Blue iMac I am trying to upgrade my Mom's iMac M5221 computer to Panther 10.3 so she can us the Safari browser. I purchased the OS on CD because the computer does not read DVD's. In the install process, it would not install, but kept going to a blue screen with a spinning disk icon. In trying to do Disk Utility, the HD would not show. I purchased a re-conditioned HD, which showed and tried to install the software again. I am now getting the same error. The HD shows and appears OK with the Disk Utility check but the software will not install. I KNOW the software is OK because it is original Apple and brand new. Can you advise? I have already put too much money into this to give up or should I?

The old iMac G3 desktop was an excellent machine in its day. Today, it can still be a great little computer to scoot around the Internet, create graphics, manipulate photos, and do schoolwork or almost any other use you can imagine.

If you haven’t already upgraded to OS X 10.4 (Tiger), you should deeply consider doing this. Currently, this version of the Mac operating system is the earliest still being supported by major browsers, and is the newest that works well on the iMac G3. If you can’t upgrade to Tiger, consider using Panther (OS X 10.3).

After you update your operating system, download the latest version of your favorite browser. Remember; Microsoft stopped including Macintosh in its updates of Internet Explorer when Mac launched Safari, so all Mac versions are sorely out of date. Firefox, Opera, Camino and, of course the default Mac browser, Safari, are the best browsers for your iMac. If you can only use Panther, the Opera browser is the only one still including Panther in updates. Also, if you enjoy using Yahoo! Messenger, Panther and earlier are not supported by Yahoo! Messenger either. Unfortunately, time has marched on. You can, however, use the web version of Yahoo! Messenger through your browser.

Update your software using the Software Update feature found in the System section of the System Preferences dialog box. Changes to Java, QuickTime and other frequently used components have more than likely occurred since your OS was created and updates are important to keeping your machine running on today’s web.

Replacing your CPU is not suggested due to the difficulty level, but a quick fix of RAM can give your elderly machine a big boost of energy. The later G3’s can handle 1 GB of SDRAM, just use two 512 MB sticks. You can find these for a good price on eBay.

Once you have all these upgrades and updates, your little iMac will be the fierce web adventurer it once was. Happy computing!