The Tech Bench

Apple has announced that the new version of OS X, Snow Leopard, will be released on Friday August 28th.

The single user version is $29 and a family pack (up to 5 computers) is available for $49. You must have an intel processor and 10.5 Leopard installed to upgrade to 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Snow Leopard Server (unlimited client) will be made available at the same time for $499.

Pre-orders online at the Apple Store will be delivered on the 28th so you can avoid any of the retail day of release hoopla (unless you like the hoopla.)

While Snow Leopard is billed as more of an update to 10.5 than a brand new OS, we still recommend checking for any installation issues before installing Snow Leopard.

Backup your data, check Twitter/Blogs and install. [ Snow Leopard ]

Sometimes hardware-like symptoms such as loss of sound, input problems and loss of wireless connectivity can be caused by software issues.

To first verify that an issue is in fact caused by a hardware failure, the first step we take is to make sure that the issue is not caused by software.

Here are 3 ways to isolate your Mac’s software to test your hardware.

1. We usually boot the system off of a different test hard drive to completely by-pass the software on the Mac we’re troubleshooting. This is the easiest and best way to determine if the issue is hardware or software. Target-disk mode can also be useful if you have access to a friend or colleagues (same model or similar) Mac. You can boot your Mac using their hard drive. If the problem goes away, you know you’re Mac has a software issue, if not, you’re looking at hardware.

2. Some software issues are caused by (corrupt) settings at the user level. If you have another user set up on your Mac, log into their account and see if the issue goes away. If you’re the only user, you can quickly setup a new test account in System Prefs. Log into the account, if the symptom goes away, you know that there is either a setting that needs to be changed or a corrupt pref.

3. Most hardware-like symptoms that are caused by software live at the OS level, so re-installing the OS is a good way to make sure that a corrupt OS is not causing your issue. Using your restore disks, select the Archive and Install option when re-installing the OS. Archive and install saves your user settings and files but replaces the system files. Note: if your software issue lives at the user level, this may be carried over, so try step 2 before a re-install.

If none of the above steps rectify the issue, you’re most likely looking at a hardware issue that will need to be repaired or replaced. If your issue is software related, an archive and install usually solves the issue, but if your issue lives at the user level, check your settings and do some online searches to see if their are any known application conflicts or settings that may have been set.

For hardware service, checkout our MyService Free Diagnostic.
For software, try the Apple or MacLife discussion boards.

The Chipmunk app is a utility for OS X that helps you find and manage duplicate files.

Chipmunk searches by content, so even the files have different names it’ll catch them.

You can search multiple drives and view file size and location. You can also delete and recover files all from inside the app.

I found about 4GBs of duplicate files on my Mac alone (mostly stuff with different names.) If you have a lot of files or manage a Mac network, it may be worth checking out.

Chipmunk is free to try and $25 to purchase.

[ Chipmunk ]

Example of a Growl notification.

Growl is a free OS X utility that provides application notifications.

Notifications display new information from your applications without having to switch to that application.

For example you can setup an Ebay notification using Growl that will alert you when an auction is ending. A widget like (and highly customizable) popup will display info on that auction when the time comes.

Its very similar to the push notifications that are being implemented on the Palm Pre and iPhone 3.0.

The setup takes a little work up front but can save you some time in the end.

[ Growl ] [ List of applications that use Growl ]

Mac viruses and other malicious code are rare (thankfully) but they do exist.

Security firm Sophos has posted an alert on a new Trojan, OSX/Jahlav-C, created for Mac OS X. The Trojan is distributed as a missing Video ActiveX Object. Infected websites prompt the user to install the Video ActiveX Object in order to view video.

The Trojan installs a file called “AdobeFlash” in /Library/Internet Plug-Ins. This file communicates to a remote website to download more malicious code at a future date.

Updated anti-virus programs will remove this file but you can also remove it manually (don’t mistake it for the “Flash Player” plugin.)

The threat is low, but it’s a good reminder to only download web plugins from sites you trust.

[ Sophos ]

Apple released a great tutorial section of videos for IT professionals working in the education sector. It gets down and dirty in to the topics of network and client management, open directory architecture and directory integration. For our customers wanting step-by-step lessons for directory integration with OS X Server and what it can do for them in their education environments, these videos are a good place to start. Each of the videos showcase an individual topic, and best of all they are free.

[ Apple Tutorials ]