Mac Pro adventure

My favorite client calls are the ones with unusual problems. Today I visited a Mac Pro that was having startup problems. The owner was quite good at his own maintenance and repairs and had done all the tests I usually do. The symptom was a refusal to get past the blue screen to the desktop. It reacted to a reinstall of Leopard, but with updates it went back to failing. Finally it wouldn't start from the DVD.

Aha, I thought, typical example of problems with the 10.5.8 update. Nope, I could not get it to start from my FireWire drive running 10.5.6, or another volume running 10.6.2. It wasn't a graphics failure because it would correctly display the startup alternatives from holding down the Option key.

Thinking it might be loose RAM or something, I went to reseat the modules, but he told me he had already tried that.

So I pulled his drive out completely. I wanted to boot ONLY from my external drive with no chance of interference from plugged in devices. That didn't work either.

I noticed something strange when I peered into the case, which was under a table and not immediately obvious. I looked at the back and yep, every slot was filled with a display card! He was running a standard 30-inch display, but he had the capability of running EIGHT displays.

"Did you order this with all those video cards?"

"No, this was a standard order from the online Apple store, in September of 2007."

It had been working fine up until the Software Update, all these months, with all those cards in place. A video card is supposed to be inactive until a display is plugged in, but something must have happened to one of them as a result of the update. So I removed all three of them, leaving the standard one he had been using all along.

It booted perfectly from my FireWire drive. I shut down and plugged his internal drive back in, removing mine. It booted perfectly. No repairs needed.

He still has no idea why he got a Mac with all those extra cards, but they will wind up on Ebay once he tests each one to see if one is dead and causes the problem to return. Outside of some headaches, he will come out ahead selling the cards and deducting my fee for the visit. Took me just under an hour.

New Year Catchup

February Macworld Magazine

Buy the February Macworld magazine. This issue contains the Macworld awards for best Mac software, hardware, and iPhone apps. I found three good ideas on the first page. Examples: Acorn 2.1, an inexpensive but powerful image editor. Looks better than Photoshop Elements and, at $50, is cheaper. Wacom's Bamboo Fun $199 tablet is not only a drawing pad, but also reads finger gestures like a trackpad.

They also recommend the Iomega Media Network Hard Drive, a standalone drive that plugs into your network and serves iTunes, BitTorrent, iPhoto and TimeMachine. Iomega lost market share with their dying Zips, the Jaz drive fiasco and their less-than-reliable portable drives, but this unit impressed the editors so much they gave it 4 mice (out of 5). Every Macker should subscribe to at least one physical magazine, and this is a good choice. (I also subscribe to MacLife.)

Net Neutrality Hearing
Thursday is the last day for comments from us to support net neutrality. We need this in law so Concast and other large providers can't pick and choose which web sites we can see, or download quicker. Without it, the freedom we have now will wind up like broadcast TV: 95% junk and little chance to control it. Sure, the web is 95% junk now, but nobody is gatekeeping to prevent us from finding the gems, and the information we want. To send an e-letter, visit here: http://bit.ly/6NW4pz. Please spread the word.

Software Updates

There have been a lot of little updates lately, but not much serious since the 10.6.2 update a couple of months ago. A partial roundup of where you should be:

Snow Leopard:
Get the 10.6.2 update. Each update has improved 10.6 over the last. Wherever you are, get here.

Leopard:
Stop at 10.5.6. Don't get 10.5.7 or 8. If at 10.5.7, stop there. The 10.5.8 update was quite unstable and prone to crashing. Unfortunately if you want to update Safari to version 4, you have to be running 10.5.8. This is the end of the line for any G-series Mac as 10.6 requires Intel processors.

Tiger:
10.4.11 is the end for Tiger. If not there, let Software Update do it, or go to Apple's site and download the Combo Updater for 10.4.11. This will let you update Safari to version 4.0.4, but I recommend stopping at 3.1.2.

Panther:
10.3.9 is the end of the line for that. There are no updates worth getting to anything once there, no matter what Apple says. You are very limited as to which web sites will work with Safari 1.3.2, and Firefox 2 is as new as you can run.

Safari (any OS):
If you are using any version of Safari 4, get 4.0.4. Off to a weak start, Safari 4 keeps getting more stable. Be sure to go into Preferences and click Security, then uncheck the box for "Warn when visiting a fraudulent web site." While this is a good idea, it is still poorly implemented and crashes it often.
Safari 3.1.2: Stop here. Safari 3.2 was a bad update. If already there, do the same Security fix as above.

Firefox 3.5:
For the first time, the Mozilla Project screwed up with this upgrade. Many people report that it now crashes or freezes when it never did before. Stay with version 3.0, but update within. At the moment, current version is 3.0.16. If you got 3.5 but still have the installer for 3.0, I recommend you throw out 3.5 and reinstall 3.0, then let them update to 3.0.16. I wish it were this easy to downgrade Safari. Staying with 3.5? Do all the updates for it.

Google Chrome:
This new browser is missing a few features available in FF and Safari, but is still a nice addition to your browsing collection. While I use Safari for everything important, Chrome is fun to use.

Camino:
This browser uses the same engine as Firefox but has a number of nice features. My favorite is the toolbar, which can support multiple rows, instead of just forming a menu off the right edge like the other browsers do.

Saft and Click2Flash:
These plugins work only in Safari and are the reason I stick to it. Click2Flash blocks all those annoying Flash animated ads on web pages, and display them only after you deliberately click on them. It can be configured to allow specific sites to display all Flash (like YouTube), but I still prefer having to click to activate a particular video.
Saft adds some features Safari needs, like remembering and reopening all the windows and tabs from a previous session after a crash or mass quit. It does strange things to multiple-tab windows when you close each tab, though: It does not close them in order. Annoying but not impossible.

PithHelmet:
Ad blocker for Safari. Recently released a version for Safari 4. Visit http://curlater.net to download installers for it and SIMBL, required. Also blocks Flash ads from loading and offers a Reload Unfiltered option in its menu in case the page is negatively affected by the ad blocking (it happens).

Security Updates:
Apple has messed up here so often I simply don't bother with any of them. I get more service calls to fix things after a Security Update has been applied than all other causes.

AirPort:
There are updates to both AirPort Utility and AirPort Client. OK to get them.

Java:
Get all of the Java updates offered. So far, no problems with any of them. They are necessary for interacting with some Web sites that depend on it.

27" iMac Graphics Update:
This newest model Mac is just amazing, but a few had problems with unstable screen display. This update fixes/prevents them. If you have one, get the update. If you still have flashing, call AppleCare.

QuickTime:
Current is 7.6.4 for Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard. If you have 7.5.5, stop there unless you need the video and movie capabilities of iTunes 9. If you have an older QuickTime and experience no problems with web videos and don't use iTunes for anything but playing music, don't update.

iTunes:
Stay where you are if it works for you. If you get a new iPod or iPhone, you need version 9. You also need it if you want to rent movies from the iTunes Store, or view TV programs even without an iPod. Turn off the "Genius" function. Mostly annoying and useless. Explore it if you like but deactivate it in Preferences and close the sidebar if you don't use it.

Keyboard Update:
There are updates to the chip inside Apple's new aluminum keyboards, both wired and wireless. OK to get them. Don't know why they're needed; never run into any problems in un-updated keyboards.

Bluetooth Updates & Firmware Updates:
Various versions of these are released for both laptop and desktop models. I have not had one ever fail on me. Go ahead and let Software Update put them in.

Repair Permissions
I have stressed this many times, and demonstrated the process for everyone I have visited. It is important that you do this before and after running software updates, and installing new programs.

Briefly, launch Disk Utility (in your Utilities folder, accessible from the GO menu in the Finder) and select your hard drive from the list on the left. When the DiskFirstAid window appears, click Repair Disk Permissions from the button on the lower left. Once finished, you can either quit, or click Verify Disk from the button on the lower right. You cannot Repair Disk from here, though. If you get a Failed to Verify, get in touch with me.

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Quicken alternatives

Quicken support for Mac, which has been awful for a decade now, is pretty much over. Macintouch.com has a reader discussion of alternatives and the future. The next MacOS will probably not support Rosetta, which allows non-Intel-native programs to run. Read here: http://ff.ly/kchhkh. I am still using Quicken 2006 but some day I will have to switch too.

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Brother printers

I withdraw all support and recommendation for Brother printers. I am finding that even older models that seemed to work become squirrly and unreliable when combined on wired and wireless networks. Even HP, which had been seriously slacking in their Mac software department, are easier to set up and more consistently reliable. Canon's inkjets and all-in-one printers are still my top recommendation.

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I am amazed by how cheap color laser has become. I have seen some advertised in Fry's for under $150. That's less than a set of replacement cartridges. It's almost cheap enough to take a risk and get one just to see if it is as good as one would hope.

If any of you reading this own one of those low-priced color laser printers (under $400) I would love to hear of your experience.

_____

Got a G5 iMac? More and more of them are succumbing to the bad-capacitor problem, which is not repairable without replacing the logic board at a cost of $hundreds. Not all of them are dying but there is no way to know which is which, either by checking the serial number or visually inspecting a working board.

I recommend dumping yours and getting one of the new ones. Trade in your G5 to a place that offers trades (like MacPac and PowerMax) or just put it on Craigslist while you can truthfully and ethically state, "It's working fine. No known problems."

Once it starts to go you have a boat anchor, but as of Jan 1 that's illegal. All of the G4 iMacs are okay. Getting old, but no inherent problems like the G5s.

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Moving to Leopard from Tiger? If you have been backing up (cloning) with the program SilverKeeper from LaCie, you have to switch to SuperDuper. The newer version of SilverKeeper is a failed product and version 1.1.4 does not create functioning, bootable backups of Leopard or Snow Leopard. Another good cloning program is CarbonCopy Cloner, which is free. SuperDuper is $28 for the "Smart Backup" feature. I wish LaCie would try again to make a simple and effective backup program like SK 1.1.4 was, but so far they seem to have moved on. They do not include SK 2.0 with their new drives, so that tells you how much respect they have for their own update.

Please, LaCie, contradict me or prove me wrong. I liked SilverKeeper.

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That's it for this long-overdue post. Have a great 2010, everyone. News updates as they happen.

I'm on Twitter @mklprc. Without Twitter I would not have seen this great animation: http://bit.ly/4KgmI5.

My take on the new Macs

Surprise, surprise. For the "benefit" of everyone who has bought a new Mac in the last month, Apple today released new iMacs, a new version of the polycarbonate $999 MacBook, and a new mouse.

The cheaper iMac ($1199) is 21.5", with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, the same as HDTV. This means you have a pixel-by-pixel display that perfectly matches the HDTV that a video will be shown on. There are going to be a lot of videos produced as a result of this machine. Buy the $1499 model and you get Apple's fastest processor, a 1Tb drive, and higher-end graphics processor. Spend $1699 and move up to a 27" model with Apple's fastest processor and 2560 x 1440 resolution, the same as their 30" Cinema Display. The most expensive model, $1999, actually offers a less powerful processor but the most powerful graphics chips available. Professional graphics people will not be unsatisfied with either of these models, if you can believe the specifications.

All iMacs come with wireless mouse and keyboard. I think this is a bad idea for reasons I have stated before: Certain repair and maintenance operations (such as zapping the PRAM) do not work with wireless keyboards because they lose their connection to the Mac. Therefore I recommend everyone who gets one of these also buy a cheap keyboard and mouse to keep in a closet until they are needed.

Apple proved they are still committed to offering a low-priced laptop by making a major design improvement in the case. It's lighter than the old one, faster, and has a better battery that gets as much as 7 hours on a charge. Expect less if you watch YouTube videos, play DVDs or other processor-intensive activities.

Down side: Once again they have dropped the FireWire port. It has but two USB ports, an audio in-and-out port, and a mini DisplayPort for an external monitor. Call me old-fashioned, but I insist that FireWire is vastly superior to USB-2 and would not have any Mac without it. Still, since Intel Macs can boot off of a USB-2 backup drive, new owners can get by without FireWire. Just bear that in mind.

The mouse LOOKS amazing. No buttons (of course; Jobs hates buttons) but the entire surface is touch-sensitive and supports multi-finger gestures like the trackpads do, and also can track correctly on glass or solid-color surfaces, not possible with older laser mice.

If you ordered but did not yet receive a new Mac that has been replaced by these models, call and immediately cancel, or verify that your order will be changed to the new model at a matching price. Apple usually allows that, but may not extend the service to all Mac dealers not actually owned by Apple. Those older models should still be available for a while at a reduced price.

See the whole mess at Apple's site.

Brother printer setup nightmare

For the last few years I have been recommending Brother laser printers, based on the reports of owners rather than personal experience. When my Apple LW 630 became obsolete due to the end of AppleTalk in Snow Leopard, I decided to take my own advice and went to Fry's to get one.

They had two models in the 2100 series: USB-only and USB/Ethernet/Wireless. I got the wireless one for $149 (same cost as at Staples) and then set about on a nightmare of phone calls and retries with their tech support.

First the "wizard" failed. It installed the drivers, but was not able to connect to the wireless router. It worked with USB, but I found out that, unlike most every printer on the market, it did not work with USB hubs, powered or unpowered. I don't have enough ports on my MacBook Pro to permanently dedicate to a printer, and although wired Ethernet was an option, I wanted to be able to print from anywhere in the house.

Call #1 to their tech support, the only number available, led to a 19-minute wait and a series of dumb questions from the robot before I got a human. It took another ten minutes for him to determine I had to talk to the Mac specialist. He would transfer me. Was there a direct number to him? He knew of no other number to call and could not transfer me to a supervisor who did.

He switched me to that department, which resulted in a robot that told me that I had called after hours (in reality, they did not close for another half-hour) and left me no transfer or leave-message options. It just hung up. A second attempt, informing the first guy what happened when he transferred me, wound up with the same results. I gave up. Time on phone to accomplish nothing: 1:15.

The next day, after 20 minutes of robot time I got the same place and same results, with the same series of dumb robot questions. The guy transferred me but this time I got someone who at least was there and answered the phone. He had a different series of setup steps from the ones in the documentation but again the same results. No wireless connection but a dozen pages wasted every time I would reset the printer and get the desired page that told me the connection had failed. It was data on the 3rd page I needed. Was there a way to get only that page? Nope.

He told me to double-check what kind of security I had on the wireless router (WPA2) and try again. He emailed me a link to the document that outlined the same set of steps we had tried. Twice more I tried and both times I failed; it would not connect to the router.

The 3rd or 4th callback led to them kicking me upstairs to a "product specialist" who would call me back. He did not call that day. Could I be simply transferred to him? No, they had to send in my request via internal email.

He called the next morning, Thursday (I had started this process on Monday) and I told him the history and we tried again. I told him, screw it, what would happen if I just gave up and unsecured my wifi connection? Go ahead, he said. Another eight test pages later it finally worked! It was never able to store and use the network password, but it was able to successfully establish a connection to the router and has worked ever since. If I want security now I simply have to turn off the router when I am not using it.

If I had been billing myself for the time invested in this setup it would have been over $300 for a $149 printer. I will no longer be recommending this series of Brother printers without including this warning.

Installed Snow Leopard today

The installation went really easily. Took 45 minutes on my MBPro, then a longish restart. I had a couple of auto-loading apps, so first request from the system was to install Rosetta, needed for older PowerPC programs.

First good news: Eudora works fine. So does Tweetie for Mac, and AppleWorks' word-processing module. Haven't tested the others because I don't use them. A couple of utilities have lost their registration preferences so I need to re-enter the serial numbers.

Second good news: The space-saving feature is real. I had 98 gigs on disk before, now I have 88 gigs. That's what I call efficiency!

Exposé looks different now. Windows in the Dock are exposed as well as the other open ones. If I don't choose a docked window, it goes back into the dock when I click another one. Dashboard does not appear to have changed at all.

Safari didn't change because I had already installed version 4.0.3.

Software Update offered only Backup 3.1.2 as a needed update. Backup is the worst program for that purpose I have ever seen; I thought Apple dumped it when releasing TimeMachine. I suppose they keep it around for MobileMe. I have yet to meet anyone who is happy with it.

iTunes gets updated to 8.2.1. If you are a Palm Pre owner and wanted to use iTunes to sync your music with it, Apple released this update to version 8.2 for the sole purpose of preventing you from doing that. With Snow Leopard you get it, want it or not. I guess I should see if it can be downgraded. That's the only thing wrong with 8.2.1.

Quicken 2006 opens and I can change data. This was originally not supposed to work under 10.5, but it seems only the online features stopped working then. I never use those features so I never noticed. If you use them, you should probably get Quicken 2007 or later, or a competing program.

The battery seems to be lasting longer, but it's subtle.

I will post more reports when I have more information. Meanwhile, I recommend visiting Macintouch at least to keep up with reader reports on the new OS. These are just my own observations.

Macs and the Heat

You are not the only one suffering from Portland heat this week: Your Mac is too, along with your DSL/cable modem.

Many people have their Macs set up in a 2nd floor room or converted attic and believe me, it gets HOT up there. If it's too hot for you, it is too hot for your electronics.

As a temporary fix, you can aim a fan at your DSL modem to help it cool off. It does not have its own fan and relies on convection. If you have it covered up or tucked away, you can expect poor Internet performance and outright shutdowns. You can bring it back up by powering it off and then on again, but if it is hot to the touch, take steps.

I moved mine out of its niche onto a tabletop where I could aim an 8" clip-on fan at it and have had no trouble since.

I have installed on (I hope) all of my clients' MacBooks and Pros a copy of the SMC Fan Controller program that alerts you to your processor temperature (in the menubar) along with your current fan speed. If you drop that menu down you will be able to select higher speed. Do that if the temperature ever goes above 130. You will hear the fan, but it won't run down your battery more than a few percent faster and you will really need the cooling.

If you don't have it installed, go to the publisher's site and download it. Launch it, drop the menu down and set the Preferences to °F instead of C, the Default speed to 3000 or so and Higher to the maximum. Also check Load At Startup. Then click Save.

It should always load at restart.

Michael

PS: Please call me for an appointment if I have not seen you this year. Your Mac may be accumulating minor errors and other issues that could cause you grief in the future. Better now than some morning when it crashes and won't start up.

Mac commercial I'd like to see

This is the commercial for Mac I would like to see Apple make:

(I can't remember the name of the guy who plays the Mac so I will just call him TWIT.)

TWIT: Hello, I'm a Mac.

HODGMAN: And I'm a Mac.

TWIT: Wait a minute, I'm the Mac!

HODGMAN: I've been learning from these ads and I decided being a Mac was better. I can run Windows whenever need to, and my life is so much easier.

TWIT: But I'm the Mac! You can't also be the Mac!

HODGMAN: I'm funny. People like me. I am a better Mac than you ever were and people think you're a twit. You're fired!

(Two security guards appear and haul off TWIT.)

HODGMAN: Now where on Earth are we going to find a PC?

Beware of potential damage from Bluetooth

If you have any laptop Mac with Bluetooth connectivity, this info from Wired exposes a risk. See this article with settings for info. If you do not use any Bluetooth devices (wireless keyboards or mice, or direct links to iPhone or PDAs) be sure to turn it off in the Bluetooth menu or preference pane in System Preferences. It saves your battery drain. (So does turning off AirPort if you are on battery but not connected to a WiFi spot.)

To change the setting in your default Bluetooth settings, you must first turn it ON, then click the Advanced button, then in the drop-down menu uncheck the box "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer."

From today's TidBITS:

**Bluetooth Default Setting Poses Risk to MacBooks** -- Wired.com's

  Brian X. Chen reports on a potentially dangerous default Bluetooth

  setting found on Apple notebooks. The setting enables a Bluetooth

  device to wake a machine even if its lid is closed. For a user

  packing a MacBook and Bluetooth mouse into the same satchel, this

  default could result in an overheated disaster. (Posted 2009-05-08)

TidBITS is a valuable resource and I encourage everyone to get themselves a free subscription at http://www.tidbits.com/about/list.html.

Another Update, More Bugs

Here we go again. A new Security Update from Apple and the first thing I read about is that people experience startup failures after installing it.

The first test I performed with it was on a G4 running 10.4.11 that had suffered from the bug that caused the Network pane of System Preferences to display a dialog box that stated "Your network settings have been changed by another application." This was so pervasive, affecting nearly everyone who installed it, that I put a permanent Avoid on the last security update.

I had hoped that such an affected system would be repaired by installing the new update. I had hoped that Apple had so many complaints about it that they would have fixed it.

No such luck. I installed the update but the problem remained. Then I installed it on my G4 tower, which had not had the previous update. Amazingly, it did NOT introduce the Network bug. While that is a good sign, I would still wait and see because so many are reporting trouble anyway.

Most common solution when there are problems: Hold down the Shift key at startup until you get the login window with Safe Boot in red. Then put in your password and finish the startup. Then do a normal restart. Safe Boot performs a number of maintenance operations and it can help a lot.

Other updates, such as the new Java update 3 for 10.5.6 (and 8 for 10.4.11) and ones for the iWork suite, have been shown to be okay. QuickTime 7.6 seems to fix problems for people running 7.5, but it isn't really needed unless you have a new iPhone.

Always have a wired keyboard

There are certain repairs that are not possible with a wireless keyboard because they can lose contact with the Mac at exactly the time they are most needed. If you like the convenience of wireless, be sure you can put your hands on your old USB keyboard when you need it.

Zapping PRAM, or resetting the parameter RAM, is one example. To reset this chip, which can contain corrupted data, requires you to hold down the Command, Option, P and R keys simultaneously through three restarts. As long as you hold down the keys, the Mac keeps restarting. After the third one, PRAM is cleared and you can let go of the keys, and some problems are fixed, such as high speed cycling of the fans on G5 and G4 Macs. If you try it on a wireless keyboard, you get one restart and then the Mac loses contact with the keyboard and you can't do a thing with it until it rediscovers the keyboard. If your mouse is also wireless, you can't even open the Bluetooth System Preference and force it to connect with your keyboard.

If you go wireless keep your wired devices, even if you have to go buy one.

Why I always advise you get AppleCare

My year-old MacBook Pro decided to have a stroke last weekend: all the ports on the right side of the computer stopped working. On Monday morning I dropped it off at the Mac Store Service Center (in the PowerMax warehouse in Lake Grove) and was told they would either fix it there or overnight it to Apple. This morning I called to find out what they did and was informed they put it on the overnight that afternoon, and said it would take 7 to 10 business days. "Sometimes it takes less, but we are required to state the 7-10 number."

At two this afternoon I came home to a message on my phone saying "Your Mac is back." I called in, "What, already?" Yep, it was, only two day turnaround including shipping it off to the Apple service center. They replaced the motherboard and the total cost was $0. As it was just barely past one year old, I would have had to pay more than the $349 cost of AppleCare for this fix. Plus, I have almost two years more coverage to go.

That's why I always recommend AppleCare, without exception, but especially for laptops.

PS: The reports of problems with QuickTime 7.6 and Leopard Update 10.5.6 have slacked off, and the update has been certified by some of the developers of high-end Mac programs, most notably ProTools, as mentioned in an earlier post. I will put these updates in mine this week to see if I also have no problems from it. I also have two kinds of backups: one drive with a cloned copy and another with a constantly-updating TimeMachine backup.

If I have problems and have to restore to a previous version I will let you all know. Otherwise, go ahead and download the updaters from Apple's site - don't just use Software Update - and run them yourselves.

Updates To Avoid

Apple has been busy in the last few weeks with updates to QuickTime, iTunes, Safari, and their old Security Update. Problems were obvious with some right away, but others took a while to discover.

Many of you did update when Software Update popped up and told you to, and things have worked correctly. You may breathe a sigh of relief.

The worst offender is the 2008-004 Security Update for Tiger (10.4). This has a bug that causes your Network pane in System Preferences to drop a dialog box that says "Your settings have been changed by another application." with an OK button. Click it and immediately it pops up again. This affects everyone running OSX 10.4.11, whether on an Intel Mac or a PPC Mac.

Fortunately, if you don't need to change your settings in this panel, your Internet connection will continue to work. You will even be able to switch between plug-in Ethernet cabling and wireless AirPort, and move your connection between other WiFi spots (your neighbor, a coffee house, work, etc.)

There is no fix. After going round and round with Apple on this recently, and being kicked upstairs to one of the people who really know what's going on, the bottom line is you have to do an Archive and Install reinstallation from your Tiger disk, and then run all the Software Updates again, EXCEPT for the offending Security Update.

Or just give up and buy Leopard 10.5, assuming your Mac has enough RAM and is fast enough to use it.

Safari - The last stable version is 3.1.2. There have been two updates, 3.2 and 3.2.1 since. Besides disabling add-on programs like PithHelmet (which blocks ads) and other input managers, the update is much more sensitive to misbehaving sites and crashes quite often. One workaround, if you have already gotten the update, is to go to the Safari menu and choose Empty Cache, then again and choose Reset Safari. Let it delete your entire history, saved passwords, icons, etc. This has been shown to help make it more stable. But if you are running 3.1.2 or older, stop there. This affects people running OSX 10.4.11 and also 10.5.5.

Leopard - I have had no trouble with the 10.5.5 update, compared to the stable 10.5.4 version that is on the store-bought DVDs currently available. (Previous store copies were 10.5.1, which replaced the notoriously buggy initial 10.5 release.) The notorious exception affects people using ProTools, the music composition suite of software. They have experienced display issues when updating to 10.5.5 and the only fix is to reinstall and then stop at 10.5.4.

QuickTime - The problematic version is 7.5.5. The previous 7.5 is pretty stable but if you have 7.3 or 7.4.5, don't update unless getting a new iPhone forces you to. Users are experiencing playback problems with the newest version on some web pages.

iTunes 8 - The latest is 8.0.2 but any version past 7.7 has introduced difficulties for some. The biggest problems have been experienced by people who store their iTunes library on a different hard drive from the startup drive. It loses track of the library data and usually requires recreating the library, which causes you to lose all of your playlists. Outside of a cool visualizer eye-candy effect, and a "genius sidebar" that takes note of what you are playing and suggests other songs you can buy from the iTunes Store, there is no advantage to iTunes 8. It's required, of course, if you have the latest iPhone.

The new MacBooks - The Defective By Design web site, an informational service opposed to DRM (Digital Rights Management, or copy protection), has listed the new MacBooks as #1 in their 35 Days Against DRM project. Read all about it at Defective By Design. It seems Apple has included a hardware chip in the new models that serves no function other than to make it impossible to play certain video formats that are deemed "the analog hole," or a format the movie and TV industry has decided you may not view.

I realize this affects very few of you, but if you want to rip video from your TV, or from a DVD, you have to go through extra hoops to make it work. It is a consumer-hostile act on Apple's part, and they should not be allowed to get away without hearing protest from their customers. This chip has not been included in any of their other models - yet.

Think about ignoring the new MacBooks

Since the announcement that new MacBooks would not have FireWire ports, there has been a firestorm of criticism on Apple's chat forums and other blog sites. Other complaints have centered around the price increase for MacBook Pros.

Loss of FireWire means no more connecting to other Macs via Target Disk mode. ALthough all Intel Macs can boot off of USB-2 external hard drives, and all the drives I have been recommending for backup purposes have both ports, I cannot recommend the new MacBook to anyone without hesitation. But for that, it would be a great machine and an appropriate replacement for the old 12" PowerBook G4. Still, if you can't imagine ever needing FireWire to link two Macs together or to hook up a digital video camera, it is a worthy product.

Migration without FireWire is still possible if you have a cloned backup to one of these multi-port drives because it can read that same drive through the USB port.

According to Ric Ford of Macintouch, the best buy right now is to get a remaindered MB Pro from Amazon or other sources, at a savings of as much as $500 over the new ones. I have that particular model myself and recommend it without reservation.

The now-cheaper white plastic MacBook ($999) Apple is selling alongside the aluminum ones has been upgraded with a SuperDrive (writes DVDs too) which actually makes it cheaper by $300. It comes with only one gig of RAM, though, so if you buy this model, which still has a FireWire port, be sure to get at least two gigs RAM at time of order.

Besides price, I don't see any problems with the new MacBook Pro models, except you must buy an extra-cost DVI adapter to use them with an external monitor you already have or any non-Apple one you may buy. They are designed specifically for the new Cinema Display, which has built-in video camera and speakers. Assume the adapters will ad $20-$30 to the total cost. The 24" Cinema Display looks hot, though, and at $900 is not too far out of competition with other manufacturers, especially if you would actually use the video camera for video chatting or podcasting.

Avoid Fake CNN spam

Slashdot and many of the other blogs (which you should scan now and then, btw) are warning people about a spam that is making the rounds called CNN Daily Top Ten. When you click the link, it takes you to a window that tells you that it needs to install a new version of the Flash player.

Naturally, that isn't Flash, it's malware. You can be certain that it is designed to infect Windows boxes, but it isn't known if it can also detect a Mac and serve malware just for us. We do know that there are some weaknesses in OSX and Safari that CAN be exploited, but not if this is one of them.

Bottom line: It's spam. Don't click it. I don't care how pretty or believable it looks. It is always out to hurt you so avoid it at all costs.

More on Epson

One person responded saying I should not tar the entire product line because their tech support is awful and their little CD print program is garbage. He says that their higher-end professional printers are still excellent.

Good news, then. This is similar to HP in the sense that their high-end laser printers do not suffer from the same horrible software that their cheap laser and inkjets do. One would think they care about ALL of their customers, but I guess not.

That CD printer program probably works fine for people who have only one printer, plugged into USB, but I would look to other publishers for CD printing software. I know one comes with Toast and there should be others.

Worse news: The Canon printer that can handle CDs is sold only to Europeans. You may not have any other choice.

Forget about Epson

Today I had a client with a new Epson all-in-one with the ability to print on CDs directly. They also have a wireless network with an AirPort Express that you can plug the printer into and print from anywhere on the network. It mostly works, but the client said the colors are not as good as her previous printer. This is bad news because Epson used to have the best color, even as their tech support went to hell.

Well, it's still in hell, at least India, and they were incapable of solving a problem with their super-simple CD/DVD printing program. It uses a non-standard print dialog box, and there is no way to change the printer! This is important, because there has to be two drivers: one for USB direct and one for wireless. Choose the wrong one and the print will fail with a "Can't find the printer" message.

It was like pulling fingernails to get the level 1 tech to even understand the problem: Everything worked correctly; it could print in all programs BUT their CD printer. After an hour battle and finally getting switched to a Level 2 tech, I still could not get satisfaction because he had no answers why the print window worked like it did. At best, we got the thing to default to wireless printing. The only choice they offered was to deinstall everything and give up on wireless printing entirely - create one print driver for USB and nothing else and maybe the CD printer would respect that.

Scanning won't work wirelessly because Epson can't write good software (like HP, even worse) yet I know it's possible because both the Canon and Brother all-in-ones do support wireless or network scanning.

I have been recommending against Epsons for a few years now, and this is just another reason to keep it up.

Another reason to avoid WD's MyBook

There are several, not the least of which is a high failure rate due to overheating. But today I discovered that you cannot make them bootable, either via FireWire or USB (Intel Macs only). This is due to an obsolete chipset.

So, stick to LaCie D2 Quadra drives, or OtherWorld Computing's drives.

Avoid Adobe Reader 9

Adobe has just released its update to Reader, and an important function has been removed: Documents that are forms with fields you can fill out can no longer be saved (SaveAs...) with the data typed in. It can print them, but it will save only the blank form. Reader 8 had no trouble with this, so do NOT install Reader 9, even if you get warnings from Adobe. It's hard to believe they would make such a stupid mistake; removing this feature must have been an intentional decision.

Keep an eye on Macintouch to stay current.

Lots of action lately

Microsoft FINALLY released the converter so users of Office 2004 will be able to read the .docx and other -x documents created in Windows 2007 Office and Mac 2008 Office. Go get it here: http://tinyurl.com/4z2bfa and follow the instructions. I have not tried it myself because I already have 2008 (slow, dysfunctional turd that it is).

• • •

The notable exploit for Apple Remote Desktop has a couple of other solutions, which you can find on macfixit.com. Otherwise just wait for Software Update to announce a new security update, then wait a couple of days in case they screw it up badly and have to replace it, then install it.

• • •

This past week I have run into two Macs with dead FireWire ports. Nothing would show when plugged into them. In both cases, I was able to fix by resetting the PMMU chip. One was a G4 tower. On the motherboard there is a little button, about 1/3 inch square, with PMMU printed just below it. Get a flashlight and carefully scan over the board. The button is not covered up by anything, unless you have an AirPort card installed, which you should slide out part way if you can't find it elsewhere. Press this button for five seconds and then close up your Mac. Reset the PRAM by hitting the power button and immediately holding down the keys P, R, Command and Option. Keep holding down for three chimes, then release and let it come up normally. If that doesn't fix the port, then it is truly dead.

The other Mac was a MacBook and it was simpler: shut down, remove the battery and power cord, press the Power button briefly, then put the battery and cord back and reset the PRAM as described above.

There was a MacBook that also had the problem and nothing fixed it, so it was off to a Mac dealer to have it fixed under AppleCare. That fix will necessitate a new motherboard, which costs twice as much as the AppleCare contract. If your Mac is less than a year old and you haven't purchased AppleCare yet, do it now. Not only will Apple help talk to you for the entire three years, you will save major bucks if anything goes wrong with the computer.

Epson troubles

Today I had to fix a recalcitrant Epson printer. It had been working for a while but then developed the dreaded "Lost contact with the printer" message. Tried reinstalling the drivers but when I went to the setup utility it did not show the newly-installed driver option.

Called Epson, with trepidation because I have been hearing that the quality of their support has been fading over the years, but had a good experience this time. Even though the tech called himself "Dave" he was obviously in India, or an Indian working somewhere else, but he was understandable. He was overly reliant on phrases like "Thank you for that information" but not impossible and we resolved the issue.

I had to completely remove all printer parts including the Epson Printers in the Library/Receipts folder, the two Epson .plist files in the Preferences folder and everything in the Epson folder in the Library/Printers folder. Then the reinstallation was successful. Still, in the Printer Setup Utility, I had to ignore the printer that showed up initially and choose More Printers, then the popup for Epson Firewire (yours may be Epson USB or Epson Ethernet) and only then did the correct driver show up and the install finish successfully. Sheesh.

The secret phone number to call them is 562-276-1300, which is not listed anywhere on their site.

Installing Leopard

Stephan writes,

I attempted to install the update for Leopard but they said I didn't have enough disc space and that I should remove some of the stuff on my start up drive.  I'm sure you know what that means, but I don't!

Yes, your disk is too full. It should never be more than 80% full and 50% is better. Too many iTunes songs or iPhoto pictures? Something is filling it up. Open the main HD window in list view, then go to View Options and check the box for Calculate All Sizes. Open up subcategories by clicking the little triangle to the left of each folder name. It will take a while but it will calculate the contents of each folder. Don't delete stuff you don't understand (like the Library) but if you find the culprit to be too many movies, pictures or iTunes, delete or archive somewhere else. Then you should be able to upgrade.

Dish Network (No Mac content)

I should start off with a comment about a problem I have been unable to find an answer to: Dish Network chopping off the left and right sides of network programming. Before two months ago, most programs were sent out by the networks and broadcast in 16x9 wide-screen format. On conventional TVs, that would result in letterboxing - black bars at the top and bottom. Those with wide-screen TVs could zoom the picture to fill their screen. When viewing a normal 4x3 picture, they could zoom out so the pic would fill top to bottom and black bars would appear on the sides. All was fine and good.

The local stations are still broadcasting this way, but Dish users with normal (not HD) tuners are finding the picture cropped, obviously so, because credits, ad bugs and the like are cut off. So far, no one at Dish has been able or willing to explain why they started doing this and when they will go back to normal. I can't even verify if it's an Oregon phenomenon or national. The satellite/cable channels do not have this problem; if sent in 16x9 we see them in 16x9.

I'd love both an answer and a verification that this is happening to people around the country, and also if it is affecting DirectTV customers as well.

Welcome

Welcome to the Moonlight Mac weblog. This replaces my monthly column in ComputerChips magazine, now defunct. To read my past articles, visit the articles page on my regular site.

The appearance of this will change over time as I learn how to configure it. There will be a way to subscribe to it so you will be alerted when there are new posts. This will not affect, but may duplicate, the e-list of my clients who now get alerts and used to get my monthly column.

I will also answer Mac questions whenever possible. If you are in town and need a personal visit to get your Mac working, or just get it working better than it is now, contact me directly via email: mp at moonmac dot com.