Option-Command-Esc (pressed together) will get you to the force quit menu. Control-Command-Eject (pressed together) will close all applications and restart the computer Not quite sure what the problem may be but you might want to try a different browser, Safari isn't the best. I primarily use Firefox but also have Chrome. Both work fine. I haven't used Microsoft Office on a Mac in quite a while so I can't comment on it. I know they added Outlook and maybe something else to the current suite. I do use Open Office and have generally been pleased. The only drawback is that it is not 100% compatible with Microsoft Office. As an aside a while back I worked on a PowerPoint project with a guy who had MS Office on his Mac. At the time I had a Windows machine. What's interesting is that the Mac version of Office had features that Windows version didn't have. I recall there was a slide transition that we added on his Mac. The transition functioned perfectly on the Windows machine and I could even edit it but couldn't add it to another PowerPoint project.

The crash was eveil and took place in stages. First, I was told there wasn't enough virtual memory. The the screen/programs kept freezing and I had to use the start button on the tower to shut down the session in order to get out of the frozen screen. Things got very slow and when I ran MS security Essentials it removed several files but the problems persisted. Finally, when I rebooted I didn't have a router and last, the modem stopped working. I took the tower to a local repair shop and he was very curt when he called me and said I had a terrible virus. He was about to wipe clean the hard drive and I askede if I could come in and save some files. His reply was that he didn't have time to wait for me. I couldn't stand going without email and internet so I just let him do his thing. Oh, he also told me to get a new router and he had never seen my old router. I did as I was told and went to Staples where a salesman advised me against getting the super-duper wireless model router because my ISP, TDS is notoriously slow (boy do I agree with that!) and even if I got a very good router I still would never be able to stream movies. The repairman gave me back the tower with a version of XP slightly different from my original (no, I don't know what I had, only that the screen and icons work a little differently), Internet Explorer 8 and Outlook Express. I immediately had problems setting up OE even thgough my ISP confirmed I had used all the correct settings. I had bought a new printer with wireless capabilities and it worked only as a wireless. Then--the router stopped working!!! When the man from Staples came he sat down and opened a few programs and punched in changes while he was able to talk to me. He found that my laptop had a virus but I no longer use it because I prefer my netbook. He told me he found several settings that were incorrect even though I never changed them. He was quite a whiz, polite, patient and I am pleased I now know someone local who will come to my house if I need him. He said Staples will have some good sales around Christmas and recommended HP. One of my previous desktops was HP and I was always satisfied with the way it worked. He carefully told me he thought I would find what I want and get a better deal with an HP when I said I was considering a Dell. Lastly, he recommended I get 6G of RAM, 500 or more on a hard drive, and a quad core processor. I am about to put out a general question on this forum asking what I can expect if I pay for a quad core vs. a dual core. Before he left he asked if I wanted him to he would set me up with a gmail account. I told him TDS's POP3 and SMTP is gmail and I was going to let them set me up with their gmail for my two email addys. My mail is @ TDS, not @ gmail, but the server uses gmail. Not certain I understand this. Sorry, I am aware I said a lot but didn't tell you specifically what the tech did when he came to my home. It was like he worked magic! Nancy

I'm not a pro, but here's my two cents..........I switched six years ago after twenty years with PC. For me, the change has been wonderful. My down-time dropped to zero instantly and has stayed there. No hardware or software troubles and no bugs from the beginning until now....and I'm up and running 24/7/365. Of course I've had to learn new programs and aps but at least the machine doesn't fight me all the time like my PC's always did. Thing just sits here and runs. In response to the "Macs are expensive" argument so often encountered, I would like to say this: I used to bring in computer-techs twice year, on average, to straighten out my PC stuff. Not having to do that anymore has essentially paid for the machine at this point...and those service-dollars spent don't include the annoyance and aggravation and lost work-time that accompanied the issues. Your hot-button appears to be your particular kind of work...which I am not familiar with. Since it's important to you, I would advise finding an Apple Store and taking some of your stuff on disk or flash-drive with you. All their machines will be there up and running all the time. Let them show you how the iMac would work with your stuff and you can decide based on your actual experience. I do have several professional friends who are compelled to work with programs that only run on Windows. Those folks run Windows on their Macs via parallels and run their proprietary programs that way. However, except for those programs, they leave Windows off and run everything else with the Mac's OS. As far as "learning curve", you'll be amazed at what you can do within hours. In my case, having no previous experience, I was surfing within 45 minutes of the box arriving at the door. I was comfortable within days; confident in a week; proficient in a couple of weeks. And I was absolutely paranoid in the beginning because of all my PC hassles over the years. My advice would be don't worry about the learning curve. I have little doubt things will flow very naturally for you. At this point, I have many family members and friends who have made the switch and they've all said the same thing about that.

Funny I had some of the same constraints. I have a 30" Wolf cooktop and like it very much. I am now used to it, but 2 years ago when I did my kitchen, I went from a 30" range to the 30" cooktop, it did at the time feel a bit compacted to me because the range had the controls in the front vs. the top as on the cooktop. I am now used to it and while your "big" my not be my big, I don't have any problems using wide pans simultaneously on my cooktop. To make risotto for instance, I use two wide (9 -10") pans on two burners back to front and don't have any problems with the space. 10" is my widest pan however. Surface wise it hasn't felt tight to me. However, there are 2 cooks in the family and it felt a bit close to me in the beginning going from the 30" range to the 30" cooktop but now it is not an issue. I do love the cooktop, though. Performance-wise it is very good. If the latter consideration is relevant to you, however, you may also want to take a look at the Viking designer series - the cooking surface spans the 30" width, controls in front. Do study its outputs though - for me, the high at 14KBTU may have been fine although I preferred the 15KBTU, but 2 years ago, the low was 1.2KBTU and that was too high for the things I do want to be able to make some times. At 675-700btu simmer settings for the viking now, that is a LOT better. The Wolf has 300 or 400btu lows and I find that I use them quite a bit so I would not have been happy with 1100btu for a low. I have a Bosch oven and like it very much indeed. I have a 30" 700 series but since Bosch came out with new models this year, I don't claim to know anything about them. The 700series is a relatively basic oven even though it was their top offering 2 years ago - bake, convection bake, convect. roast, broil, convect. broil and warm, thaw, dehydrate or some modes like that. It is self-cleaning although I've only ever used it once. Goes down to 100degrees in "warm", 120degrees in "dehydrate", 170degs in the cooking modes. The direction of the heat source distinguishes the modes. It does an excellent job with temperature control (+/- 7 or 9degrees per my experience except for when you open the door in which case the temp can drop sizeably depending on mode; Miele Wolf and Gaggenau are even more precise & hold temperatures to within 5-7degrees), very even whether in bake, broil or roast; I liked its size as it was a smaller oven. I LOVE its interface. I noticed Consumer Reports doesn't like it either but haven't been able to figure the reviews out. I will say that you do have to experiment a bit to get used to how to cook in it - either it is the convection or the Bosch itself but there are things I have had to consciously start to do to ensure good performance; I did have some corkers in the beginning before I cottoned on to that. Placing the rack too close to the front of the oven instead of in the center or towards the back will interrupt its' air circulation (in convection) and the net result can be a asymmetric cooking. Likewise sorting out how to load the racks for multi-rack cooking so that they are evenly spaced out else same story. That sort of stuff. Anyhow, I like my Bosch oven very much but claim no knowledge of even any of their new models. I absolutely love the cooktop, but I think that the oven maybe what I play with even more than the cooktop.