programs open at once...)

3) I CANT BELIEVE that I can't get my email from outlook to this new mac. I have thousands of emails from the past 9-10 years all in outlook. Is there really no way? This is such an upsetting thing for me I'm even considering returning the mac and getting a new Dell - I know it goes against everything that attracted me to the mac in the first place, but I really treasure having all this email archived and I can't imagine not being able to use it in the future. HELP! I tried importing into Mozilla email program as some have suggested, but it keeps crashing, I think because I have so much email. I do not have access to an imap server that could hold all this email, either. This could really make me or break me. Someone please save this potential convert!!!

4) While most of the OS seems pretty intuitive (I've been able to network the machine, share folders, customize icons...) I'm sure there's a lot about the Mac OS that I am clueless about. I was in the bookstore today looking at the mac books to find a good book to teach me the finer points - I want to learn about some of the advanced features, the keyboard shortcuts, and customizing (e.g. how do I make an icon out of a jpg? What's the deal with memory management and assigning memory to programs? [this doesn't happen with PC]). But most of the books I saw are explaining how to click on things and drag them... what a drag! Is there a good book for someone who is very comfortable with computers in general, but new to Mac (i.e. what to advanced pc people read when they want to learn about mac and osx?)

Thanks in advance. Looking forward to many discussions on this great forum!

DAN

 

[CanadaRAM]

OK, I'll take a crack at a few of them

1) 512 Mb RAM is OK, but if you go hogwild on opening programs you are going to hit the point of slowdown. Limit yourself to 2 or 3 open programs and see if it's better. An extra 512 or 1 Gb module would never be wasted, as soon as it's in your budget.

Your machine may not be in High Performance mode. Go to System Preferences, Energy Saver and crank it up to High.

2) Crashing all the time is NOT normal. I usually leave my machine and programs running for 2 - 3 weeks at a time between restarts. You need to find out what's at the bottom of this. Since it affects all programs, seemingly, it sounds more like a hardware or an OS problem.

First, use the Apple Hardware Test CD that came with your machine and run it through several times. Flakey RAM doesn't always show up on the first pass. Any hardware problems, back up your personal data and call Applecare.

Then do the normal maintenance routines: run Disk Utility and repair permissions on your hard drive, and boot from the OSX CD, go into Disk Utility, verify/repair the hard drive.

You may want to try an Archive and Install replacement of the OS.

3) For outlook mail conversion, look into Outlook2Mac http://www.littlemachines.com/ (I have not used this, but the specs look useful for only $10. Outlook is a bear.)

4) Look for the latest in the OSX Missing Manual series by David Pogue
THere is also the Take Control series of EBooks, which are no nonsense, high usable content guides to specific functions in Macdom.

http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/default.html

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

 

[slooksterPSV]

Here's some cool things -
Hold Command + Shift and press 3 to take a whole screen snapshot
Hold Command + Shift and press 4 to take your own snapshot of whatever, and how big
Command + Tab scrolls through Windows forwards, add Shift and you go backwards
Command + ~ scrolls through current application windows
Just a few tricks.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Outlook email

3) I CANT BELIEVE that I can't get my email from outlook to this new mac. I have thousands of emails from the past 9-10 years all in outlook. Is there really no way? This is such an upsetting thing for me I'm even considering returning the mac and getting a new Dell - I know it goes against everything that attracted me to the mac in the first place, but I really treasure having all this email archived and I can't imagine not being able to use it in the future. HELP! I tried importing into Mozilla email program as some have suggested, but it keeps crashing, I think because I have so much email. I do not have access to an imap server that could hold all this email, either. This could really make me or break me. Someone please save this potential convert!!!
DAN

1st off what version of Outlook do you need your archive from? Also is it Outlook Web Server or a corporate Outlook that is installed on a work computer? If the later then you gotta talk to the admin to see if you can archive your intire Personal Folder within Outlook. Either way you'll still need to do this.

Does anyone know if an Outlook Archive (.pst) file from Windows Outlook can be imported without issues into Mac BU's Entourage? I'm curious of this as well.

@degminsec; try going to an AppleStore speak to a MacGenius to see if they can help with a solution??!!

 

[blodwyn]

If by crashing you mean the application quits, but OS X stays up, then that is weird and CanadaRAMs suggestions are good ones. If you get a kernel panic and are prompted to restart, then I would unplug any external devices for a while and see how it goes. I used to get a kernel panic on my iMac G5 roughly every 5-6 days until I unplugged my Canon USB scanner. Haven't had a panic since (4 months).

 

[Applespider]

1) Does Tiger just require more ram than previous OSX?

The base specs call for 256MB rather than the 128MB for Panther so yes. How many widgets have you got active? Having a few of those can eat up a lot of RAM. With RAM relatively cheap at the moment, you'll notice a massive performance improvement with 1GB+

2) Despite not having installed too much yet, I'm getting a LOT of crashing programs... Could it be related to my 512 ram? (I am having a lot of programs open at once...)

Possibly if you have lots of apps open - remember, closing the last window doesn't quit the application in most Mac apps. Otherwise, as suggested above, check those USB peripherals. I had a USB modem that did terrible things.

3) I CANT BELIEVE that I can't get my email from outlook to this new mac. I have thousands of emails from the past 9-10 years all in outlook.

You're not the only one.Bill Thompson had a rant about this on the BBC website a week or so ago. Or more that Outlook had such a 'closed' system that it was tough to escape to anything else at all. There are a lot of suggestions at the bottom of that page with possible solutions including the Outlook2Mac one - or if you have access to an IMAP server.

While I'm equally guilty of rarely deleting non-spam emails, I lost 4 years worth when my PC and backup died a couple of years ago. I thought I'd be devastated - in actual fact, I can count on the fingers of one hand how often I've really wanted to see/check something. You might want to consider a good cleanout and then see how the export goes.

4) While most of the OS seems pretty intuitive (I've been able to network the (e.g. how do I make an icon out of a jpg? What's the deal with memory management and assigning memory to programs? [this doesn't happen with PC]).

The Missing Manual is great, Macosxhints.com is a mine of information when you have specific problems. On those points above...
1 Not sure whether you mean changing a folder icon to a jpg or whether you want your jpgs to have thumbnail icons. If the first, look in Get Info (Command I) for your folder and you can paste an appropriate jpg in there instead of the existing folder image.

If the second, if you create/save a jpg in a Mac app, it will create a thumbnail icon that will appear in the Finder list/column views. You can see the regular jpg icon either way if you use the icon view with show Preview ticked under View Options. If you have a batch of 'legacy' jpgs, I downloaded Pinki (Google for it) which creates a thumbnail for jpgs without changing their modified dates etc.

OS X will manage its own memory. Allocating memory to apps was a 'feature' of earlier Mac OSes

 

[Flynnstone]

Most points are covered well by others, so I'll address the Outlook issue.
I too search for Outlook to mail conversion utilities. None would work.
The simple solution was IMAP. I enabled an IMAP account on the PCs Outlook, then I simply dragged and drop directories from the Outlook local to the IMAP directories. This could be slow, depending on network connections, but works well.

 

[Flynnstone]

Also welcome to the world of Mac.
I work in both the Windows and OS X worlds. I now only use the Windows machines for what is necessary. I avoid using Windows for email and web browsing. On OS X, I don't feel targeted for virus and the like.

 

[wordmunger]

1) The computer seems a bit slow! It's a 2.0 Ghz, with the standard 512 of ram. My friend has a 1.25ghz eMac running previous OSX, and it seems like that mac works faster (less lag between clicking an app on the dock and it starting up). Is this because I need more ram? the eMac has 512 also, so I assumed the step-up to G5 would make it seem significantly "peppier". Does Tiger just require more ram than previous OSX?

If you keep a lot of apps open with 512 MB, then it's definitely going to slow you down. Also, how much free HD space do you have? <1GB and you'll begin to have serious problems. I'd recommend at least 5GB free.

 

[SLCentral]

I believe Microsoft released a .pst (Outlook windows file) to Entourage converter. I have also used Outlook2Mac, and I can say that it works very well with 5000+ e-mails being transferred.

 

[topgunn]

A couple of ideas on the Outlook emails. When I back up my Outlook Express emails, I select all the messages in a folder and click and drag them to a folder on my desktop. I do this for all of my folders and then burn it to a CD. On my Mac, I drag the messages from the CD to my email folders in Entourage. Another option would be to forward everything. This was you have all of the information but you would lose the time and date that they were received.

One of the big performance differences between the eMac and the iMac G5 out of the box is that the iMac's processor performance is set to ramp up or down depending on the task. This can make the computer feel slower. To remedy this, try what CanadaRAM suggested and change the System Preferences -> Energy Saver to High.

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/ might help.

 

[FoxyKaye]

This is going to sound really silly, but when I first started working on Macs back in 1996 it took a little remembering to to: Unlike Windows PCs, closing the last open window of an application on a Mac does not necessarily quit the application. If you bounce back and forth between a lot of applications, and don't make sure they quit when you're done, this could also be a memory-stealer.

Also, check out Eudora (http://www.eudora.com) - I *think* it has some sort of Outlook import feature for the .pst files. Once in Eudora, it will be a lot easier to move to Mail. I've been Eudora since version 1.1, and they generally try to be good about importing mail from other applications (but it has been a long time since I've seen it's import list, so I could be wrong about Outlook).

 

[degminsec]

Well everyone, thanks for all of your help. I did what some of your recommended - I purchased outlook2mac and successfully exported my email and then imported to Mail. (I can't believe it, but it was 16,000 emails!!! I think I could probably afford to delete some...)

In terms of the crashing - the OS itself never locked up, just the programs (iPhoto, firefox and Mail) froze or unexpectedly quit. I guess I'm used to having a ton of windows open, and I'm not good at always remembering to quit the application, and not just close the visible window. Maybe I was just pushing too hard. I ran the diagnostics off the start-up disk and everything seems OK. BTW, is there a command to quit all running applications? I

This baby is so cool. On a PC, I have never enjoyed just sitting here and typing a message like I am now. I also love that every day I'm discovering cool new things (like an actual spotlight lighting icons up in a window, or the little wave/ripple thingy when you add a new widget).

Oh, I was trying to make a "smart" email folder, and I wanted it to look for ANY of three names AND only show the ones in the last 30 days with any of those three names... it seems like this is impossible?! You can only have ALL of the conditions, or ANY ONE of the conditions.... Am I missing something?

Anyway, thanks for the recommendations about the book. The missing manual sounds good... but the Tiger version won't be released until July. And that's when I start up with work! Boo! Oh well, something to look forward to.

Thanks again. I'm sure you'll hear more from me soon!

PS. Applespider - I meant "changing a folder icon to a jpg" - what is an "appropriate JPG"? certain size I'm guessing?

Thanks!!

 

[Applespider]

Oh, I was trying to make a "smart" email folder, and I wanted it to look for ANY of three names AND only show the ones in the last 30 days with any of those three names... it seems like this is impossible?! You can only have ALL of the conditions, or ANY ONE of the conditions.... Am I missing something?

PS. Applespider - I meant "changing a folder icon to a jpg" - what is an "appropriate JPG"? certain size I'm guessing?

You're not missing anything. Apple don't allow AND/OR statements in their smart folders; apparently it's supposed to confuse people. Most just find it frustrating! You may have to have two Smart folders (one for the names and one for the date) and then a third as the one you want to use (is in Names and is in Date)

Yeah, size etc so that you know it looks good at different icon sizes. Have a look at the Icon Factory for some ideas.

 

[killmoms]

What's the deal with memory management and assigning memory to programs? [this doesn't happen with PC]

Just so you know, this doesn't occur in OS X—that's outdated Classic info.

As for the bit about OR statements in queries... join the LONG list of power users who wish this functionality was available in Mail, or iTunes, or Finder's Spotlight, or any other place where queries are used. How I long for conditionals. I have the perfect Smart Playlist I could make in iTunes if I could just make an "OR" instead of having a bunch of "ANDs."

 

[outlook]

re:

I have been using it. recovery pst and repair outlook express more stable and secure than other programs.