Popped in the CD, heard it start to spin...and spin...and spin.....and nothing happened. No icon popping up on my desktop, no long-awaited program to install. What did I do wrong? (I'm on a Power Mac 7600 that has never had a problem like this before) Oh--and the worst part is: no way to pop it back out without an icon to click on and drag....sigh.

Would it help to shut the machine down? I have no clue about how Macs work.

Okay, a couple of things. The CD should force-mount automatically at a reboot, which would allow you to then drag it into the trash. And I don't remember the 7600 exactly, but isn't there a pinhole for the classic bent-paper clip?

Can't help with the no-play problem, but shut down your PC and look closely at the CD drive door or in fact just underneath it to one side is a very small pin hole. Straighten out a large paper clip and push it into the hole, the CD door will release and you can retrieve the disc. Make sure you have TURNED OFF the computer before using this trick. Learned this little known dodge from a repair tech relative. Computer shop sharks probably make a quick buck in the back room from terrified victims of this dilemma. Getting back to your system the re-boot should sort it out, not quite sure but some magazine CD's only open in Internet Explorer browser and no other. Another trap I fell for was an English PC mag with Amapi 3D on the cover disc, ooooooh, it was DVD format and I couldn't run it. Tommy.

Thank you, guys! Got the bloomin' thing out, rebooted, reinserted and installed P3 (it said "successfully"), except now it doesn't show up anywhere...? The finder sees the installation program, but not Poser3? (BTW, went to the magazine's CD support webpage, but it seems to be screwed up too....HMMMMmmmmmmm? Is there a connection? Is it a conspiracy against Poser Newbies?? Is it really late and should I just go to bed and sort the whole mess out in the AM?!)

When it installed, it probably put it on the main level of your hard drive, not inside Applications. Double click your HD icon and look there first. Failing that, do a command-F.

Incidently, if you run into this again you can get any Mac to open the CD door by hitting th ebutton while it is starting up, or restarting. That doesn't work for Zips though, unless you have one that has a button or you drill a hole to give you acess to the button that the drive usally has. The hole in the front of Zips never works either, but there is one in the back that will... (I fix a lot of Macs!)