Macking 130

Keep On Fixing Permissions
OSX 10.4.6 seemed to put an end to the endless "Repair Permissions" requirement that Mackers have had to obey since 10.2.x. I know, a lot of you have not ever done it because you forget how.
(It's simplicity itself. Inside your Applications folder is a Utilities folder. Open that and locate Disk Utility. Launch it. In the left side of the window, click on the name of your startup drive. Near the bottom of the window are two buttons, Verify Disk Permissions and Repair Disk Permissions. Click on Repair. When it's finished, quit. That's it.)
In any event, the 10.4.6 update has repaired problems where the Repair Permissions process kept returning the same set of fixes every time you ran it. But you still need to do it. According to an article in MacFixIt, each program installs a package file (in Library, Receipts) that contains a "Bill of Materials (.bom)" file that contains a list of the files installed by that package and what its permissions should be. Disk Utility scans those .bom files and then modifies any that are not found to match.
Also, if the /tmp directory is missing (normally invisible to the user), then you won't be able to print, use Classic, start file sharing, burn disks or update software. This is stated in the Apple Knowledge Base article #107396, on Apple's support site.
Repairing Permissions replaces that missing folder. Apple also says, "User permissions associated with files, folders, or applications can become damaged and prevent a file or application from opening. Permissions problems can also cause your computer to run slowly."
So Repairing Permissions is an Apple-recommended process for a host of significant issues that seem unrelated, and should be done both before and after an OSX Software Update operation, and after installation of any new applications, especially large and complex ones like Office and absolutely Quark XPress, which trashes every permission in your Applications folder.

Fear No Worms
There was a brief rumble in the MSM (mainstream media) over the alleged existence of viruses for OSX. Yes, they are there, but they aren't self-propagating viruses like Microsoft victims have come to know and love, they are single exploits and weaknesses in Safari that malevolent web pages can possibly take advantage of. Also, there are potential weaknesses in Apache, the bundled UNIX web server that is disabled by default in all OSX installations. Other potential weaknesses exist, and Apple is patching them by issuing Security Updates via Software Update.
I suppose you should religiously install those updates (I don't) while crossing fingers, toes and eyes in hope that they don't mess up something in your system. Usually, they don't but that's cold comfort if you get to be one of the few.
Just open Safari Preferences and uncheck the box "Open 'safe' files after downloading" because they aren't safe. That way, you will need to double-click anything you choose to download after it appears on your desktop. If you didn't choose it, don't open it, just trash it.
That applies to Safari, not your email program. Most of the damaging attachments that appear as spam in your email are Microsoft viruses and they don't work on Macs, unless you have an Intel Mac and are running Windows on it. Then you too have access to all 114,000+ pieces of malware that was formerly denied to Mackers.
Do beware of Word macro viruses, though. They can infect all your Word files and its Normal template, so every new document you create will be contaminated. ClamX AntiVirus can spot those and isolate them, but not strip out the virus code. I had to use an OS9 Mac running Virex 6.1 with definitions updated to 2004, the last ones issued, to clear it out without trashing all the infected documents. That's another good reason to keep an old FireWire-capable old Mac around.
If you can't boot into OS9, then you will need to throw out the Normal template, then use AppleWorks to open each infected Word file, do a SaveAs into RTF format (or standard .doc is okay) and then toss all the originals.
For another look at the lack of Mac viruses, columnist Jack Campbell has written for his blog Technically True "The Mac OSX Virus Contest, A Year Later," in which he declares that in spite of a public challenge there have been no, count 'em, NO wild OSX viruses to appear yet. Read it on his site, along with the contradictory responses that follow.
Speaking of ClamXAV, the MacFixIt website reported that it is the only reliable anti-virus program for OSX. Both Sophos and NortonAV have severe faults that cause them to report false positives and then delete or isolate hundreds of important system files that render your Mac unusable. Best of all, ClamXAV is a free, open-source application. Go get it from VersionTracker or just google for the primary web site.

G5 Coolant Leaks
It was probably inevitable: G5 Towers with the liquid-cooled processor are starting to turn up in repair shops with fried processors and power supplies because the coolant leaked out.
This seemed obvious to me at the time: radiators, pumps and liquids do not mix with sensitive motherboard components. Seems my instinct was correct.
If you have one of these models, make sure you have AppleCare because repairs can cost as much as a thousand dollars. Then sell your computer before the three years are up. If you can't get AppleCare and your G5 is working fine, I would think seriously about replacing it while you can still get a good price for it. You can determine if your G5 is one of these by reading the pamphlet that came with it, or taking the side off and peering into the cooling area behind the fans. If you see something like a car radiator, you have one. Only the top-of-the-line models used water cooling.

17 CD ROMs
Do you have an older Mac that has no DVD reader? Want to upgrade to Tiger? Apple has a program whereby you can return your 10.4 DVD with a check for $10 and they will send you the Tiger installation on CD.
However, since the DVD is a double-layer disk, it takes seventeen CDs to replace it. You will be swapping CDs all day. If you are going to keep your Mac for a couple of more years, you might look into replacing the internal CD-only drive with a Combo model.
Otherwise, you could buy an external FireWire DVD reader/writer like the LaCie model I have ($199 list, $189 street; may be cheaper now) and install from that. Some Macs do allow you to boot from an external DVD drive. I know, I just did it with my old G4 tower that serves as my media player.

Old Mac Media Player
It's not quite fast enough for HDTV, but I have been using a twin 450-MHz G4 to serve my iTunes music and play videos downloaded from BitTorrent or other sources. I boosted its memory to 1.25 gigs, a pair of 120Gb internal drives and a 250Gb external for backups. After adding an ATI display card dedicated to the TV set it works pretty well. Its main monitor is an ancient SGI 1600 display I wrote about in Macking 106 but the separate card drives the TV. Last month I got a wireless mouse for it, after finding that Bluetooth mice worked so poorly with my add-on Bluetooth dongle. Great, another 2.4 GHz radio device to add noise to my AirPort network. No problems yet, though.
Since a lot of the stuff on BitTorrent is in AVI format, QuickTime can't handle it, but fortunately there is a Mac version of VLC (Video LAN Client) - which can be found at versiontracker.com - that can play the files just fine in full screen mode on the wide screen TV.
Try THAT with a MacMini. All it needs now is a much faster processor. My G4 can boot into OS9, too, which is quite useful sometimes. No Intel Macs for me just yet, not even the rumored new black iBook Thin that replaces the 12" PowerBook.
(Already not true. See Macking 131 for a report on my new black MacBook.)

MacOSX Hints
One of my favorite daily blogs is dedicated to hints and help for users of OSX. An example:
"A non-scanner method of digitizing old slides:
"The June issue of Macworld describes the use of flatbed scanners and dedicated scanners to copy slides. There is a much easier and faster method that gives exceptional results, if you intend to burn all your old slides onto DVD as I am currently doing. All that is required is a good quality digital camera, a slide projector, iLife, and a sheet of slightly off-white posterboard.
"Set the poster board on edge and place the projector at a distance that will produce an image approximately 18" to 24" wide. Then set your camera up on a tripod, with the axis of the lens as close to the axis of the projector as possible. Zoom the lens to fill the frame. After some tweaking of the white balance and EV settings, you can take high quality pictures of your pictures.
"Fill up your memory card and import into iPhoto. There you can make adjustments and crop if necessary prior to burning as a group of slides, or make a slide show with all the trimmings. Using this method, you can import as many slides in an hour as you could with a scanner in a month of working in your spare time! This also works for your old 8mm movies.
"[robg adds: I used a similar technique to convert old printed photos for use in an iDVD project. I set the photos on the ground, then put the camera on a tripod and shot down at the photos. The quality was more than sufficient for TV viewing, and I shot literally hundreds of images. Doing the same via the scanner would have been much more work.]"
Visit MacOSHints at http://www.macoshints.com/.

Thumbs Up to Qwest
Despite the things they do that make people mad, Qwest deserves credit for refusing to provide logs of all your phone calls to the National Security Agency, the only major telco to do so. Verizon, AT&T or BellSouth customer? Too bad for you, but their enthusiastic cooperation with the spooks has earned Verizon a billion-dollar lawsuit for violating the Communications Act, which required them to notify their customers that their call records were being handed over.
USA Today reported in May on the NSA's goal to create a database of every call made in the USA. Quoting Slashdot: "Only Qwest refused to give the NSA information because they were uneasy about giving information to the government without the proper warrants. The usefulness of the NSA's domestic phone call database as a counterterrorism tool is unclear."
Oh, and credit must also be given to Qwest for continuing to permit their DSL customers to use their choice of ISPs, in spite of the fact that the FCC has ruled that Qwest is allowed to close their networks. Verizon and Concast have done just that, so if you want your own local ISP with them you gotta pay extra.

Another Apple Store
From the Think Secret website (and denied by Apple), the next Apple Store in Portland will be located at 437 NW 23rd Street. They gleaned this info from public documents, permits issued, and other sources.
This was predicted to open last year and never happened. Still, you might want to keep an eye on that property whenever you drive by on NW 23rd.

No Microsoft products were used in the production of this column.

email mp at moonmac dot com. (I took out the mailto link because that's how the spammers find me.)