Mac OS 8.6, Third Edition (Visual QuickStart Guide) [Paperback]

Maria Langer (Author)

Book Description

Series: Visual QuickStart Guide | Publication Date: June 9, 1999

Coming on the heels of Mac OS 8.5, Mac OS 8.6 improves on the innovations of its predecessor. Among Mac OS 8.6's offerings are better stability and enhanced features, including an update to the powerful Sherlock find system, an improved help system, and souped-up multitasking and multiprocessing capabilities. Mac OS 8.6: Visual QuickStart Guide is a welcome update to Maria Langer's hot-selling Mac OS 8.5: VQS . Mac OS 8.6: VQS covers all that's new and notable in the latest version of the OS, using the same visual, step-by-step approach that makes the VQS series the one to count on when you need to get up and running fast.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

MacOS 8.6: Visual Quickstart Guide provides an excellent introduction to the mechanics of the latest version of the operating system used by Power Macs, Powerbooks, iMacs, and iBooks. It explains how to do pretty much everything with MacOS 8.6, including how to install MacOS 8.6, how to manipulate windows and icons, how to manage file and folders, and how to use the programs that come with MacOS 8.6. The author also does a great job of explaining how to connect a Mac to the Internet or to a group of other Macs on a local network (though more advanced users may wish for instructions on connecting with local Windows machines).

This book is similar to its (very good) predecessor, which dealt with MacOS 8.5. The similarity is warranted: The main differences between MacOS 8.6 and its immediate ancestor are improvements to the Sherlock search utility. Sherlock now presents Mac users with a list of Internet search sites and allows them to choose one for submitting search terms--a process that the book explains accurately. The other new features of MacOS 8.6 are either impossible to document (performance improvements) or beyond the level of this book (new features for AppleScript programmers). --David Wall

From the Back Cover

Coming on the heels of Mac OS 8.5, Mac OS 8.6 improves on the innovations of its predecessor. Among Mac OS 8.6's offerings are better stability and enhanced features, including an update to the powerful Sherlock find system, an improved help system, and souped-up multitasking and multiprocessing capabilities. Mac OS 8.6: Visual QuickStart Guide is a welcome update to Maria Langer's hot-selling Mac OS 8.5: VQS . Mac OS 8.6: VQS covers all that's new and notable in the latest version of the OS, using the same visual, step-by-step approach that makes the VQS series the one to count on when you need to get up and running fast.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 3rd edition (June 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201354721
• ISBN-13: 978-0201354720
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,694,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Maria Langer has been a freelance writer since 1990. She has written more than 75 books and hundreds of articles about using computers, software, and online services. She provides support for her work, as well as new content, on the Maria's Guides website. These days, she also writes about aviation and travel for a variety of print and online publications.

Maria is also a commercial helicopter pilot and owner of Flying M Air, a helicopter tour and charter company based in Arizona. Her company offers tours, day trips, multi-day excursions, and aerial photography services throughout the southwest.

And if that's not enough to keep her busy and out of trouble, she's also a serious amateur photographer. She shows off her best work on her photo gallery, Flying M Photos.

Maria blogs at Eclectic Mind, her personal journal of thoughts and experiences.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Just the Basics, September 29, 2000

By 

R. B. Morgan "Tech Aficionado" (Vermont USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mac OS 8.6, Third Edition (Visual QuickStart Guide) (Paperback)

This guide will be a help for persons who have little experience with the Macintosh operating system, but is mostly a waste of time for those who already understand the basics. The book goes through each of the menu functions step by step, with helpful images of the screens that are displayed with each step. However, the book fails to go beyond that, omitting any tricks or shortcuts, or truly highlighting the new features of OS 8.6 aside from a few pages in the introduction. For example, the book does not mention Sherlock Plug-Ins and where to find them, tell how to attach Apple Scripts to folders, or tell how to switch applications with Cmd-Tab keys.