macinstosh conversions

'Refresh' Macs - factors in the conversion (laptops and desktops)

The new macs are here! But there are a few things to consider as we bring them to your classroom. Please read this carefully - there are some things that will affect your computer world.

The following is information on how the computers are configured:

The iLife Suite (iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, etc.) does an amazing job of managing your multimedia in a very comprehensive package. Part of what it does is to add information to files so that they can be accessed by the multiple programs found in iLife. The new computers come with iLife '09. Our old computers (the white eMacs) are too old to run iLife '09 and still have iLife '06. The two suites are NOT compatible. When you change your media over to iLife '09, you can't go back. [This does not have anything to do with Word documents, spreadsheets, web pages, etc. This has to do with movies, pictures, music, etc.]
Office 2008 - the new computers come with Office 2008 installed on them. When you first launch Word or Entourage, it will go through a procedure of updating your Microsoft files. Patience - let it do its thing. The student computers in the school do not have Office 2007/2008 on them yet. It is recommended that you save files in the traditional 2003/04 format to maintain compatibility. Instructions to set default file type to Office 2004 are posted. (Thanks to Missy Corbat)
Fonts in Word 2008 - at the moment, changing fonts in Word 2008 appears to be quite bizarre. I do not know what is going on with it. If fonts are not behaving properly for you, try this: Go to the Format menu and select Font and then select your fonts. It should then work. The Font menu and the Formatting palette do NOT appear to work for some accounts.
Entourage - it is hoped that Entourage 2008 will be more stable and secure than the older version. While Entourage 2004 appears to still be compatible with your new account, I strongly recommend using webmail (on Safari or Firefox) if you need to check your e-mail on one of the older macintosh computers (the white eMacs).
Digital projectors - the new iMacs use *another* Macintosh dongle to connect to the standard VGA cord. We have more on order, but I think that we have enough if you need one.
Bookmarks - Safari bookmarks travel over to the new computer. If Firefox is not working for you, follow these instructions for deleting two folders. (This will delete Firefox bookmarks)
When you start up your new Macintosh - Log on in the normal way. The shortcuts on your dock are different. The question marks are obsolete. You can throw them away be dragging them to the desktop and they go 'poof!' To get new ones, open the Macintosh HD, Applications folder, and Microsoft Office 2008. Drag the icons for Entourage, Word, etc. to your dock and you have new shortcuts. (Don't let go before the dock, or you will copy the applications to your desktop!)
Then Launch Entourage - it will give you an opportunity to Transfer your Identity. Go ahead and do so. This could take 5 minutes or so. Click Continue when requested. You probably do NOT want to participate in the survey and when asked to update the software, just close the window and do not update.
Launch Entourage again, it will copy some more things and then you should be good to go.
Adobe Suite & Macromedia Dreamweaver - We have installed these, but the Adobe Suite requires a local id. We are working on getting it to work with district accounts.
Local log-ins - laptops only: While thenew macintosh laptops are bound to the ASD network, it is not recommended that you use district accounts (as per current district policy).