com.apple.internetconfig.plist bug: a follow-up
com.apple.internetconfig.plist bug: a follow-up
A reader offered his editorial views on the matter. Here is an except: "This type of behavior has in some fashion been with us since IE 4.5 where user preferences are lost, changed, or the apps (IE, OE) don't issue a proper lock command first. In OS X we also have Internet Explorer, Mail, and Outlook Express (odd when OE is not native install) hardcoded to the DefaultHelperApps. You can hard code OmniWeb and Eudora, and remove others (Property List Editor which is part of Developer Tools). IE and OE or Entourage use to share the cache.waf file and had the same types of problems with illegal updates without getting proper ownerships until they started using separate files for each. Why Microsoft refuses to just use its own file for each application, which would work fine, is beyond some of us..."
Dave Nanian adds: "This bug has been present since the release of Entourage v. X. I reported it to Microsoft months ago. While their senior techs were able to reproduce the problem, they didn't indicate whether or not it was going to be fixed. It's worse than it appears, since it also affects cookies and various security settings."
Thomas Deliduka confirms: "The problem also affects cookies and other settings. I find that not only I lose cookies this way, I also find that if I got to a website with http authentication and I tell it to remember my username and password it will not remember after startup again. There are at least two MacFixIt Forums threads with more details: one and two.
We also had numerous reports of problems getting other settings to stick, including Helper applications (in Explorer) and the default Mail application (as set in the Internet System Preference). Although, as we just noted yesterday (for Network Time Server setting), this is a common general complaint, not all users see it. For example, we had no trouble changing our default email application and having the change stick.