ESTATE PLANNING SOFTWARE



WillMaker
Nolo Press
950 Parker St.
Berkeley, CA 94710
510-549-1976
800-992-6656 (orders)
510-548-5902 (fax)
E-Mail: nolomktg@nolopress.com
$69.95 retail
(Includes two important estate-planning modules, the living will and final arrangements document. Users also get maximum protection for their children - name a guardian, a property guardian, create a children's trust or use the Uniform Transfer to Minors Act. WillMaker is valid in all states, except Louisiana.)

Living Trust Maker
Nolo Press
950 Parker St.
Berkeley, CA 94710
510-549-1976
800-992-6656 (orders)
510-548-5902 (fax)
E-Mail: nolomktg@nolopress.com
$79.95 retail
(Living Trust Maker is a document assembly package for creating living trust documents. Enables testator to avoid probate when transfering property to heirs. Includes online glossary to explain legal concepts, and over 100 legal help screens. Living Trust Maker is valid in all states, except Louisiana.)


NETWORKING MACINTOSHES



Certain questions come up so often with regard to networks in law offices that I thought that it would be useful to include some references that would authoritatively answer your questions. Of course, you can always ask more specific questions on the MacAttorney e-mail discussion list.

Networking Web sites:

http://weber.u.washington.edu/~manos/network/sitemap.html

The Power Macintosh Resource Page has a 3 step tutorial on how to install an Ethernet network in a home or small office. It's a good basic starting point.
http://www.powermacintosh.com/macgenius.shtml

Sources for Networking Info and Hardware
The place to go is:
A) At your local well-stocked computer bookstore, I recommend
Macworld's Networking Handbook by Kosiur and Jones published by IDG or the similar
MacUser Connectivity Guide by Rizzo from Ziff Davis.
However, in many cases where all you have is a basic question, the latest Macintosh for Dummies book will probably tell you most of what you need to know.

B) Networking hardware and software developers (call all of them for their free catalogs and advice, Farallon in particular has always been very helpful.):
Sonic 800-535-0725
Farallon 510-814-5000
Focus 800-538-8865
Asante 800-662-9686

How to put a Mac on a PC network.
Most of the answers to this question can be found at:
http://www.macwindows.com/

How to put a PC on a Mac network.
See:
http://www.miramarsys.com/~miramar/news/reviews.htm
for a list of independant reviews of MacLan (a Windows based application.)

Also see these MacWeek reviews of three competing solutions:
http://www.zdnet.com/macweek/mw_1112/rv_mac_to_win.html
and
http://www.zdnet.com/macweek/mw_1214/rv_dvmclan.html (MacLAN vs. DAVE)

It is worth it to install an Ethernet network instead of a LocalTalk one, or to upgrade to Ethernet?
Yes! Anything you do that is network-related will be faster, including printing.

A 10-Base-T network is the most common because it is fairly easy to set up and is relatively inexpensive. This is basically what you will need:

Category-5 cable and RJ-45 connectors.
A passive hub or two (total number of ports on these hubs equaling the number of computers and printers on the network.)
Ethernet cards for your Macs that do not have Ethernet built-in
Transceivers for Macs that have Ethernet built-in but which only have a AAUI-port to attach to. (Basically, "transceiver" is just a fancy name for an adaptor which connects to an AAUI port and turns it into an RJ-45 port.)
Software. This comes as part of the Mac system software. To avoid problems, it is best to upgrade to, and standardize on, the very latest version of system software that all of your Macs can all use.

You can order kits that include all of the above from mail order catalog companies like MacWarehouse (800-710-9926) or APS (800-947-8591), but you will end up paying more than if you purchased the items individually from companies like Sonic or Focus, and you will have to forgo their technical support.

One last suggestion, if you already have a small to medium LocalTalk network installed, and you want to upgrade to an Ethernet network, you might be able to save a lot of time, money and work by keeping your cabling intact and converting to Ethernet by going with Tut Systems Silver Streak Connectors on each machine and inexpensive Ethernet cards or transceivers as required by Mac model. That should be all that you need. You may not even require Ethernet hubs with this setup . You should carefully cost-out this type of conversion and compare it to installing all-new wiring.
Tut Systems
2495 Estand Way
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523-3911 800-998-4888
925-682-6510
fax: 925-682-4125
http://www.tutsys.com/ (Silver Streak Connectors not mentioned on Web site.)
E-Mail: sales@tutsys.com



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