Everyone loves Apples. Everyone loves Apple sauce. And there’s a whole, huge bunch of us who love Apple computers, too. This is a column to give you the “sauce” on what’s happening in the Macintosh universe. We’ll leave the Apple picking and baking to the rest of the world.

If you have ideas for this column, please give us a yell .

Ilene Hoffman, located in the Boston area, has provided Macintosh consulting services for 11 years, including system troubleshooting, software training, and virus repair in the early days. Presently, Ms. Hoffman concentrates on troubleshooting systems, publishing articles, Web site development, and hosting live conferences on the Internet. Her writing has appeared on TechRepublic.com and MacFixIt.com and in MacTech magazine, MacHome Journal, MacWeek, Net Guide Live, NeTProfessional, TidBits, BMUG Newsletter, InfoWorld, NADTP Journal, and user group publications.

Ms. Hoffman came to computers through a circuitous route. After a short stint as a professional modern dancer, she worked with Pat Caddell of Cambridge Survey Research/Reports through President Carter’s campaign and trained survey research personnel. She acquired a Master’s Degree in Social Work after five years of volunteering for a crisis intervention center, which was woven throughout her seven years in survey research. In graduate school, she was the only student who concentrated on Management Information Systems in the human services. After graduation, while working as Director of Social Services in geriatrics, she volunteered for the Boston Computer Society as the Mac•BBS Message Manager and as a co-host in the Mac Operating System chat area on America Online. The opening of Apple’s Online Service, eWorld, presented Ilene with the opportunity to mix her unique skills as a counselor and interviewer with her computer knowledge by hosting live conferences on the Internet. She presently interviews top Mac industry experts weekly on Talk City and manages the forums on MacFixIt. Ms. Hoffman has one brilliant son and two not-so-brilliant dogs. She skates, still dances, attempts to be an archer, and hopes to someday have a huge model train layout set in a fantasy land, such as Anne McCaffrey’s Pern, and powered by a Macintosh.