Used G4 with upgraded software

julz · #1 July 3rd, 2009, 12:48 AM

I bought a used Mac for my mother. Her PC is on its last legs. That has been a nightmare for me, cuz it all falls on me to help her through all the BS it takes to keep one of those going. So I bought this thing from a kid. It is a 1.25GHz Power PC G4 with 1GB Ram. It is loaded with OSX 10.5.7, and parts of ilife 09. He was busy deleting pictures of his ex girlfriend when I got there to pick it up, and I think he deleted an important part, because now photos will not open fullscreen. The hard drive is 74.43 GB, with 6.27 available. It didn't come with system restore disks. All my mother does is email her friends and look at pictures. Sometimes write a letter, but not too often, cuz she can't keep her printer running, either.

2 questions: Would it be best to find a system restore disk and restore it back to the original software that came on it? How much stuff can I delete off of this Mac without hurting it?
How can I get the fullscreen back in Iphoto? (it wont edit, play slideshows, or show any picture in fullscreen.)

Thanks for any opinions
Julz

DICKSTER · #2 July 3rd, 2009, 09:13 AM

Julz---find the time machine icon and open it-see what dates you can go back to on it and find iphoto>clicke on it and drop down towards bottom of screen and find restore>click on it>watch it and wait a few seconds to see if it will drop out of time machine and restore to the hard drive. Find the iphoto app on the hard drive and open it. This may do the trick-"time machine has saved my neck several times.
Dickster-----------------------

julz · #3 July 3rd, 2009, 09:40 AM

When I open Time Capsule a window that says 'set up time capsule' shows up, click on that and airport utility opens scanning for wireless devices, I have none of those, and the only option is 'rescan'. It's not letting me do anything else.

Julz

DICKSTER · #4 July 3rd, 2009, 09:44 AM

julz- it's not time capsule-- see if you have "TIME MACHINE"
dickster--------------

julz · #5 July 3rd, 2009, 09:47 AM

That IS time machine....

DICKSTER · #6 July 3rd, 2009, 09:51 AM

Sorry I can't help anymore
Dickster-----------

julz · #7 July 3rd, 2009, 09:57 AM

OK, thanks, Dickster. This thing wants me to hook up an external HD to back up the computer. What I want to do is delete as much stuff as I can to make my mom a lean mean web surfing machine that can also look at photos. Anything else is just too much for her to deal with. I think I will uninstall iphoto and see about picasa or some such. Thanks for your help.
Julz

DICKSTER · #8 July 3rd, 2009, 12:22 PM

Hey julz---just an fyi---ck. apples web site- "time Capsule is apples wireless hard drive that works with "Time Machine" and it is also an 802.11n base station.
Dickster------------------