Scrivener ONLY Types Red (or some other color).

Scrivener ONLY Types Red (or some other color).

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Scrivener is one of the best creative writing software programs.  Its power is most pronounced when the writer has problems bringing together lots of project components.  The cork board method really works for some people and I am one of those person’s.  With any powerful program, one occasionally comes across a problem that vexes.  The following e-mail exchange should cover one problem that was driving me nuts.  (March 18, 2012, Scrivener version 2.2)

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Scrivener customer support,

I think I set up Scrivener to insert color as a revision tool so I can view black as being my first writing effort and then red as my new changes.  I did this change some time ago and forgot how I accomplished this change.  For the life of me I can NOT get the red text to change back to black AS I WRITE.  I can change the color to black AFTER it is typed as red, which is most annoying.  I have tried preferences, menu bar text color change, perused forums, and conducted Google searches but nothing fixes the problem.  Any ideas? 

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Hi Score Card,

The way that revision colors work is that you enable a particular “Revision Mode,” and it stays in effect until you change to a new revision mode.

To turn off the revision color:

Format->Revision Mode->None

To remove the existing red text:

Format->Revision Mode->Remove All Revisions

Hope this helps!

-Jeff

Literature and Latte Support

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Jeff responded to my e-mail the same day and within hours of sending.  I sent the e-mail on Sunday and was most surprised that I got a response so quickly.  I asked him how he was able to get back with me so quickly and on Sunday?

As for why I am working on Sunday, we are a small group but we are spread out all over the world and we are all on different schedules, so it is possible that you might get a response from one of us at any time of the day or night!

-Jeff

Literature and Latte Support

Syria Revolution May Require Tyrannicide

Syria Revolution May Require Tyrannicide

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How many people must die to awaken your political sensitivities?

Please ask yourself to what degree do you value humane life?   Apply a hypothetical test as follows:

  1. Ask yourself how many people does it take to put up a stop sign at an intersection where people have died as a result of traffic accidents?
  2. Ask yourself how may people need to die before a particular drug that has been found to kill is removed from the store shelves?
  3. Ask yourself how many children need to die from contaminated drinking water before it needs to be remedied or replaced?
  4. Ask yourself how many people need to die before a politician who kills his own people is removed?

Current Syrian status [February 23, 2012]:

  • Syrian people killed: 1,200 to 3,000 (estimated)
  • News reporters killed: 10
  • Syrian military defected: 10,000 (estimated) [Note: The Syrian military has about 296,800 active personnel and 354,000 reserves.

We call for the removal, by any means, of Bashar Assad and his cronies.  We further call for evidence to be compiled from all sources including refugees forced to flee Syria to determine a case for war crimes against any member of the political, judicial, police, and military personnel of that country.  We further call for reparations be paid to individuals and businesses that were harmed by this alleged genocide taking place in Syria.

Best Buy and Kaspersky Anti Virus

Best Buy and Kaspersky Anti Virus

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When  I purchased my new Toshiba Satellite laptop a few years ago I got an incentive deal to have Kaspersky Anti Virus software installed on my computer from Best Buy.  The deal sounded sweet but my son, an IT student, said I was nuts because Windows 7 had pretty good anti virus protection.  I had already agreed to the minimal introductory cost.  Then January 17, 2012 I get an automatic renewal notice warning me that I am to be charged a lot more money, $39.99.  By mistake I forgot to stop this auto renewal.  February 16, 2012 I get a notice that I have been charged $43.09 instead of $39.99.  I called Best Buy to cancel.  The lady I talked to said she would stop the auto renewal.  I asked if I was still going to pay the yearly fee and she said yes, for 2012.  I told her that I was being charged $43.09 for this product which they failed to show might be for tax.   I told her I would go on the Internet and cost their company well over two hundred dollars profit with my pending reviews.  She seemed most intelligent because she told me she would transfer me to Account Maintenance person and they would remove the charges.  The phone, after about five minutes of waiting, went to dial tone and off the hook beeping but I stayed on the line, thinking this was a plot to get rid of me.  The phone noise soon quit and I hear some distant voices and then the same women came on the line to apologize and said she would hand me over to the Account Maintenance person.  Another women came on the line and said very little.  She knew that I wanted the charges to be dropped and she said she completed that task after about two minutes.

Lessons learned:  I recommend that you do NOT activate automatic renewals on any product unless you are damned sure you need it.  If you do have automatic renewals activated on any product, make a list and put it with your will and any documents people will read when you die.  This is so your survivors will know that your estate will be charged those fees year after year.  Also make note of the exact renewal month and day so the executor of your estate can take action to cancel before the renewal takes effect.

Next Tip:  Make sure you document the date you canceled your renewal and how it was done.  You may need this information if the cancellation fails to go through.

Next Tip: Also confirm that you are not charged after the date of cancellation.  I have found out that a common business scam is to continue automatic withdrawals after you cancel memberships.  I know of athletic clubs, and Internet social network that have complaints of this practice.  I personally use SplashID to list all my subscriptions and notices of any payment and cancellations as well as membership information.  (I am not completely happy with SplashID but I have not found anything better so far.)

Next Tip:  Consider replacing your antivirus software for Windows 7 with these two software items:

Sandisk Sansa Clip Zip 8GB SDMX22-008G-A57KC Review

Sandisk Sansa Clip Zip 8GB SDMX22-008G-A57KC Review

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Reviewed 2/11/2012
Update: 3/25/2012
Purchased at COSTCO
Cost: $54.99 prior to tax
Recommendation: We do NOT recommend this unit due to the FM radio (read review) failures.

Installation software was incredibly slow and unresponsive.  Windows software really does suck.  It took FOREVER to load this software and repeated mouse clicks to get it to respond.
The lack of Macintosh support seems a flaw at first but you really do NOT need their stupid Windows software at all except for firmware upgrades.
The firmware upgrade portion was flawed in our opinion.  We never got confirmation that it installed properly.
Promotion of Rhapsody Software, in our opinion is also flawed.  They want you to pay a monthly charge to keep listening to your music.  This may work if you are part of the one percent.  We have a better solution, revealed later.
The lack of iTunes interface is a big negative.  They obviously are pushing their monthly charges to use Rhapsody.  This reminds me of the banking industry, that relies on fees to make their business oligarchs wealthy.  The Apple solution is more elegant.  Pay for the audio you buy, allow already paid CD’s to be loaded into your device.  No monthly payments are required.

Our solution for gaining control of your music and full control of your Sansa also allows Macintosh, Linux and  Windows users to use this device.

  • Simply plug the player into your computer with the USB cable.
  • Wait to see the player mount as an external hard drive.
  • Open the SANSA CLIPZ drive to reveal the internal folders.
  • Double click, thus open, the MUSIC folder.
  • Copy any MP3 music into that folder including folders holding that music.

Your Sandisk will show the music you just installed thus avoiding the Rhapsody Software jail cell.

Sandisk web site does show you how to transfer from iTunes: http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1141/~/transferring-music-files-to-the-sansa-player-using-itunes-on-a-mac-computer

In summary, we do NOT recommend that you buy this device if you want to maintain full control of your music collection using the Rhapsody Software solution provided by Sandisk. UPDATE:  We further find this device to be flawed in that the FM radio failed in 2 out of 2 test units.

  • The FM radio is simply wonderful.  (UPDATE: The FM radio failed after about 2 weeks.  I returned the unit for another unit at COSTCO and the FM radio failed after a few weeks)
  • The audio quality is very good.
  • The operation menu system used to navigate the Sansa Clip is ok.
  • The size is fantastic,really small.

Note: To get the radio stations to properly load, I had to tell the device to scan two or three times to reveal all the stations.  The reason for this is you have to press the side arrow key to perform the scan but IF the next station is near the current station it will not be found because your finger is pressing the scan button.  Almost all the stations showed their station letters which was a real surprise.

Note: If the manufacturer can solve the FM radio going bad, we would then recommend this unit.

Managing Macintosh Mail Aliases

Managing Macintosh Mail Aliases

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A long time ago when I had a .Mac account, I decided to create an alias for a community web site.  I do not remember when but all of a sudden I viewed pop up small windows showing that there was a problem with one of my aliases.  I resolved this issue by deleting a number of SMTP servers.  But I also wanted to manage the aliases that I had set up.

Alias Modify Procedure

Open Mail and select that application so the computer screen shows that menu at the top of the screen.

Next to the apple icon in the upper left corner of your computer screen is the menu option Mail and when your mouse clicks on that word “Mail” which will reveal a pull down menu selection.  Please choose iCloud from the Accounts along the left side.  You have three selection tabs on the center right.  Choose Account Information.  This part of the screen is chopped up with thin lines into four sections.  Look at the top section with the label Account Type: IClouid IMAP.  Now three lines down you should see “Edit Email Aliases…”

This image shows the mouse click button to activate the portal to iCloud and email aliiases.
Button you need to find to activate a look at your e-mail aliases.

 

Mouse click on this button.  This will activate a web browser and send you to your iCloud login page.  Login to your iCloud account by entering Apple ID and your password.  Your apple ID is your mac mail address “<name>@me.com”.  Select Accounts button.

 

Image shows steps to manage alias.
Screen shows alias modification entry point
Macintosh Mail Rejects Password For SMTP Server

Macintosh Mail Rejects Password For SMTP Server

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A long time ago when I had a .Mac account, I decided to create an alias for a community web site.  I do not remember when but all of a sudden I viewed pop up small windows showing that there was a problem with one of my aliases.

Image shows a SMTP server error because a password is required.
SMYP Server error

 

There may be TWO issues to contend with to fix this problem.  I will only address the SMTP Server issue in this post.

First issue:
Here is the major clue to finding the cause to this problem.
The SMTP server “smtp.me.com” rejected the password for user “xxxxxxxxxx”

So we are looking for SMTP server items to examine and resolve.  I really do think this was the solution.  I found that I had to delete a number of SMPT Servers.

SMTP Server Procedure

Open Mail and select that application so the computer screen shows that menu at the top of the screen.

Next to the apple icon in the upper left corner of your computer screen is the menu option Mail and when your mouse clicks on that word which will reveal a pull down menu selection.  Select Accounts from the list at the top of the splash screen.  Make sure that Account Information tab is selected.  Look down to the line showing this label: “Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)”.  Look at the far right of the information within that selection.  You should see up very microscopic up and down arrows.  This means that mouse clicking this line of text should display more offerings.  My computer showed 31 SMTP servers.
At the bottom of this long list (long for me) is the option to “Edit SMTP Server List …”

Choose “Edit SMTP Server List …”.  I found that I had 2 .Mac SMTP servers and 2 .Me SMTP servers on the list.  Question is, which one is causing the problem.  I never knew for sure.  I will delete one after another until I get results.  Select the server you want to get rid of and then mouse click on the negative “-” sign at the bottom of the server listing.  (I modified the server list below to hide my servers).

 

Two steps to delete SMTP Servers
Shows how to delete SMTP servers.

Whenever I tried to click on the minus sign to delete a SMTP server – I got an error message.

 

Couild Not Save Changes
SMTP Server Rejected The Password.

 

I selected .Mac Account but I got an error message.
I selected smtp.me.com and got an error message.
I selected another smtp.me.com and it completed.

So, in other words, I selected one after another SMTP server and wanted to add each one in turn to be deleted.  When I got to 3 servers it worked.  Problem for you is correctly selecting the correct ones.

I was asked if I wanted to save and I agreed.  Then all of a sudden a whole bunch of  e-mail messages popped up with “Cannot send message” splash screens.

This screen shows could not send error message
A “could not send” error message that provides a list of servers (removed) to choose from.

 

I chose “Always Use This Server” after selecting iCloud as the correct new server.

I thought everything was solved because I no longer had the pop up small screen showing that there was a SMTP Server error.   But, all of a sudden, I had a whole bunch of very old e-mail messages that showed with the list of SMTP servers to choose from to sent the message.  I just deleted each message because they were so old and most embarrassing to have them sent now.

I rebooted Mail and I never viewed a pesky window telling me that the “SMTP server “ rejected the password.

I would like to thank Awesome Dude, the technical support fellow at Apple Computer who stayed with me for over an hour trying to figure this out.