November 2007 - apple-list - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

FYI: Fast User Switching and Parental Controls don't play well together
by billing 19 Nov '07

19 Nov '07

...from: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307022 Date Created: November 12, 2007 Date Modified: November 15, 2007 Mac OS X 10.5: Dashboard widgets issues with Parental Controls and Fast User Switching enabled Issue or symptom After switching (via Fast User Switching) to or from an account that has Parental Controls enabled, you may not be able to access your Dashboard widgets any longer, even while using an account that does not have Parental Controls enabled. Products affected • Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard • Dashboard and Parental Controls Solution As a workaround, avoid using Fast User Switching to switch between user accounts with and without Parental Controls enabled (you can disable Fast User Switching in Account preferences' Login Options pane). If you are affected by this issue: • Temporarily deselect Parental Controls' "Only allow selected applications" option in the account(s) that use it viaParental Controls preferences in System Preferences. This will restore access to widgets for all users. • Re-enable Parental Controls' "Only allow selected applications" for the account(s) that use it. Note: If you switch (again) via Fast User Switching to a user with Parental Controls enabled, this issue will return. This document will be updated as more information becomes available. Keywords: ktech kmosx5 Article ID: 307022

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Fwd: TSATAII-E342P and Leopard
by Aaron M. Sivertson 16 Nov '07

16 Nov '07

Hello all, In case it affects any of you, or perhaps purely for interest, here's a support question/answer I just asked/received personally: Cheers, Aaron Begin forwarded message: > From: "Aaron M. Sivertson" <amsivertson(a)gmail.com> > Date: November 15, 2007 1:32:58 PM CST (CA) > To: "Aaron M. Sivertson" <am_sivertson(a)umanitoba.ca> > Subject: Fwd: TSATAII-E342P and Leopard > Reply-To: amsivertson(a)gmail.com > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Support <support(a)sonnettech.com> > Date: 15 Nov 2007 13:22 > Subject: Re: TSATAII-E342P and Leopard > To: amsivertson(a)gmail.com > > Aaron, > > Actually it's an issue with the Oxford Semiconductor chip that > Seagate is using in that drive to provide the multiple interfaces. > As you can see, there is a problem on the SATA side of things. > Western Digital has the same issue as does anyone using that OxSemi > chip. That's the bad news. > > The good news is that we've been working with OxSemi and Western > Digital to resolve these issues. We first discovered the problem > with some of our other controllers that are based on Marvell chipsets. > > The Express34 card is based on a Silicon Image chipset and we've > been passing information along to them as we get it. We're hoping > they'll be releasing a new driver but we haven't been given an ETA. > I'm going to get the website updated to mention that folks might > have problems with those brands of drives under 10.5. > > The problem is actually there in 10.4 but it doesn't cause issues. > Apparently 10.5 enhances the problem. > > Neal > Sonnet Customer Service > support(a)sonnettech.com > > "No Switches. No Control Panels. Simply Fast." > > > > On Nov 15, 2007, at 10:53 AM, Aaron M. Sivertson wrote: > >> Hi there, >> >> Question for you - I'm running a MacBook Pro with Leopard, and >> using the above names Express Card - part # TSATAII-E342P >> >> Prior to installing Leopard, everything was working fine with my >> Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB drive running via e-SATA cable from >> that card. However, the first time I used it after installing >> Leopard, things started going wrong, so I'm wondering if there are >> any software driver fixes for known problems. >> >> I was getting OS errors saying the drive couldn't be read >> properly. I cloned my Windows Vista installation (running through >> parallels) from it back over to my MacBook hard drive to back it >> up, and then attempted to use Disk Utility to completely zero out >> the Seagate drive, however that wouldn't work through the e-SATA >> connection. However, when I removed the e-SATA connection and >> hooked that drive up via USB, it worked fine (it just took 13 >> hours! :) ) Once formatted, I put the drive back into the >> Sonnet card, and have still been getting errors. Again, all was >> working fine under OS 10.4. >> >> Perhaps there are some known issues with 10.5? I didn't see any >> specific updates on your site. Any thoughts? >> >> Thanks! >> >> Cheers, >> >> Aaron Sivertson >> >> >> >> -- >> "Music is a fire in your soul that burns in your belly and comes >> out your mouth...so you'd better stick an instrument in front of it!" >> --"Bleeding Gums Murphy" from The Simpsons > >

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INTEREST: Microsoft Dismisses Chief Information Officer
by billing 07 Nov '07

07 Nov '07

...from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/business/07soft.html? _r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin Microsoft Dismisses Chief Information Officer By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: November 7, 2007 REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 6 (AP) — Microsoft said Tuesday that it had fired its chief information officer, Stuart L. Scott, for violations of company policies, but a spokesman declined to give the exact reason for the dismissal. “Stuart Scott’s employment with Microsoft was terminated after an investigation for violation of company policies,” a Microsoft spokesman, Lou Gellos, said, reading from a company statement. Mr. Gellos said Mr. Scott was dismissed Friday. He would not elaborate. According to Microsoft’s Web site, Mr. Scott was responsible for the information technology infrastructure at the company, the world’s largest software maker. He reported to B. Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer, who in turn reports directly to the chief executive, Steven A. Ballmer. Mr. Scott joined Microsoft in 2005 after 17 years at General Electric, according to Microsoft. Mr. Gellos said that Alain Crozier, a corporate vice president who also reports to Mr. Turner, and Shahla Aly, a general manager in the services group, would take over Mr. Scott’s duties until a successor is found.

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FYI: OSX trojan horse reported; requires user authorization to install
by billing 01 Nov '07

01 Nov '07

Many sources are reporting that a "trojan horse" has been released targeted at OS X. A computer "trojan horse" is a program that attempts to get the user to install it onto the user's machine much as the wooden horse was a "present" to the residents of Troy acting as an incentive to induce the inhabitants of the city to open the city doors themselves and pull in the horse containing enemy soldiers. This "social engineering" (as it has been termed) is a technique that attempts to exploit the average computer user's lack of computer knowledge to help the break-in take place. Arstechnica describes it this way: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071101-rsplug-a-mac-os-x- trojan-a-new-threat-but-the-sky-is-not-falling.html "Apparently, Mac forums have been massively spammed to drive lusty Mac users to porn sites that say that they require a Quicktime codec to be viewed. In the spirit of Halloween, the OSX.RSPlug.A trojan dresses up like said Quicktime codec, requiring an administrator password to install. "Savvy users should notice that something is wrong, as most sites targeted by phishers use SSL, which ties a cryptographic certificate to a DNS name. Just redirecting the DNS name isn't enough to phish successfully; some additional browser tricks are required to show the actual URL of the target site with the little lock in the browser. "The appearance of this trojan may mean that Apple has crossed some sort of threshold for malware writers. One important thing to keep in mind is that this trojan does not exploit any Mac OS X weakness, relying instead on social engineering to deliver the payload. The user is asked for the administrator password, the disk image is mounted, and the malware installed. Such attacks mean that Mac users will no longer be able to blindly enter their passwords and trust in the benevolent intentions of the package creators, as many are accustomed to doing." If the administrative password is not given, the trojan horse cannot install itself and all should be well. So one way to protect your computer is to avoid entering an administrative user ID and password unless you are expecting to do so, say, at login time. If a dialog pops up unexpectedly asking for an admin ID and password, just cancel the dialog. Wayne

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