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Today's News by Cletus™  BackLight provides a menu extra that allows you to turn your screen effects on and off as your desktop background. While the effect is really cool, they recommend that you "probably have a Quartz Extreme-capable machine if you want to handle the load." How easy is this to use? Simply choose the "Start Screen Effects" menu item to start running a screen effect as the your background. Then choose "Stop Screen Effects" to stop it and return to your normal background picture.
Trash X places a fully functional Trash can back on your desktop. It acts just like the Trash can did in Legacy Mac OS. Drop files or documents on it and they are moved to the Trash. Drag any removable media onto it and it is ejected. They even list a cool tip on their site: "Put Trash X in your Finder windows toolbar to have easy access to it in any folder.
Resource Dropper X 1.0 is a new utility from Single Brain Cell Software. Cool name! the application functions by that removing everything from a file except for its data fork. They go on to give an example of what you can use this for: "This is very useful for reducing the file sizes of images that have had excessive image previews added to them."
Speed Download gets an upgrade! This program uses up to 32 simultaneous connections, to increase the download speed if you are on a broadband internet connection. If you are frustrated waiting for download, especially large ones, then this is the program for you to try.
Startup Syringe replaces the former BootX Patcher with this release. This patcher gives you the ability to replace that logo with any 128x128-pixel 256-color image of your choice. With the release of 10.2.1 by Apple, the script has now been tested and confirmed to work with the new system update. Of course you can find Boot panels here.
Yadal 1.2.0 provides the ability to search for new applications on regular intervals and auto-save configuration. Yadal functions from the Dock allowing you to launch applications quickly and easily.
Three screensavers have been released by WhiteBox. You can preview each of them here: Xeverywhere, Flocks 10.0, and Plasma 10.0.1.
Cleaning up for the weekend... I found out that my ISP's main e-mail servers are back logged by almost 24 hours. At first I thought the update to 10.2.1 did something. If you emailed me expecting a reply and have not received one, tech support assured me that everything is being queued and will arrive. Don't e-mail me again please as that will compound the situation.
After updating to 10.2.1, beside thinking it messed up my e-mail ability, I found that the permissions were once again in a sorry state. I just fixed everything about one week ago. If you are running a bit slow or having other problems, you may want to start up from the install disk for Jaguar and run Disk Utility once again.
 Quick thanks to the many who emailed me or responded in the forum about my PIM question. I willing broke down yesterday and registered my copy of DayLite from Marketcircle. Which by the way was also updated to version 1.0.5 this week. The customer service I received from Aliyah and AJ was worth the price alone. Thanks to them also!
Have a Press Release? Software or General News? Submit it here: Suggestions!
Calendar & Appointment Scheduler for Mac OS X
Tools of the Trade by Michael Coyle The soft pastel Pillowtalk-Sky theme by Laine Lee has been updated for MacOS 10.2. Visit his web site to the other creative endeavors on which he is working! Blobber is a cute little utility from Baxter Computer that will change the spinning Wait cursor under MacOS X 10.2. This software grew out of a forum thread and many 'Mac-detectives' hunted down the location of the correct resources. I have sent an email the program's author asking for information on how to make the 'diff' files that contain the cursors. More on Minimize in Place... While not exactly a bug, Brian Ellis mentions what features you lose if you downgrade the Dock.app by installing Minimize in Place. "The problem with the 6C48 Dock is that no modifier key, other than Control, do anything. For example, if you Option-click on an application in the dock, it will not hide the one you came from. "
Woo-Hoo! There is a new release of DragThing for you to snag. Version 4.5 has some great new features, some of which I've listed below: - You can now turn docks into sliding drawers that work like popup windows from Mac OS 9.
- More cool translucency effects.
- Added an option to highlight Classic applications in docks.
- Folder contextual menus can go more than five levels deep on Jaguar.
- Added support for custom sounds on Mac OS X and a "DragThing Sounds" folder.
New Boot Images in the Archive...
User Contributed Splash Screens. by Michael Coyle It's easier than ever to contribute using the new Browser Based Upload Page! If you contribute a file to any section of ResExcellence, you could win a PowerMax gift certificate worth $50 ! (How?) - Nathan Green sent two nice blue splashes for Mozilla. The first features a toothy Raptor, and the second shows... um... Nathan. But boy, that one with the Raptor sure looks nice.... :)
- If you're familiar with the Hip Flash comic book, it inspired J. Kolby to make a nifty Boot Panel.
- Intel (NOT) Inside is the theme of this MOSS set from David Gendreau. There are three for various Classic Mac versions.
- Wow! 16 Boot panels are stuffed into the submission by Derek Gordon. Based on the MacAtom Genius Bar symbol, there are four basic styles with four variations of each.
Click here to learn more about Toast 6 Titanium
Today's News by Cletus™  Unsanity LLC announced the availability of Xounds 1.3 yesterday. A free upgrade to current registered users. Xounds is a haxie that brings back Appearance Sounds to Mac OS X. Tired of silence? Want audio feedback when you navigate through menus or drag your windows around? Xounds will convert your existing Mac OS 8 or 9 sound sets and allow you to use them in Mac OS X. New in this release:
- Improved Mac OS X 10.2 ("Jaguar") compatibility.
- Japanese localization by Kaori Saegusa
- Moved the application to a Application Enhancer backend.
- Rewrote the sound playback system from scratch for better stability and performance.
- Fixed a bug with long sounds being cut off. If you still experience
it, re-import from the original sound set.
- Lots of smaller bug fixes and optimizations.
XMonitor has been updated to work in both Mac OS X 10.2 and 10.1. This utility will monitor virtually any aspect of your system. When you Option-click a graph it opens its related History window. Also Disk sizes now have two decimal places of extra detail when greater than one gigabyte.
 In case you missed this release, CandyBar 1.0.1 has hit the shelves. This program is not only for chocolate lovers, but icon lovers as well. The complete list of changes are below:
- Qualified for use with Mac OS X 10.2.1.
- Supports all new icons for Jaguar: Finder, Private Folder, Drop Box and Mounted Servers.
- Smoothicons starter set updated and expanded.
- Displays progress bar on first launch when backing up icons.
- Many little fixes and improvements.
ParaSoft have updated ParaDocks X to version 1.0.3. I mentioned this program previously. ParaDocks is basically the reincarnation of the Classic application launcher found on OS 9, but is also integrated with the Mac OS X Dock. ParaDocks creates a floating window containing the icons of all currently running applications, and allows you to easily switch between applications by clicking the icons.
FileUtilsCM is available. This release primarily fixes the installer for Mac OS 10.2. Additionally there has been a Japanese localization added.
IconIt has been bumped to version 1.1.8 allowing you to change the icon of a file(s) without "losing" the Finder selection.
I have added the missing software— QuickConvert from the other day to the Mac OS X Archive. Thanks to the many who sent in the file. I would still like to hear from the author of the program if you are watching this station, please contact me. I have also added Minimize In Place to the archive which Mike talked about in yesterdays news.
Two Minute review by Cletus™— Print Center Repair  This was just to good to pass up. The minute Print Center Repair version 2 was released for Mac OS X 10.2 by Fixamac Software, I immediately downloaded it. If you are running into quirky errors, intermittent problems or just plain tired of slow printing in general, I suggest you give this little gem a try. It does not claim to fix every problem, but it definitely will fix things if possible.
The program provides an easy to use front end GUI instead of Apples recommended solutions of using Terminal. UGH! I dislike Terminal, but that is another story. All of the recommendations from Apple are included in the program — from reading Terminal results to performing hidden functions that you would need Terminal to perform. Apple should actually thank Fixamac Software for designing this easy to use utility.
What it repairs: Verify root User, Verify daemon User, Repair Permissions, Repair Spool Directory, Repair Cups Directory, Delete Temporary Files and Delete Preference Files. You can select what it repairs. What could be simpler?
Another side bonus I really like is that you can selectively delete Print Drivers from computer manufacturers you do not use. Perhaps this goes back to my early 80MB hard drive days, but it bugs me to have items on the computer I do not use regardless of space. Despite the fact that it is an optional install, many users fail to realize that Jaguar installs over 450 MB of printer drivers. If you don't use all those brands, with a single click you can delete all Canon, Epson, HP or Lexmark drivers, buying back a lot of space. That's a root-owned thing so it would be several terminal commands without PCR.
If you are running into any problems printing, I think it would be wise to give Print Center Repair a chance to fix things. It is so comprehensive that I have a feeling you will find success with it. It is shareware, but worth every bit of the measly 10 bucks the author asks for it. I recommend it!
Have a Press Release? Software or General News? Submit it here: Suggestions!
Complete Cable Management For The Home & Office.
Tools of the Trade by Michael Coyle Apparently, in one of the early beta builds of Jaguar you could minimize a window on the desktop and not have it get sucked into the Dock. MacHacks has posted an installer to return this interesting feature to the final release of 10.2. I've been using Minimize in Place for several days with out any problems what so ever. Visible in the image above are the little application icon badges that identify the windows. I like this feature, but keep forgetting it's available!
Another quick release of Visage 1.2.2 is out! This utility lets you customizes the boot panel, screensavers, login screen, and system alerts. In this latest release, the 'Login Panel' tab has returned, allowing you to change the Apple logo and 'Mac OS X' image.
With all the Boot Images I have been receiving, this command line utility by Denis Bredelet will come in handy for you! tiff2raw will take an indexed colored TIFF image and split it into the RAW and Color table files needed by Boot_Image_Patcher.
As promised, I performed a backup and restore of my hard disk contents with the shareware utility Carbon Copy Cloner. It couldn't have gone smoother. I backed up to an external Firewire drive, then booted off the Firewire to erase the internal boot partition, and finally I restored from the Firewire to the internal drive. After selecting the startup disk, I restarted and everything was as I left it before the backup. One drawback to this utility is that it will not allow you to select networked drives; for either Source or Destination. Other than that, it performs as advertised.
New Boot Images in the Archive...
User Contributed Splash Screens. by Michael Coyle It's easier than ever to contribute using the new Browser Based Upload Page! If you contribute a file to any section of ResExcellence, you could win a PowerMax gift certificate worth $50 ! (How?) - A series of boot panels featuring lovely ladies with a Goth spin was contributed by Clifford L. Haight.
- Several variations on a Jaguar Dock Poof were sent by Snuff75.
- Hand_On sent this Mozilla splash of what looks to me like a radioactive Gecko!
- This month's infatuation with Marilyn Monroe continues in a new Boot Panel from Bob Coogan.
- Atomic bombs and fast flying planes are the topic of these boots from Soinc84.
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Today's News by Cletus™  St. Clair Software has released Default Folder X 1.6.3. Version 1.6.3 improves the reliability of the Default Folder X preference pane, eliminates occasional crashes when launching applications, and adds Japanese language support. This update is free, and is recommended for all users of Default Folder X. Additionally, installers are available in both English and French. Go grab your copy!
The free "Dockling" Dockprefs X has been bumped to version 1.4.2. It gives quick access to all preference panes that the user has access to, including custom preference panes. You can also build a custom menu of preference panes to suit your needs.
Locator X provides you with a GUI for the /usr/bin/locate. The "locate" command is able to find files on your computer very quickly. Locator offers regular expression searches, is able to index removable media like CDs. Here are several screenshots for you to look at to get an idea of what it looks like.
UPDATE: I have been sent the file and it is now available on the Mac OS X archive page. Please send no more copies. Thanks. I would still like the author to contact me. At this point we are simply making it available with no guarantees. Call for help! We have lost a piece of software... I had a reader ask me about an item in the Mac OS X archive called QuickConvert. The link is broken and it appears it is one of the files hosted on .Mac. If the author and/or a reader knows of its whereabouts or any info at all (does it work in Jaguar?), Please let me know.
Kind of a slow weekend with software items. So we will proceed to cover a few other areas...
I noticed over the weekend that there are calendars showing up all over the net that one can download or subscribe to for iCal. Apple of course has a fairly large library. A few others that I found are below: - iCALshare.com is an entire site for sharing calendars. It also has links to just about everything concerning iCal. You need to check this site out!
- Stepwise has posted two calendars: Cocoa Courses and WebObjects Courses available from their main page.
- Scotland Software posted iCal Birthday Shifter ( allows for import of birthdays into calendar)
- iceCal provides a listing for all 30 NHL teams.
- MacSlash posted information about a Space Shuttle launch calendar.
This leads into a question I have, and so I've started a forum topic. What is your preference for a PIM and why? I ask this because of the programs Apple has been releasing. Put together they make up the core of a good PIM. However, I find it difficult to have to open three individual programs to accomplish what I can often do with a single program. One program I am interested in is DayLite from Marketcircle. In playing with it, it seems extremely powerful. Perhaps a bit more powerful for common everyday use, but perfect for my use. I also heard from a little birdie that a new version is on the way. ;)
Did you know that if you click and hold on an application icon in the Dock and hit the option button, Quit becomes Force Quit? I saw that cool tip in MacAddict.
Have a Press Release? Software or General News? Submit it here: Suggestions!
Polling Place by Michael Coyle  Apple should post some very nice financial numbers for this third quarter since almost 70% of ResExcellence readers have updated to MacOS X 10.2. In the related forum thread, readers balked at the price or felt their hardware wouldn't benefit from the upgrade.
As a ResEx reader, you know I'm the first in my neighborhood to poke Apple Computer when they make a "goof", but MacOS 10.2 is a very nice release. It even runs great on my original Bondi iMac! If price is the only thing holding you back, I'd say sell the dog and buy 10.2! On a related topic, yesterday I went to the Apple Store in the Woodfield Mall here in the Chicagoland area. I bought two cool items which I'll review later this week, but the true reason for my visit was to see if the quality of the store had fallen since its Grand Opening. After reading a recent article blasting an Apple Store in New Hampshire, I nervously walked into the Woodfield store. Fortunately, service was better than ever. The store was packed and three complete systems were sold in the few minutes I was there. Every sales person was well informed and pointed me to the product I requested. When I had particularly obscure question, the salesperson didn't hesitate to say she didn't know the answer, then she immediately walked to a display iMac and found the answer on the manufacturers web site. It was a reassuring and pleasant experience. This week's Polling Place question is deliberately vague. It's a simple question and I ask that you don't think too much about it before answering. "Do you know why December 7th is a date that will live in infamy?" After voting, more information is available in the forum thread.
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