Techsurvivors

Welcome to Techsurvivors => Tech => Topic started by: Steve_J on December 20, 2013, 02:01:55 PM

Title: Cold Mouse
Post by: Steve_J on December 20, 2013, 02:01:55 PM

I've been having a problem with my mouse freezing  of late. It just quits working and the only way to fix it, without rebooting, is to unplug it from the USB port and plug it back in. It then works fine, for a while, until the next time and I go through the process again. I have not added any software recentlyand there does not seem to be any particular pattern to the lockouts. Any ideas?

I have a MacMini running OSX 10.6.8 with 8 GB of RAM. The mouse is plugged into my keyboard which is plugged into the MacMini.

Title: Cold Mouse
Post by: jchuzi on December 20, 2013, 02:35:23 PM

Plug the mouse into a different USB port on the keyboard, if there is one. Alternatively, try plugging the mouse directly into the Mini or using a different USB port on the Mini for the keyboard.

Title: Cold Mouse
Post by: Xairbusdriver on December 20, 2013, 07:50:35 PM

Likewise, plug the keyboard into a different port on the mini.

Do you have another USB mouse? Might give it a try, also.

Title: Cold Mouse
Post by: Steve_J on December 22, 2013, 08:48:07 PM

I plugged the mouse directly into my MacMini and it has been running two days with no freezing. Looks like my mouse is warm again.

Different problem. I have a friend who has been sending files with the name ending in ".numbers". I haaven't been able to open them with anything. So what is a ".numbers" file?

Title: Cold Mouse
Post by: krissel on December 23, 2013, 01:46:15 AM

That's the file extension for the spreadsheet program (Numbers) from Apple in iWorks.  It replaces the Appleworks spreadsheet of long ago (well, not so long ago).

Title: Cold Mouse
Post by: Steve_J on December 23, 2013, 03:51:19 PM

QUOTE(krissel @ Dec 22 2013, 11:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's the file extension for the spreadsheet program (Numbers) from Apple in iWorks.  It replaces the Appleworks spreadsheet of long ago (well, not so long ago).

Is there any program, other than Numbers, that will open those files?

Title: Cold Mouse
Post by: Xairbusdriver on December 23, 2013, 04:18:38 PM

Probably not. But the sender can help by saving the files as an Excel file (which you can then open in Excel or Numbers). Numbers (the original version) was available (may still be) from the App Store for ~$20. The new version is free, but it has less capabilities than the original. Even the original is more limited than Excel but much easier to use and design as it's made for Mac, not a bunch of geeks in Redmond. And, since it's already a Numbers file, why not install the app and see if it's useful for you? Disregard. I do NOT recommend paying even $10 for the 'new' version of Numbers, even though I haven't even used it. I have made the mistake of 'updating' Pages. I then deleted it (as well as Numbers and Keynote)! I know get almost constant requests to install the new 'updates' which are crippled versions of the originals. This has cause enormous damage to Apple's reputation, IMHO. The only apparent reason to cripple the desktop versions was to make things work the same on iOS and OSX. Stupid, shortsighted, illogical, frustrating! I'll not express my real opinion on this family-friendly forum.

There are hints that Apple has realized its mistake and is bringing back some of the lost functionality. So far, nothing encouraging.

Title: Cold Mouse
Post by: Steve_J on December 23, 2013, 05:31:27 PM

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Dec 23 2013, 02:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Probably not. But the sender can help by saving the files as an Excel file (which you can then open in Excel or Numbers). Numbers (the original version) was available (may still be) from the App Store for ~$20. The new version is free, but it has less capabilities than the original. Even the original is more limited than Excel but much easier to use and design as it's made for Mac, not a bunch of geeks in Redmond. And, since it's already a Numbers file, why not install the app and see if it's useful for you? Disregard. I do NOT recommend paying even $10 for the 'new' version of Numbers, even though I haven't even used it. I have made the mistake of 'updating' Pages. I then deleted it (as well as Numbers and Keynote)! I know get almost constant requests to install the new 'updates' which are crippled versions of the originals. This has cause enormous damage to Apple's reputation, IMHO. The only apparent reason to cripple the desktop versions was to make things work the same on iOS and OSX. Stupid, shortsighted, illogical, frustrating! I'll not express my real opinion on this family-friendly forum.

There are hints that Apple has realized its mistake and is bringing back some of the lost functionality. So far, nothing encouraging.

Thanks XABD. I'll let the guy know he can save the Numbers file as an Excel file and then send that.