This is the first INITInfo Updater. This file is contains the additional reports added to version 4.3.1 that made version 4.4 (created for UK release by Principal Distributors). Rather than force users to download another large file, we though it best to upload a listing of additions in Word and text formats (sorry, the stack isn’t as easy to update).
Adobe Type Reunion
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Deneba's UltraPaint and Adobe Type Reunion are incompatible — the pop-up menus (in gradient fill, for example) don't work right. A call to Deneba elicited the interesting response, “Oh, yeah — that gives us problems with a lot of our products.” The versions involved are ATR 1.0 and UltraPaint 1.0 - no idea whether later versions are available that solve this problem. Tom Chappell, Quest Development 76344,2172
After Dark
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There is the bug with the aquarium module of After Dark if you have a 8*24 GC card — it leaves bits of the image on the screen. (Jim Goldberg 70106,776) Yes, we now know that that is a problem, it’s not just your setup. In the analog clock options, the hour hand stays at whatever position was correct for when it first went to sleep, but then it doesn’t update until the next hour on the hour. That’s something we do need to fix. When it is, I’ll post an announcement on-line. Mike Schutte, Berkeley Systems 73016,41
I and several people in my office have experienced a minor conflict between MS Mail 2.0 and After Dark 2.0, now that we have received our upgrades to After Dark. It seems that if a mail message is received while After Dark is active, and the current AD module has a sound effect, the Mac will emit an annoying, high-pitched tone that will persist until the screen is reawakened. Your co-workers will not appreciate this, especially if you are away from your desk at the time. I have seen this happen on an SE, Plus, II and IIx, all running 6.0.5. The fix is fairly simple, and confirmed by talking with both Microsoft and Berkeley Systems, who were aware of the problem -- turn off the chime in MS Mail. It seems that the conflict is in the way the two INITs handle sound. Paul Schliesser 71610,3370
ClickChange
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TIP -> If you decide to remove ClickChange, go through all six panels and reset to System Defaults first, then reboot. Otherwise, odd colors or patterns may show up in the darndest places afterwards, and only ClickChange can back them all the way out. (76012,300 Brad Hicks)
LOADING ORDER -> Make sure your INITs load in this order: (1) Suitcase II, (2) ClickChange, (3) After Dark. Yes, we changed the way ClickChange handles the arrow cursor in version 1.04 from the way we were kludging it in 1.03. Some kludgy code was there ONLY to support AfterDark (which patches _InitCursor during screen sleep to hide the cursor). But trying to make ClickChange "AfterDark-aware" made us screw things up in other situations. So, we removed all the kludgy "AfterDark" code in version 1.04, discovering that if the load order is set as described above, all is well. However, if you are still having troubles with non-animated arrow cursors, you can always edit your 1-frame cursor so it has multiple frames that are all the same image. Then turn animation on. You won’t see the animation because all the frames are the same image, but it should cure your problem. If you have any of these INITs, here are their suggested load order:
Virtual
Suitcase II or MasterJuggler
CE Toolbox
ClickChange
AfterDark
(Cliff Joyce (Dubl-Click) 72260,3720)
Cmdr Dialog ][
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CMDR DIALOG ][ Conflicts with the script editing dialog box in all known versions of SuperCard. There is no work-around except to switch to YesNoCancel. Brad Hicks 76012,300
Dave’s WDEF
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I recently downloaded and installed “Daves WDEF Init” from somewhere here on CIS. (Daves WDEF Init turns Mac windows into neXt-like windows, pretty sharp.). Hypercard 2.0 will launch, but the cursor never switches to the browse tool. Menus work, and keyboard equivs work, but you can’t select anything inside the Hypercard stack windows. In fact, none of the Hypercard 2.0 tools work, although you can seemingly select them from the tool menu. I verified this using a generic 6.0.5 system, fully unloaded (ie, no inits). Hypercard 1.2.5 DOES work, however, with Daves WDEF Init installed. Edwin B. Fouse 72550,3613
Dimmer
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If Dimmer 1.0, SunDesk 1.1, Adobe Type Manager 2.0, and Suitcase II are active, the “LED” indicators in the Dimmer control panel will be concealed. J. Web Phillips, Microseeds Customer Support
DOS Mounter
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I’ve verified that one problem is that DOS Mounter 2.0 is incompatible with Apple’s CD-ROM software, specifically Foreign File Access. If DOSMounter is made to load after these INITs, it will at least recognize DOS disks correctly, and Mac format CD-ROM’s may be accessed normally. Foreign (such as audio) CD-ROM’s will not be recognized. I have never (even under Finder only, no INIT’s except DOSMounter) gotten the format feature to work. Dayna says they are aware of the problem, and are trying to find a cure. They rate importance by the number of complaints they receive, so if this affects you, by all means call Dayna tech support. Version 1.2 does not have the compatibility problems mentioned, so as recommended by Dayna I have reverted to it while waiting for a fix for 2.0. Brian Clark 71241,2407
Fontina
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Wingz ignores Fontina (and all other font menu enhancers). Mark Bernstein, Eastgate Systems Inc.
TIP -> Adobe Type Reunion overrides Fontina, but Fontina menus can be seen if your press shift while selecting the menu or when launching the application. Mark Bernstein, Eastgate Systems Inc.
TIP -> MacDraw II and MacWrite II users should not ‘customise’ the application’s font menu by removing less-used; Fontina removes the necessity for doing this, and Fontina can be confused by the ‘subset’ menus. Mark Bernstein, Eastgate Systems Inc.
TIP -> Like many INITs, Fontina reacts badly to a lack of heap space. It only requires about 16k in the heap. Heaptools always fixes the heap space problem. Mark Bernstein, Eastgate Systems Inc.
Icon Colorizer
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The current version of Icon Colorizer is 1.6.
After about a week of crashing, I found that Icon Colorizer 1.52 doesn’t work on an SE/30 with a color screen. Mine is a RasterOps 264/SE30 and Seiko CM-1445. Even with no inits except itself loaded, it crashes on bootup. Sundesk 1.1 works fine though. (David Winograd 72767,2217)
INITPicker
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TIP -> You need to turn off INITPicker 2.0’s BombGuard incompatibility detection preference when using MaxAppleZoom 1.3 because BombGuard will disable it. J. Web Phillips, Microseeds Customer Support
MacroMaker
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OutStandin 1.0 has a known problem with MacroMaker (all flavors) on the IIci, but I also had the problem (Mac won't boot) if MacroMaker was installed on my Macintosh II (with both the MacroMaker that comes with 6.0.5 and the one with 6.0.7). Tom Chappell, Quest Development 76344,2172
MasterFinder 1.0
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There is a pathological interaction with WindowShade 1.1, by Robert Johnson. Double clicking in MasterFinder 'titlebar' collapses the titlebar to (almost) nothing; just a row or two of pixels. Brad Cox 71230,647
MultiMaster
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LOADING ORDER -> Loading EZMenu after MultiMaster fixed the problem. Tom Anderson 76004,150
Norton Utilities
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Norton Utilities’ DiskLight 1.0 causes the Call application of Copernicus 1.00 to abort with an “unexpectedly quit (28)” error message. Mark Millard 72520,3004
I was sure that when Norton Utilities first came out and there were a lot of messages, that VirexINIT 1.7 was found and implicated as conflicting with Norton DiskDoctor? Anyway, they are not getting along on my system. No mention in the latest INITInfo stack, either. (OK, we admit it, we goofed: this was originally reported to us by Robert Seaver: see below) Do not try to run NDD with VirexINIT 1.7 present. Stopped during file scan on — guess who? — CEToolbox 1.5.1i of all. I am running 6.0.7 on SE/30 with “a few” other inits, mainly Now Utilities and a couple major players. Greg Youngs 76665,3010
I was the first to report this conflict with 1.7 to Norton, to the board here, and to Glenn, (I think you were just getting the section 14 organized, then, and perhaps it got lost.) I made this report one hour after getting my copy on the release date, when it shipped from MacWarehouse, (after 3 months on Backorder) I repeated the warning, describing just this occurence and the fact that it occured when running off the installed NDD on the hardrive, but not the booted Emergency disk, several times in the next couple of weeks, when the board was buzzing with Disklight bugs, and the Boomerang/Directory incompatiblilty. I also reported it to Virex (then HJC software) and told to send in a mugshot so they could look into it. I faxed it, to a specific individual, and then inquired twice over a months time as to what they found. They never answered. I trashed 1.7, and switched to Disinfectant, and never used any of the subsequent Virex upgrades to which I had subscribed. Robert Seaver 70405,1525
PopChar
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LOADING ORDER -> PopChar (1.1 thru 1.3) vs Supervisor Responder (thru 1.0): All versions of SuperVisor CDEV and SuperVisor Responder that I have seen conflict with versions 1.1 thru 1.3 of PopChar. If SuperVisor Responder loads AFTER PopChar, PopChar’s pop-up menu will never appear. FIX: Put an “a” in front of the name of SuperVisor Responder so that it loads before PopChar. (Brad Hicks 76012,300)
QuickDraw
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TIP -> It has been seen that installing the 32-bit QuickDraw option with Sys 6.0.5 on IIci's fixed a number of problems the machines were having. I would recommend doing that before going to 6.0.7. Todd Vogelei/AffINITy Tech Support Manager 76344,1750
QuicKeys 2
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LOADING ORDER -> Quick note on QuicKeys 2: Must be loaded AFTER TypeAlign or NEITHER it nor TA will load right. First time I tossed it (QK2) in, TypeAlign did not come up and I had to replace the TypeAlign Startup file for it to work after I had removed QK2. Used QK2 for a while, then noticed I was having weird crashes and freezes, particularly when using the DiskTop DA or defining key sequences in QK2. Doug Wray (>INTERNET:WRAY_D@gold.Colorado.EDU)
QuickMail
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TIP -> QUICKMAIL TIP — (All versions) Depending on load at the local zone, the model of the Macintosh, and the phase of the moon, QuickInit will fail to find the zone list. CE tells me that this is because the Mac itself may not have it built by the time QuickInit runs; the fix is to rename QuickInit to ~QuickInit so that it runs as late as possible in the boot sequence. (76012,300 Brad Hicks)
Rival
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FIX -> If Mac IIfx users are experiencing System crashes at startup with Rival 1.1.4 installed under System 6.0.5, they should try upgrading to System 6.0.7. This usually fixes the problem. J. Web Phillips, Microseeds Customer Support
If you’re running MultiFinder under System 6.0.7 and try to boot Rival 1.1.4 and DiskLight 1.0 at the same time, your Mac will freeze up before you completely reach the Finder desktop and your cursor will remain a watch icon. Workarounds: Switch to Finder or disable either Rival or DiskLight. J. Web Phillips, Microseeds Customer Support
Empower by Magna creates an invisible encrypted file on the root level of a protected volume called the Empower Startup. When Rvival 1.1.4 performs a scan of a volume that is protected by Empower, your macintosh may freeze up when Rival tries to read the Empower Startup file. Workarounds: Open the Empower protected volume in Rival’s Volumes mode and select all the files before the Empower Startup file by shift-clicking them and perform your final analysis of your protected volume (NOTE: Rival lists the Empower file even though it is invisible). An alternative is to unprotect or release your volume using Empower. This removes the invisible Empower Startup file. You can then scan your volume in Rival’s Volumes mode without any problems. J. Web Phillips, Microseeds.
SimCity
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One INIT that it CONSISTENTLY bombs with SimCity 1.2c is “Mr. Bus Error”. Tested on a Macintosh II, 5 Mb, wide variety of inits active or inactive, including one test with nothing but AppleShare and Mr Bus Error. This is on System 6.0.5. Tom Chappell, Quest Development Corporation 76344,2172
Speed Disk
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Is this of any help (MacWEEK, 1/29/91, p. 10)? “ . . . [Norton’s Speed Disk] version 1.0.1 does not fix another problem discovered by customers who received "Directory Damage" alerts when running Disk Express 1.5 . . . on disks previously optimized with Speed Disk. A Norton representative said the problem should be fixed in a later update of the Norton Utilities. In the meantime, AlSoft is offering a free utility called FaxtFix, which it said repairs the damage left by Speed Disk.” (Frank Kofsky 70621,107)
SUM II
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FIX -> SUM II did not properly record deleted files on several Macs here under System 6.0.5. Upgrading to 6.0.7 fixed this problem. (Brad Hicks 76012,300)
This isn’t an INIT conflict, but it is a real pain to track down, let alone get around. If SUM II’s QuickCopy is used to format disks, they will no longer be recognised by Apple’s Disk First Aid utility as "HFS Disks". DFA then refuses to even take a look at them. While DFA is fairly simple-minded as far as the new breed of repair and recovery utilities go, there are still some problems that only it will take care of. But not if the disk was formattted using Quick Copy! What’s worse, the problem persists if the QC-formatted disk is copied (using anyone’s disk copier). Any and all copies made from a QC-formatted disk are not HFS-disks as far as DFA is concerned. What’s wierd about the problem is that the disks are OK as far as the Finder is concerned. Symantec has privately acknowledged that the problem is theirs, but I haven’t heard any way of solving the problem or fixing a QC-formatted disk. The only way of fixing it that I’m aware of is reformatting with something other than QC — argghhh! Note that the way the problem can “travel” from disk to disk by copying is almost, um, virulent. (Richard Outerbridge 71755,204)
SuperLaserSpool
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TIP -> SLS also gives out -108 messages if your Print Buffer is not big enough. Steven Gully, GDT Softworks Technical Support 72137,3246
Tempo II
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FIX -> I haven’t come across this one lately, there may not be too many WriteNow 2.2 owners left but: a minor problem between Tempo II (all versions) and T/Maker’s WriteNow v2.2 word processor is that WriteNow 2.2’s font and style menus don’t work with Tempo II loaded. Owners of WriteNow 2.2 and Tempo II are encouraged to contact T/Maker for an upgrade to WriteNow 2.2a, which fixes the problem. (Todd Vogelei, Affinity Technical Support Manager 76344,1750)
Thunder
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Paid in sweat and beta-buggy land on this one. I like it though and he has a real neat QuickFormat utility that is great. But see my other message, looks like if you use Thunder 7, do not use the new ConText 2.01. What was that dance step they tried to teach? One step forward, one to the side, then back? Well, that’s how it goes. Version 2.0 is your best bet now. Greg Youngs 76665,3010
If you have NowMenus 2.x AND StartUp Manager 2.x AND Thunder 7 1.0.x loaded then you will get a crash when clicking on the Options... button in the Thunder 7 Thesaurus window. Look for a fix in version 1.0.3 of Thunder 7. (Baseline Publishing, Inc. 76340,2346)
FIX -> Thunder 7 — If seems to be a combination of Startup Manager and NowMenus causing the trouble. If you want to fix it yourself, it’s pretty easy, if you’re a ResEdit users. Just do a Get Info on all the MENUs in the Thunder 7 cdev and set the System Heap bit on the two that don’t have it set. Thunder 7 1.0.3 will have this problem fixed. (Evan Gross 76703,207)
YesNo Cancel
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YesNoCancel and Shiva Config - Mac bombs when attempting to dial a connection between two Shiva NetModems that both have dial-in and dial-out passwords. As soon as Shiva Config brings up the dialog box for the remote modem’s password, Mac locks up. (It seems to be related to the odd concept of having three modal dialog boxes layered one on top of the other; I think it gets its button list confused.) Only work-around is to remove YesNoCancel from the System Folder (or otherwise disable it, as in INIT cdev and such) and reboot when you need to redial connections under those circumstances. (Brad Hicks 76012,300)
In many ways, your Mac is like an automobile: one shouldn't wait until the wheels fall off before giving it a tune up. Herewith are some steps we recommend you carry out on a regular basis, whether or not you think you need to. It is difficult to define frequency levels here — so much depends on how much you use your Mac, and how much you tinker with it (modifying your finder, adding and removing INITs, and otherwise customizing it). We will point out some rough suggestions.
1. Reinstall your system.
We know: it's a pain, especially if you have modified your System with ClickChange, Personality, Layout and all those other toys, and have installed a bunch of fonts and DA's. Every time you reinstall your system using our recommended method, you have to customize it all over. It is actually a good idea to keep a list nearby of all the mods you carry out to make each new customization as painless an exercise as possible, and use a font utility such as Suitcase II or MasterJuggler to avoid reinstalling fonts and DA's. But the fact is, the System file is large, complex and vital, and is continually being modified by your Mac whether you like it or not. Sooner or later, small or large parts of it get damaged. Some of us reinstall the System once a week, others take a more leisurely view.
The correct way to reinstall the System is:
a) drag out all the INITs, prefs, drivers, and other folders and toys, leaving behind only the Apple System files.
b) Trash your System folder
c) run the Installer that comes with the System disks (the ones you got when you bought your Mac or, hopefully, more recent versions - we ourselves run with System 6.05 but maybe yours needs 6.07 - as we all wait for day when we will have to move to System 7)
d) drag back all the toys.
Any other method runs the risk that the Installer merely updates an already damaged file!
2. Have a look at your System Folder
It gets cluttered with unused INITs (which you are controlling with an init manager), folders, temp files, and lost applications. Clean it up - move everything unused to another folder. Use a font utility to keep font suitcases elsewhere. The more junk you have, the longer it takes your system to find needed resources.
3. Check for disk fragmentation.
There are a number of utilities out there such as Norton's SpeedDisk, and DiskExpress II that defragment your disk. With a lot of use, deleting and adding and modifying files, a hard disk gets in a messy state, with bits of a file being stored all over the disk. This slows things down noticeably, and increases failure rates. So keep your hard disks optimized.
4. Rebuild the desktop
We suggest this should be done at least once a week. If you are using Desktop Manager, and sometimes run with all INITs off (including Desktop Manager) then rebuild the desktop the very next time you boot up (or else have Desktop Manager load before your Init manager). Trust us on this one. The Desktop file is an invisible file containing all sorts of information your Mac needs to know about what is on the disk, how windows will display the files and applications etc. and with time it grows, full of useless information about deleted files. This makes it big; big files can get munged more easily than little files. You rebuild the desktop by holding down the Command and Option keys at bootup. There are also utilities that accomplish similar tasks.
5. Fix your bundle bits
One sure sign that your bundle bit situation is sick is when your document icons don't reflect their proper paternity, and when you double click on them they refuse to trigger the mother application. There is a PD utility called Bund-Aid that does the trick. Norton's Disk Doctor does so as well.
6. Run with proper System heap size, Open files limit, and maximum number of OS events.
The difficulties encountered by not listening to this advice are treated elsewhere in INITInfo, but we are continually surprised by the number of users who have not heeded this commandment, suffering mysterious crashes, and having applications suddenly quit, or background printing refuse to operate properly. There are different utilities that permit you meet these three challenges, but Bootman by Bill Steinberg does them all and it is free. Set your Startup (under the Special Menu in Finder) to automatically run Bootman when you boot up.
7. Replace your hard disk drivers from time to time.
These too get gremlinitis. Some third party drivers are continually getting updated (for instance, we use PLI Syquest drives and recommend you use drivers 2.00 and upwards - earlier versions were subject to all kinds of problems). The hard drive inside your Mac, if it came from Apple, is replaced by running Apple HD SC Setup that came on your Mac System disks.
8. Tune Up your hard drive regularly.
We run tune up utilities all the time on our hard disks: Norton's Disk Doctor, 1st Aid HFS, Minor Repairs, Rescue, Sector Collector, BundAid, Fix Desktop, and others. Even if nothing is obviously wrong, it is rare that they won't find some problem to fix. These are commercial utilities, and not many feel like buying them all. Alas, no one utility seems to do the trick. There is always some glitch that only another utility can fix. Of them all, our favorite would probably have to be Norton, which checks the integrity of boot blocks, analyzes your directory, checks the catalog and extents trees, checks your volume bit maps, looks for lost files, checks files for common viruses; it reports errors and seems to fix them adequately. We probably do this every couple of days.
9. Check your SCSI setup.
See the separate section on SCSI elsewhere in INITInfo. Improper SCSI termination, the presence of too many SCSI devices, improper device numbering, the presence of the dreaded scanner in the chain or worse yet, a SCSI loop (strictly forbidden), can cause all kinds of problems including real hardware damage to your disks. The problem is that there is no sure-fire proper way to hook up SCSI devices. But the advice given elsewhere is as good as any.
10. Run anti-viral utilities.
There are good commercial and freeware utilities. Viruses sneak in, usually by the buddy disk-swapping system, but also from bulletin board downloads and sometimes even on commercially bought applications. Are you certain your system is clean?
11. Toss out INITs you don't really need. Okay, let's modify that: toss out the INITs you don't really want.
Looking through this document, it will strike you that even the best commercial INITs, written by teams of professional programmers, and beta-tested extensively before release, are discovered to conflict with other conscientiously produced applications. So you can image the problems you get into with those little rinky-dink I-wrote-it-last-night-in-an-hour INITs that cause a mouse to run out every hour and poop on your screen. We don't mean you have to throw out those INITs that while not essential make your life easier or your Mac prettier. Just be more circumspect with what you are throwing into your folder. Consider your System file as your home: would you invite anyone in at any time? And worse, what if you had the habit of forgetting that he was there, up in the attic, and that everyone forgot about him, but the ceilings were cracking.
Make a note to reread this section again in two weeks. And again two weeks after that.
