Coctail

[Charles Martin]

> From: Susan Wittner <momimu at earthlink.net>
>
> I have been following the thread about Cocktail vs Macjanitor. 
> However, when
> trying to find it, I can only find a version for OSX. I have 9.1, is 
> there a
> version for that?

No, because neither program does anything that is needed in OS 9.x or 
earlier.

The best "preventive maintenance" program for OS 9 and earlier is, 
IMHO, DiskWarrior/PlusOptimiser 2.11 (or whatever the last 2.x version 
was). $70 or so, and is probably still widely available (if not, DW 3 
is almost as good and costs about the same). Norton Utilities is also a 
good choice *if you run it from the CD only and do NOT install it*.

>  I am not sure what kind of system maintenence I should be
> doing routinely, if anything needs to be done if there seems to be no
> problems.

If you own DiskWarrior/PlusOptimizer, it's a good idea to run it every 
month or few months (depending on your usage). It catches directory 
corruption BEFORE it becomes a problem.

> I find this list very helpful and interesting to read. Seeing so many
> computor "geniuses" makes me jealous though, like in "how do these 
> guys know
> so much?"

We have NO LIVES. :)

Just kidding. I have managed to squeeze in a bit of a life (ie got 
married, go to social events, have friends, support the arts in my 
town, etc). But I *do* spend ungodly amounts of time in front of this 
or one of my other (or one of my clients') computers each and every 
day. I read about 20-30 Mac sites a day for news, answer dozens of 
questions a day on Usenet and in mailing lists like this one (and often 
learn things in them as well!), and when not in front of the computer I 
am usually found reading a Mac magazine. Or writing something for 
magazines/newspapers related to Doctor Who, fine dining, old/cult 
movies, or New Wave music -- my other obsessions! :)

I became a Mac "expert" out of necessity -- the newspaper I was working 
on switched from TRS-80s to Mac SE-30s and there was nobody else who 
was going to keep them running. So a lot of my experience comes from 
trial and error (lots of errors, believe me!), and the rest comes from 
reading. And I still make mistakes sometimes. :)

Above all else, I try to remember that everybody is good at something 
I'm not (probably lots of things I'm not!), and that although sometimes 
Mac things look obvious to me, if we were talking about fishing or car 
engines or US football or cooking etc ad nauseum, I'd be the one asking 
the "dumb questions" while the angler/mechanic/sports buff/chef etc 
rolls THEIR eyes. :)

_Chas_

"[Commercial] radio is absolutely the enemy of music. They  are my 
sworn and mortal enemy, and I will have nothing to do with them." - 
Elvis Costello, March 2003