Troubleshooting

How to fix drive-permissions problem in OS X

Secondary volumes such as external USB and FireWire hard drives are often used with multiple computers, and if the drive contains a permissions-aware filesystem such as Apple's HFS+ (the default Mac filesystem) then it can inherit various permissions settings from the systems it's used with. While that's not usually an issue, these permissions can sometimes block access to parts of the hard drive so it can't be read from or written to.

To deal with this problem, Apple includes an option to ignore permissions on secondary drives, which can be invoked by selecting the drive and … Read more

Tackle a missing Chinese word list update from Apple

Recently a number of OS X users who use Chinese input options in OS X have noticed an update to Apple's Chinese word list dictionary; however, for some reason this list has not been made available to everyone.

The update seems to be spurred by the use of some third-party software packages; however, it is not listed as a standard available update by Apple.

MacFixIt reader Sanchai recently wrote in regarding this issue:

"I'm running Mountain Lion and found that on my friend's machine, Chinese Word list update had been updated to version 1.1 on … Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week, readers wrote in with questions on hiding specific file types in the Finder, managing a program opening numerous documents when launched, dealing with "file in use" warnings in the Finder, resetting a Mac to factory default settings, and concerns about memory leaks in Apple's Dashboard feature. I welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: Hiding files of a specific type in the Finder MacFixIt … Read more

Manage display arrangement errors in OS X

When you connect an external display to your Mac, the system will usually by default resort to its native resolution and arrange it to the right of your main display. You can modify these settings in the Displays system preferences, which should preserve separate settings for each display you use with the system; however, after updating or upgrading OS X the system may not keep these changes and persistently revert to defaults every time your display is attached or when the system restarts.

If you use the default arrangement then this issue may not be much of a problem, but … Read more

Tackling disabled Dictation in Mountain Lion

One of Apple's newer features in OS X is the Dictation service that was introduced in Mountain Lion, which allows you to speak phrases and have the system enter it as text in entry fields. While useful in certain situations, some people who have tried using the service have found it to be unavailable on their systems.

When accessing the "Dictation & Speech" system preferences, instead of being able to click the on or off buttons, these options are grayed out, even in administrative accounts that ought to have full access to system services.

The Dictation service … Read more

Java Preferences missing after latest OS X Java update

Apple has recently released a couple of Java updates for OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8 that bring its in-house supported Java runtime (Java SE 6) up to the latest version issued by Oracle. The update tackles a couple of security bugs in the runtime, but those who have installed the updates have noticed that in addition Apple has apparently removed the Java Preferences utility, which was used to configure how the Java runtime is managed in OS X.

While Java Preferences is missing for those using OS X 10.7 or later, the utility is still … Read more

Mouse input temporarily freezing after updating OS X

After updating OS X to the latest version, you may encounter a problem where the system seems to freeze temporarily in regular periods. In these instances the mouse pointer will freeze in place though the system appears to continue functioning in the background, and the only way to get the mouse working again is to click and move it around erratically, or even unplug and plug it back in.

This and similar problems experienced immediately after updating is likely from an incompatibility with third-party software, especially that which has scheduling options for running at regular intervals, including update checkers, license … Read more

Mount network shares privately in OS X

In order to mount a shared network folder in OS X, in general you first open a Finder window, where you will see a list of systems that are broadcasting network services, and upon clicking them you can provide authentication information to connect and mount their available shares.

When you mount a shared folder in this manner, the system uses a global mount point (within the hidden /Volumes directory at the root of the boot drive) to access the shared folder. This mount point can be seen by selecting Go to Folder from the Finder's Go menu and then … Read more

Fix corrupt Mac App Store downloads

Apple's Mac App Store, which was introduced in OS X 10.6.6, has become Apple's central location for distributing new software as well as managing updates to the OS and purchased applications. Though in most situations the Mac App Store works fine to download and run a specified installer, there are times when errors occur and even persist regardless of how many times you retry the download.

MacFixIt reader Silverio recently wrote in with such a problem:

I've been experiencing problems to install updates for iMovie through Apple Store. The error message says that the product … Read more