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The Register posted an article about a follow-up on the Mail.app issue with the Mac 10.5.6 update.

The bugs that users experienced when they upgraded to the operating system version is due to “outdated third-party Mail plugins” according to Apple’s security bulletin.

The Register includes includes an instruction on how users could fix their problems with their email software. The instruction include checking whether Mail is up to date and whether its plug-ins are fresh and healthy.

The article includes another solution which is an Archive and Install reinstallation of Mac OS X 10.5(preserving settings) after users backed up their files.

Source: The Register

Mac OS X 10.6 which is also called Snow Leopard was released to developers last week and the article at Ars Technica mentions what are the new features in Apple’s upgrade for its operating system.

First, it will include HFS+ drivers for Windows. With this feature, read and write access to Mac-formatted drives when booted into Windows is now possible.

The second feature is Chinese handwriting recognition which will work in MacBooks’ trackpad. The technology is similar to Palm’s Graffiti.

The third feature in the Ars Technia article is built-in 3G networking

Posted: 12 Aug 2009 05:44 PM PDT

Over the last few years I have been helping my clients with their Apple Macs. It has been mostly simple stuff like unboxing the Mac and setting it up, entering their email settings, migrating data and the occasional hard drive/RAM upgrade or replacement. I didn’t venture too far beyond that because I wasn’t confident with my Macs skills and didn’t want to learn on a clients computer. I have years and years of experience repairing PC’s and rarely come across a PC I cannot fix, but my Mac knowledge was limited.

I can see that Apple’s computer market share has greatly increased recently (thanks to Vista I assume) so I thought that I should look into it further and I bought myself a 13′ Aluminum Macbook. I have spent the last few months learning both the operating system/hardware sides and how to fix it. I still have a long way to go myself, but I would like to share some of it with other technicians so here are some resources for repairing Apple Macs.

Repair Software

OnyX:
OnyX is a free, OSX repair multi-tool designed to help you maintain, optimize and personalize OSX. It has the ability to run hard drive diagnostics, clean out the operating system (similar to PC’s CCleaner) and change many of OSX’s hidden features. You can download OnyX here.

AppCleaner:
Something great about the way OSX handles applications is all you have to do to delete an application is to drag its icon into the trash. However, this can sometimes leave files behind such as the applications cache and preferences. After some time, this may build up and cause the system to eventually run out of space. Other issue with this is if there a problem with an application and you want to reinstall the application to fix it; and the issue was based in the preferences/cache that was left behind then the issue will remain after the reinstallation.

AppCleaner is a small, free application where you drag an unwanted or troublesome application into its drop area and it will delete the application including all of its preferences and caches that would have normally been left behind. You can download AppCleaner here.


Carbon Copy Cleaner:
Carbon Copy Cleaner is a free tool designed to help you back up a Mac system. It can be used as a long term back up solution and thus can be scheduled to do regular backups. It can also be used to back up a drive before you replace it or for when you are setting up multiple Macs with the same setup. You can download Carbon Copy Cleaner here.


Tech Tool Deluxe:
Tech Tool Deluxe is a diagnosis tool that comes with Applecare and is designed to test the hard drive, RAM, video RAM, USB and the File system. After it finishes the tests, it creates a report that you can print out. Basically, its a good all round hardware tester. The “Deluxe” version is located on the Applecare CD but there is also a “Lite” version which is free and you can download it here.

Hardware
Some Macs, such as my Aluminum Macbook are incredibly easy to get apart to upgrade the hard drive or RAM. However, if I need to change any of the other parts the way to access them is not obvious. In fact, the Mac Minis have no visible screws anywhere on the outside. So, I recommend you have a disassembly guide to help you. This site has some great disassembly guides.

Software
Apple OSX is not immune to software errors and when it happens its nice to know that there are some great resources out there to help you. One of these resources is a site called MacFixIt.com which has a large database of articles with problems and solutions that you can search.

Keyboard Shortcuts
As you know, PCs have special key combination’s to enter the BIOS, set the boot device or close a crashing application. Macs also have special key combination’s to do various tasks both inside the operating system and outside. You can view Apples list of system shortcuts here.

An Apple-specific DNS changer Trojan has been detected by Trend-Micro. It is named JAHLAV-K and it comes in a mountable Disk Image File (.dmg).

If users get infected with this file, their browsers would redirect to phishing sites and some of them would also redirect to sites that offer fake anti-virus programs.

Sophos warns that the pirated version of “Foxit Reader for Mac” comes with this trojan. “While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, we are not happy about the recent malware attacks masquerading as our Foxit Reader,” said the vice president of sales and marketing at Foxit Corporation.