Monthly Archives: July 2008

Mac/Win Software Review: MacDrive 7

Posted on by
Reply

Mac Windows file share Mediafour MacDrive 7
Mac software review

So we are using Windows XP through Apple’s Boot Camp. PC games including Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Far Cry and The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth run with no problem on our iMac Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz at all.

Mac Windows file share Mediafour MacDrive 7
Screenshot 01: Game screenshot from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare		 Mac Windows file share Mediafour MacDrive 7
Screenshot 02: Game screenshot from Farcry		 Mac Windows file share Mediafour MacDrive 7
Screenshot 03: Game screenshot from The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth

Soon after we installed Windows XP, we started thinking about the best way of swapping files between Mac and Windows partitions. Fortunately, we have a lot of CD-RW and DVD-RW + disks. So we can just put Windows files and burn discs on Mac easily. But exchanging data in this way is kind of time-consuming. Is there an easy software solution for exchanging data between Mac and Windows?

Basically, a Windows operating system installed on your Mac’s internal hard disk drive cannot read data written on the Mac format. One software title that will let you read Mac data is MacDrive from Mediafour. With MacDrive, you can have real-time access to Mac data installed on media drives while using a Windows operating system. Hmm… Sounds good… Before using MacDrive 7, our innocent questions were

  • Do we gain access to Mac files that are installed not just on the internal hard disk drive but also on external drives?
  • Does MacDrive also let us access Windows files while we are using Mac OS?

    • So let’s see how MacDrive 7 works while we answer these simple questions one by one.  Continue reading →

    Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare Game Play Video

    Posted on by
    Reply

    Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare

    There haven’t been many good games for Mac OS lately. Maybe, the best game in the past year was EA’s Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars. If you go back 2 or 3 years, the best Mac game was Call of Duty 2, right? It’s good to know that Aspyr Media is porting the latest installment of Call of Duty to Macs. Bad news is that it was scheduled for release this summer and that it won’t be available till the 3rd quarter of this year, according to company’s announcement of June 3rd.

    So we decided to preview the PC version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. It’s installed on the Windows partition with Boot Camp. Does it play on Intel Macs? Well, we have no problem playing it with our iMac Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz at all. I haven’t finished all single-player campaigns. So I’m not in the position of evaluating this game. So far, the game is quite amazing with such realistic graphics.  Continue reading →

    Installing Boot Camp and Windows XP SP3 on iMac Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz

    Posted on by
    Reply

    Mac OS X Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz 24 inch icon

    In 1996 and following years, software developer Insignia Solutions sold SoftWindows. It was one of the first major emulation software titles that enabled Mac users to run Windows. I think it wasn’t so popular. As I remember, it cost around US$145 those days. Then there was Virtual PC, which was developed by Connectix. Connectix’s introduction of PC emulation was an instant hint due to its easy usage. You can swap files between Mac OS and Windows with ‘drag and drop.’ I bought Virtual PC with Windows 98 along with iMac 333 MHz about 9 years ago.

    Things have changed around Mac emulation software business for the past several years. Connectix sold its Virtual PC division to Microsoft. Apple abandoned PowerPC chips and adopted to Intel processors. Subsequently, Microsoft discontinued this popular software title. Now, thanks to Boot Camp, Intel Mac users can run Windows OS in native speeds. In the meantime, there are a few new emulation software titles like VMware Fusion from VMware, Inc. and Parallels Desktop for Mac from Parallels.

    We’ve been playing with our first Intel Mac computer for the past several days. Now, we want to install Boot Camp on our iMac Core 2 Duo 2.8 GB. So if you are a little behind other Mac users just like we are, you can ride the same boat and install Windows XP or Vista.

    There are a few facts that you should be aware of when you first got your Intel Mac machine.

    1. You can only run Windows OS under an internal hard disk drive, not under an external hard disk drive
    2. You cannot create partitions on the internal hard disk drive under which you install Boot Camp and Windows OS.
    3. You cannot install Windows OS through a disk image. You must have a physical Windows installation disk.

    Soon after we got our iMac Core 2 Duo, we created a partition on the internal hard disk drive to install Adobe applications and other software titles. So we were forced to remove this partition.

    If you have an Intel Mac model, there isn’t anything that you have to download from Apple’s website as far as Boot Camp is concerned. Find Boot Camp Assistant inside Applications > Utilities. (See Screenshot 01.) If you launch Boot Camp Assistant, you will see an introduction screen. Click on Continue. (See Screenshot 02.) Then you will be given two options – Create or remove a Windows partition and Start the Windows installer. (See Screenshot 03.) If you haven’t, you need to make a partition for Windows installation. If you already have multiple Mac partitions on the internal hard disk drive, you need to merge them into the one where Mac OS is installed.

    iMac Core 2 Duo installing Boot Camp Windows XP SP3 tutorial
    Screenshot 01 – Source: MacHouse    		   iMac Core 2 Duo installing Boot Camp Windows XP SP3 tutorial
    Screenshot 02 – Source: MacHouse    		   iMac Core 2 Duo installing Boot Camp Windows XP SP3 tutorial
    Screenshot 03 – Source: MacHouse

    Okay. Let’s create a Windows partition. All you have to do is to slide the divider between Mac OS X and Window. (See Screenshot 04.) If you click on Partition, resizing will commence. Presumably, Boot Camp will also install the CD/DVD driver at this stage. This task can take some time, depending on how much data you already have on your internal hard disk drive.  Continue reading →

    10 Mac Icons for iMac (Aluminium) on Leopard

    Posted on by
    Reply

    Mac OS X Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz 24 inch icon

    A new employee with an Intel processor came to our office a few days ago. Adapting ourselves to two new features at the same time, Intel processor and OS X 10.5 Leopard, is going smoothly. We are now just testing Boot Camp.

    Anyway, it’s been a while since we created Mac icons. And we’ve created 10 icons for iMac (aluminum) to celebrate our exposure to Intel Mac and OS X 10.5 Leopard.  Continue reading →

    Tutorial: Remedying Microsoft Office (2008 for Mac) Setup Assistant Infinite Loop Woe

    Posted on by
    2

    Microsoft Office

    If you are a user of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac and have installed Office 2008 SP1, you may have encountered an infinite loop woe causing you to see Microsoft Office Setup Assistant window over and over. A simple solution is to reinstall Office 2008. If you are lucky, you will never see the Setup Assistant window like the one shown in Screenshot 01. If you are not, even after installing updates, you will never get to launch Office applications.

    Microsoft Office Setup Assistant 2008 update SP1 infinite loop
    Screenshot 01 – Source: MacHouse    		   Microsoft Office Setup Assistant 2008 update SP1 infinite loop
    Screenshot 02 – Source: MacHouse    		   Microsoft Office Setup Assistant 2008 update SP1 infinite loop
    Screenshot 03 – Source: MacHouse

    Actually, Microsoft says you can stop this infinite loop woe by removing two files. One is located at

    User > Library > Preferences > Microsoft > Office 2008 >

    , you need to trash the file titled Microsoft Office 2008 settings.plist (See Screenshot 04.) The other file that you need to trash is located at

    Applications > Microsoft Office 2008 > Office > (See Screenshot 05.)

    Microsoft Office Setup Assistant 2008 update SP1 infinite loop
    Screenshot 04 – Source: MacHouse    		   Microsoft Office Setup Assistant 2008 update SP1 infinite loop
    Screenshot 05 – Source: MacHouse    		   Microsoft Office Setup Assistant 2008 update SP1 infinite loop
    Screenshot 06 – Source: MacHouse

    The file is titled OfficePID.plist. After deleting these two files, double-click on one of the Office applications. After entering the product key (See Screenshot 06.), you will get to use Office applications. If you have trouble locating the files, you may want to watch the following short video tutorial with no audio commentary.  Continue reading →