I have used the utility TTConverter in the past to convert Windows TrueType fonts for use on my Mac. I have never used it to convert Mac fonts to the PC, however, it claims to perform this function as well. Another utility which may work for you is Transtype. Many users have reported that this app is unstable but others have found it to work for them (myself included). —Evan Trent

To modify your favorites in Internet Explorer, go to the Window menu and select “Favorites.” You will then see a list of your favorites appear in a window. You may select one or more favorites from this list, rename them, move them around, etc. If you wish to delete one (or more), select the favorite(s) and then press the delete key.

You may also use the “right-click” feature you are discussing at any time in IE or any other Mac application by holding the Control key down while depressing the mouse button. This will bring up a contextual menu, which on the PC is triggered by the right mouse button. In IE if you Control-click on a favorite you will see an option to “Delete” in the contextual menu. As with the delete key this will work for multiple favorites as well.

I encourage you to experiment with control-clicking and contextual menus. I think you will find that they increase the ease of use and flexibility of the Macintosh tremendously. —Evan Trent

Generally speaking I think that the best disk maintenance utilities are (in order of preference):

1. DiskWarrior from Alsoft.
2. Disk First Aid from Apple
3. Norton Disk Doctor 5.0 or later (but not—I repeat not—earlier than v5.0)
4. TechTool Pro 2.5.x

I find that DiskWarrior is the most efficient and reliable utility in the bunch. Only under rare circumstances does it not repair a disk fully, and then I turn to Disk First Aid. Only if I am unable to make headway with those two utilities do I turn to Norton or TechTool. I am hesitant to use them because in my experience they often do more harm than good. But when I am desperate, I am desperate. :)

Conflict Catcher is an excellent utility that, in my opinion, should be installed on every Mac.

For virus protection I personally use Virex. How it compares to TechTool 3 I cannot tell you first hand, but quite frankly I am not a big fan of TechTool whereas I think Virex is quite solid. SAM I believe is a dead-end product.

My advice to you is to run out and purchase DiskWarrior if you do not already have it. It is one of the finest applications out for the Mac at the moment and it truly is an essential tool. While you are at it I suggest purchasing Alsoft’s PlusOptimizer which will defrag and optimize your hard drive. I prefer it to Norton Speed Disk, but Norton isn’t a bad way to go either. Then I would get myself a copy of Virex, and I think that would be just fine for preventive health care :) —Evan Trent

AirPort is based on a wireless networking protocol, IEEE 802.11b. It is analogous to protocols for wired networking technologies such as IEEE 802.3, which is the protocol for Ethernet. The original 802.11 (non-b) protocol was the slower 2 Mbps wireless technology that was present in Farallon’s original SkyLine cards, for example. 802.11b is simply an updated, 11 Mbps. version of this protocol.

In any event—to make a long story short—any IEEE 802.11b compliant wireless device should, in theory, work with any other. Airport cards are compliant, and in fact are simply the WaveLan (Lucent Technologies) OEM cards with Apple stickers on them :). The AirPort Base Station is simply a router with the AirPort card inside of it.

I would suggest using WaveLan cards with your PC rather than any competing brand if possible because they are the most compatible with Apple’s AirPort in my experience. However, you should be able to use any 802.11b compliant network card on a PC with the AirPort Base Station. Certain features may not work, for example you cannot encrypt the data transmitted between the card and base station because different brands of cards (and their drivers) often use different encryption algorithms or schemes. However, these small quirks aside I have experienced no problem using cards from various vendors on both Macs and PCs with the AirPort base station.

One other issue worth mentioning is that 802.11b is backward compatible with 802.11. So if your PC card is an older, 2 Mbps card it will still work with the AirPort Base Station; it will simply operate at the slower rate. The beauty of the 802.11 protocol is that only the cards need to be replaced when a faster technology is introduced. For example, in base stations, only the card needs to be swapped out whereas the remaining electronics may remain intact. This obviously makes upgrades much less expensive and easier to install. —Evan Trent