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| If it ain't broke, don't fix it |
By Terry Lawrence, program director
MacWest Computer Society,
Vancouver. British Columbia
There are a several well-known problem fixing utilities from Norton, Micromat, and Alsoft that are supposed to detect and repair, or “fix” disk and software problems. Most of these companies recommend running their programs regularly as preventative maintenance to forestall problems - “Head ‘em off at the pass”, so to speak. In my experience, this does not always have the desired results.
For instance, I recently purchased Alsoft Disk Warrior, a Directory repair and maintenance program. Disk Warrior “fixed problems” in one of my computers so that several programs, which had been working just fine, now wouldn’t launch because the Mac was unable to find them or some of their component parts in the directory. I had to trash some of those programs and reinstall them to restore their directory listings.
I have had similar experiences at various times with Norton Disk Doctor and Tech Tools creating problems by “fixing” things which, until “fixed”, were working just fine.
I expect the root of the problem with these “Fix-it” utilities is that they attempt to restore customized or modified programs to nominal factory settings, in the process breaking links or corrupting settings established when customizing or modifying the programs.
This is akin to buying a car and installing a new, better, carburetor, fuel pump, and ignition set, carefully adjusting the timing, needle valves, and float levels to run optimally, and then having some mechanic reset everything back to factory settings, which are not the correct settings for the new carburetor, fuel pump, and ignition set.
As a result, something that was actually running better than when it left the factory now runs poorly, or not at all.
I have also noticed that Norton Disk Doctor and Tech Tool almost never agree on what the correct settings are for Bundle Bits, Custom Icon settings, etc. One utility will report they need “fixing” and, if you allow it, proceed to “fix” them. The other program will then report they are now corrupted and in need of “fixing”, and reverse the process if given the opportunity. The usual result of this “fixing” and counterfixing is that custom Aliases, Icons, and modified programs which were working just fine before being “fixed”, disappear or cease to work properly or even at all after being “fixed”.
I have pretty much come to the conclusion that if Apple’s Disk First Aid doesn’t find any problems, you probably don’t have a problem worth worrying about.
Allowing Norton Disk Doctor, Tech Tools, or Disk Warrior to “fix problems” can create problems that did not exist before they rebuilt your directory, “fixed” your custom icons or aliases, turned your bundle bits on or off, or whatever. While these programs are useful for repairing some of the more serious hard drive problems, and are very useful for disk defragmentation, using them for “preventative maintenance” can often cause more problems than they solve.
My advice is, run Disk First Aid, defragment, and rebuild your desktop regularly for routine maintenance. (Hold down the Command and Option keys at startup until the computer asks you if you want to rebuild the desktop. Click “rebuild”).
Then run the utility programs, but don’t let them “fix” anything unless you are experiencing actual problems. Run two or more of the “fix-it” utility programs and see what they report the problems to be before you consider letting any of them “fix” anything. If they agree on the problem, let them fix it. If they don’t agree, and you’re not having any problems, run Disk First Aid, and leave it at that.
Except for periodic disk defragmentation, I would say the whole “fix-it” utility business is best summed up by the old saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
iCab - New kid on the block
If you are running an older Mac with a smaller hard drive, or if you just want a clean, fast, simple web browser without all the clutter of Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator, you might want to check out iCab, a new web browser from Germany. It’s available as a free download from the iCab website (WWW.icab.de/), and at about 2 MB it takes up a lot less room on your hard disk than Netscape Communicator’s 13 MB. It’s also much faster and more responsive.
The current Beta version is 1.6a, with regular updates being posted. It is expected to go commercial this fall at a cost of $29 U.S. I have been using it for several months now, and it has become my browser of choice. You can improve the interface with the “iCab appearance patch”, which creates an improved set of icons across the top of the browser interface (WWW.geocities.com/vienna/strasse/8114/).
When you first launch iCab it will ask if you want to transfer your Netscape Bookmarks or Internet Explorer Favorites to iCab (where they will be called the “Hotlist”). Hit yes, and all your favorites / bookmarks will appear on the iCab Hotlist menu with the originals still intact in their Netscape or IE folders. |
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