*&%$*^##^!!! Stupid Apple software!

Don't use AppleWorks, because it doesn't.

Just use TextEdit. It works better than AppleWorks does.

You used Word on your PC, why not on your mac?


Buy it, it is the way to go for typing papers unless you have quark or indesign...because you CAN use them but they are layout programs. I used to use Quark on OS 9 because it was tons better then word.

Yeah. It's because it's an apple.
I guess that's why all of my applications do it all the time. Oh wait. No they don't.


We would need more info. Repairing permissions is a good place to start.

wow, FIRST problem, and your family is about ready to turn around and ignore your investment?!? that seems a bit extreme...

gregg, there are too many variables that you haven't mentioned yet fo anyone here to offer any help. for instance:

is the mac still using exactly the same software as came with it out of the box?
have you applied all os updates?
have you installed other pieces of software? shareware? freeware?
how much ram do you have installed?
have you or anyone in your family added their own fonts?
has appleworks always done this, or only recently?
did you internet service provider place any additional software on your disk? do you have classic running?
do you have the latest driver software for all of your devices?
do you have any peripherals attached?
do they require drivers and/or software to run?
are you running the latest versions? check versiontracker.com or the vendor's user forums online to see if anyone else has had a similar problem.
what exactly are you doing in appleworks when it quits? if you tell me your kid is trying to copy/paste a 200 mb quicktime file into his/her school project, then i got a good guess as to where the problem lies.
also, as someone else said, run drive setup and repair permissions on the main drive.

also, now might be a good time to back up your email and back up all documents that have been created that you want to save. then take the software restore and install cd that came with your computer, and do an "archive and install" (under the "options..." button during the install). then when you are setting up the computer again, get online and apply all updates as necessary in one fell swoop. then make sure you make a spare "clean" user... call it "troubleshooting" or something (and for god's sake, make it password protected so that others in your family don't go mucking around in it behind your back for fun or curiosity -- loved and trusted family members can still do some achingly stupid things). now, with this clean user profile available, if this (or any other odd behavior) ever happens again, you can switch to a clean, unadulterated user profile and see if the problems come back. if it goes away, it may be troublesome pref's and a clean user profile will set everything right.

y'see, you've got a lot of other work and questions to answer before you (and everyone else in your family) can throw up your arms in the air and go back to a pc. at least you never have to worry about fake microsoft patches or outlook email worms getting on your system.

but just because the mac is good doesn't mean it takes care of itself.

Explain to your wife that Appleworks is an old app, and that you cant blame it since it came free.

Try:

InDesign
Word for Mac
Illustrator

Sorry for your trouble - I can sympathize (see a thread posted by me on a similar topic -- lost many hours of work thanks to a schizophrenic AppleWorks overwriting my file with an AutoSave cached document).

Just don't use it unless your doing an outline, as this is only advantage I've found in the program (it has incredible built-in outlining features that are much more straightforward than Word's).

Getting an eMac with a G4 or something else like that (perhaps a used G4 tower, etc.) will improve her impression, too.

If you must use AppleWorks, make sure you apply the 6.2.7 Update for Mac OS X. AppleWorks behaves somewhat more nicely if you're using the latest version.

If you're writing simple documents, TextEdit should save time. It's rock solid. Personally, I'm fond of Nisus Writer Express, which is a very nice, simple word processor that's offered free for a 30-day trial.

Get RagTime Solo for free!

http://www.ragtime-online.com/

Don't forget to repair permissions using Disk Utility. And get the latest AppleWorks update.

some of you folks have a really low threshold of pain when it comes to troublshooting. can't print? switch to quarkxpress! crashes occasionally? sue apple! it won't use all 200 fonts my son downoaded frm his school's server! where's that number for gateway???

sheesh, people. you either have a lot of money, someone else footing the bill, or zero patience (or all of the above). at least since you have one student in the family (your child), you are eligible for the academic ms office, but seriously, if you have corrupt fonts, it'll "unexpectedly quit" just as fast as appleworks will. you have to suck it up, put a little bit of time into it, try what i mentioned above, and tell your wife i said to calm down (yeah, like that'll work... sound slike she was just waiting for an excuse to give up). who knows? you might also learn something along the way.

p.s. why isn't this in genius bar?

Many users have posted suggestions and asked for more details about your set-up. But you haven't commented. Why is that?

1) Did you install the latest Appleworks update?
2) Have you installed any 3rd party apps/haxies/widgets that might be causing problems?
3) Have you installed 3rd party RAM or other hardware upgrades? The number one source of strange phenomena and crashing Macs is bad RAM.

Ya appleworks sucks because it is ancient... Apple software, like Soundtrack, Final Cut, iApps, Keynote, and everything else is awesome that you can never take me away from them... so dont say that Apple Software sucks

Appleworks: Quit the program, trash the preferences in ~/library/preferences and then reboot.

Lexmark X63: Seems to be unsupported by Lexmark. Unless there's a 3rd party solution, you'll either have to print in classic (you are running OS X?) or fork out $50 for a cheapo printer at Staples or something.

Crashing System: You're going to need to boot up from the install disk and run the repair disk permissions utility. In addition, Alsoft's DiskWarrior ($80) is invaluable. Highly worth the money.

Appleworks should run more stably, though. At any rate, you may want to consider purchasing the student edition of Office. I believe it's about $150. Well worth the investment.

Cheers
Scott

Currently $124.99 (free shipping) at Amazon.

Wow. I take it back. That printer's not supported on the Mac AT ALL.

Jeez.

Hang on, you just recently switched to mac, yet you have a powerbook, g5 AND an ibook? since the g5 only started shipping to mere mortals a few weeks ago, you either had those other models for a while (and had some semblance of a clue what you were getting into), OR you just radioed apple to back the truck up to your doorstep, and you forked over a ton of money all at once. or you are lying (sp?) your ass off.

you're like one of those people who buy box set cd's. "wow, i don't own any aerosmith. now i want to own ALL aerosmith!" does your family have any sense of restraint or degree? and you spent how much money on all this new hardware, yet didn't even check to see if your printer was compatible? a newbie user, i would excuse on such an issue, but this is beginning to sound like your family has "more money than sense." you certainly have a budget that can afford to buy a new printer and a copy of the educational office for os x.

and you are now just having problems with one application??? and you are having lots of problems on all of these machines, huh?

anyone smell a rat here? 'cause i sure do. \

Let me know befor you switch back, I will make you an off for all of that old junk.

lol.... ya same here... id like to purchase that junk immediately...

hahahah... I smell a troll here... read rok's post 2 posts up...

I smell but giving the benefit of the doubt. I sure hope you are legit greg because either 1)you are the unluckiest mac user out there, or 2)you are full of it


Everything bad seems to be happening to you \ Hope things perk up!

AppleWorks is not God's gift to application design (to understate), but patched up to the latest version it's stable and predictable. I know that a ~300 page novel is being written in AppleWorks, and it handles the large document with aplomb, and with no problems.

If you're crashing a lot:

1) Repair permissions (use Disk Utility);

2) If that doesn't work, trash the preferences of the offending applications as explained above;

3) Make sure you don't have faulty RAM by removing modules one at a time and trying the system without each one. Apple's RAM is good (it's Crucial RAM) but there was a report on MacInTouch of a faulty Apple RAM module (I've only seen that one, though), so it can happen;

4) Run DiskWarrior on your drive.

If that doesn't work, then something is hosed somewhere. It's hard to believe that would happen on three machines, though. I have noticed that Macs don't fare well in the hands of PC techs, because they're too fond of mucking around down in the plumbing in order to change or fix things. You don't have to do that.

Probably because it's a junky printer. And a discontinued one at that.

Yup

Calling everyone jerks is not the way to get help and the software forum is not here for you to rant in. Some people might have called you a rat/troll, because we have a lot of Windows trolls who frequent here and just sit here and create Apple hate threads which this one is turning into.

You can't expect Apple to be perfect in every aspect, and then hate them when you have problems, work around them, because the problems will be far less then Windows. Geesh.

My experience has been that I have not been forced to reboot from a system crash yet. An application will quit leaving the system fine and still usable. I can probably count the time that has happened on three hands. So if your wife meant that her dell never gave her the ability to continue without rebooting, she's right.

In fact, I sometimes just reboot after weeks or months to make sure the function still works, you never know when that function may be needed.

His comments have been level-headed and perfectly justified. And for the record, he didn't call everyone jerks. Go back and read his posts again and this time don't project trollish intentions into your interpretation.

Sheesh, seems like a lot of misdirected anger floating around these days. \

Did you get the problem solved? I'm actually interested in fixing your poor, wounded computers. You're right that you shouldn't be having these kinds of problems, but as others have said, this is indicative of other problems.

I used AW to write about half of my dissertation and never had a crash. I still recommend getting DiskWarrior.

Cheers
Scott

hey gregg, sorry about the comment. i just noticed several inconsistencies, not too much dialog from your side of the story, and a fair amount of high-drama associated with the story.

i figured, as another poster said, that this was an instance of passive-aggressive trolling, where someone was using our own need to help someone else against ourselves by putting us in a difficult position, with little-to-no information to work with, and a platform switchBACK on the line if we fail (and potentially over a false set of circumstances at that).

maybe i am just paranoid, gregg. i blame the other trolls who have made me this way. \

um, not if they are on the same network. trust me, their EULA might say it's okay, but you try to put two computers with the same office serial on the same network at the same time, even if its TWO DIFFERENT PROGRAMS (e.g. word running on the desktop mac, and entourage checking email on the ibook), office will shut down on you immediately. i speak from wrestling with this for months earlier this year.

As I recall, one of the recent downloadable updates to Office removed the network check because it was seen as a security vulnerability.

There is a good market for that stuff on ebay

well, is it a preference i can check somewhere? hey, i read the same thing you did in conjunction with one of the previous updates, but it does not seem to be working.

i can tell you that because i just reinstalled BOTH my dual g4 and pismo powerbook, and installed my wife's copy of office on both with the same serial number. i had entourage open on her machine, and when i fired up word, it said to the effect "sorry, another installation of office has been found with the same serial number. this copy will be shutting down." i have installed, every update they offered... 10.1.2, 10.1.3, 10.1.4, 10.1.5, and sundry other specific smaller updates in between.

by the book, yet it still doesn't work. i guess i could call and complain to them, as it is a legit copy of office purchased through her school.

hey gregg, seriously, you are doing everything by the book. when you have shelled out as much money as you have, i would start using "alternate" serial numbers.