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Solutions: Shameful support by Mac and PC

Q. I fell for the commercials and bought an iMac with the Tiger operating system. I also had Windows XP installed. I owned two HP LaserJet printers, both three months old. I was aghast when there were no drivers available for either printer for use with the Mac. Very shortly I found a number of small problems, such as the Windows XP side having no sound, and it would not play DVDs. I took it back and they could not fix it. I then called Apple and was told since I had Windows installed they could not help me, I would have to call Microsoft. I did this and Microsoft said they couldn't help me as it was a Mac. Why is Apple touting this great new computer that will run both systems when they know there is no support if there are problems? I finally gave up and returned the iMac but had to pay a 15 percent restocking fee. What a ripoff! Apple needs to do some work on their service department and customer relations.

By John Torro, Times Correspondent
Published January 14, 2008

Q. I fell for the commercials and bought an iMac with the Tiger operating system. I also had Windows XP installed. I owned two HP LaserJet printers, both three months old. I was aghast when there were no drivers available for either printer for use with the Mac. Very shortly I found a number of small problems, such as the Windows XP side having no sound, and it would not play DVDs. I took it back and they could not fix it. I then called Apple and was told since I had Windows installed they could not help me, I would have to call Microsoft. I did this and Microsoft said they couldn't help me as it was a Mac. Why is Apple touting this great new computer that will run both systems when they know there is no support if there are problems? I finally gave up and returned the iMac but had to pay a 15 percent restocking fee. What a ripoff! Apple needs to do some work on their service department and customer relations.

A. I took a lighthearted poke at Macs two weeks ago and sure enough I received a few passionate letters from some angry Macphiles. I find the whole rivalry thing silly. A computer is no different from any other appliance - whatever works best for you is the correct choice. Both platforms have their share of problems. Don't buy the marketing hype. However, there is one thing that won't be changing anytime soon: As long as Windows is more than 92 percent of the marketplace, there will always be more compatible software and hardware for Windows PCs rather than Macs. With all other things being equal, why would you want to limit yourself? Apple and Microsoft should be ashamed of the nonsupport they gave you.

Q. Please help me rid myself of a daily annoyance. Is there a way to navigate back to the Google results page after clicking on a link and sublinks without having to click the Back arrow any number of times? Doing a Google search led me to Google bookmarks and tagging, but only with a personal account. I don't know if that's the answer. I don't want to have to sign on.

A. There are at least a couple of ways to do this. One is the often ignored Recent-Pages arrow button to the right of the main Back arrow button. Clicking the Recent-Pages button presents a drop-down list of the past 10 or so pages you visited. You can click the page you want to navigate to, such as the Google results page. Another option would be to right-click the link on the search results page and choose "Open in New Tab" or "Open in New Window." This would keep your original results in a separate tab.

Q. When looking for a listing in Add/Remove Programs, I saw Metaframe Presentation Server Web Client for Win32. I couldn't find info on it. What is it? Should I ignore it?

A. Citrix MetaFrame is an application for hosting or delivering applications from Windows-based servers to remote users. The Presentation Server Web Client is part of this. One of its uses is to allow multiple users to share a common application based on a remote Windows server. It is legitimate software, but only you can tell whether it's necessary for some application on your PC. It is not a standard part of Windows, so it is something that you or one of your applications installed.

Send questions to personaltech@sptimes.com or Personal Tech, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. Questions are answered only in this column.

[Last modified January 11, 2008, 21:30:30]