Dealing with Software Update "Blues"

Apparently, some Mac users have had a problem right after Software Update has run on Leopard.  It's called the "blue screen of death" for the frozen field of bright blue when restarting the computer. De Prez Jim Hamm found the following tip from "Make Mac Work."  http://www.makemacwork.com/startup-fails-with-blue-screen.htm    This is most often caused by a corrupt dynamic loader cache, a feature which replaced "application prebinding" in OS X 10.5 and tells the system where to find available shared libraries.  Without a roadmap to these libraries the computer can't boot properly.  

"If the affected system is running 10.5.6, you can remedy this problem by booting with the 'Shift' key held, triggering a Safe Boot sequence and deleting the damaged cache files.  If you're running an earlier version of Leopard, Safe Boot won't remove the caches, so you'll have to boot the machine from a DVD or external drive and remove the files manually from /var/db/dyld/ instead.  Once the cache files have been removed the machine should restart normally."
Here, Art Gorski comes to the rescue. He adds the following info to clarify, "Booting with Shift key held down in 10.5.6 automatically deletes these cache files. Restarting the Mac should work fine then."   Art continues: See  http://applejack.sourceforge.net/ which says, "Using AppleJack you can repair your disk, repair permissions, validate the system's preference files, and get rid of possibly corrupted cache files.  The important thing is that you don't need another startup disk with you.  
"You can boot your Mac with the Command and S keys held down and enter Single User Mode, which dumps you to a command prompt.  There you can type AppleJack to launch the utility.  One of the options in this program is to delete cache files.  Once done with AppleJack, just type 'reboot.' This method will work with older versions of Mac OS X."
Hopefully, this won't ever happen to you, but it might be good to print up these directions and file them where you can find them.  

Puzzles & Prizes

You could earn free Mac software by solving "secret agent fantasy" puzzles, according to a site sent to us by Dan Simpson.  Take a look at http://www.macheist.com/about/s/about/  Looks like a lot of people have joined this MacHeist site.  When I looked at it there were 608 members on line in their forum, with 288,492 members total. Dan says, "It is really quite fun."  Be sure to let us know if —when — you win! 

The First to Respond


After reading the earlier posting, challenging PMUG members to relate how they use their Mac we hear from Art Gorski today. He writes, "My everyday routine starts on my MacBook, checking hundreds of RSS feeds with NetNewsWire, a fabulously powerful newsreader, vastly better than Mail or Safari for this purpose. While doing this, I'm listening to audio podcasts that I subscribe to with iTunes.

"Later in the day, I'll use my Mac mini connected to a 37" HD LCD monitor to watch video podcasts that I subscribe to with Miro, a free cross-platform app for this purpose. Many of these are in HD, and look fabulous.

"Currently, I'm using Keynote to work on my presentation for the next PMUG meeting and using OmniGraffle Pro to do scale drawings of a couple of walls in my house where I'm planning to install a tool storage system.

"Occasionally, I use iPhoto to organize my digital camera pics, iMovie (old and new versions) to edit videos I take with my Canon camcorder, and iDVD to burn DVDs to send to friends and family and to archive videos. If I need to edit pictures for other purposes, I use GraphicConverter, since I think Photoshop and even Elements is overkill.

"For financial stuff, I use Quicken, spreadsheets in Numbers, and some on-line tools.

"For word processing, I use TextEdit and Pages. I'm proud to say I have nothing Microsoft installed.

"For troubleshooting, I use AppleJack, Terminal, and DiskWarrior.

"I use Chronosync running daily automatic schedules to backup all three Macs in our home to my ReadyNAS network attached storage box in my structured wiring closet over gigabit ethernet that I had installed when I built our home. We also have an HP Color LaserJet multifunction device that all Macs can print to and scan from that is attached to the same network."
Thanks, Art, for being our first member to respond.

Safe and Secure

Our February 21 meeting will feature a Keynote presentation by Art Gorski. He will give us features, tricks and tips, some unique to Leopard (Mac OSX 10.5) that will make your computing safer and more secure, especially if you use a laptop in public locations.  He will also discuss safe computing practices, do's and don'ts, that will protect you on the Internet.  He promises to be gentle and not too technical, and everyone should learn something new.  See you there.

Macintosh Birthday on January 24

This calls for a cake with 25 candles. Why didn't we think of it earlier? Thanks to David Passell for alerting us to the following:

The BBC News website has this article with video, "Apple's First Macintosh Turns 25." http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7846575.stm

Another article worth perusing, "25 Years of Mac: From Boxy Beige to Silver Sleek" http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-01/ff_mac

Keep SuperDrive Clean

We just got some handy reminders from past president, current treasurer, David Passell. He relates some problems and problem-solving techniques that PMUG members need to know.

"Last fall after a lot of work that I was doing burning DVDs of Photos and Movies for a friend, I decided to listen to some music. When I inserted the CD it would not mount. Attempts to mount it with Disk Utility only showed it was there. It had all sorts of other weird information displayed when I clicked on the disk icon. I finally was able to eject it. The usual methods did not work.

"I had other problems when I tried to burn a CD with some photos: No success.

"I inquired to various sources, and the general suggestion was that the SuperDrive in my Mini was out of alignment or defective. There are two separate lasers for DVD and CD, I'm told, and one can fail while the other still works. Even the consultant at Argosy West said I probably would have to replace the drive under warranty.

"Not wanting to separate myself from my computer for a week or so, and noting the amount of dust which floats around the room (one of the problems of having pets around), I thought I would try to clean it. I heard a disaster story about trying to blow out the drive with compressed air (destroyed the drive) so I went to Staples and purchased for $10.00 a CD/DVD Drive Cleaner disk. This is a CD with a big arrow printed on the label side and a couple of little brushes on the shiny side.

"Per the instructions on the package I inserted the disk into the drive arrow forward and immediately I got the Audio CD Icon which was a good sign. There was also a voice message (actually available in several languages). Continuing on, some of the instructions did not exactly work as expected. This may be because like so many products they were PC/Windows oriented. In any case there were a lot of whirring and disk activities which within a minute or so stopped.

"I was able to eject the disk in a normal fashion; that is drag to Trash, use CMD-E, or the little arrow on the upper side of the top menu bar.

"Then I inserted my music CD. It played normally. This was on October 4, 2008. The drive has worked fine for both CDs and DVDs until a week ago when I noticed that CDs would not mount. I got out the Cleaning disk and performed the ritual again on January 13, 2009. The CDs mounted and played normally again.

"Conclusion is that if you start having problems with your SuperDrive, especially if it is in the close confines of a Mini get a Cleaner Disk and give it a try before you start looking for a replacement. The Mini has only ventilating openings at the back and its almost silent fan probably draws in a lot of dust.

"Further note: If you do a lot of DVD or CD work, you might consider purchasing an External drive for $100.00 or so. By the way, I would avoid those "LIghtScribe drives." You pay a premium, and when you read all the fine print you will discover that it takes 20 minutes or so to write the image. I prefer the crude old soft-tip pen and reserve my art for an insert. NEVER use a stick-on label. If it has any hanging edges it may jam in the drive. Then you do have problems."

So, there you have it, PMUG members. Thanks to David for taking the time to chronicle his computer adventures.

Jim Says, "Hi."


From a bluegrass festival in Blythe, CA, De Prez Jim Hamm sends greetings.  "The weather has been perfect, the music great, and we're having a good time. . . We had a fire in an outdoor stove every evening, and, of course, some pickin' . . . Glad the meeting went well Saturday."  

(That's Zee in the picture with Jim.)  
He concludes with "I'm actually sending this email from an RV park near Palm Springs, CA on Monday evening where I have wi-fi access.  Weather is 80 degrees and I'm in shorts and sandals.  Tough life, but we'll persevere. . . . (grin)  See you in a month."   

Starting Off the New Year



Our 2009 series of PMUG meetings at the Prescott Library got off to a good start today. Roger Lakner presided since De Prez Jim Hamm was off on a trip, and Roger took these photos. 

Speaker John Sykes from Argosy West gave a slide presentation about new features of some Mac products.  It was fun meeting visitors Daniel Leung, Al Abady, and Allen Laudenslager.  Helen Parsons, new member, remembers David Passell from "a long time ago" in PMUG. 
Thanks to Ginger Carlson who keeps us in cookies, with the help of Lynn Bischoff.  And Randy Calvert lugs those books for those who want to read all about Mac stuff. Thanks to the early birds, especially Mary Beth who helped set up the room. 


Zee Says, "Yea!"

The Google program Picasa was a favorite of Zee Hamm when she had a PC.  She really missed it when both she and Jim switched to Macs. It's finally been released for the Mac.  Here is one link to an article: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2009/01/05/macworld-ars-google-officially-releases-picasa-for-mac
and the other article is http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10130501-12.htm?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 

Live Blogs, Tuesday at 10 a.m.

Plan accordingly!  De Prez Jim Hamm tells us that live blogs on the keynote speech at MacWorld Expo will be available Tuesday, January 6 at 10 a.m. our time. 

http://macworld.appletell.com/
http://www.macworld.com/topics/macworld_expo.html

"MacWorld magazine and Appletell (and others) will have representatives at the Keynote speech and they will type (a live blog) what Phil Schiller, VP of Marketing from Apple, is introducing as new products, software, etc. by Apple for 2009. They may be using cell phones to type on, or maybe a notebook Mac. The info is uploaded to their respective website where you can read it on your Mac. It's fun to sit at your Mac and read what's happening. Later, a video of the Keynote speech will be available, too. I don't know what time that will be available.

"If time and inclination permit, here's an opportunity to while away an hour."  — Jim

Won't it be fun to see what's coming next! 

A Warning Alert

Member John Carter forwards to us the following warning from http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2008/12/hackers-create-secure-sockets-liar.html

"Hackers create Secure Sockets Liar: You know that comforting little padlock icon at the bottom of the browser that lets you know you're on a secure, encrypted connection to a bank, merchant or whatever? It's been picked. An international team of security researchers announced today that, with the help of 200 PlayStation 3 consoles strapped together into a poor man's supercomputer, they had exploited a known weakness in a cryptographic algorithm called MD5 and created a rogue Certification Authority able to forge the certificates used to authenticate Secure Sockets Layer connections (the padlock thingie). In theory, similarly skilled evildoers could steer users to phishing sites that not only looked legit but also appeared to be properly secured. In practice, the evildoers still have some tech work to do to catch up with the white-hat guys, and the exposure of the vulnerability should be enough to encourage the remaining real Certification Authorities using the MD5 function to switch to something a little sturdier. So no need to panic, but also no time to relax. Said cryptography expert Bruce Schneier, 'This is good work, great cryptography. I love the research, but this doesn't matter a whit. There are half a dozen ways to forge certificates and nobody checks them anyway.'"