What’s Already on Your Mac

It is said that “although features in the Universal Access pane are generally targeted to Mac users with disabilities, non-disabled users may also find some of these features useful.” One such feature reads “Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present.”

Not all of us can accurately use the trackpad on a portable Mac, and we prefer to use a mouse as we always did. But we don’t consider ourselves to be handicapped and we never investigate the Universal Access pane. But an errant hand or piece of clothing can easily activate the trackpad when we are typing, which is extremely annoying. How do we turn off the trackpad? One would logically expect it to be in the Trackpad preferences pane, but surprisingly there is nothing there. It is instead hidden in the Universal Access pane. Maybe it should be in both.

—John P. Bethell

MacMuser: Here We Go Again

Take the hint!

It is way past time to go paperless. The forest critters will thank you.

—PhillyG

• • •

Glad to hear you’re still using an 8500. I have one I bought second-hand, and, unlike yours, it’s used for all the “grunt” work because of the low cost-per-page. The duplexer is dead, or at least, it unfailingly jams on first page; I have an unused Apple-branded toner cart that won’t work just because some tiny bit of plastic has broken off inside. When this printer gives up the ghost I haven’t the…er, ghost of an idea of what I’ll replace it with.

—Steve Rickaby

Next Actions: GTD for iOS/iPad

There is a new free cross-platform (Mac/Win/iOS) general task manager called Wunderlist.

Feature-wise it is relatively spare (but has most all of what I need), and it features online synchronization, sharing, and has a well-designed interface. Their support site has been responsive, and the application is very stable for me (including iPhone sync.)

—Steve Lang

• • •

You are performing a valuable service, Ed.

After much dithering, I have begun using the excellent Circus Ponies Notebook. Still trying to bend a couple of GTD templates to my will, but I may not have the discipline necessary to make me an effective acolyte of David Allen’s principles. Nevertheless, it’s a useful and flexible program.

—anonymous

• • •

Thanks for this series—always appreciated.

I have started working with Pagico, which so far works cross-platform nicely using Dropbox to sync. Their support was very responsive with a contact importing issue. They do not yet have an iOS application but are working on it.

—Wade Staddon

AccountEdge and FirstEdge

Super helpful review for those of use trying to find a good, easy-to-use accounting solution, with payroll, and for Macs. Thank you!

—Katie-Jay Scott

We’d love to hear your thoughts about our publication. We always welcome your comments, criticisms, suggestions, and praise. Or, if you have an opinion or announcement about the Macintosh platform in general, that’s OK too. Send your e-mail to editor@atpm.com. All mail becomes the property of ATPM and may be edited for publication.