Recent content by tonym911

Well blow me down, I was sure I'd tried every possible keystroke/drag combination! Many thanks to both!

Hello all, MacBook Pro 2.4 running 10.6.6. About a month ago I was dragging a folder across the Desktop and accidentally dropped it onto the top grey section of another open folder. Now the icon for that dropped folder appears on the top grey section of almost all the other folders I open, and I...

Thanks ex2bot. I've taken the easy way out, I'm afraid, 250Gb hard drive plus 4Gb RAM upgrade and 10.5 for £199 fitted/all in. I know it's the dear way of doing it but I also know it's the safe way and my workload over the next two weeks also means it's the most time-efficient way. Thanks to you...

The specialist guy just stuck a coin in there and twisted it, seemed to work. It's a combo drive apparently, not an optical one. Anyway, I'm at decision time now. Bad block count is at 16 and specialist guy has stopped the scan at that point on the grounds that it could go on for days. He's...

Hi djackmac, yes I thought the DVD drive was kaput but the specialist stuck a DVD in there (braver than me!) and it not only took it OK, it was reading it too. He reckoned the r/h side of the keyboard had been leant on at some point, squishing the padding in the slot somewhat. The brown...

Hi ElDiablo, yes, these prices do include labour. I would be unhappy about doing the work myself, I have a knack of making a hash of things like this. I'm just totally in two minds about the choice of spending £200+ on an old machine or £500-ish on a newer one. Drive scan is now up to 10 bad...

My own thoughts are (a) that I don't need more than 250Gb for the hard drive, and (b) is it sensible to spend over £200 ($320) patching up an old MacBook when I could get a nearly new replacement on ebay for about £500 ($800) and keep the old one as a family spare.

OK, the specialist is running the tests right now. He says he has located seven 'bad blocks' on the hard drive so far, and it has been showing '3 minutes remaining' for the last half hour of his test so he thinks he's hit the bad part of the drive. He is recommending replacement of the hard...

Quick update: MacBook is with local specialist now, should have diagnosis in next couple of days. I will post the results when I have them. best wishes to all Tony

Hi Cam, excellent post, thanks! This morning I'm taking the MacBook to a local specialist for assessment. From what's happened so far it's likely I'll have to go down a similar route to yourself: memory upgrade, Snow Leopard. In which case I would definitely be interested to hear your memory...

I think our Mac histories are quite close! I too have been using Word since the year dot –*the only difference is I've been using it as a journalist for over thirty years. Your assessments of iWork and Snow Leopard are tempting me, I must admit. I will see what my local expert says tomorrow, and...

By gum, there are no bargains in Mac world are there? Don't know what the number of households with five Macs might be, but I bet it's considerably smaller than the number of those with two. I guess this pricing structure is designed to tip me away from the repair option and towards the new...

OK guys, thanks once more for your invaluable patience and advice, and for the reassurance on Snow Leopard. I presume the SL licence will allow me to use the same copy on my own MacBook Pro also? If so, it then becomes a simple financial evaluation as to whether the total outlay (£25 for Snow...

Hmm… apparently Chrome is not available for 10.4.11. Catch 22.

Thanks ex2bot, I'm using Chrome on my MBP and I must say I rather like it. The limping MacBook doesn't perform any better on Firefox but I think I may as well try Chrome on there, I'll report back on how it goes. Thanks as ever, your input is hugely appreciated. best Tony