SMB

In addition to offering file sharing using the Mac-native Apple Filing Protocol (AFP), Apple also includes an option for the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol so you can share files with Windows machines.

Unlike the AFP option that is enabled for the whole system, the SMB service is enabled or disabled for individual users in the Sharing preferences pane. Unfortunately, in some instances after upgrading from OS X 10.6 to OS X 10.7 Lion, some people who have had the SMB service enabled are finding they cannot disable it for their accounts. When they enter their passwords at … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers. This week readers wrote in asking about shared parent folders mounting when subfolders are accessed, .DS_Store files appearing on the desktop, which Office versions will work with Lion, where to look up application compatibility for Lion, and whether or not you should install software that came with external hard drives. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present a few answers here, we welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: Accessing shared subfolder … Read more

If you have only one computer there may not be much need for file sharing; however, in many homes people have multiple systems and may wish to transfer files between them, either on the same network or in two different locations. There are a variety of ways to do this, but ultimately there are three basic transfer options: direct networking, Internet services, and the use of local devices.

Direct networking Direct networking uses standard sharing protocols such as AFP, SMB, or FTP on a basic TCP/IP connection to view and copy files. It can be done over Wi-Fi or … Read more

The Finder's sidebar in OS X is built to allow you quick access to resources such as network shares, your home directory, and custom searches, among other locations you can add to the sidebar. While the "Shared" section in the sidebar should only show you resources on the local network (i.e., servers, workgroups, individual PCs, and NAS devices), sometimes odd or unrecognized items may show up.

If you are on a public network or a large work network, you may see numerous unknown devices show up in the shared list, but if you are at home … Read more

Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft tonight are taking the covers off four pieces of HP-made hardware that will ship with software, services, and support from both companies as part of their Frontline partnership.

The goal, the companies say, is to reduce the amount of time it takes to deploy new appliances by bundling together pre-configured hardware and software. The hardware has also been designed to cover both small-medium businesses (SMBs) as well as enterprise-size companies.

The four configurations HP and Microsoft are launching to meet that goal are: the HP Business Decision Appliance, the HP Enterprise Data Warehouse Appliance, the HP E5000 … Read more

We're big fans of open-source, cross-platform, portable freeware, especially when it's in the form of an especially flexible and useful tool like muCommander. It's a Java-based file management utility that handles just about anything you can throw at it: ZIP files (all kinds), FTP, ISO, SFTP, SMB, NFS, HTTP, e-mail messages and attachments, browser bookmarks, themes and skins, and much more. It offers full credentials management, keyboard shortcuts, compatibility with Apple platforms, checksum calculation, and some 20 languages. Since it's an open-source project, it's evolving new features and capabilities all the time.

This program's … Read more

OS X is by default set up so each local account can have quick network access to the account's home directory as well as locally attached filesystems to which the user has access. While this is convenient for the home user, there may be times when you would like to quickly share files with other people on the network, without either granting them access to your full user directory or continually moving files to the "Public" folder in your user account.… Read more

An ongoing issue that people have had with the latest 10.6.3 update is with changes to the Finder's handling of files when copying to mounted SMB shares. There have been errors stating the files cannot be copied either because the user does not have permissions to access them, or a Finder error -36 which is a basic I/O error.… Read more

Microsoft will issue 11 security bulletins in next week's Patch Tuesday to fix 25 vulnerabilities in Windows, Microsoft Office, and Exchange, including two holes for which exploit code is in the wild.

Five of the bulletins address critical vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to take control of the computer, five are rated important, and one is rated moderate.

With the updates, Microsoft will be closing two outstanding security advisories that have been worrisome because code to exploit the vulnerabilities is available publicly.

One of the advisories is 981169, which involves a vulnerability in VBScript that could allow the … Read more