Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with osx and xp

Can XP do what OSX does?

bytewrite — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:30:43 -0800

Is there a way to make Windows XP have something similar to the "show all windows" option in OSX? I noticed that XP has a "Tile Windows Vertically/Horizontally" option and once you do that there is an "undo tile" function that returns the windows to their original state. So it seems like the components are there.

Just to be clear, I would like to hit a button or a keyboard shortcut and all the windows tile (either way) and then when I click on a window that window comes to the foreground and then all the windows return to their previous location. None of the fancy animation or "greyed out" effect in OSX is necessary. Vista answers are no help to me.

Windows XP-Boot Camp-File Checking nonsense

mdonley — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:54:38 -0800

We are having a problem with hours-long file checks when booting into Windows XP (Home Edition, with SP2) via Boot Camp on an iMac running Leopard. Here's what happens when we restart the computer and seek to go into Windows:

- Restart
- Hold down Option key
- Choose Windows XP image
- Windows XP "loading" screen appears (with progress bar moving)
- Blue DOS-ish screen asking if we want to perform a file check to weed out corrupted files (I don't have the exact text), with the prompt to skip it by pressing any key
- Sometimes pressing the key works and XP finishes loading and the desktop appears...
- But sometimes it doesn't and we wait anywhere from 6 to 12 hours for the thing to finally get to the desktop!
- During the interminable wait, a tally of files and a percentage-complete figure are displayed on the screen, still in blue DOS-ish mode.

Some other details which might be helpful:

- This problem didn't occur for the first few weeks we had the computer (which we obtained last year);
- We have wiped the partition and reinstalled XP once, which didn't seem to help;
- The Windows side of things is used to play a MMORPG, Final Fantasy XI, the vast majority of the time, and might have some sort of third-party software installed, while the Mac side is more productivity-oriented;
- We have all the original installation stuff for both OS X and XP but would prefer to not lose all our data;
- The word "FAT32" seems to figure prominently in the blue-screened file checks and I'm not sure why after reading the Wikipedia page on FAT, unless this is some sort of defragmenting thing (though that may be a red herring).

Finally, this computer is mostly manned by a teenager (*points accusingly at non-MeFite brother*) who's heavy on the gaming and light on the technical details of how it all works; rare excursions into the brother's lair have been my only encounters with the problem. We use the computer for games, internet surfing, and light office stuff, so we haven't really tinkered under the hood; any step-by-step/simple explanations or advice you can offer would be fabulous.

If you can help us solve this we will, no joke, send you (edible) cookies.

Thanks!

Can I run a portable windows app on a G4 Mac?

penciltopper — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 10:53:16 -0800

Is there a way for me to run a USB-based portable Windows app on a G4 Mac? A friend recently introduced me to portable applications that run off a USB stick without having to be installed on, or leave files behind on, the actual PC.

I have found a few that have been handy to use at work, with no install rights on the XP box there. But I have a Mac at home, and I'd like to run at least one of the applications on it. It's a G4, not an Intel, so I can't do the Parallels or Boot Camp dance.

It's just one teensy little no-install, no-.ini, no registry, etc. executable. Is there a way I can run it on a Mac without buying a new Mac or spending 20 hours setting up some complicated virtualized windows system? Can I run it? Pleez? (makes sad puppy eyes)

My friend doesn't know Macs, but he mentioned something for linux called WINE that will run windows apps. Is there a WINE for OSX? That will work on a non-Intel Mac?

Dashboard = OSX, ? = XP

fox_terrier_guy — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:33:44 -0800

Determine the result please; Dashboard = Mac OSX, ? = Windows XP I REALLY like the OSX dashboard on my laptop, especially when hitting the F12 key it supercedes the present program, and gives me up to date info that I have installed.

But, what is the XP equivalent of Dashboard? Is there one, or am I pining for the fjords of Norway? I know that Firefox has add-ins for various functions, but I like the suspension of the existing operation and getting the info straight away. (If you use OSX, you will know what I mean). It would be nice to have the same functionality at work on my XP box.

Bonus marks for freeware/OSS.

Thanks to all who take the time to respond.

Printing woes on XP

sneakin — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 15:40:45 -0800

Apple Airport wireless printing problem: I am able to print wireless from my MacBook to our printer (via our Airport). My girlfriend, on the other hand, cannot. She has XP. I have read old AskMe threads and followed those instructions (like setting up printer sharing on her computer) but nothing has worked. When we try to print from her laptop, we get a dialogue box reading "the printer is offline." I am no Mac expert but I am DEFINITELY lost on how to deal with PCs. Thank you.

Whittle down my Palm to a Thumb?

bartleby — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:40:13 -0800

Cross-platform, portable PIM? Not wearing a winter coat anymore, I find my Palm T|X is larger than I want to carry. XP at work. OSX at home. Lots to keep track of, want to keep in sync both places.

So I've been using a Palm T|X with Palm Desktop in both places. There are some small hassles in differences between the Palm software for each OS, but they're manageable.

But lately I've been using a flash drive for PortableApps a lot, and finding that it's pretty cool, and it might be a smaller, easier to carry alternative to carrying the Palm back and forth every day. I'm finding that I don't update it on the fly as much as I thought I would, so just a portable PIM would work fine.

BUT...PortableApps doesn't work for OSX.

SO I either need

a) a portable app that's cross-platform (I can handle not being able to use the rest of the PortableApps functionality on OSX as long as I can drill down to a usable PIM app on the flash drive somewhere)

OR

b) a way to run the Portable Apps suite on OSX without spending tons of time/money on Virtual PC, etc. (The Mac is PowerPC, so no Parallels, dual-boot, etc possible.)

OR something I don't even know about yet, that y'all can suggest.

Anyone?

P.S. A piggyback on this - I could probably be convinced to keep carrying the Palm every day if I could find a way to use my Palm to watch the videos I get from my Mac's Democracy player. If there's a way to watch Ask a Ninja on my commute, it might be worth the bulging pockets.

I want to be able to preview jpegs on the desktop in Windows XP

jamietie — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 06:26:53 -0800

One thing I really like about OSX is the fact that when you have a jpeg on the desktop, you get a thumbnail preview. I run Windows XP, and I simply don't have the money for a new computer, let alone a Mac, though. Is there a program out there that will let me see thumbnail previews of jpegs on my desktop? I've tried DesktopX from stardock and while it did that, and was an interesting program, it ranged from kind of buggy to truly awful. So that's one option down.
Any thoughts for me?

Making Visual Teaching easier on XP (OSX equivalents needed

filmgeek — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:30:04 -0800

As a followup to this question (2 years ago)... I need in WinXP to have three features (and I'll take any of the three, preferably all). 1) Bordered Cursor (round ring, called Pinpoint for OSX). Bonus for a visual change when you click (and right click) 2) Key overlay like KeyCastr for OSX, showing the audience control/alt keys as you type them in an overlay. 3) Dynamic Zoom (yes, I know it's open gl based, I have only open GL cards) to push in. MacOS Universal Prefs.

Diabolical system font eye-strain! Is this the end for baking soda's peepers?

baking soda — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 11:15:44 -0800

Let's say I spend long hours staring at a computer screen where some of the fonts are too small and I have no way of increasing them, which creates a diabolical eye-strain device of reasonable fonts mixed in with unreasonable system fonts. I normally have no vision problems otherwise. Is this going to damage my eyesight if I keep it up? (Medical opinions and links to medical articles welcome). And is Leopard's "resolution independence" or anything else in Leopard going to bring OSX near to where XP is in terms of being able to increase the system fonts without lowering the resolution? (I'm using a Macbook Pro).

Some music doesn't load in iTunes for XP but works fine on Mac

TurkeyMustard — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 11:25:58 -0800

Some music copied from an Mac drive to a Windows drive doesn't load in iTunes on Windows XP. I have about 190GB of music (about 35,000 songs) on a FAT32 drive plugged into an ordinary tower Compaq via USB2. The music was formerly used in iTunes on Mac OS X 10.4.8 on a big HFS+ drive, but I copied it off to other drives, reformatted the big drive (which is less than three months old) as FAT32 and then copied the music back.

However, when I import the songs into iTunes for XP, only 90GB (about 19,000 songs) show up in the program. They all show up fine in iTunes for Mac OS X. Both are using the latest iTunes. I've tried numerous reimports with no luck. I've also tried a smaller drive, with a subset of files, but only part of those showed up in iTunes, too.

Thinking it might be a problem with copying, I've also copied the data over a second time to the drive reformatted as NTFS. I've also tried copying the data from Mac drives to the Windows drive using the Macdrive software to mount the Macs in Windows. I've also tried copying using SMB filesharing, using FTP, and using a weird Parallels-folder-sharing combo. All with no change in how many files import.

So, what I'm looking for is ideas on what might be the problem. Is it strange Mac-only characters or Mac-only names? I have a lot of international music with foreign characters. But shouldn't FAT32 handle accents, tildes, umlauts, and whatever just fine? Just in case, I ran a few scripts that clean up a bunch of strange characters, but it didn't seem to change the number of songs that would import.

Is it possible metadata embedded in files cannot be used? Some of the music probably does include metadata in various kinds of ID tags, and maybe also includes album art (though I have no way of determining that, I think).

Are there permissions or privileges that should be changed on the copied files?

Any ideas or tricks to try would be appreciated. I'm reluctant to just abandon 100GB of music.

Installing Bootcamp after installing Parallels

grumblebee — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 07:02:44 -0800

I'm running Parallels; I need to install Bootcamp. After using PCs for years, I've switched to a Mac. I tell you this so you'll know I'm new to Macs and have some big gaps in my knowledge.

I have a ton of money invested in PC software, so I installed Parallels and am happily bopping back and forth between Win XP (not Vista!) and OSX. Sadly, I've run into too many cases which Parallels isn't working for me -- mostly this involves peripherals (Wacom tablets, mics, etc.) So I'm thinking I might have better luck with a full XP partition and Bootcamp.

I've found a ton of info about installing Parallels once you have Bootcamp running but very little about the other way around. I'm assuming that installing Bootcamp won't be too hard, but then -- presumably -- I'll have two copies of Windows on my machine (the Parallels one and the Bootcamp one), and I don't want that. Should I back up my (Parallels) Windows data, uninstall Windows (how?), install Bootcamp with a fresh Windows install and then point Parallels to that one? Is there a better way?

I said 'hunt'

asok — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 04:22:18 -0800

Icon hunt. I am looking for icons related to networking and WiFi on XP and OSX. Just the standard XP and OSX icons, like the aerial with lines coming off it etc. My Google-fu is failing me.
The task bar icons are not .ico files AFAICT, at least Windows isn't finding them when I search for *.ico
I don't want to create icons, replace them, download a new library or mess with them in any way.
Preferably, the graphics will be in a format that I can open in windows.
A screen capture would suffice, but trawling Wifi setup guides has not produced any with the actual icons on.

Activating OSX Remote assistance via an IM chat

filmgeek — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 12:07:17 -0800

I need Apple's Remote desktop to be as easy as Remote Assistance in Windows Firewalls, routers, explaining to non tech people tech items.

Rarely do I want a feature that exists in windows. Here's one.

When I use MSN Messenger, I have the ability to have my friend "ask me for assistance"...and it (usually) works out the piping for the Remote Assistance product.

Is there a way to get the same sort of easy functionality in OSX? I have remote desktop, and it works great on a LAN, works great with a fixed IP...but I want it to "know' the ip of the person that's IMing me...and permit me to control their machine.

VNC isn't going to cut this (It's already built into OSX...in fact Remote desktop uses some of this.)

I'm looking for the "Invite someone else to control my computer" in a single click, without having to deal with network BS.

Help me choose a file server OS

humuhumu — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 10:35:34 -0800

Home network consists of two XP machines, an OSX laptop, and an Ubuntu laptop. Have just been given an old PIII to use as a file server. What OS should the file server run and what should I use to format the disks?

Intel Mac as a Windows game box?

nthdegx — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 08:25:36 -0800

Is an Intel Mac with Bootcamp and Windows a viable option as a Windows gaming box? It's not that I'd use a new Mac for Windows games only, of course, otherwise I'd just get a PC. Games are the only reason I keep a Windows box in the house. Do I need to any more?

Why won't my LAN and WAN play together?

holgate — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 08:10:20 -0800

I can share files over SMB on a local network, or do stuff on the internets -- but not at the same time. How can I make the LAN and WAN play nice? The kit: WinXP Pro serving the SMB shares, Linksys WRT54G router with HyperWRT, iBook connecting wirelessly.

I can mount the SMB shares on the iBook, but as soon as I do anything with the WAN -- browse the web, check email -- the connection drops like a stone. It means I can't transfer files or work with remote files without ensuring that I won't receive stray packets from the outside world. I've tried different router firmwares, checked firewalls, and done all the usual network diagnostics. Any idea what might be up?

Software RAID with external drives

joshgray — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 21:23:20 -0800

Experiences with software raid with external USB drives? XP and/or OSX? Ever have problems with the drives spinning down when not in use and the raid set breaking in the process? Does this shorten the life of the drives in any as compared to mounting internal of a case using IDE or SATA?

Cross platform video-chat software.

Wild_Eep — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 14:45:14 -0800

I have a Mac (10.4.5), my Dad has a PC (XP Home). We both have cable modems. We want to video chat. What apps can we use together? Bonus points if I can continue to use iChatAV. I've been playing around with my firewire-equipped camcorder this week, and got a one-way video conference going with my Mom some 75 miles away. (She's got a PowerBook). Now my Dad wants to join in the fun and see the grandchildren.

What apps exist for us which are cross platform and decent quality? I've read conflicting reports about AIM for PCs having poor video quality with iChat, when it works at all.

Yes, yes, I know I should just convince Mom to get an iSight, but is there hope for Dad?

How can I get my iPod to play nice with my PowerBook and my XP box?

keswick — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 16:30:42 -0800

One iPod (60 GB). One PowerBook. One XP Box. One keswick. How do I keep all four happy? Okay, I finally bought an iPod (60 GB) the other day. My 70 GB music collection resides on my XP box under my desk. I was able to cull my collection down to 55.8 GB for the iPod and got it loaded along with some smart playlists. I have it set to sync only certain playlists rather than automatic sync or manual sync.

My main computer, however, is my PB (also 60GB).

Here's a few things I'd like to be able to do. Maybe you can tell me if a) they're possible and b) how to do them.

I'd like to be able to some how administer my iPod's library on my Powerbook, because (apparently) you can only append comments (rather than replace/edit comments) via iTunes OSX.

I'd like to be able to create new smart playlists on my PowerBook and put them on my iPod.

Also, if possible, can I add the MP3s located on my XP box to my PowerBook's iTunes library without adding them to my PowerBook's drive?

Basically, I'd like to kick my XP box to the curb, proverbially speaking.

Mac Switch Question of the Week

pzarquon — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 02:01:19 -0800

Add me to the growing list of people planning to make the switch to a Mac. To those that have made the jump, how hard was it? And is it a losing proposition to buy now, with Intel-based machines coming around the bend? I know this is an AskMeFi FAQ, but I have some specific questions. Yes, it's a good idea to read the answers to simillar questions asked before. And I have, here, here, here, and here. And there are "switch" blogs, and "switch" books, but still. Mac stats change quickly, the Intel announcement is still reverberating across the web, and most importantly, AskMeFi seems to excel in giving great real-world answers specifically tailored to a hapless member's particular situation. So please humor me.

Where am I now? I'm sitting in a room with six Dell PCs with XP and one G4/350. A friend gave me the G4 for free for my daughter, and I find myself using it for odd things more and more often as my PCs tick me off. I spend a lot of time on the web, and do very basic web design, but I'm not a power user, I don't think. Mostly I work in straight HTML (how 1995 of me!), write, and dabble a bit with audio (podcast) and video.

Software: As you might imagine, I'm more afraid of the software issues than the hardware ones. I use Office (for work), Photoshop, and PageMaker (never upgraded to InDesign, if that's what the successor is called), and HomeSite (don't laugh) for HTML. I'm pretty sure HTML editors are abundant on the Mac, and some of the PC apps I use, like QuickTime Pro (basic video editing), Audacity (audio editing), and iTunes, are actually better on the Mac. Should I just bite the bullet and add Office and Photoshop to my shopping list? I guess I should go for iLife, to get GarageBand for my podcast and iMovie for my videoblog. Is the iWork Suite any good? (Since I guess PageMaker is dead on either platform.)

Integration/Transition: From what I can tell, a Mac will play fine with most PCs. Get to shared folders, print on shared printers. I figure I can leave all my documents, photos, and stuff on my PCs, and grab 'em over the network if I need them. But I think I'm screwed in one department: moving my iTunes library (and linked iPod) to the Mac. Yes? No? Any other pitfalls of the "moving over" part that I should be prepared for?

Hardware: Ah, the fun question. Firstly, am I dumb to buy now, with Intel-based Macs due next year? If not, then what? I was this close to picking up a Mac mini with 512MB RAM and a 20" Cinema Display today, but I knew that monitor was unfairly swaying me. I don't think my HTML work or e-mail will tax anything, but I do want to mess with Photoshop, with audio and video. From what I can see, most new Macs can do it, but since Apple puts so much emphasis on form factor, I really don't know functionally what's best for me. For what I was about to blow on the Mac mini setup, I could get a 17" G5. Or a 14" iBook. With a hardware budget of about $1,500, what would you get?

Yeah, that's "More Inside" all right. But hey, past questions were hard to answer for lack of detail, so... what the heck. Mahalo for any insights!

Keyboard Remapping in XP

keswick — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 12:28:44 -0800

I'm already to used to my new Mac's keyboard. Unfortunately, I have to use XP at work. Is there a (preferably free) keyboard remapping program for XP? The only one I've found is a six buck download via PCmag.com.

How to get XP desktop & OSX laptop to play nice in a LAN?

keswick — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 14:48:43 -0800

I'm getting an OSX laptop Monday after the keynote, and I'm trying to figure out how to get to place nice with my XP desktop.

What router would you recommend? I want something I can plug into my desktop that provides wireless for the laptop.

Will I be able to transfer documents back and forth between the the desktop and laptop?

Should I reformat my XP's HDs to an alternate format so the Mac can read/write? (FAT32, NTFS, whatever)

I'd like to be able to just run the desktop as a headless box, so I can use my current keyboard, mouse, and monitor on the xBook when I'm at my desk. Suggestions?

Would I be better off switching my XP box to a Linux box to accomplish all of the above? Any links to tutorials?

and why is this in Times New Roman?

Can I force this Lacie firewire drive to format as FAT32?

skylar — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 14:10:20 -0800

I've just bought a Lacie 160 gigabyte firewire drive. It's to be plugged into a Windows XP machine, but also to be written to and read by a Mac OSX machine. I want to format it with the FAT32 file system, but Windows won't let me. Is there a way to force the drive to format as FAT32? [More inside...] I've done this twice before, with two identical Lacie drives which are both FAT32. Hence I know that this file system works for me and want to make the third drive use the same system. Unfortunately, this time the New Partition Wizard will only let me make an NTFS partition - presumably because FAT32 doesn't support partitions over 32 gigabytes.

Is there a piece of software which will force Windows XP to format the drive as FAT32? It could be a Windows XP or Mac OSX application - but I'm not so keen on using command line interfaces. Oh... and I don't have a floppy drive of any sort. All ideas gratefully received... thanks.

Cross-Platform Collaboration

badstone — Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:48:43 -0800

Does anyone know of some good free collaboration software that runs on Mac AND Windows? VNC and NetMeeting don't have Mac versions.

Can mail be exported from Apple's email on OSX to a Windows XP box running Microsoft Outlook?

Macboy — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 09:30:06 -0800

Can mail be exported from Apple's email on OSX to a Windows XP box running Microsoft Outlook?