MacDirectory Magazine

BOOK REVIEWS MAC TROUBLESHOOTING SUPERGUIDE REVIEW BY RIC GETTER we wouldn’t publicly admit it). The information it provides is useful but not overwhelming. Its ideal audience would be newer Mac users and recent converts, people who have the good sense to want to take care of their system but may not know exactly what that involves in the world of the Mac. Quite logically, the book starts off with some valuable tips and techniques for doing installs and upgrades, focusing on the move to Snow Leopard. Without the constant threat of malware, system changes are one of the most common sources of problems on the Mac and the issues are often easily avoided. Following chapters deal with hardware problems and issues with both system software and Apple’s standard application suite. Once of the nice things about Macs is that they don’t break very much. And then when they do, there are a lot of good resources available to help you get things untangled. A new one, recently released by the team at Macworldprovides a great starting point to help folks solve and prevent problems. Macworldsenior editor Christopher Breen compiled the Mac Troubleshooting Guidewith contributions by a number of technical luminaries including Ted Landau, author of several epic troubleshooting tomes and Rob Griffiths, founder of MacOSXHints. Their book is concise (120 pages) and fairly basic, though it does offer a number of gems that may even be new to some experienced power-users (though, ahem, The book’s limited size means that it can’t have all the answers. But one of its strengths lies in teaching the reader how and where to search out solutions. Coming from the same outfit that has been cataloging “Mac Gems” (incredibly useful tools at incredibly low cost) for years, you’ll also see many good suggestions for programs that can perform or simplify troubleshooting tasks that that Apple’s user toolbox can’t easily handle. In some areas, the book’s lack of depth can feel a little frustrating. OS X’s powerful, built-in troubleshooting tools are covered in a scant three pages. Though they are frequently mentioned in other chapters, it’s a topic that is worthy of (and may wind up in) its own Superguide. “The book’s limited size means that it can’t have all the answers. But one of its strengths lies in teaching the reader how and where to search out solutions.” The Mac Troubleshooting Superguideis indeed a very good point starting point, both for its readers and its publishers. Since it was marketed primarily as an eBook, there are few constraints when it comes to updates and enhancements. We would frankly love to see this book be the first of a series on the topic. Published and edited by a group who represent the core of this thriving community, we can think of no better place to turn when bad things happen to good Macs. Mac Troubleshooting Superguide edited by Christopher Breen; $12.95 (PDF) $19.99 (paper), IDG/Macworld (Macworld.com); 120 pgs. ISBN 978-0-9822621-7-7 MacDirectory 47

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