OS X Odds & Ends: AppleWorks tip; SmartDisk update on the way; Infrared on Ti PB; more

AppleWorks 6.2 small window tip Tom Paine writes: "If you are running the newest versions of OS X and AppleWorks, and you set your dock on the left side of your desktop, the spell checker on AppleWorks will not function correctly. When you run the spell checker, it runs but the window is tiny and you can't do anything with it. The fix is to move the dock to the bottom of the screen." Note: This appears to be a< variation of what was reported by Apple in a recent KB article (see this item).

SmartDisk Dual Media Reader breaks under 10.1, update due Howard Kaufman found that his SmartDisk Dual Media Reader no longer works under 10.1. He received this note from SmartDisk tech support: 'Unfortunately, the software for OS X for this device is only compatible with 10.0.x. We are working on an update and it should be available soon.'"

Infrared works on new Ti PowerBook Ayman Hariri writes: "I swapped the hard drive between my old PowerBook and a new G4 TiBook and found that IrDA is now available under the Network preferences panel."

Spring loaded folders in the works? Jonathan Baumgartner astutely observed that some in-progress entries in the AppleScript dictionary in 10.1's Finder.app contain clues to future possible improvements. One of the unimplemented AppleScript property settings is a Spring Open Folders Delay. We checked using Script Debugger 3.0's dictionary viewer, and it is indeed there.

Network log-in delay suggestion Will Santillo writes: "I created a new location for situations where there isn't a network available to eliminate the delays in seeking a nonexistent connection. I created a Location called 'On the road' and deleted all the possible connections. Before leaving my local airport network, I select this location from the Locations menu. When I awake my PB away from home it does not stall." Daniel Standage made a similar suggestion.

In general, the problem can be avoided by changing your active port, prior to Shut Down, to one that the OS can locate (e.g., do not leave AirPort as active if you will not be able to connect to AirPort at login, etc.) [See also login window stall in previous item.]