Using Mountain Lion offline

Question

I need to buy a new MBP for my business. Luckily, I had an opportunity to try one (15", i7, OS 10.8) before placing an order. Since my present machines are still on OS 10.7, I was new to Mountain Lion. I really liked it - until I started using it at the actual work site (rural Pennsylvania) without any network connection (even my iPhone is dead there). The lack of online service did not bother me because the only work I need to do on the laptop at this site is data and word processing. However, nothing seemed to work in Mountain Lion while offline. Help, Preview, iWork, Office 2011, Acrobat Pro and a bunch of other programs I used on my regular office's LAN without a problem, suddenly became unresponsive or gave me the spinning beachball for a minute (probably due to some network timeout). I tried to make it clear to the OS that I am in the boonies by setting up a "No network" location in Network Preferences with all network interfaces turned off. Some apps, like Preview, simply switched back to the "LAN" location I use in my regular office — then crashed. Being new to Mountain Lion, I also needed to run Help but it either told me that help is available online, or waited for a minute then came up with some basic advice for Mac newbies.
My questions are:
What are the settings (including using the Terminal) that tells Mountain Lion that I am offline and that it should not pause for incoming data because not a single bit will come?
What I am I doing wrong that prevents me to use Mountain Lion offline without loosing functionality in applications that do not external data?
Thanks

Answer 1

Please read this whole message before doing anything. This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it. The purpose of this test is to determine whether your problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode* and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows: 
Shut down your computer, wait 30 seconds, and then hold down the shift key while pressing the power button.
When you see the gray Apple logo, release the shift key.
If you are prompted to log in, type your password, and then hold down the shift key again as you click  Log in.
 *Note: If FileVault is enabled under OS X 10.7 or later, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t boot in safe mode. Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs. The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin. Test while in safe mode. Same problem? After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.