In last week's column I shared valuable information from an Observer concerning potential problems with unreliable CDs. I have more reader information to share today, as well as advice from an experienced technician about specific brands.

Recommendations From A Technician

I contacted an experienced electronics technician for information about which brands of CD-Rs and CD-RWs present the least amount of problems. Here is the response.

Discs

• Imation by far seems to be the most compatible. Fewer bad disc errors than most discs available.
• Sony are about equal with Imation discs.
• Ricoh also make really decent discs.
• Dysan are fairly decent as well but have a little less compatibility with burners.
• Memorex are equal to Dysan.
• I'm sure that TDK has discs and by TDK's usual standard for media, I would say they are probably pretty decent.

PNY is a brand I don't recommend. They have problems with a good majority of the burners and give more bad disc errors.

I know also that there are more types of discs, but don't know the brands.

Advice

When buying discs you need to make sure the discs you are purchasing match up to the speed of your burner. i.e. 1-16 speed (often referred to as 1x - 16x). Currently, burner speeds range from 1x-16x burn levels. You can use a disk rated at 8x on your 16x burner, but you will be limited to burning it at 8x.

Also, when burning an audio CD, I recommend you burn it at slower speeds like 2x or 4x. This ensures that your burn is accurate with no clicks or skips or any other problems. In any case, with audio the slower you burn the better.

Observer Keith from Montana wrote in with a follow-up to last week's column with the following information:

I too have a Fujitsu 640 MO Drive. They've been available for a number of years now (four?). Fujitsu makes a great product but invests nothing in advertising, nearly nothing in tech support, charges a premium for the media, and then wonders why more people aren't rioting for their product at their local computer store.

But they are currently having a media sale. You can buy a 640 MB diskette for US$8.00 apiece. They come in a pack of 5, so $40 scores you 3.2 Gigs of storage space. Not a bad deal.

Internet Explorer 5 Tips and Shortcuts

The following helpful tips for Internet Explorer 5 have been gleaned from various Internet sources as well as my own experiences. The browser must be the active window to allow you to set them up.

You can change the color scheme for your Explorer if you wish to do so. Choose Browser Color from the View Pull-down menu. Select your preferred scheme by moving the cursor to it and release. The colors available on Explorer 5 represent the earlier iMac colors. You won't find ruby or white.

You can have any page you want to be your home page when you open your browser. When I used my old Performa I chose to have a blank page because it was much faster to open a new window without having to wait for it to bring up a Web page. Actually, come to think about it, faster is probably not the operative word here but you get my meaning.

The browser comes set so that some page at Excite is your home page. There are all kinds of options available to you. Your own home page, your favorite site [Editor's Note: I personally recommend www.macobserver.com. :-) ], one of the sites that award points each time you enter them, the home page for your city, etc. The neat thing is that all of these are equally easy so long as you have the URL (Web address). Select Preferences from the Edit Pull-down menu. Choose Web Browser, then choose Browser Display. Enter the address of your preferred page in the Address box and click on OK. Next time you open your browser the new page will appear. You can also use the "Home" button to get to this Web site too.

You can conduct a quick search in Explorer by typing in a question mark and a search term in the Address Box. (The address box is the box at the top of any internet page that contains the URL.) For example type in ? dancing, making sure there is a space between the question mark and the first word. When I tried this, I was sent directly to the MSN search screen, open to the page that contained all their "dancing" links.

Here is another very handy trick related to the Address Box. Any time I wanted to copy a URL to include in another document (such as this column), I would stop typing, use my mouse button to highlight the URL and select Copy. Here is a great shortcut. Just hit the Apple key and the L key. The information will be automatically highlighted. You still have to use the copy and paste features.

Even though the Favorites listing is a great place to quickly access frequently used sites, there is an even faster way to get to them. In Explorer 5 there is a gray strip located between the address box and the actual web page. You have the option of listing frequently used web sites in that gray strip. This allows you to open them without going into the Favorites menu. On the far left of your open window are five tabs. Click on the Favorites tab and a box will open that lists all the favorites you have saved. Any of those individual favorites, as identified with a large @ sign next to their name, can be moved to the gray bar. Simply click on it, hold down the mouse button and drag it to the gray bar and release. Is that cool or what? You can shorten the names to conserve space. For instance I changed The Mac Observer to TMO. Hold down the Control key and click on the one you want to change. A small window will open. Chose Edit Name. A second small box will open with the name (The Mac Observer) highlighted. Just type in TMO and it automatically changes.

If you have any questions, comments, or tips, let me know and I may include them in a future column.

Copies of Nancy's book Tips, Hints, and Solutions for Seasoned Beginners Using Apple Macintosh Computers With OS X are available in PDF download versions  for US$9.57 and in print version for $18.15 plus $4.00 shipping.   To view sample pages and get ordering information visit the September 14, 2004 column.

Post your comments below.

Check out Nancy's complete index of all her columns for the most complete list of tips anywhere. The list is categorized and is a great reference when you are looking for help! A Capacious Catalog Of Computer Tips

Talking to a generation that remembers what the world was like before there was color, covers issues for people who don't care how their computer works, but rather what their computer and the internet can do for them.

Nancy has a Master's degree in Human Services Administration and prior to her retirement she worked for almost 30 years in field of mental health and mental retardation. She has been a Mac user for 11 years, and has recently developed an avocation of teaching basic computer skills in both group and one-to-one settings.

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