How-Tos

Tutorial: Fixes for system-wide freezes when Web browsing [avoiding lookupd bug]

Under Mac OS X 10.3.x and Mac OS X 10.4.x there exists an issue where some users experience a stall in Safari or other Web browsers when accessing certain Web sites that usually leads to a complete system freeze accompanied by the unending "spinning beach ball" progress indicator.

The typical chain of events is as follows:

Web pages suddenly stop loading - sometimes halfway through a page Applications (apparently all of them) then refuse to launch, first bouncing in the dock for up to a minute and then simply having a stationary, inactive icon … Read more

Tutorial: Getting into Login Items: Part 2

Ted Landau September 2005

Your list of Login Items can be seen by selecting the Login Items tab for your account, as accessed via the Accounts System Preferences pane. Last month, in Part 1 of this two-part tutorial, we covered the basics of working with Login Items: what they are, how they work and why to use them. In Part 2, we explore some more ?in-depth? and troubleshooting-related aspects of Login Items.

Q. In my Login Items list, one or more items have a Kind of ?Unknown.? Is this a problem and, if it is, how do I fix it?… Read more

Troubleshooting Tools: Printer Setup Repair

Published August 25th

Dan Frakes August 2005

Our monthly Troubleshooting Tools column, penned by MacFixIt Contributing Editor Dan Frakes, covers products that can help you maintain and fix your Mac.

Mac OS X has a flexible and powerful printing system, but this printing system is also one of the areas where users seem to have the most trouble, whether it's because printers can't be found, disappear from the Printer Setup Utility Printer List, or just plain don't print.

I don't have the space in this column to cover every printing issue you may encounter and how … Read more

Tutorial: Getting into Login Items: Part 1

Ted Landau August 2005

If you've never used Login Items, it's time to give them a whirl. They are among the most convenient shortcuts in Mac OS X. Actually, even if you have never created a Login Item, you may be using them anyway, as a result of applications that automatically add themselves to your list without exactly telling you.

And for those already familiar with Login Items, there may still be some tips and tricks of which you are unaware.

In this two-part tutorial (concluding next month), we explore all about Login Items. Using a Q&… Read more

Solving an issue where the Date/Time setting reverts to 1969

Some users power up their Macs to find they are re-living the year of the first moon landing, with the date and time setting reverting to Dec. 31st, 1969. The problem can be temporarily resolved by simply using the Date and Time System Preference pane to correct this setting, but the erroneous date/time may return the next time the system is restarted, causing significant issues with file creation dates, some date-reliant applications and more.

This problem generally has three causes, which can manifest singly or in tandem:

A faulty PowerBook/iBook primary battery that must be replaced Corrupt or … Read more

Mini-Tutorial: Backing up Mail.app mail

Old e-mail messages are usually among the neglected components of a healthy backup routine. Despite their general tendency to contain sensitive, important information, and the utility they can serve when searching for old contacts or other data, many users fail to properly preserve previously viewed or sent messages.

In addition, having too many messages in your Mail.app database can cause significant performance issues, both when refreshing the entire list of messages, as well as when performing routine searches of recent items, or even launching and operating within Mail.app.

Here are a few simple solutions for quickly backing up … Read more

Troubleshooting Tools: File Utilities

Originally posted August 2nd

Dan Frakes July 2005

Our monthly Troubleshooting Tools column, penned by MacFixIt Contributing Editor Dan Frakes, covers products that can help you maintain and fix your Mac.

For the most part, you work with your files in Mac OS X, not on them. But there are times, especially during troubleshooting, when instead of editing the contents of files, you need to change file settings: permissions, file types, extensions, or even obscure attributes such as visibility. There may also be times when you want to manipulate files -- move them, rename them, and so on -- in … Read more

mac.column.ted: Filling the Norton Utilities gap

Posted Monday, July 11th

Ted Landau July 2005

One of the great improvements in Mac OS X, as compared to Mac OS and its predecessors, is its superior resistance to disk structure damage. In the "old days," Mac users typically found it necessary to run repair software every few weeks or so -- or risk the arrival of an assortment of irritating symptoms. With Mac OS X, running repair software on a maintenance preventative basis is almost superfluous. Yes, I have had a few occasions when I benefited from First Aid, the repair component built-in to Mac OS … Read more

Mini-Tutorial: Re-installing Apple applications from a Mac OS X disc/update package using Pacifist

For various reasons, applications originally installed by the Mac OS X Installer disc (DVD or CD) -- Mail.app, Activity Viewer, etc. -- can become unusable. This can occur due to user deletion, corruption of drive sectors, and other problems. Unfortunately, some of these applications are not available as standalone downloads.

However, virtually all of these applications can be restored with the use of a shareware utility called Pacifist, which will extract the application file(s) in question from the various .pkg containers on the Mac OS X installer disc and put them back in the proper location on your … Read more