SPMUG 653 Getting Help from Apple If you don't often visit it, you might be surprised at the volume of useful information available on the Apple website. In particular, the Knowledge Base has thousands of articles, many of which deal with recognized problems and difficulties with Apple software and hardware. These articles cover ground not mentioned in the relevant applications' Help files, which are designed to help you with normal use of the applications, rather than to trouble-shoot them. Some articles extend the information in the Help files; for instance, there are several dealing with backup and recovery of iTunes music libraries. In recent times, Apple has made access to the Knowledge Base easier. Simply go to the basic Support page and click the product icon most relevant to your query. (If you can't see the one you need, click the link "Show me the complete product list.") Arriving at the appropriate product page, you'll find a number of headings and links that may well lead you to the information you need. Otherwise, enter a few key words in the provided search box and press Return. The search results will almost certainly include a number of references to Knowledge Base documents. Further, many Knowledge Base documents have internal links to other relevant documents, so that while you can print them out, reading them on-line may really be the way to go. While you're in the Support area, take a look at some of the other labels in the navigation bar near the top of the page: ¥ Downloads will take you to a page that lists all the recent Mac OS updates and other downloadable software such as firmware revisions, and updates for Apple software such as Java, Airport, Final Cut Pro, iLife and iWork, and so on. ¥ ¥ Manuals leads to a long list of product manuals originally packaged with Apple hardware and software. If you've lost a manual, this is the place to find it again. ¥ ¥ Discussions leads to one of my favorite areas, where you can pose tricky questions and receive answers or at least suggestions from expert Mac users, in a "bulletin board" environment. You can read other folks' postings at will, but to pose a question of your own, you need to register, which simply means nominating a user name and password for yourself -- nothing more complicated than that. If you haven't visited Apple Support for a while, do yourself a favor and spend an hour puttering around there. ~ Steve Cooper AUSOM News, Melbourne, Australia