Software :: Finding Expert Advice-- Want To Make Documents EXPIRE...
Jun 6, 2008
I am doing a project in which I'm circulating some sensitive material via PDF files. Ideally, I'd love it if the PDF file could expire so that the sensitive material wasn't hanging out on people's computers forever. (the material isn't life or death sensitive-- but it would be great if we could limit the time that it existed "out there")..
I looked into solutions that create PDF files that expire-- but the functionality is expensive ($3000) and requires users download an Acrobat plugin-- which is too cumbersome for the scientists that need to see these PDFs--- any sort of expiration/security/DRM we impose on the files needs to be 100% transparent.
Does anyone know of an inexpensive way to do this with PDF files? (I have a feeling it might not be possible)--or not easily possible for someone without programming expertise like me--- BUT-- on the other hand....
Can anyone suggest another way to distribute documents that would expire?-- someone suggested using Flash or web delivery of some sort? Anyone have ideas on that front? The situation is that we're creating documents that are 40 to 150 pages in length, and have bookmarks for sections in the document-- so if we went to a Flash or Web delivery type of method.. it would have to be quite simple to go from PDF to this format--- and the medium would have to be printable and viewable when not connected to the internet.
I have a new 27" iMac with the i5 processor, Snow Leopard, and 8GB of Ram. Using the secondary display trick, I was able to successfully install Windows 7 (64 bit) with Bootcamp and it is working great. But I also have Parallels Desktop 5 (latest version) and am having troubles with it running Windows 7 from my Bootcamp partition.
I was able to get the virtual machine installed and Windows 7 will boot. However, it takes a LONG time to start the virtual machine and hard drive access is VERY sluggish. To be clear, Parallels itself loads fast but once I start the Windows 7 virtual machine, it takes 5-10 minutes to loads. But even after it loads, any time I do something to access the HD, it is very slow. For example, if I try to play a game, it'll take a long time to load the game but once it gets loaded, it runs great. So I know it's not a memory, CPU, or GPU issue. I have 4 GB or Ram dedicated to the virtual machine.
Now I thought I read something about Parallels having trouble with Windows 7 when using the Bootcamp partition - something about a HFS reading problem from a Bootcamp driving or something?
My Mac is booting into the 32bit kernel of Snow Leopard and the Windows 7 installation is 64 bit? Would that be causing a problem?
I also have Macfuse and Paragon NTFS installed on the Mac. Would those be causing a problem?
Specifically, what do you think could be causing the very slow hard drive access in my virtual machine? I wasn't able to find a solution at the Parallels website.
I'm fairly new to Mac's and have had this 13" MBP since July of 2009. I've noticed that my laptop will display a black screen and will not respond until I hold the power button and then restart it. Last week I sent it to Apple repair which they had it for a week and could not duplicate the problem. So it was sent back to me un-repaired. I honestly feel as though there is something wrong because at first I thought it wasn't waking up from sleep mode. However since getting the laptop back on Friday I have be paying attention to what's going on.
Since I thought it was a sleep issue, I thought if I went into the System Preferences, Energy Saver and from there I changed both the Battery & Power Adapter settings to NEVER, to keep it from going into Sleep Mode. Well after a little while the laptop will go to the black screen like I've been experiencing but why is the screen going black if I don't have it set to ever going to sleep?
I am wondering how I go about removing my Hard Drive from my Power Mac G4 QUicksilver? I don't know the first thing about removal or location of the HD?
It is a 40GB Ultra ATA/66 (5400 rpm)
I would like to remove it and fit it with a Hard Drive case enclosure so I can use it as an extra external for backing up data.
I was told by Tiger Direct that this enclosure should work:
[URL]
I would ultimately be connecting to a macmini for backing up data periodically.
I still have my serious video ram problem set my other post. The apple store wanted $650 to replace my motherboard and the cheapest i found one online was $950, all for a machine that SL will not even support. I am limping along waiting for my i7 iMac to show (Whenever that is)
Here is my question. I am not sure if my data on tis machine is corrupted by my video ram problem so not sure I want to do the firewire transfer, that is if my machine will even last till my new one shows.
I have 2 back-ups a time machine and a super duper backup of 99% of my stuff. If I use my time machine back-up wont it wipe SL OS 10.6 off the new machine? When you do a TM back-up from disk utility from the OS10.5 leopard start-up disc, it says that it will completely wipe your HD clean.
BTW do any of you experts know if my video artifact problem is corrupting my files or just my video, while I am typing this everything looks good unless I look at my menu-bar or dock which is pretty distorted....
I bought a new charger for my powerbook g4 a few weeks ago but recently the tip of the charger has been getting very very hot when i take it out (burns my skin to touch)
I just had the main logic board replaced on my powerbook G4 by Apple and the fans always seem to come on now.
I think I will get the base model (3GB) and add a 2x4GB Crucial kit.
My question is this - is there any hit for keeping 2 x 1GB and putting the 2x4GB in (10GB Total)?
My uses are VM (XP for Corel Draw only) and CS5 in the mac side. I also need to do a lot of handbrake to convert my divx encodes to a more mac friendly format.
I have been trying to determine which Backup program is best to use to backup my MacPro to my CalDigit external eSATA VR Mini RAID drives? I have heard lots of good stuff about SuperDuper, Chronosynch, Carbon Copy Cloner...
I have a single Quad core 2008 Mac Pro with 2GB RAM (2x1GB). I am hoping to get more RAM from Crucial. I don't use my Pro for hard core stuff, just Internet, COD4, SecondLife, movies, iPhoto, iTunes etc..
I need to decide whether to get 2x1GB or 2X2GB. The 2x2GB is better value for money but I heard that a 4 matching set ie. 4x1GB would optimize RAM speed. Is this true? Would 4x1GB be faster than 2x1GB + 2x2GB for the applications I use?
I need a new/best card for a G5 quad 2.5. I know it's old (4 years) but it's still used quite a bit - mainly for Photoshop work. The card needs to run 2 x 23" Cinema Displays. I'm not sure if it makes any difference but it has 16GB memory (twice as much as our new 2.93 Quad can take - there's something not quite right there...)
I've heard several people reference they have drastically improved their gaming performance by optimizing things in Windows 7. While I wait for mine to arrive I would love it if anyone can post their tips and advice on getting the most out of this mediocre GPU.
Here's the deal: I have the most recent 17" UMBP, purchased last August, 2009 and got the Snow Leopard Up To Date Disk, did an install on my stock Hard Drive and have been VERY happy with everything for the past few months.
But... All these threads championing the latest Intel SSD G2 have finally gotten to me and, I just purchased the 80GB model from Newegg. It should be here tomorrow.
Now, I ask that you confirm, a specific question about installation from my UTD disk and then advise.
note that I've searched a ton about this subject. It's been answered in so many conflicting ways, I'm running it by you guys once again.
So then, it seems that I can NOT install Snow Leopard from my UTD disk onto the new, fresh Intel SSD installed into my 17" UMBP. This is the case, yes?
A workaround, I figure, would be to install Leopard 10.5 onto the new SSD and then to a clean and erase and then instal of 10.6 on top. I assume the UTD will read 10.5 and let the upgrade proceed.
So, finally, a question: Should I be worried about installing a total of two OSs given that I (cheaply!) opted for the smaller 80GB SSD and that 10.6 doesn't support TRIM?
I know this should be in the applications section but no one ever responds to me there. I have candybar to change icons, but it is going to expire soon. Are there any free programs similar to candybar that won't expire and run in snow leopard?
Why won't my computer let me make changes to documents saved in pages and save them again? It keeps saying access denied when its my computer and I have Lion OS X
I used MobileMe but am being forced to iCloud. I used MobileMe to store documents but in iCloud it doesn't seem that one can create folders in which to put documents; I can only upload documents to "Pages" tab and sort them by name. Also, the support seems to indicate I should be able to upload PDF but when I try it says that PDF is not supported.
Info: MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012), Mac OS X (10.7.4)
How do you make the documents larger in Excel with the iMac? I have tried to change font size, view larger, etc. I still am unable to get the look I get from myPC.
a while ago I found this post, where this guy describes how to recondition SSD using Disk Utility. Here are his described steps:
- used CarbonCopyCloner to clone my SSD to a nice 1TB drive on a Firewire 800 dock. - booted from the external drive into my clone OS. - opened Disk Utility and selected the SSD. - ran the "erase" function on the SSD. - ran the partition function - selecting 1 partition for the volume scheme. - repeated the partition with 16 partitions - reduced the drive back to one Mac OS Extended Journaled partition. - erased free space on the drive (seems unnecessary in retrospect)
My sister is looking for a program to make greeting cards and possibly calenders. I told her I'd see if I could find something for her. She is a recent switcher and doesn't know where to find mac stuff. She has Photoshop Elements but that is a little too much for her. She's looking for something a little easier.
Up until now, I have used my laptop for personal use and some photo work.
NOW I will be using it for my business that works with credit card #'s AND social security numbers. Very sensitive data. What I am basically doing is pulling information from a website database off the site and saving onto the computer.
My friend who works in IT security is basically telling me to dump the laptop for a desktop. That even if I store the information off the laptop that because it passes through the machine that the information can be accessed somehow. I have never heard of that but then again I don't deal in IT security. Is that true?
I've been trying to install some software, however, every time I try to do the "make" command on a Makefile, I get the following error: -bash: make: command not found. The manual page does not exists either. I have no idea why the "make" command doesn't exists. I might have added a missing command in the past, but I don't remember. I'm running Mac OS X 10.5.7. Can anyone guess what the problem is?
I work on several large software projects and need a new rig to handle some heavy compilation.
Here's my criteria for this new system: Great at compilation/debugging (heavy CPU, RAM, HDD utilization) Needs to triple-boot (Mac OSX, Windows, Ubuntu) Needs to support dual monitors Needs only moderate storage Fit a US$8000 budget
Here's the components I have selected so far in my BTO Mac Pro: 6 Core 3.33 GHz Xeon Westmere 3GB RAM (will replace with 12GB, see below) 2 TB HDD ATI Radeon 5870 Dual 27'' Cinema Displays -- TOTAL: $6100
Here's what I'll be ordering separately, in addition to the above:
SSD Boot Drive: (is this compatible with Mac Pro?) OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD3-2VTX360G 3.5" 360GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive -- $1000
12 GB RAM: (I read 3 slots is best for triple-channel) 12GB RAM OWC Memory Kit: 3 x 4.0GB PC10600 DDR3 ECC 1333MHz -- $330
I've never built nor owned a Mac Pro before so I'd really appreciate any advice or feedback you can give about my build.
I am looking into a new computer, I was full force ahead toward a mac until a friend told me a couple of concerns. He told me that he has heard about macs being kind of glitchy and somewhat touchy. Things like leaving it in the car for even short periods of time or banging it around in a laptop case will cause problems. I am not crazy rough with my computer, I mean hell, I made a Dell last me 5 years before having to get the another one, but I need something that can take the occasional mis-judgment. I also want some advice on what kind of specs I should have. I am looking at doing Grad school via distance education and need a computer that will provide the ease of doing things like a virtual class room with little to no problem and of course a good paper writing program.
I'm hoping that I'll get into Bangor University in September in Wales and I really want to switch to Mac before going there! Anyway, I need a Mac that will be powerful enough to run multiple sessions on photoshop, a word processor and the internet obviously at the same time! So the one I'm planning to buy at the moment is the Mac Mini, and I was wondering if I would be able to run it using my Windows laptop by using the display, keyboard, speakers and touchpad on it. Does anyone know if that would be possible? Because I can't be bothered buying another keyboard and display!
it seems that I have lost all my documents in my documents folder on my MacBook Pro. They were there a couple of days ago, I did not delete them and no one uses the mac other than me. How can I get my documents back??? I am running Lion OS (i think)
I've decided to jump on the apple band wagon and purchase an iMac.
I'm planning on ordering the 27-inch quad core i5 but I'm wondering whether it's worth upgrading the processor or increasing the RAM - does anyone use FCS 3 and if so, would it be better to increase the RAM to 8GB+ to run more smoothly.. or does the 4GB RAM basic run fine with FCP 7 and the like?
