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Worm attacks Apache web servers on FreeBSD. June 29 , 2002 -- CNET reports that a new worm is attacking Apache web servers running on the FreeBSD variant of Unix. However, the article says that the worm could cause non-FreeBSD web servers to crash.

New theory on Mac OS 9 logon delays to Win servers. June 29 , 2002 -- Rick Rutherford has a theory about a common problem of long logon delays to Windows servers from OS 9. This is a known problem easily solved by deleting aliases of the server in the Mac folder System folder:Server. (For more information, see our Windows 2000 special report page.) However, Rutherford has a different theory:

We may have found a work around when Mac OS 9 users are having very lengthy delays in logging into a Windows NT 4 or 2000 server. We noticed that at times it could take a Mac running OS 9 as long as 5 - 10 minutes to logon to our servers but, if left alone, they usually would. While the OS 9 stations were having these problems, the OS 8.x stations were just fine, as were the few OS X stations we had. We tried many of the suggestions available on the Internet but to no avail.

If we stopped and then restarted SFM the problem would go away, but this wasn't an acceptable solution. We finally convinced our Networking Services support staff to capture the logons of two Macs while we were having the problem -- one running OS 8.6 and working fine and one running OS 9 and grinding away. The two capture logs pointed me in the direction of the invisible "Network Trash Folder" folder on each Macintosh share (viewable through your Windows station and/or at the server with the Show Hidden Files and Folders options selected).

OS 9 (and only OS 9 from what we can observe) creates a "Trash Can #x" folder inside the Trash Can Folder for each Macintosh user that is currently connected to the volume. The "x" is a number representing the next sequential folder when it's created. Also, after the Trash Can #x folder is created it is assigns a user ownership. Under normal circumstances, when the volume is dismounted or the Macintosh is restarted/shutdown the Macintosh removes the Trash Can #x folder from the Trash Can Folder.

However, if the Mac crashes or has it's network connection abnormally interrupted it leaves the Trash Can #x folder in an abandoned state until the next time the user logs on. When the user logs on it appears they "reclaim" their Trash Can #x which is subsequently removed when they dismount the volume normally the next time.

The problem is when too many abandoned trash cans accumulate. We think the magic number is 256 but can't confirm that other then to say when ever we notice the Mac OS 9 stations slugging during logon the number of abandoned trash cans is between 250 and 350. Any amount less then this does not seem to cause a problem. We're pretty sure the delay is caused by the Mac trying to enumerate the folders, then resolve ownership, for too many folders. The network trace mentioned above showed the OS 9 workstation going through this process until it eventually decided that none of the folder were "reclaimable" and then created a new one and completed the logon/volume mount.

The good news is the Trash Cans are date stamped and any Trash Can that is not exhibiting the current date is not currently in use. With administrative access, it seems to be quite safe to delete all of the abandoned Trash Cans with the previous day's date and before. As soon as that's done for all of the volumes your clients are using their logon speed is restored. We've even done a little experiment to see what happens if you delete a current Trash Can folder and all that seems to happen is the user can't "Empty Trash" until s/he reboots. Once we knew what was going on, we also confirmed that stopping and starting SFM cleans out the Trash Cans from the Network Trash Folder.

We've been using this technique since late last Fall with no ill effect and much happier OS 9 users. As preventive maintenance we try to remember to have a look at the Network Trash Folder for abandoned Trash Cans each morning and delete them before they build up and become a problem.

Prosoft announces NetWare Client for Mac OS X. June 28 , 2002 -- Prosoft Engineering is now taking orders for NetWare Client for Mac OS X - IP Edition, which it expects to ship on July 15. The new client will authenticate to NetWare servers over IP and participate in native NCP file sharing and NetWare Directory Services (NDS) browsing, without having a NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) running on the server. The new client will also supports RSA secure login using NDS. Prosoft says the users can interact with the graphics users interface and a command line.

(Thanks to Andrew Nielsen and David Westcott for the tip.)

Review of PocketMac--Mac-to-Windows CE communication. June 28 , 2002 -- PocketWorld has a review of Information Appliance Associates' PocketMac 1.1 (US $50), software for Mac OS 9 and OS X that lets you connect Macs to Pocket PC (Windows CE) handheld devices over a USB link or a TCP/IP network (Ethernet or AirPort 802.11). The software lets you sync files or browse, copy, and delete the files of your Pocket PC from your Mac.

Terra Soft ships Yellow Dog Linux 2.3 for Mac hardware. June 28 , 2002 -- Terra Soft Solutions is now shipping Yellow Dog Linux 2.3 (starting at US $30), the latest update to the company's Linux for Mac hardware. Among the new features:

• A new KDE 3 desktop
• Default set to the CUPS print system: a web-based configuration tool for multiple printers
• OpenOffice 1.0
• apt-get, an automated software update utility
• Mozilla 0.9.9
• Netatalk 1.5.3.1 (AppleTalk for Linux)

Updating to AirPort 2.0.4 in Mac OS X disables Base Station config from OS 9. June 28 , 2002 -- Apple Knowledge Base article 106921 reports the following:

After configuring an AirPort Base Station (Dual Ethernet) with AirPort 2.0.4 in Mac OS X, you are no longer able to configure that base station from Mac OS 9. This is normal behavior....

Attempting to administer an updated base station from Mac OS 9 could lead to unpredictable results. For that reason, AirPort AdminUtility access from Mac OS 9 has been disabled for any base station that has been configured from AirPort 2.0.4 in Mac OS X.

There is no mention if these "unpredictable results" apply to use of Apple's AirPort Admin Utility for Microsoft Windows, or other AirPort Configuration Software for Windows.

VPC 5.0.4 to fixes performance and other problems, adds features. June 27 , 2002 -- Connectix posted Virtual PC 5.0.4 (free download), an update that the company says addresses some of the problems with the version 5.0.3 update. (MacWindows readers reported performance degradation after installing VPC 5.0.3 upgrade.) From the readme file:

Addressed performance issue for 32-bit operating systems running in Virtual PC under Mac OS X that was introduced in version 5.0.3. For most users, Virtual PC 5.0.4 restores performance in Mac OS X to be equal to or better than version 5.0.2. Connectix is continuing to investigate and improve the performance of Virtual PC.

Connectix says that the update also fixes a bug that caused Mac OS 9.2.2 to freeze when Virtual PC shared folders and Apple file sharing were being used together. Other changes to the update:

• Sockets-based shared networking in Mac OS X, introduced in version 5.0.3, is the default method of network communication in 5.0.4. Sockets-based networking "adds the capability to access the NetBIOS port which allows Windows to log into Windows NT domains and browse the Network Neighborhood."
• Password protection for VPC.
• Advanced COM port settings, which Connectix says are "to help troubleshoot serial/COM port connectivity."
• -CPU Usage Controls
• A "Type CTRL-ALT-DEL" menu item
• Long filename support for shared folders

If you've found that v 5.0.4 fixes the performance problem of 5.0.3, please let us know.

LiteSwitch: "Alt-tab" switcher for Mac OS X. June 27 , 2002 -- Proteron yesterday released LiteSwitch X 1.0.1 as a free download. LiteSwitch 1.0.1 gives Mac OS X the Windows Alt-tab style method of switching applications using the Command-Tab keys as the default setting. Proteron says it is offering LiteSwitch as a free download in order to promote its MaxMenus utility, which lets you add customizable menus to OS X.

(For other products of a similar vain, the MacWindows User Interface Solutions page lists products that make Macs look and act more like Windows, and products that make Windows look and act more like Mac OS.)

Xinet releases Xserve benchmarks. June 27, 2002 -- Yesterday. Xinet released performance benchmarks of it's cross-platform FullPress and WebNative server software running on Apple's Xserve hardware. Test results of prepress-type activities show Xinet's software running faster on Mac OS X and Xserve than on a Windows 2000 server.

Aladdin releases iClean for Windows. June 27, 2002 -- Aladdin Systems has released iClean 1.0 for Windows ($US 30), a utility for selectively removing unneeded Internet files that risk privacy, such as cookies. It can also block pop-up ads iClean has previously been available only for Macintosh.

XPlay ships, iPod for Windows. June 25, 2002 -- Yesterday, Mediafour released XPlay 1.0 (US $30 download), Windows software that enables PC users to connect Apple's iPod to PCs and do anything with it that Mac users can do on a Mac. XPlay automatically synchronizes a PC music collection with iPod when you connect the iPod, and lets you manage playlists and the music files. It also lets you move vCard contacts from Outlook and other contact managers to the iPod.

More on the issue of Firewalls on PC blocking with DAVE. June 25, 2002 -- Scott Boone disagreed with Thursby Software's Paul Nelson comment on Boone's earlier description of the DAVE problem with firewalls on PCs. Nelson said that Boone's comment on browsing remote PC was misleading. Boone defends his statement:

It also depends on how the user has security set up on the server end. It can be set up so that you won't get a browse list. And I was assuming that the user was already aware of the inherent risks of using SMB sharing. The problems are not necessarily as dire as Paul's comment would suggest, one just needs to know how to set things up and make sure they are up to date with security patches. There are plenty of Google-able sites to help with that. I guess the ultimate lesson here is: only do this if you ABSOLUTELY NEED to, and definitely do your research first.

More on NetWare Open/Save dialog crashes, and a workaround. June 25, 2002 -- We have more reports on the NetWare OS 9.x problem with crashes in the Open and Save dialogs, including this workaround from Hugh Justham:

You can mitigate or resolve this problem by using Default Folder [from St. Claire Software] to turn off Navigation services and so use the "Classic" file dialogs instead.

However, some apps - possibly those built with certain versions of PowerPlant - do not respond to Default Folder. Lotus Notes 5.0.10 will, but Photoshop 6.01 will not, respond to Default folder 3.13

Simon Triggs question's Prosoft's claim that the problem is Apple's fault:

Prosoft's response puzzles me a little. If there is a bug in Apple's Navigation Services code why don't we see this in AppleTalk, OT, SMB or any other protocol? Surely Prosoft can work around the bug if Apple has managed to do so and other third party protocol providers? This also doesn't fully explain the problem Navigation services isn't used by all applications, Quark Express 4.11 still uses the old standard file open dialog and still exhibits crashing problems from time to time.

Patrick Fergus

I've seen plenty of examples of the NetWare open/save crashing bug. I first saw it about a year ago, but couldn't put my finger on a cause. Since then I've seen it in other Novell/Mac installations.

The important parts to reproduce it seem to be a Navigation Services dialog, and opening/saving directly on the server. Standard file dialogs (QuarkXPress 4 especially) seem to not have a problem. The listing of Photoshop files (under the second heading above) could be a requirement, but since the Adobe apps are usually what the client is using it's not a valid test. The crash generally occurs right after the user has double-clicked on a folder/volume, and the Navigation Services dialog box is querying file information from the server.

In the last year I've worked with three clients who use Novell and Macs:

--One has ditched Novell entirely for the Macs and has gone to NT/2000 for serving the Macs. According to them, support calls for the Macs dropped dramatically.

--One is seriously looking at getting rid of Novell for the Macs, whether waiting for the next budget cycle, or using a spare NT server with a lot of disk space.

--One has nobody working directly off the servers, and instead has all users copy down the files they are working on.

Reader review: Novell's Native File Services works. June 25, 2002 -- Andre Kuehnemund provided this report of Novell's Native File Services for Macs, which we've posted on our NetWare-Mac report page.

I've been responsible for integrating Macs with NetWare environments for years while working at a university, an advertising agency and now a wholesale distributor. I was a beta tester of Novell's Native File Services product and I have to say: It really works! And it works well!

No client software is required on the Mac. In OS 9, one simply connects through the Chooser, in OS X via the Go menu at the top of the screen. Connectivity is via TCP/IP and it's fast! Access can be (and should be) encrypted, but clear text passwords are a (not recommended) option. The initial release that came with NetWare 6 was not all that stable, but since SP1 and another update patch have been released, I have not have had any more problems with this product.

Since access to the NetWare server is via TCP/IP, I can access my NetWare server from home, a hotel room, a friend's computer etc. Passwords are encrypted and all I had to do was to open port 524 in the corporate firewall. Setup in NetWare 6 is super easy since it comes with NetWare 6 "out of the box". During the NetWare 6 install the person installing the OS is being asked whether he/she wants to install Native File Services for Mac, Windows and UNIX. Say "Yes" and the installer does the rest.

Neither Macs, Windows nor UNIX machines require any client software. The NetWare server simply looks to the client like any other AFP over TCP/IP, Windows SMB or UNIX NFS server, which is why no client software is required.

The product is available as an add-on ($299 per server) for NetWare 5.1, but is included for free in NetWare 6.

More on Mac OS X Error -43 with Win Servers. June 25, 2002 --061702 Nick Likos adds this to the discussion of -43 errors:

I too was plagued by this error - until Carl's most simple fix. Changing unsupported windows file names have done the trick. This is a problem for some people trying to copy hundreds of files, and for other reasons I just use AFP now, but at least I feel sane again.

Cisco issues security advisory for Unix and Mac OS X VPN clients. June 21, 2002 -- Cisco has posted a Security Advisory entitled "Buffer Overflow in UNIX VPN Client that applies to its virtual private network clients for Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris. The advisory describes a problem:

The vulnerability could be exploited by a local user to execute arbitrary instructions. If the affected binary executable file is installed with setuid permissions, the instructions will execute with administrative permissions and could be used to modify any part of the system without authorization.

The advisory also describes workarounds and how to

Final version of XPlay (iPod for Windows) to be released Monday, June 24th. June 21, 2002 -- Mediafour will release XPlay 1.0 (US $29.95) next Monday. XPlay is Windows software that enables PC users to make use Apple's iPod as they would from a Mac. (We'll have more details next week.)

Thursby corrects reader report on the issues of PC firewalls blocking Dave. June 21, 2002 -- Paul W. Nelson, V.P. engineering, Thursby Software Systems, sent us a correction to a June 19 reader report regarding firewalls running on PCs blocking DAVE:

I want to point out a typo that could get your readers into trouble:

The last port, 137, is a TCP port and handles the heavy lifting during file sharing. It is the ONLY port that HAS to be open to access a Windows CIFSserver.

The port should be 139, and not 137. With this change, these two sentences are correct.

However, unlike AppleShare, getting CIFS to work with just one port is a feat of achievement. Since you can't simply "browse" to the computer, you often end up having to monkey with IP hosts files as well as NetBIOS lmhosts files. It isn't pretty and doesn't work the same on all windows clients, much less Dave. Also, since you can't browse a remote computer, you can't find out what share names are...meaning you'd better know what the share name of the folder you want to hit is before hand.

The last sentence is quite misleading, since browsing for computers is quite different from browsing the shares that are offered by a computer. In fact the last sentence is just plain wrong. If you know the IP address of any Windows NT 4, Samba or DAVE computer, you can get a list of shares using only port 139 (tcp).

Unfortunately, Microsoft's file sharing implementations many problems related to security, especially denial of service attacks (there are many ways that an evil client can blue-screen any windows server (regardless of how recent or how many patches have been applied). They can even bring down the computer without authenticating. Because of this, most people should never allow access to port 139 from the Internet to ANY Microsoft server. There are a lot of port scanners searching the Internet for unblocked port 139 servers, hoping to take advantage of home users running Windows. Some ISPs won't even route TCP connections to port 139 because of this activity. If you WANT to connect across the Internet to 139 and are having trouble, you might talk to you ISP to see if they are blocking 139.

The best defense for home and small businesses is to use private network numbers, such as 192.168.X.X and a NAT router. These routers are quite popular, easy to configure, and provide very good security.

Prosoft says Apple's Navigation Services causes NetWare client crash. June 21, 2002 -- Jeff Lucia updated his June 19 report about the Prosoft NetWare client crashing in Mac OS 9.21 and above when opening files. He has word that Prosoft is aware of the problem:

My partner was in contact with Prosoft a couple of months ago and this was the email that was sent to him:

The bug they are experiencing is in Apple's Navigation Services code. The 5.15 update is an unofficial release and it helps some issues, but the hang problems are still part of Apple's bug. There isn't anything we can do other then what we've done, which is report the bug to Apple.

In the mean time I would recommend they move files locally to work on them and then drag and drop them back on the server when they've been modified. It's not a clean solution, but it's what can be done until Apple fixes Navigation Services.

Thanks,

David Neil
Product Manager
Prosoft Engineering, Inc.

Need a new tricorder? eBay offers Trekkie treasures. June 21, 2002 -- eBay is participating in an action of items used to make the Star Trek TV series, including Star Fleet uniforms, a tricorder, and Captain Kirk's chair from the bridge of the enterprise. (See the catalog.) This CNET story has more on the auction. Live long and prosper...

Netopia Announces Timbuktu Pro for the Education Market. June 19, 2002 -- Yesterday Netopia announced a first technology preview of Timbuktu Pro for Education at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio, Texas. . Dubbed Timbuktu Ed, this version of the cross-platform remote control software for Macintosh and Windows allows teachers and students to share screens, display work, transfer files, and communicate with instant messaging. Teachers can choose to share their computer screen with students, observe students' screens, control a student's mouse and keyboard. A feature called the Virtual Teacher's Aid lets teachers observe the work of multiple students simultaneously. Timbuktu Ed will be available by late summer 2002. (Pricing has not been announced.)

More on MacServerIP-OS X problem; confirmation that SNAX works; Cyan working on fix. June 19, 2002 -- Marcus Albers confirms that using Snax instead of the OS X Finder prevents the Mac OS X from generating a -43 error when accessing MacServerIP volumes on Windows servers.

The Snax workaround does indeed work, both with MacServerIP version 7 and 8.

Also, as to it being a permissions problem, my OS X user name is the same as my domain user name, and I am a domain admin, and still have the problem, on two separate machines.

Joe Kroboth, who first reported the problem, said that Cyan technical support contacted him to say that the company is working on a fix and may have an update "soon" to fix the problem.

Meanwhile, T. Reid Lewis, president of Group Logic, a competitor to Cyan Soft, says that his product does not have this problem:

I suggest that your reader try ExtremeZ-IP instead of MacServerIP as a solution for the problems he is reporting when copying from a Windows server to an OS X machine. A free trial version is available on our website. We have not had reports of the -43 error problem from ExtremeZ-IP customers.

Microsoft Services for NetWare SP1 lets you move Mac files from NetWare to Win servers. June 19, 2002 -- Patrick Peccatte pointed us to Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q316094, which describes Service Pack 1 for NetWare for Mac:

According to "List of Problems That Are Fixed in Services for NetWare 5.0 Service Packs (Q316094)" Services for NetWare SP1 allows to migrate Macintosh files from NetWare volumes toward Windows 2000 SFM volumes (which avoid to connect a Macintosh on both NetWare and NT2K boxes to do the job).

(Peccatte credits Mike Maday for the tip.)

More info on Firewalls blocking Dave. June 19, 2002 -- Scott Boone shed some light on yesterday's report about a firewall running on a PC blocking access by DAVE (the Windows file sharing software for Mac OS X).

First a link to a Linux Magazine article with some info.

There are three ports involved in Windows File Sharing (SMB): 137, 138, and 139. [Actually four, 135.] The first two utilize UDP and are used to facilitate browsing in the Network Neighborhood and to exchange datagrams. If they are blocked, a machine will not simply "show up" in Dave or other Windows client's Network Neighborhood. Across the Internet, who cares, right?

The last port, 139, is a TCP port and handles the heavy lifting during file sharing. It is the ONLY port that HAS to be open to access a Windows CIFS server.

However, unlike AppleShare, getting CIFS to work with just one port is a feat of achievement. Since you can't simply "browse" to the computer, you often end up having to monkey with IP hosts files as well as NetBIOS lmhosts files. It isn't pretty and doesn't work the same on all windows clients, much less Dave. Also, since you can't browse a remote computer, you can't find out what share names are...meaning you'd better know what the share name of the folder you want to hit is before hand.

So the sage words of advice: if you are behind a firewall (say like a broadband router) and are running ZoneAlarm on the individual PC on your LAN, you can safely open port 139, as well as 137 and 138, because the WAN-side firewall is going to stop any incoming attack. On the other hand, if the PC you are trying to hit is directly connected to the WAN, close up 137 and 138, force open 139, and read the documentation about how to adjust all those files (hosts, lmhosts--the Dave manual does a pretty good job). Make sure your permissions are adequate, and that security boundaries are set (don't share your Windows folder, for instance!).

(You can read previous reports about DAVE on our DAVE Special Report page.)

Prosoft NetWare client crashing when opening files. June 19, 2002 -- Jeff Lucia reports a problem with the Prosoft NetWare client crashing when opening files using the Open dialog box of Illustrator, Quark XPress, and Photoshop. Prosoft Client 5.14 fixed a problem with MS Office crashing, but Lucia says this version didn't help here:

I have a client who was using about 10 iMac 350's connected to a NetWare Server. The iMacs were running flawlessly and were using Prosoft Client 5.12. Since we upgraded them to G4 1 GHz DP's we have had nothing but trouble.

The problem we are seeing most is crashing when opening files (from within applications - Illustrator, Quark, Photoshop). Performance is also horrible from within applications - constant pausing or just really slow load times. I have since updated to Prosoft Client 5.14 which resolved nothing. My only workaround is to have the client drag the files from the server to their local hard disk and open from there. Everything works fine in that scenario, but it is unacceptable to the client (I don't blame them).

According to Prosoft, Apple has made some change the OS which is causing this problem. They claim that it is Apple's responsibility not theirs, but I see no updates (or tech notes) from Apple coming anytime soon. Since I am not a Novell guru, I am looking to the MacWindows community (like I have before) for some advice.

The new G4's are using MacOS 9.22. Since the iMac's were working perfectly before running on OS 9.1, I'm assuming the Prosoft tech was referring to "changes" made in OS 9.21 and above.

If you've seen this problem, please let us know.

Hands-on training at 2002 FileMaker Developer Conference. June 19, 2002 -- A FileMaker Developer Conference will be held from 12 - 15 August 2002 in Palm Desert, California. The conference will include hands-on training for the cross-platform database.

Correction: IE 5.1.4 for OS X. June 19, 2002 -- We've corrected an error in yesterday's story about Internet Explorer. Both IE 5.2 and IE 5.1.4 that just appeared at Microsoft.com are for Mac OS X, not OS 8/9. (IE 5.1.4 for Mac OS 8 and 9 has been available since April). IE 5.1.4 for Mac OS X was previously unavailable as a download. One difference between 5.1.4 and the version 5.2 (also just posted) is that version 5.1.4 works on versions previous to 10.1.5.

TIPS for moving Netscape address books to Outlook 2001. June 18, 2002 -- Dan Polaris has a few suggestions for moving Netscape address books to Outlook 2001, in response to yesterday's report:

When you are importing the .ldif file from Netscape into Outlook, add a column named E-mail Type with the value SMTP for each contact (unless these already exist).

If you're getting "No transport available" NDR's it may not be the trailing space that effects the mail delivery but the missing e-mail type field. When you edit the e-mail address it will usually set the value to SMTP for you if it does not already exist.

Alternatively, try importing all the .ldif's on a PC using Outlook. It may be a pain switching between user profiles on the PC, but it may prove easier than editing several hundred addresses.

Firewall prevents Dave from working -- port conflicts. June 18, 2002 -- Joe Bauder reports that firewalls on running on a PC (specifically, Zone Alarm) can interfere with DAVE:

I installed DAVE 3.1.1 and tried to share a printer and files with my PC under OS X. I had previously been able to connect using OS X's SAMBA networking but this time had an issue with connecting with my PC from the Mac.

I tried fiddling with the PC in a number of ways, trying to set up WINS resolution even though I didn't have a WINS server, trying to get my router to do WINS resolution, etc. I have an ME partition and a Windows 2000 Pro partition and neither worked...

Then it dawned on me: I have Zone Alarm [a firewall product] installed on both ME and Windows 2000 Professional. I looked at Zone Alarm and the "medium" security setting I had set up on both machines specifically said that peer-to-peer or share level networking works fine. I tried setting it to "low" security and it would not work on the ME partition or the Windows 2000 Pro partition. Then I just turned off Zone Alarm and everything else turned right on. File sharing, printer sharing, etc.

I either had to remove Zone Alarm altogether or (and I will probably do the latter) just turn off Zone Alarm on the PC whenever I have a networking issue or find the ports needed to pass through. I actually just looked at the DAVE "compatibility" page and they cleared it up:

"DAVE will work with firewall software if the software is configured to allow traffic to and from the ports DAVE uses. DAVE uses ports 137, 138, 139 using TCP and UDP. Please contact Network Ice at http://www.networkice.com, Zone Labs at http://www.zonelabs.com, Open Door Networks, Inc. at http://www.opendoor.com or Symantec at http://www.symantec.com for information on configuring these products. "

Removing "reserved" files on Windows servers. June 18, 2002 -- Dan Schwartz notes that there is a set of "reserved" file names that are forbidden to be used on Windows servers:

CON PRN AUX CLOCK$ NUL COM1 COM2 COM3 COM4 LPT1 LPT2 LPT3

To remove files that use these names, you can follow the suggestions of Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q120716 ("How To Remove Files with Reserved Names in Windows NT")--or remove the file with a Mac client.

Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 5.2 for Mac OS X as a download. June 18, 2002 -- Yesterday Microsoft released Internet Explorer 5.2 for Mac OS X as a free download. Microsoft said the new version is more stable and uses Quartz text smoothing of Mac OS X 10.1.5.

This is also the first time that any version of Internet Explorer for Mac OS X is available as a download. Yesterday, Microsoft also posted Internet Explorer 5.1.4 for Mac OS X (previously unavailable at Microsoft.com).

Reader confirms VPC conflict with Advanced PDF Password Recovery. June 18, 2002 -- Tim Pritt confirms the Virtual PC incompatibility we reported on June 11:

I can confirm the posting below. I asked the people at ElcomSoft and they confirmed that Virtual PC is not compatible with Advanced PDF Password Recovery.

The reader who originally sent in the report also said reported that ElcomSoft says the software doesn't run in VPC.

Do you know of a Windows application that should be on our Virtual PC Conflict list? If so, please let us know.

Update on MacServerIP error -43 problem. June 18, 2002 -- Steve Crossman also has the problem with MacServerIP and the error-43 message that we first reported on June 14:

We have Windows 2k, SP2 and MacServerIP v7 and I have seen this problem. It has something to do with trying to copy invisible files from OS X, inside the folder to the server. If you copy the items individually or do a select all of the visible files, it works fine. Drag the entire folder over, and it fails.

I have not seen this problem in quite a while. It has something to do with permissions, as the files I was copying had my OS X user permissions, and that user didn't exist in the domain. I since made my OS X username a domain user.

DigiTunnel 1.0 released-- PPTP VPN client for Mac OS X. June 17, 2002 -- Gracion Software has ended its beta period and is now selling the release version of DigiTunnel 1.0 (US $88), a virtual private network client for Mac OS X. DigiTunnel uses the Microsoft Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) to let Mac OS X connect to VPN servers running on Windows platforms. DigiTunnel creates a 128-bit encrypted connection for IP-based network applications, including e-mail, web browsers, and file sharing. Classic applications running in OS X can also use the VPN.

Since DigiTunnel is now an official 1.0 product, we've added it to out list of VPN solutions for Macintosh on our Network Solutions page. For reader reports on the earlier beta versions of DigiTunnel on our VPN Report page.

We would like to hear of your experiences with the DigiTunnel 1.0 release.

Workaround for MacServer IP/OS X problem . June 17, 2002 -- Responding to Friday's report of an Error -43 when trying to copy from the MacServer to a Mac OS X client, William Cruz sent a workaround. He doesn't use the Finder to do the copy:

We experience the same problem using Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 2 with MacServerIP 7. What has helped to alleviate the situation is a program called SNAX. You wont get the error when copying anymore although if you copy something to the server with the intent of replacing a file with the same name, you will get an error saying that the file is busy and cannot be replaced. We have purchased MacServerIP 8 and are considering setting up a Windows 2000 server test computer with it.

If you can verify this workaround, please let us know.

QuickBooks in Virtual PC 5 won't work in multiuser mode. June 17, 2002 -- Truman Jarva can't get Intuit QuickBooks for Windows to function in multiuser mode in Virtual PC 5:

We have always been a Mac office and are still trying to be. Our accountant cannot work with our [old] Mac version of QuickBooks, so we bought the PC version QuickBooks Pro 2002 and are running it on Virtual PC5. It works. However we cannot get QuickBooks to work as multiuser over our Ethernet network. Connectix says it's a QuickBooks problem and Intuit says it is a Connectix problem, meanwhile it's our problem.

If you've seen this problem, please let us know.

Problem moving Netscape address books to Outlook 2001. June 17, 2002 -- Frank Walke reports several problems moving Netscape Communicator e-mail addresses to Outlook 2001:

We're running Outlook 2001 on a variety of Macs. We had a major problem here when converting our existing Netscape users to Outlook 2001. When exporting their address books from Netscape, we had to open the .ldif files in Excel and add the Outlook specified header names to the columns and then save the doc as a .csv file so Outlook would read it. Then once we had successfully imported to their Contacts list, we encountered another bug. Somewhere in the import process, Outlook added an inexplicable space to the end of the e-mail address in the e-mail address line in the Contact's card.

When e-mail was sent to that address, the e-mail would bounce as undeliverable. The only solution we found was to go in to each individual contact, delete the extra space at the end of the e-mail address, save and close the contact file. Very tedious for those with 250+ entries in their contacts.

Also no auto-reconciling of names in the company's Global Address list without hitting Command+K(Mac only) when composing a message in Outlook 2001.

If you've seen these problems, please let us know.

ZDNet reviews Documents to Go--MS Office for Palm, Win, Mac. June 17, 2002 -- ZDNet has a review of DataViz's Documents to Go 4.0, software that lets you view and edit Microsoft Office for Windows or Mac documents on a Palm OS handheld device.

Mystery Machine 1.2.3 fixes bugs. June 14, 2002 -- Darren Montjar has released Mystery Machine 1.2.3, a new version of his Citrix Java client for Mac OS X. He writes:

I've released Mystery Machine 1.2.3 on the world. This one fixes the inability to connect with encryption &endash; RC5 128-bit (Login Only), RC5 40-bit, RC5 56-bit, and RC5 128-bit have returned. SSL should work now, too, though I have no way of testing it. Hopefully this works for everyone.

Reader resolves DAVE 3.1/Qdea -50 errors. June 14, 2002 -- Steve Byan wrote to say that he found the source of a problem with DAVE 3.1 that he reported to us in January. The problem was a conflict with Qdea's Synchronize, a third-party file synchronization program in Mac OS 9.2. Several other readers also reported the problem. Byan discovered the cause and fix:

The source of the problem turned out to be our Network Appliance servers, which are old enough to be incompatible with NetApps newest releases of its software. Consequently we run them with an old revision (version 5.2.6R2), rather than 6.<something>. DAVE 3.1 did not support these older versions. DAVE 3.1.1 has resolved this problem and works fine with our older NetApp servers, both under OS 9.2 and OS X 10.1.4 and 10.1.5. Apple's build-in SMB network client still fails to work with the older NetApp servers.

Thursby announces volume licensing program. June 14, 2002 -- Thursby Software is now offering a volume license agreements for DAVE, the cross-platform file and for print share for Macintosh. A benefit is that administrators can use single software licence code when updating Macs with a new version of DAVE.

MacServerIP 7.0/8 yields error with Mac OS X. June 14, 2002 -- Joe Kroboth reports this problem with MacServerIP (an AFP file server for Windows):

We are using MacServerIP 7.0 on Windows NT 4.0 SP6 Server. We are having major trouble using the server with Mac OS X. We receive Error -43 when trying to copy from the server to the client. I have tried contacting CYANSOFT and TEAMASA but they are ignoring my request. We have also downloaded version 8 and set it up on a test server with the same results. I was looking for a solution when I was pointed to your web site.

If you've seen this problem, please let us know.

Apple posts fix for 10.1.5 bug. June 14, 2002 -- Apple Knowledge Base article 106905 describes a problem where the installation of the Mac OS X 10.1.5 update prevents the Mac from connecting to the Internet or a local network. Apple also describes these symptoms:

1. IP address, subnet mask, and router address have all been set to "255.255.255.255".

2. DHCP configuration is not available as a choice in the Network preference pane.

Apple also lists a solution: delete this file: /Library/Preferences/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist

Macintosh Explorer 3.1.1 fixes crash bug. June 14, 2002 -- Rage Software has released Macintosh Explorer 3.1.1 (US $15), a bug-fix upgrade to the utility that provides Mac OS 8.5-to-10.x users with a Mac version of Windows Explorer, the file browser and file management tool. The new version fixes a crash at launch time when no items are in the trash folder.

August Software offers free ODBC support for REALbasic. June 14, 2002 -- August Software yesterday released ODBC.NET, a free ODBC plug-in for the REALbasic cross-platform development environment by REAL Software. From the August Software press release:

ODBC.NET works with August Software's ODBC Router to make all of the SQL data sources found in the ODBC control panel of a Windows Server available for use by REALbasic. Using ODBC.NET, REALbasic applications on MacOS, MacOS X and Windows may interact with Windows, UNIX and mainframe data without per-desktop ODBC control panels, drivers or database-revision-specific libraries.

Available now at the new ODBC.NET plug-in may be used in combination with MS-Access, IBM DB/2, mySQL, all versions of ORACLE, Pick/Universe, SQLServer, SYBASE and many others. ODBC.NET supports exiting ODBC Router solutions available from US$99 to US$2319 based on concurrent usage as well as a new REALbasic-only edition of ODBC Router that supports unlimited ODBC.NET sessions for US$349.

Ethernet goes to 10 GB. June 14, 2002 -- A CNET story reports that the IEEE group released a specification for a 10 GB Ethernet standard called 802.3ae, which runs only on fiber optic cable.

DataViz adds Windows iPod support to MacOpener disk utility. June 12, 2002 -- Yesterday, MacOpener released a new version of MacOpener 2000 (US $49.95) that allow iPod to work with Windows. (See also the press release.) MacOpener is a Windows utility that enables PC to read and write Mac-formatted (HFS and HFS Plus) disk storage. The new version also supports FireWire. Users must used other software, such as EphPod by TrentSoft, to manage and play music files.

DataViz isn't the first to utility to do iPod for Windows, or the most complete. Mediafour, which has a competing disk utility called, has released a series of prerelease versions of XPlay. Unlike MacOpener, XPlay allows you to manage and play MP3 songs from Windows without requiring extra software. (Mediafour also has a Windows utility for reading Mac disks, called MacDrive.)

Palm releases Palm OS 5 adds wireless LAN support. June 12, 2002 -- Palm has released Palm OS 5, a new version of the operating system for Palm and Visor hand held devices. In addition to supporting newer hardware and a revamped UI, Palm OS 5 adds support for 802.11b (AirPort-compatible) wireless networking.

TIP: Outlook/Exchange 2001 under OS X/Classic and recurrence and time zones. June 12, 2002 -- Jim Howard reports this issue and a work around for Outlook 2001 running in Mac OS X Classic:

Using the Outlook for Exchange client, anytime you create an appointment with recurrence in a time zone without daylight savings (Arizona for example), the appointment is created an hour earlier than what you started with. Each time you update and save the appointment without specifically changing the appointment time, for example changing the reminder time, the appointment shifts an hour earlier each time. Works OK under 9.2.2 and from web access to Exchange. Appointments without recurrence seem okay.

Our Outlook 2001 Report page has a discussion of an issue with time zones and Outlook hanging (along with workarounds).

Best practices with Mac-Novell integration. June 12, 2002 -- Fred Schwartz would like some best practices information on using Macs on Novell NetWare 6 networks, such as the best email.

I am wondering if your readers could offer suggestions for the BEST ways for Macs to play nicely on a Novell system. We are running the lastest (6.x) of Novell. What email programs are recommended (other than web mail - yuck!). Any specific suggestions or pitfalls of which we need to be aware? We were on a Microsoft Small Business Server but switched to Novell for security and other reasons. There seem to be some advantages, but it also feels very awkward.

An interesting question, we thought. If you'd care to share your favorite NetWare 6 experiences, let us know and we'll add them to our NetWare and Macs Report.

VPC 5.0.3 update: slower than before; advice for backgrading. June 11, 2002 -- Several readers responded to yesterday's report of slower performance in the Virtual PC 5.0.3 update.

Anderson Lam sees the slowdown in OS X:

I have also noticed a slow down with VPC 5.03. I am running Mac OS X 10.15, quicksilver 733, 768 MB of memory with 256-302 MB dedicated to the emulated OS. I have tried both XP and 2000, and both seem slower than before.

Paul Crawford describes his experience back-grading to 5.0.2:

I found it unusable as did many others in the Connectix Forum. I reinstalled 5.0.2 by starting with 5.0 and upgrading. Then I found that my disk image still seemed to have a problem (slow). So I got a backup image that was pristine. It seemed to bring back most of the original speed. I have no solid benchmarks so it is a little hard to tell. I have a typical setup 500 MHz Pismo with 768 MB RAM running Win2K with 192 MB RAM. My feeling is that Connectix did a poor job of QC'ing this latest version and they have upset a lot of people especially ones like me that use VPC for business. I really hope they get a proper fix soon.

Daniel Morales ran it on an old Motorola Mac clone:

I'm experimenting with VPC on my Starmax 3000/180 with 300 MHz Vimage G3 card. It worked reasonably well before the 5.03 update....After update it takes minutes for things to happen. What a horrible update, for me at least.

Wonder if any way to back track without starting from scratch.?

Jody Hewell:

I would like to also state that VPC is very slow. 5.0.3 is by the far the slowest. They seem to get slower each release...I tried it with XP and it is absolutely useless. Some apps take minutes to launch--I mean "minutes"! ...So I basically don't use it. I've even considered finding a cheap PC laptop on eBay. It can't be any slower.

We remind readers that our own tests have shown that the fastest Virtual PC 5.x configuration is Mac OS 9 running Windows 2000. VPC 5.x runs slower on Mac OS X than on Mac OS 9, and that VPC running Windows 98 is much slower than VPC running Windows 2000. (See our Virtual PC 5 Report page for more info.)

Update to VPC incompatibility list: June 11, 2002 -- We've added Advanced PDF Password Recovery from ElcomSoft to our list of programs that are not compatible Virtual PC. A reader named Tom said he could not run this software in Virtual PC 5.0.3, though it did run in the old SoftWindows 5.1 PC emulator, now discontinued. ElcomSoft confirmed that its software doesn't run in Virtual PC.

If you've seen this incompatibility, please let us know.

How to set OS X to automatically log on to an AFP server. June 11, 2002 -- Apple Knowledge Base article 106729 contains instructions on how to get Mac OS X to log onto and AFP (AppleShare-compatible) file server, such Windows Services for Macintosh, when you logon to the Mac. The procedure does not work for SMB servers.

(Thanks to Richard Berg for the tip.)

Readers confirm: Mac OS 10.1.5 fixes NT Finder crash; more on 10.1.5. June 10, 2002 -- A number of readers have verified last Friday's report that Mac OS X 10.1.5 does indeed fix the OS X problem of Finder crashes when accessing Win NT server volumes. For instance, John DeMillion reports:

Per your report from Marc Klureza, 10.1.5 does indeed fix the Finder-crashing problem with NT Server AFP shares. We haven't had a Finder crash here since 10.1.5 was released, and we're now using the Finder to access all of our NT AFP shares. The 10.1.5 ReadMe calls this "Better networking via AFP when accessing multilevel directories on Windows NT file servers", and I guess I'd have to agree that "not crashing" is better!

Don Rainwater sees an extra feature:

10.1.5 has fixed the problem with the Finder crashing while connecting to NT servers via AppleTalk on my machine (G4 400).

Also, I think it has also added icon previews instead displaying generic icons for everything. I don't remember them being there before.

Craig R. Arko confirms the fix with two versions of NT

Near as I can tell, 10.1.5 fixes the Finder problem with NT Server 4 and 3.51 as well.

Regular readers know that this has been a major topic, as reported on the our MacWindows Mac OS X Reports page. Justin Beek (who as confirms that 10.1.5 fixes the bug) sent us the link for the reports at Apple's Discussion forums.

Elliott Hill sums up most readers' feelings: "This 10.1.5 update has finally done it! YAY!!"

(Thanks to everyone who responded.)

10.1.5 doesn't fix Win server read-only issue. June 10, 2002 -- John DeMillion reports that the Mac OS X 10.1.5 still has one issue with accessing windows servers:

The problem of not being able to access read-only volumes from a privileged (e.g. "administrator") user is still present, however. We have to log in as a non-privileged user with read-only access to a read-only (and AFP password-protected) volume in order to have it even show up in the list of volumes. Our current workaround is just to use the Classic Chooser to mount the volume, whereupon everything works fine from the Mac OS X Finder.

If you've seen this problem, please let us know.

Confirmed: Classic apps don't get access to Cisco VPN; 3.5.1 fixes problem. June 10, 2002 -- Several readers wrote that last Friday's report of Classic apps not working with the Cisco 3000 VPN client 3.5 is a known bug. Readers also say that version 3.5.1 fixes the problem. Sonya Chang sent us a link to the Cisco release notes:

The lack of network access from Classic with Cisco VPN 3.5 was a known bug and has been fixed in the 3.5.1 release (which has been out since May). The documentation for this release is here. So you know what to look for, note that the docs refer to Classic apps as "legacy."

Version 3.5.1 is available for download from Cisco, though you need to have a partner username and password to get it.

A reader named Steve agrees:

This is a problem that's documented in the release notes for version 3.5 and is fixed in version 3.5.1. I've been using 3.5.1 for a month or two with my company's VPN and it's been working well.

(See our Virtual Private Network Reports page for previous reports on the Cisco client and other VPN solutions for Macs.)

Apple posts cross-platform info. June 10, 2002 -- As part of a new campaign to get Windows users to switch to Macs, Apple has posted a Guide to Switching at apple.com. It includes information about moving files of various types and e-mail address books from Windows to Macs.

(Thanks to Peter Dodge for the tip.)

VPC 5.0.3 update: slower performance than before? June 7, 2002 -- Mikael Olsson reports that the recently released Virtual PC update 5.0.3 is slower than previous 5.x versions:

I have used Virtual PC 5.0 and have just upgraded it to 5.0.3. I'd like to delete it and upgrade it with 5.0.1 and 5.0.2 which I had before. 5.0.3 with Windows XP works very slowly. But where can one find 5.0.1 to download? No luck yet.

We also noticed that a user at the Connectix forums has mentioned slower performance.

How you seen slower performance since upgrading to VPC 5.0.3 from a 5.x version? Please let us know.

Extensis Portfolio 4 time stamp problem. June 10, 2002 -- Michael Modisett reports having the problem with Extensis Portfolio 4 and Windows NT Server listed on our Win Server Time Stamp Issues page. Modisett was wondering if the issue also occurs with Extensis Portfolio 6.0. If you can shed some light on the issue, please let us know.

Reader says Mac OS 10.1.5 fixes NT Finder crash bug. June 7, 2002 -- Marc Klureza reports that Mac OS X 10.1.5 fixes the problem of Finder crashes when accessing Win NT server volumes:

This seems to have finally fixed the bug of Finder crashes when accessing some NT 4 shares. Now I can think about rolling out OS X to our users.

On May 6, we reported that several readers said that 10.1.5 release would fix this bug. If you can verify this, please let us know.

Workaround for printer grayed out page not finished loading problem. June 7, 2002 -- Pauls Sloss has a workaround for the Internet Explorer 5 problem of being unable to print:

I have a workaround for the printer grayed out when a page won't finish loading in IE5 etc through a firewall connection. Press the stop loading page button or command-. and all application services will be restored.

Aladdin Ships StuffIt Express Enterprise for Windows. June 7, 2002 -- Aladdin Systems is shipping StuffIt Express Enterprise Edition for Windows (starting at US $399.95 for 5-clients), a corporate version of the compression software. (A Mac OS version already exists.) The Enterprise Edition also includes encryption, uploading files to password-protected FTP sites, and emailing notification. There is also a feature called "express boxes" that can be used over a network or the Internet. There is also a scheduling feature.

Classic network apps can't communicated with Cisco VPN client. June 7, 2002 -- Warwick Teale says that Classic mode networking apps can't access the network when the Cisco 3000 virtual private network client 3.5 for OS X is running over Ethernet. Strangely, the apps do work over a PPP connection. Teale's report:

There have been a series of posts on this subject in Microsoft.public.outlook.mac. I have the same problem and it is driving me mad. Classic mode apps like Outlook 2001 can't access the network when running under the Cisco 3000 VPN client 3.5 on OS/X when connected via Ethernet. All native OS X network apps work fine including NSLOOKUP and DNS accesses.

I can access Outlook 2001 under the OS X Cisco VPN client only when I use PPP (dial up modem). This is true for all other Classic mode applications that access the network, whilst running under the VPN. However, it doesn't work when I use Ethernet via ADSL.

I am able to access ALL OS X network applications under the VPN client. I have resolved all the issues with DNS's on OS X including disabling the hardware checksum settings as stipulated by CISCO.

The big problem for me is accessing my corporate email on one of the Exchange servers. I can access the server from OS X (ping , FTP, etc) via explicit IP and DSN (partial DNS as well).

However OS/9 applications such as WHATROUTE, Netscape, IE 5, and Outlook2001cannot access any of the network when I use the ethernet connection in the network panels. Classic mode network apps (under Mac OS X) work fine when the VPN Client 3.5 is disabled.

I have also tried:

• to play with localhost and the TCP/IP control panel while in Classic mode.
• starting CLASSIC mode AFTER the VPNCLIENT session is established. A poster on this board said that works.. well it doesn't.
• using Entourage native via IMAP (can't get connected to EXCHANGE server).

If you've seen this problem, please let us know.

Reader Report: problems BlueLabel PowerEmulator. June 7, 2002 -- Dave Heap sent us a report of Lismore System's BlueLabel PowerEmulator 1.7, a PC emulator for Macintosh. He encountered several problems configuring peripherals, with keyboards, and with a Macally USB optical mouse. You can read is report on our BLPE Special Report page.

Mac font server runs OS X and Windows. DiamondSoft has released Font Reserve Server 1.5, a font server for Mac OS X (new in this release) and Windows NT/2000 servers supporting Mac OS 9 clients. (A Mac OS X client support is planned.) The server use an SQL database to manage fonts for multiple Macs. Administrators can create font sets for groups or individual users.

Mozilla 1.0 released: browser, email chat for multiple OS's. June 7, 2002 -- The open-source group Mozilla.org has released Mozilla 1.0, the open-source (free) set of applications for Mac OS 8.5/9/X, Windows, Linux, and several Unix variants. Mozilla contains a web browser, an e-mail program and news reader, and a chat client.

Apple OS X 10.5 offers a few X-platform benefits. June 5, 2002 -- Yesterday, Apple released Mac OS X 10.1.5, an upgrade for Apple's operating system available through the Software Update utility. Among the long list of general enhancements, bug fixes, and new peripherals supported, are several improvements in cross-platform and networking abilities. These include:

• Better networking via AFP when accessing multilevel directories on Windows NT file servers
• Improved file searching on local and remote volumes
• Mail accounts go offline to indicate that SSL encryption settings are not supported by mail server
• More efficient iDisk mounting and file navigation.
• Support for connecting to iDisk using default DNS settings of AirPort.

Reader verifies solution for SFM Servers disappearing from Chooser. June 5, 2002 -- Johan De Deyne verified the May 30 solution to the problem of Windows 2000 servers disappearing from Mac Choosers:

I would like to confirm the solution presented by Bill Grabowski, I am currently installing a Compaq ML350 G2 and I have tried all the suggestions given before, none did the trick except for the ACPI Uniprocessor Device Driver.

DigiTunnel 1.0b5, a minor update to VPN client for Mac OS X. June 5, 2002 -- Gracion Software has posted DigiTunnel 1.0 Beta5, a new prerelease of the virtual private network (PPTP) client for Mac OS X. This version fixes a bug in 1.0b4 that caused a delay in the Mac going into sleep mode.

Helios releases beta of next X-platform file and print servers. June 5, 2002 --- Helios Software released a beta version of the next upgrade to its UNIX-based high-performance file and print servers, PCShare 3.1 (for PC and UNIX clients) and EtherShare 3.1 (Mac and UNIX clients). The two work together for Mac-Windows file sharing, cross-platform file and record locking, and shared print queues, job names, user names and passwords. The release versions are scheduled for September.

Keyboard Maestro will eject key. June 5, 2002 -- If you're not happy about using the F12 key to eject discs on non-Apple keyboards in Mac OS X, Macworld writer Christopher Breen has another suggestion:

The latest version of Keyboard Maestro includes an option to remap the Eject key to another key combination -- perfect for those using third-party keyboards with OS X.

Citrix releases MetaFrame XP Feature Release 2. June 5, 2002 -- Citrix has released MetaFrame XP Feature Release 2, an upgrade to the application server. Citrix says there are over 40 new and improved features, including:

• Administrators can configure MetaFrame settings, such as time zone, printing and shadowing, for specific users and groups.
• Usage trend analysis and reporting
• User-to-user collaboration, which allows users in different locations to view and edit the same document.
• Enhanced printer management and performance

Tip for VPC 5 and Linux web access. June 5, 2002 -- Thomas Koons has a suggestion for Monday's report of a problem with accessing the Internet from Linux on Virtual PC 5 (see our Virtual PC 5 Report page). The fix:

Try turning off "shared networking" in the VPC settings for his Linux session. Since Connectix does not make an "additions" pack for Linux, then there are no tweaks to make Linux share the Macs connection as it can with any Windows OS. So he will need to give Linux a different IP address from his Mac as if they where two independent computers.

WebMerge 2.0 Public Beta . June 5, 2002 -- Fourth World yesterday released WebMerge 2.0 Beta Release 1, software for Mac OS and Windows that generates static Web pages from database or spreadsheet files. The new version provides more options for specifying how pages are generated, and supports more than a dozen new HTML tags for assembling and linking Web content. WebMerge works with any database or spreadsheet that exports in Merge, tab-delimited, or other tabular format, including FileMaker Pro, Microsoft Access, and AppleWorks. The final release of WebMerge 2.0 ( US $79) is scheduled for late June.

Ralph Nadar calls for better Windows-Mac integration. June 5, 2002 -- A Wired story says that consumer advocate Ralph Nader suggests that the Bush administration should give up on courtroom-based antimonopoly strategy against Microsoft and use the US government's purchasing power to urge more cross-platform compatibility:

Nader suggested a variety of approaches. For instance, the government could require the software giant to make its proprietary formats work smoothly with products from Apple Computer Inc ., International Business Machines Corp. and other rivals.

Of course, the feds could read MacWindows.com...

Office X update adds ODBC queries for Excel; Palm syncing still to come. June 3, 2002 -- Today Microsoft released Office X Service Release 1, a free download that contains over 1500 improvements for the office suite, according to Microsoft. At least one of which is related to cross-platform functionality. The update adds ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) support to Excel X. enabling users to refresh queries that were created in Excel 98, Excel 2001 and Excel for Windows. (However, Excel X can't modify or create new ODBC queries.) Most of the improvements have to do with performance increases, bug fixes, and improved support for Mac OS X technologies.

Microsoft also said that Service Release 1 does not enable Entourage to sync with palm devices, but that it will release a separate update on July 15 that will add palm syncing. It will also be a free download.

Services Release 1 will not be shipping on Office X CD-ROMs, so buyers of the suite will still need to download SR1. The fixes will be included in a future version of Office X.

MSN Messenger 3.0 adds X-platform file transfer feature, Unicode support. June 3, 2002 -- Microsoft also released of MSN Messenger for Mac 3.0 today (free download), a major new version instant messaging application. Version 3 adds the ability to transfer files to users of Windows or Macintosh. Microsoft told us that when you send a file, MSN Messenger 3.0 will ask you if you want to send the file's Mac-specific info (the resource fork, etc). Microsoft positioned the file transfer feature as a replacement for e-mail for moving large files.

MSN Messenger 3 now also supports Unicode, so is international characters received in a message will be displayed correctly.

Other improvements include new features in contacts management, such as the ability to import and export contacts, and improvements in user interface.

Eject key on Microsoft keyboard; use F12 in OS X. June 3, 2002 -- A number of readers responded to last Friday's question about how to map an Eject function key to a Microsoft keyboard on an iMac G4. Several readers confirmed that the Mac OS X trick of using the F12 key to eject CDs works on a Microsoft keyboard (as This lets you use a quick tap of F12 for other functions. Eytan Bernet says this feature was for keyboards without Eject keys in Mac OS X 10.1.3 or 10.1.4.

Unfortunately, F12 does not eject in Mac OS 9. For Mac OS 9, Patrick Callahan suggested clicking the CD icon to select it and typing Command-Y.

Reader reports VPC 5 with Red Hat Linux 6 has no Internet access. June 3, 2002 -- Gary Leach reports that he can't et Red Hat Linux 6 to connect to the Internet on Virtual PC 5:

I've just recently upgraded from my venerable VPC 3 to VPC 5, and I have to say that the performance in my installation of Red Hat Linux 6 has been markedly improved. The Gnome GUI has benefited especially, and now moves along with enough pep to be usable &emdash; I've even installed and done a few little things in The Gimp.

This improvement in speed has revealed what is now to me a serious problem: I cannot get online through Red Hat Linux 6. Ironically, while the Gnome GUI was sluggish to the point of madness the last thing I wanted to even attempt was getting on the Internet, but now I want that capability. All my efforts to do so, in spite of consulting three separate printed references and searching for online info, have come to nothing.

I go online through an Ethernet LAN to a cable modem in Mac OS 9 and Windows 95 via VPC, but there just doesn't seem to be any way to get my version of Linux to share in the joy. Might anyone have any insight into this quandary?

If you've seen this problem, please let us know.

MS says security hole in Exchange is critical. June 3, 2002 -- ZDNet reports that Microsoft has issued a security alert detailing a security flaw in Exchange 2000 that Microsoft calls "critical."

May 2002

Calmeno, X-platform competitor to MS Exchange, lets clients use Outlook. May 31, 2002 -- Yesterday, Weblicon Technologies released Calmeno (starts at US $1472, EUR 1600) an e-mail, calendar, address book and to-do list system for Unix servers and Windows, Macintosh, and Linux clients. Calmeno supports mobile access and over-the-air synchronization for Palm and PocketPC PDAs and SyncML-enabled mobile phones. (Users can access email from mobile phones.) The company said that users can sync with Outlook and Outlook Express clients, or run the Calmeno Java client. (See screen shots.)

The company also claims better security than Microsoft Exchange. "Calmeno is...immune to widespread viruses targeted at Microsoft Outlook or attacks against Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS)."

Gracion Software replaces DigiTunnel VPN client beta 3 with beta 4. May 31, 2002 -- Gracion Software has replaced the recently posted DigiTunnel beta 3 with DigiTunnel 1.0b4. The PPTP virtual private network client for Mac OS X. Like Beta 3, the new beta expires June 30. The new version also seems to have the same list of new features, as well as the warning that it is incompatible with Thursby Systems DAVE. Beta 3 was posted last week.

Gracion also said this:

DigiTunnel is designed to connect to Windows-based VPN servers. Other servers are not supported, although some may be compatible (see User Guide). Users have reported success with applications such as email and file sharing (AFP and SMB), but certain applications seem to have problems, notably Lotus Notes....

Gracion Software is still proceeding at full speed to complete and ship DigiTunnel 1.0 in the very near future. DigiTunnel will continue to be available for your use, as the first commercial VPN client for OS X.

MS keyboard with iMac G4 -- Eject key? May 31, 2002 -- Andrew Nielsen is using a Microsoft keyboard on the new iMac G4, and has a question:

The one thing that we can't find is a way of mapping a key to the Eject key on the Apple keyboard. And as you'd probably guess, this is kind of awkward! The latest Microsoft driver (at least as recently as Tuesday this week) had no support for same.

We don't know of a way to do this, but if you do, please let us know.

Performance problem with saving files to Win Server SFM. May 31, 2002 -- Joe Clunis comments on the issue of slow performance in saving files to Windows Services for Macintosh, and issue we've reported on our Mac OS X Report page.

When we initially setup a new network using NT4 I noticed a similar problem. 2 NT4 boxes, both SP6a. Both ran SFM. The Primary domain controller was also the Exchange (5.5 SP4) server. The secondary was the file server. The file server operated just fine.

The primary, however, exhibited the "sorting" problem. I never really noticed if the sorting stopped eventually. The biggest problem was that copying a large number of files or just one large (150 MB, one of the test files) file caused a memory dump. The server goes offline, I run to the server room only to see the blue screen of NT rebooting. 

Because this was a big problem and we could work around having our Macs not connected to that server, we disabled SFM just so nobody could inadvertently reboot the PDC/Mail server. When nimda hit, the PDC ate it (running IIS also... yeah). So during the recovery SP6a was reapplied and it seems to have solved the problem.  

The server was never "re-service packed" because the admin didn't want to risk killing this server. One of the consultants who helped with the nimda recovery mentioned that deleting/messing with the "Microsoft UAM" Mac share can cause corruption of SFM that could conceivably lead to such problems. He recommended not touching it or just disabling the sharing. Who wants their users to connect to "Microsoft UAM" anyway? And of course he noted that the network share for Windows or Mac (identical in our case) should be a directory rather than the root of the volume.

I'm not sure why the secondary server did not exhibit this problem since they were both setup at the same time by the same person. The "sorting" and crash-during-copy may not necessarily be related in all cases, but they certainly seemed to be connected here.

UnitedLinux to take on Red Hat. May 31, 2002 -- Yesterday, Caldera International, Turbolinux, SuSE Linux, and Conectiva announced an agreement to standardize on a new Linux distribution for business called UnitedLinux, "a new initiative that will streamline Linux development and certification around a global, uniform distribution of Linux designed for business." Analysts have seen this development as a way to compete against Linux leader Red Hat. However, in a ZDNet interview, Caldera CEO Ransom Love denied this. "The issue is not to compete with RedHat but to look at how we can grow Linux on a worldwide basis...We would have invited Red Hat but there was not time."

Connectix releases 10 MB Virtual PC 5.0.3 update. May 30, 2002 -- Last night Connectix posted Virtual PC 5.0.3, a free update to the PC emulator for Mac OS 9 and X that is bigger than the version number would indicate. The 10.4 MB download adds minor features and fixes a number of important bugs.

The bug fixes include the following:

• No longer brings up the "Another copy of Virtual PC is already running on this machine" error message when Virtual PC is re-launched after a crash.
• Fixed "rare random crashes" on multiprocessor machines.
• Virtual PC Additions no longer causes instability in the Windows XP network provider DLL. This had caused hangs during the initial boot of the Windows XP Home and Professional OS Packs as well as the Windows XP Home image that shipped with Virtual PC 5.0.
• Fixed bug that caused problems with Windows XP installation
• Fixes for AppleScript compatibility
• Fixes for stuttering when playing PC sounds in Mac OS X.

Features added include:

• Support for long file names for shared folders (Mac OS X)
• Password protection with improved security
• A new printer icon in the Virtual PC Toolbar
• A menu command with "Type CTRL-ALT-DEL"
• Advanced COM port settings

Note: We were not able to complete a download of the VPC 5.0.3 update last night, as the Connectix web site repeatedly disconnected.

Suggestion for Citrix and AppleShare IP problem. May 30, 2002 -- Darren Montjar (creator of the Mystery Machine Citrix client for Mac OS X) offered a suggestion for yesterday's report of a problem with Citrix clients accessing AppleShare IP servers:

Regarding "Reader problem with Citrix and AppleShare IP," it sounds like AppleShare is assuming that there is only one client trying to connect at a time, since the originating address is going to be just one: the Citrix server.

One possible way around this is to have the user mount the AppleShare volume on their Mac's desktop, then configure their Citrix client to auto-map that volume as a client drive. I just tried it on Mystery Machine under OS X and it worked just fine. Don't know about OS 9's client, I gave up on that OS long before The Steve buried it ;)

(For previous reports on Citrix and Macs, see our Citrix Special Report page.)

Another fix for W2K Servers disappearing from Chooser. May 30, 2002 -- Bill Grabowski adds another fix to our long list of suggestions for the problem of Windows 2000 servers disappearing from Mac Choosers:

In setting up servers for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, I have run across this problem. I'm using Compaq DL380's with Dual 1 GHz processors. If I go into Device Manager, Computer and change from 'ACPI Multiprocessor PC' to 'ACPI Uniprocessor PC' and reboot, the problem disappears. It seems to be related to the Dual-CPU HAL. I have a case open with Microsoft.

NetMinder Ethernet 5.0 adds support for OS X, spanning tree, NetBIOS and SMB. May 30, 2002 -- Neon software has released NetMinder Ethernet 5.0 ($US 795, upgrade US $199), a major new version of the network protocol analyzer for Mac OS. The new version now runs natively on Mac OS X, and adds support of a number of new cross-platform and Windows protocols, including:

• NetBIOS and SMB (native and tunneled)
• Spanning tree
• IP Service Location
• 802.11b wireless
• DHCP

FileMaker Mobile 2.0 -- Mac, Win linking with Palm devices--OS X now supported. May 30, 2002 --FileMaker Inc has released FileMaker Mobile 2.0 (US $49, upgrade free), a new version of the software for loading FileMaker Pro 5.5 databases from Windows or Mac OS into Palm OS handheld devices.The new version supports Mac OS X adds a number of ease-of-use features, including pop-up lists and menus, resizable columns, and date and time pickers.

Microsoft solicites feedback on Mac products. May 30, 2002 -- Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit has set up a web page asking for feedback on Microsoft's Mac software.

Japanese Yellow Dog Linux at LinuxWorld Tokyo. May 30, 2002 -- Terra Soft Solutions announced that the Japanese edition of Yellow Dog Linux 2.2 will be demonstrated at LinuxWorld Tokyo by Amulet, the Japanese distributor for Yellow Dog Linux, a Linux distribution for PowerPC hardware.

Gracion releases DigiTunnel Beta 3, VPN for OS X. May 29, 2002 -- Last Friday, Gracion Software posted DigiTunnel Beta 3, a new prerelease updated of the virtual private network client for Mac OS X.(Beta 3 expires on June 30.) DigiTunnel uses the PPTP VPN protocol. Gracion warns that as with previous versions, DigiTunnel Beta 3 is incompatible with DAVE from Thursby Systems. (See previous reports on our VPN Report page.) Among the changes in this version:

• MSCHAPv2 password change is supported.
• New user Setup Assistant added.
• Improved connection failure reporting.
• Fixed bugs

Reader verifies that virus is culprit for Win Server files in Mac Trash. May 29, 2002 -- Dave Heap verified yesterday's report that a Windows server-based items showing up in the Mac Trash can may be a symptom of a virus infection:

I would like to confirm this. We had a nimda virus attack some months ago and it writes files with tantalizing (to some) sounding names (with a .EML extension) in any open network shares it can find. Unfortunately the NT4/Win2K hidden 'Network Trash #x' folders on an NT4/Win2K server running Services For Macintosh are set wide open by SFM, and so collect myriads of these files. It is not easy/feasible (I did look into it but can't remember the details) to change this permissions situation, so they remain there as a honey pot for nimda files. Fortunately their location reduces the risk of them being activated.

Reader problem with Citrix and AppleShare IP. May 29, 2002 -- Marcus Rowell reports a problem with Citrix users accessing AppleShare IP:

We have run across an interesting problem with a Windows 2000 server running Citrix accessing shares on an AppleShare IP 6.3.3 server. If, from within a Citrix client session, a user connects to a normal Windows share with their own username and password they receive access based on that username and password entered. If multiple users on the same Citrix server connect to the same Windows share they all receive a unique connection to the Windows share, and as such unique permission based on the username and password given.

If the share is not running Windows and instead is running AppleShare IP the connections are combined into one. The first user is asked for username and password. Any subsequent users gain access to the AppleShare IP share based on the first users username and password.

If you've seen this problem, please let us know.

VPC keyboard problems in OS 9 may be caused by incompatible keyboard. May 29, 2002 -- Responding to yesterday's report on keyboard problems with Virtual PC, Brian Povlsen suspects that the keyboard is incompatible with the Mac, and offers a suggestion:

According to the Apple Knowledge Base article 58241, Apple only recommends using the original keyboards of the blue and white due to special modifications. Any other keyboards are non supported. Perhaps another solution for him would be to program an AppleScript that is invoked by hitting the specific key he wants.

Apple starts consultants network. May 29, 2002 -- Apple has created an Apple Consultants Network, where you potential clients can search a database by city in search for a consultant or training. You can also join the network and become listed as a consultant for US $495 for individuals, US $895 for firms.

Server sales down. May 29, 2002 -- CNET Reports that worldwide sales of servers fell by 15 percent during the first quarter. Sales decreased for both Intel-based servers and Unix-based server hardware.

Linux vendors to standardize. May 29, 2002 -- eWeek reports that Caldera, Conectiva, SuSE, and Turbolinux, will announce tomorrow a new standard Linux distribution to compete with RedHat.

Mediafour XPlay (iPod for Windows) goes from Alpha to Beta. May 28, 2002 -- After six "technology previews," Mediafour has released XPlay Beta 1, the newest prerelease version of the Windows software that lets you use Apple's iPod on a PC.

Win Server files in Mac Trash may be sign of virus. May 28, 2002 -- Arnoud Helmantel responded to a problem reported on May 24 concerning a user with Windows server-based items showing up in the Mac Trash can. Helmantel suggested that a virus may be at work:

I think it is quite likely that one of the PC workstations connected to the server is infected by a virus. I don't remember the name of the specific virus (nimda? badtrans?) but a virus appeared a few months back where the virus would put a file with the .EML extension in every folder it finds, including the hidden 'Network Trash #x' folders on the server. I would recommend to scan the workstations for viruses.

VPC keyboard problem in OS 9. May 28, 2002 -- Daniel Foshee reports keyboard problems with Virtual PC 5 and Mac OS 9:

I've noticed that the numlock key doesn't turn on at startup, AND I can't access the VPC BIOS (have tried F1, F2, and Control-Alt-Enter when I "boot up" the image) to see if the numlock is on or off. We've been able to modify the registry to turn it on after the user has logged in, but those users who've had numbers in their logon passwords have to use the keyboard's numbers, not the keypad.

Our setup info: We're running Windows 2000 in VPC 5.0.2 on OS 9.2.2, and on blue/white G3s, but with the newer Pro keyboards (since we use the Control-Alt-Delete security feature, and even in VPC 5.0.2, I can't remap the forward delete key to something else on those blue/white "baby" keyboards--the setting just doesn't work). We also installed several specific apps and images, using Altiris' Rapid Install Packages (RIPs) across the network. The PC guys were amazed that it worked so flawlessly; I keep telling 'em that for all intents and purposes that it's a PC, but until now, they've just shook their heads in disbelief.

If you've seen this problem, please let us know.

Reader fixes BlueLabel Power emulator: mouse driver at fault. May 28, 2002 -- Kaari Koehn fixed a problem with BlueLabel Power emulator reported on May 6. The problem was a mouse driver:

Just wanted to note that it turned out to be a mouse driver problem, the XCOM game ran with full mouse and sound support once I used a boot disk with a later version of DOS. (Specifically DOS7 from dos.li5.org/w0rmdisk.htm, skipping the utilities and using no memory expander. The game uses DOS4GW, which needs about 530K of lower DOS memory to start, then finds expanded memory on its own. I haven't tried DOS 6.22 bootdisks.)

Integrating Mac OS X and Novell eDirectory. May 24, 2002 -- The Higher Education Mac OS X Labs Deployment Initiative web site has information on Integrating Mac OS X and Novell eDirectory. Richard Glaser of the University of Utah describes the site:

This document describes how you can use information stored in Novell's eDirectory to authenticate Macintosh users, provide file services and home directories for them, from a NetWare 6 server. It also includes example LDIF files to extend the eDirectory schema, updating users, and adding a mount organizational unit and mount object class.

(For information on integrating Macs with Microsoft Active Directory, see the previous reports on our Mac OS X Report page.)

Advice on the spanning tree protocol. May 24, 2002 -- Geoff Strickler sent in some advice about turning of the spanning tree protocol, which users have reported fixing a problem of Win 2k Servers disappearing from Chooser. Strickler says it can fix other problems as well, but isn't always possible:

In your item on items disappearing from the Chooser with Win 2k SP2 servers you mention disabling spanning tree protocol. That's a good recommendation that will eliminate many Mac and Windows networking problems, including some DHCP problems. Unfortunately, disabling STP is not an option in many larger installations because there is just too much chance of a user introducing a loop. Here are some alternatives:

Only disable STP on ports that will have or may have users directly connected to them. If the port runs to another hub or switch, you can leave STP enabled.

Some brands of switches have 'non-blocking' modes of STP startup. This allows traffic to pass on the port until STP has decided that a loop exists. Cisco calls this feature 'portfast' and you should enable this mode rather than disable STP if your switch supports such a feature.

Many switches allow you to specify the STP timeout parameters. Lowering these to 3-5 seconds rather than the 10-20 seconds they usually default to will minimize or eliminate the problem.  

Forcing the speed and/or duplex setting on the NIC in your workstations and/or on the switch ports can sometimes help as well.

CDFinder and CDWinder let Mac and Windows share network-based catalogs. May 24, 2002 -- Developer Norbert Doerner is offering CDFinder 3.6.1 ($25), a Mac OS 8.6/9/X utility to catalog files on hard disks, CD-ROMs, Audio disks, DVDs, floppies, Zip cartridges, and other storage. CDFinder can be used on a network with Macs and with PCs running CDWinder 1.6 for Windows to share catalogs over a network. The new 3.6.1 version for Macs adds AIFF and WAV to the list of files that it will catalog. It also includes improvements to running it in Mac OS X and a new PDF Users Guide.  

Reader problem: Win Server files appear in trash cans of Macs. May 24, 2002 -- Jo Vanstraelen is having a problem with files on Windows 2000 Server appearing in the Mac Trash:

Suddenly appear files in the trashcan's of the Macs. The files are unable to delete on the Mac so we've to reboot the mac in order to show the trashcan's properly. The files come from the WIN 2000 Server.

I think it is a filesharing problem on the server. The networktrashfolders get mixed with eachother. Because one mac user gets the trash can from another user.

Before the problem arose, we used a decalpha server with no problems. Meanwhile we've upgraded to the new server, to mac OS 9.2 and to gigabit network switches. I'm looking for solution according the following problem.

The environment (prepress):

20 Macs (G3 bow, beige / G4) and 15 PCs (WIN NT 4 wks)
2 Scitex Brusque servers, 2 Enterprise 450, 3000 server
WIN 2000 Server

All Macs are using OS 9.2.2
All PC are using WINTEL SP6

If you've seen this problem, please let us know.

CNET previews upcoming Win XP SP1; Win 2k SP3 in beta. May 24, 2002 -- A CNET news story describes some of the changes in the upcoming Windows XP Service Pack 1. The story also mentions that Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 is in final beta testing.

Solutions update: Another Linux for VPC. May 24, 2002 -- We've added Gentoo Linux for PowerPC to our list of Linux releases that run on Macintosh hardware. Remake van Berea describes Gentoo:

It is also distributed under the GNU, installing is a lot of work and teaches an unsuspecting newbie a lot about how Linux works. The OS doesn't come with prepackaged binaries, but only with sources that will all have to be compiled. Downside is that it takes a lot of time, advantage is that it is pretty nifty fast in the end.

More fixes for Win 2000 Server with SP2 disappearing from Chooser. May 22, 2002 -- We've had a couple of responses to yesterday's report of a reader who said he tried the solutions on our Windows 2000 Report page to the problem of Windows 2000 Server disappearing from Choosers, but nothing worked. Jim Van Veghel told us about a solution for a similar problem printers:

This sounds like a problem I had with printers. They would sometimes appear in the Chooser, then disappear, then reappear. The solution was making sure everyone's AppleTalk control panel had unique network and node values. There were overlapping net/node values and if both people had the Chooser open, only one could see the devices.

Adam Glick mentioned a solution that we already have listed on our Windows 2000 Report page, but it's worth mentioning again:

Check for spanning tree status on the network equipment (probably switched). It should be set to off.

Mystery Machine 1.2.1 fixes kernel panics. May 22, 2002 -- Darren Montjar has released Mystery Machine 1.2.1, and update to the Citrix client for Mac OS X. The update fixes a problem with kernel panics with version 1.2 (released yesterday):

I've updated Mystery Machine to 1.2.1, disabling 2D acceleration. I've had reports of serious (kernel panics) crashes from a couple of people. It works great for some, not so great for others. Then it kp'd my machine, and I decided it had to go. Hopefully that fixes the crash.

Suggested fix for MacServerIP SFM slowdown, high CPU utilization. May 22, 2002 -- Jim Rosensteel has a fix for a problem with the MacServerIP AFP file server for Windows:

While reading the MacServerIP info on your site, I saw this problem (MacServerIP with symptoms of SFM slowdown: high CPU utilization.) We installed MSIP 8.0 on our NT4 SP5 Server (after a fresh reboot, and without turning SFM on) and immediately saw that same issue - what finally seems to have fixed it was when we turned off the SFM Compatibility mode in MSIP (under Advanced Options) which is enabled by default (even though we didn't have SFM on).

If you've tried this fix, please let us know.

Mac OS X LDAPv2 plugin bug. May 22, 2002 -- Petri Asikainen discovered a problem with Mac OS X and LDAP, and has some suggestions to fix it:

I just found out that if an LDAP-server is returning a lot of (unneeded) attributes to Mac OS, the LDAP-plugin will not authenticate that user.

A possible workaround would be to limit the search result to only needed attributes. (I've been tested limiting on my server and it all started to work.)

Another possibility might be to update LDAP plugin from Apple's cvs-directory -- this should work, too. (Latest update to code fixes attribute buffering.) I haven't tried this yet, because getting Apple source to compile isn't so easy as it could be.

If you've seen this problem (or the fix), please let us know.

ZDNet opens up to OpenOffice. May 22, 2002 -- ZDNet's Dan Farber takes a look at OpenOffice, the open source, multiplatform alternative to Microsoft Office. (The Mac OS X version is still prerelease, as it uses the Unix X11 user interface instead of Aqua.)

Popular Citrix client for OS X upgraded: Mystery Machine 1.2. May 21, 2002 -- Darren Montjar has released Mystery Machine 1.2, and new version of his free Mac OS X client for Citrix application servers. Montjar describes the new build:

Hi John and fellow MacWindows readers... I have unleashed Mystery Machine 1.2 on the world. Nothing fundamentally different/new/exciting. The biggest change is I've rebuilt it in Apple's ProjectBuilder, which might allow for more fun down the road. I've also turned on Live Resizing and Java 1.3.1 Update 1's 2D Acceleration. I haven't noticed any speed increase by doing this, but I'm on an iBook 500. Maybe someone with a decent box can tell a difference. I also haven't had any issues yet with turning on 2D acceleration, but Apple does consider 2D acceleration in its Java implementation "beta".

We'd appreciate your comments on this new version.

Zip drive slowdown can occur without Outlook. May 21, 2002 -- Dan Tremitiere also has the problem with slowdowns with Zip drives, but found that Outlook had nothing to do with it:

I found your page thanks to a Google search I did trying to figure out why text input had slowed to a crawl on my machine (B&W G3/400, 192 MB of RAM). Sure enough, putting a Zip disk in my Zip drive solved the problem, as Sonya Reasor reported. I'm running Iomega Driver 6.0.6 (9/18/99), but I'm _not_ running Outlook at all, and all applications (not just the Finder, as Apple suggests) are affected.

We've previously reported that backgrading the Apple CD/DVD driver from 1.4.7 to 1.4.3 resolves the issue.

Reader problem with MacServerIP with Win2K Cluster. May 21, 2002 -- Paul Williams responded to a May 10 report of a problem with AppleShare IP 6.3.3 and Windows 2000 regarding file sharing and reading/writing of files as they are being updated. However, Williams sees problems with MacServer IP running on Windows Cluster Servers:

We're noticing some update delays with a different setup to that of your correspondent (although Win2K is a common factor).

We have a Compaq cluster running Win2K Advanced Server and MacServerIP v8 for clusters. Most of our client desktops are Macs, though all file shares are available to both Wintel and Macintosh platforms.

We've noticed that files copied to any given MacServerIP share can often take minutes to show up on other Macintosh clients. I had thought that this was a MacServerIP problem, but your other correspondent's experience suggests it may be deeper rooted than that.

The strange thing is that when we tested the cluster, we were blown away by the speed of file transfers, particularly with large CMYK images (we publish magazines...). The files that are causing us problems would appear to be modestly sized MS Word and QuarkXPress files.

If you've seen this problem, please let us know.

More on Windows 2000 Server with SP2 disappearing from Chooser. May 21, 2002 -- Teresa Macri reports having the problem of Windows 2000 Server disappearing from Mac users' Choosers, but the suggested fixes we've previously reported haven't worked:

I'm writing from the district technology office of Broward County Public Schools, the fifth largest district in the nation. I am trying to help out several schools who have reported an issue with W2K servers disappearing from the clients' Choosers. I have read through the other reports on this website and have tried all suggestions, the problem still exists. Has Microsoft given any other suggestions to fixing this problem? We have about 60,000 Macs on our network and are only just beginning to deploy W2K servers. I can see this issue compiling as time goes on and want to find a fix... quick.

The servers currently having the problem are a Dell 4400, dual 1 GHz with 4 GB RAM running W2K Adv. Server SP2; a Dell 2500 933 MHz with 512 MB RAM and a Dell 2500 Dual 1 GHz with 1 GB RAM - both running W2k SP2.

If you know of any solutions not listed on our Windows 2000 Report page, please let us know.

Reader problem with large files on Windows 2000 MAV. May 21, 2002 -- R. McDonnell reports a problem with large files:

It appears that out Windows 2000 MAV has a problem with files larger than approximately 58 MB in file size. It is a recent issue.

If you've seen this problem, please let us know.

X-platform messaging software QuickPopup 3.0.1 improves OS X version; Jaguar version coming. May 21, 2002 -- Kanex Group Inc. has released, QuickPopup 3.0.1 (US $15), a cross-platform instant messaging program for Mac 7/8/9, OS X, and Windows. The developer calls QuickPopup " the only cross-platform tool for exchanging popup messages between Mac OS X, classic Mac OS and Windows users," and it works on local networks. Version 3.0.1 improves reliability and speed on Mac OS X. Kanex Group also says that QuickPopup will also work on Jaguar" &endash; Apple's next version of Mac OS X to be released later this summer. (There's also a free 30-day trial version.)

StuffIt Deluxe 7.5 for Win integrates with Office, adds automation. May 17, 2002 -- Aladdin Systems is now shipping StuffIt Deluxe 7.5 for Windows (US $40), an update to the full-version cross-platform compression/decompression utility that works with .zip and .sit files. Some of the new features include:

• OfficeReady StuffIt : Integration with Microsoft Office, letting you compress and e-mail directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Automation of certain tasks
• Better compression (smaller compressed archives)
• SEA Builder, a utility that creates self-extracting archives that open automatically.
• StuffIt Express Personal Edition, which now works with Microsoft Scheduled Tasks to automate routine tasks at regularly scheduled times.

Reader verifies that back-grading CD driver fixes Zip, Outlook slowdown problem. May 17, 2002 -- Bill Dobbs verified that a fix suggested by another MacWindows reader does indeed fix the Zip/Outlook slowdown problem:

I'm running a beige G3 tower with Mac OS 9.2.2. Experienced the same typing slowdown (as reported by others) while running MS Entourage after waking the Mac from sleep. Downgrading the Apple CD-ROM driver to 1.4.4 and the Iomega Zip Driver to 6.0.8 seems to fix the problem. No need to upgrade to OS X as Apple's site recommends.

NetMinder Ethernet 5.0 adds support for OS X, AirPort. May 17, 2002 -- Neon Software's NetMinder Ethernet 5.0 (US $199) is a major new version of the cross-platform network protocol analyzer for Macintosh. The new version now runs natively in Mac OS X. NetMinder Ethernet 5 decodes and provides information about TCP/IP, NetBIOS, Spanning Tree, NetWare, DECnet, XNS, AppleTalk, and other network protocols. Other new features include:

• Analysis of wireless 802.11b (AirPort) protocol
• Increased security with an alert system
• IP traffic filters (Monitor all traffic from one IP address or just the traffic between two specific IP addresses.)

A Better Finder Rename 1.6. May 17, 2002 -- Publicspace.net has released A Better Finder Rename 4.6 (US $14.95), a new version of the contextual menu plugin for the Macintosh Finder that lets you rename Mac files so they are compatible with a PC. The new version adds these features, among others:

• Allows file names to be based on the date and time of the last modification or the creation of the file.
• "Usability aspects" of the Mac OS X were improved

Packup and Go 2.3.3 Unix compression for Mac OS X. May 17, 2002 -- Packup and Go 2.3.3 (US $15) is a drag-and-drop Mac OS X utility that can create compressed file archives in Unix formats (.gz and .tar). Packup and Go is meant for using to create archives to send to non-Mac computers, as it does not handle Mac resource forks.

Java applet problems running on IE for Mac OS 9.1. May 17, 2002 -- Brendan Farragher reports a problem with running a Java applet in Internet Explorer on Mac OS 9.1:

I had an applet running in an IE 5 browser on MAC OS 9.1. My applet loads fine exactly five times in one session. After that, it will not reload again until I clear the cache and restart the browser session. I am creating custom classes, and since I do not receive an exception, I'm assuming I am running out of memory. I am trying to clean up my classes by setting the instances to null and by calling the garbage collector explicitly - System.gc(), and that didn't help me. The line that the applet hangs on is the creation of one of my custom classes.

I upgraded to IE 5.1 and had better results -- I was able to load the applet 10 times before the problem occurred. I had another user who has Mac OS X (with IE 5.4) run it, and he didn't have any problems at all.

If you've seen this problem, please let us know.

VPN for your Palm device. May 17, 2002 -- Mergic is developing a virtual private network client for Palm OS called the Mergic VPN for Palm OS. A beta (prerelease) version 0.94 is available for download. Merge VPN uses the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) used in Microsoft servers and in some Cisco VPN products.

Xserve to fit into Cross-platform network management situation. May 15, 2002 -- Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled Xserve (starting at US $2999), Apple's new rack mounted, OS X-based hardware server platform. (Apple is taking orders now for a June ship date.) Sporting one or two 1 GHz G4 processors, Xserve is not a G4 motherboard in a different box. It was designed from the ground up with custom ASICs, a 533 MB/s bus, an advanced memory architecture, software RAID, and other features. Jobs called it the "fastest Mac architecture we've ever built."

The unit can hold up to four ATA hard drives (up to 480 GB) that are hot swappable. Each can be accessed via its own drawer that can pull out. The entire computer also slides out as a drawer, exposing hot-swappable fans.

Xserve has a number of ports, including a Unix-style DB-9 serial port, as well as FireWire, USB, VGA. However, a monitor is not required, as Xserve can be configured headlessly from another Mac, using the secure SSH protocol.

As with the current Mac OS X Server product, Xserve will ship with file and print services for Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX/Linux client, as well as QuickTime Streaming Server, and other services. The management software suite includes application for configuring services and for managing and monitoring hardware.

Jobs noted that the Xserve pricing included a software license an unlimited number of clients.

Jobs was in good form at the press conference, describing a previous server hardware effort a decade ago as "a dream when Apple was in a coma," in answer to a question from Henry Norr of the San Francisco Chronicle. In response to a question of when Pixar would be using Xserve for it's rendering farm, Jobs smiled and said "they like Xserve."

Xserve supported by HP OpenVew, other X-platform management tools May 15, 2002 -- Hewlett-Packard announced yesterday that its HP OpenView network service management software will support Apple's Xserve. Users will be able to manage Xserve along with other servers, as well as run an HP OpenView console on Mac OS X. Xserve supports several open standards that make this possible, including Net-SNMP management information bases (MIBs). Apple also said that Xserve should work with other open-standards-based management software systems.

Open Directory initiative to be part of OS X . May 15, 2002 -- We spoke with Apple Director of Mac OS Technology Ken Bereskin about Open Directory, a project unveiled to developers at last week's Worldwide Developers Conference. Open Directory is an open software framework to enable Mac OS X clients and servers to access multiple types of directory services, including Microsoft's Active Directory, other LDAP directories, and Apple's NetInfo (which inherited from NeXT). Bereskin said that the architecture of Open Directory is extensible, allowing developers to create plug-ins that would make Mac OS X work with other directory systems as well.

Apple plans to include Open Directory as part of the next Mac OS X release (code named Jaguar) at the end of this summer.

Oracle and Sybase endorse Xserve with enterprise database ports to Mac OS X. May 15, 2002 -- Yesterday, enterprise database rivals Oracle and Sybase both announced that they would port enterprise-class relational database management systems to Mac OS X, for the purpose of running on Apple's Xserve platform.

Oracle announced that it would port the Oracle9i Real Application Clusters, a database server clustering technology for running on multiple servers in parallel. Oracle Senior Vice President Michael Roch say that the company would first release a developer version, though didn't say when

Sybase said it would release a Mac OS X version of Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 12.5 in the third quarter of this year. Sybase also said it will support Apple's WebObjects, giving WebObjects applications access to ASE. Last week Sybase shipped Open Client and Open Server for Mac OS X, programming tool kits for creating enterprise-class database applications.

Jobs: Unix developers flocking to Mac OS X. May 15, 2002 -- Oracle and Sybase aren't the only Unix developers doing Mac OS X products. Yesterday Steve Jobs told reporters that there are now twice as many Mac OS X developers as there were twelve months okay--and they're coming from the Unix/Linux worlds. Job said "new [OS X] developers are primarily Unix and Java developers." Jobs attributed this partly to the fact that "Apple is now the largest Unix supplier in the world."

GraphicConverter 4.4 improves OS X support. May 15, 2002 -- Lemke software released GraphicConverter 4.4 (US $30), a Macintosh graphic file translation product that converts between Mac and Windows file formats. The new version adds Mac OS X long filename support in the Open and Save dialogs of images, adds the ability to a TWAIN aquire in MacOS X, as well as other new features.

Apple to announce new server today. May 14, 2002 -- Today Apple is announcing new server hardware. The announcement is expected to include a rack-mounted version of a G4 or G5-based computer running Mac OS X.

We will be at 1 Infinite loop for the announcement and will bring you the cross-platform implications in tomorrow's post.

A suggestion for Zip, Outlook typing slowdown problem: downgrade drivers. May 14, 2002 -- Thomas Koons wrote in with a suggestions for the problem with Zip drivers slowing down Mac performance when no disk was in the drive and Outlook is open:

The fix I have read which also worked for me was to downgrade Apples CD/DVD driver from 1.4.7 to 1.4.3. This older version does not have the slow down issue and does not seem to cause any other problems.

Some how Apples CD/DVD driver and Iomega's Zip drivers affect each other and downgrading Apples CD/DVD driver fixes it.

[The problem] seems to happen only when your computer has gone to sleep and then you wake it. It happens in many MS apps. Entourage feels it pretty bad.

ODBC Router adds Tango Support. May 14, 2002 -- Yesterday, August Software released updated Macintosh ODBC drivers (free) for use with the company's ODBC Router, which gives cross-platform networks access to SQL databases. The updated drivers "offer increased support for the Tango 2000 Web Application Development Studio by With Enterprises."

Thursby announces distributor for U.K. May 14, 2002 -- Thursby Software Systems today announced that Computers Unlimited will be the sole United Kingdom distributor of Thursby products, including DAVE, software that puts Macs on Windows-compatible networks. Computers Unlimited sells products through over 1000 resellers in the U.K.

Apple releases Bluetooth beta 2 for wireless peripheral connections. May 10, 2002 -- Apple has posted Apple Bluetooth Technology Preview 2, a new prerelease version of the wireless peripheral software for Mac OS X 10.1.4 or later. Apple describes it:

The enclosed software will allow Macintosh customers to use a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone for Internet connection, perform a HotSync operation with a Palm handheld device, and exchange files between two Bluetooth enabled computers.

The new version will work with devices other than telephones.

Readers verify Zip, Outlook typing slowdown problem. May 10, 2002 -- A number of readers responded to yesterday's report of a problem with Outlook 2001 and Zip drives that cause the Mac to slow to a crawl unless zip cartridge is inserted. All reported having the problem with Mac OS 9.x. Mike McDuffy sent us links to Apple articles on the problem:

We've seen this problem on a B&W G3 running Mac OS 9.1 and the internal Zip Drive but Outlook Express is being used instead of Outlook.

The AppleCare Knowledge Base has an article discussing this slowdown (article 106742). They also have one discussing jumpy pointers when copying to or from a Zip disk (article 106534) and audio skipping when copying to or from a Zip disk (article 106533).

The Apple article says the problem only occurs with the Mac OS 9 Zip driver, not in Mac OS X:

The Mac OS 9 Zip driver can cause the Finder to perform slowly when there is no Zip disk in the internal Zip drive. Iomega is aware of this issue and is investigating possible solutions for Mac OS 9 Zip software.

Thanks to everyone who responded.

Clarification on SonicWall VPN use of clients. May 10, 2002 -- Luis Antezana provides an answer to a reader questions from last week about what it means for SonicWall virtual private network to work with or without a Macintosh client.

Regarding[the May 2] post about SonicWall VPNs, it is true SonicWall does not offer a Mac client. They do, however, say a Mac could use PGP (PGPfreeware 7.0.3 is the last freeware version I have). I haven't tried it yet, nor do I know what one would do under OS X.

For the previous SonicWall reports