run "msconfig" and have a look at what programs are being loaded at start-up.

I think that's a lot of the problem. I've got a whole handful of things that load in the right hand corner of the taskbar when I start up the computer. I want to get rid of some of them, but I don't know how.

You get there with
Start-->Run
type in msconfig
click on the "Startup" tab
uncheck the programs you decide you don't want
click OK and re-boot.

Quicken, ZoneAlarm, PGP, McAfee, and FamilyTreeMaker all installed start-up stuff I didn't want, and multiple instances too, which caused resource problems and a few crashes. Took me a while and some tinkering, but I finally got it sorted out.

Holy f**k. There's all kinds of stuff starting up I didn't realize. Crap like "Money Agent". Something to do with Microsoft Money, which I don't even use! I think I can uncheck a bunch of the boxes.

ETA: Huh, some of that stuff is registry stuff. I suspect I should leave those alone. However, there's a bunch of programs I don't need to start up with my computer, like Kodak Easyshare. I got rid of a few things, however, I'll wait til tomorrow to see what effect it has. I'm to bed.

I'm too impatient for my tech support:

I have Quark 6.0 on a Mac running OS 10.3.9

I have recieved and error message saying I need to re-install.

I cannot find an "uninstaller".

Should I delete all the files I can find which say "quark, and then reinstall, or just go ahead and do it over the one on my machine. I really cannot mess this up, but I also really need to use Quark and I haven't had an answer to this question which I asked Friday.

Thanks!

Sophia, try re-installing over the one on your machine. That ought to do it.

Mac programs don't technically have uninstallers; you just take the whole folder and throw it in the trash. You could do that, too, if re-installing over the one on your machine doesn't work.

Also, throw away the Quark preference files, which should be in the Library folder. (Easiest thing to do is to run a search for "Quark" and then throw away any Quark files with a .plist extension. Those are preference files.)

Thanks Steph. I'll give that a whirl.

Anyone want to throw out some recommendations/guidance/pointers for someone who's decided to go out and buy himself an Apple laptop today?

Also, any compelling reasons to buy it at the Apple store rather than BestBuy or somewhere? (That last is purely for my benefit, because it means he has to come to Chicago.)

Apple laptops have not nearly enough RAM (256 MB), but DO NOT get more RAM from Apple, b/c they way way way WAY overprice it.

Brenda, I'd be better at answering specific questions, rather than throwing out general advice. Do you know what he wants it for? (Like, school, general word processing, internet, etc., or more graphics-intensive stuff?)

Internet is probably the biggie - he's just quit his job, does not do any gaming or intensive graphics works. Probably movies and such, too. Businessy-type word processing and spreadsheet stuff will likely be useful at some point too.