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General


More About This Mac Pro,
offers an enhanced display of memory use based on the Finder’s About This Computer window (called About This Macintosh prior to MacOS 7.6).


Figure 1. The More About This Mac Window.

 

Opening More
About This Mac

This enhanced window can be opened from the Finder’s menu, in place of the Finder’s standard About This Macintosh window. Or, you can open More About This Mac Pro directly from the Control Panels folder).

 

What happened to
About This
Macintosh?

You can still access Apple’s standard About This Macintosh window: simply hold down the Shift key when selecting it from the Finder’s menu. Or, select Finder’s "About This Macintosh…" from the Window menu.

If you prefer to always open the standard About window when you select it from the Apple menu, you can disable the More About This Mac Pro substitution feature. For details, see the sections on Removing or de-installing More About This Mac Pro and Disabling More About This Mac Pro.

 

Available Memory

Starting in the header of the window, More About This Mac Pro provides additional information. Total Unused Memory is a new figure that is useful to be aware of. It indicates the sum total of unreserved memory currently available in the computer, as opposed to the Largest Unused Block which is just the size of the single largest block that is free. The Total Unused Memory, while useful for opening additional applications, is also available for dynamic expansion of applications already open and being optimized by RAM Charger. By watching the Total Unused Memory, you will know when free memory is running low and avoid running into problems. This gives you time to plan your actions accordingly, minimize disruptions, and keep on working. Use Balloon Help to see explanations of the values displayed in the header.

 

Memory Bars

More About This Mac Pro displays the applications’ icons, names, and actual memory usage in a numeric and bar graph representation. Each bar represents memory reserved for the named application. It is divided between memory used (dark segment) and memory available (light segment). Whenever you point at one of the bars, more details of the corresponding application’s memory use are listed at the bottom of the window (see Figure 1).

Bars that are displayed with a fuzzy right hand end represent applications that are RAM Charged and have the ability to grow and shrink, as needed.

Normally the bars are drawn to a scale where the largest application’s bar just fills the width of the window. However, by clicking just to the left of a bar (where the magnifying glass cursor appears), all the bars are scaled so the one being examined just fills the width of the window.

If there are any bars whose scaled size makes them wider than the window, they are displayed with a break near the end.

 

Application Switcher

Have you ever double-clicked on a application’s icon in the About This Macintosh window and then were disappointed when the application did not come to the front? Most people have. It seems very intuitive that the applications listed there should respond and open just like they do in other lists. Now, with More About This Mac Pro, this will work as you would expect.

In addition to its use as an information display the More About This Mac window may also be used as a simple application switcher or launcher. Clicking to the left of an application’s icon (where the check mark cursor appears) will bring the corresponding application to the front. Double clicking anywhere else in an application’s entry will also bring it to the front. The application that is currently active (in front) will always be marked with a check to the left of its icon, similar to what you are familiar with in the application menu.

 

Hide On
Close

 

When the Hide On Close option in the File menu is enabled More About This Mac Pro is hidden whenever its About window is closed. When brought back to the front, the window is reopened. With this option disabled, closing the About window simply quits the program, releasing all of the memory it was using.

 

Activity log

More About This Mac Pro can track your use of applications in an activity log. After selecting Start Activity Log from the File menu, you use a standard directory dialog box to open or create a log file. Whenever an application is opened or closed, it records its name and the date and time of the action. Activities are recorded only while More About This Mac Pro is kept open. To stop this logging process, select Stop Activity Log from the File menu.

 

(MOpGenA -- 03/03/98)



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Copyright © 1995-98 Jump Development Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Jump, OptiMem, RAM Charger, and More About This Mac are trademarks of Jump Development Group, Inc. Apple and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.