OS X Odds & Ends: iTunes Helper and kernel panics; Espon Installer and Group setting; QuickTime issues

iTunesHelper and kernel panics: another follow-up Andrew Miller found that the kernel panics that occurred after installing iTunes 2 were due to iTunesHelper 9 loading at login (as previously suggested) as will as the iPodDriver.kext file (located in System/Library/Extensions). However, he also found that the panics only occurred if he had a Griffin iMate device also installed. He concludes: "If you need to use the iMate in OS X 10.1, you need to remove iTunesHelper from your login application list and probably also remove the iPodDriver.kext file from its folder."

Epson installer changes Group setting? Matthew Pimm claims that installing the recently posted driver for the Epson 980N changed the Group designation for his hard drive from Admin to Staff. As a result, he is now unable to make modifications to the drive that would require Admin access. We cannot confirm as yet whether the Installer actually is the cause of this change. Regardless, the easiest way to fix such problems is to use a utility (such as Get Info) that allows you to change the Group designation. If necessary, log in as the root user to do this.

Saving movie trailers: another follow-up Regarding our recent coverage (one and two) of different methods of saving QuickTime movie trailers: Reader feedback suggests that no single method works in all cases. Perhaps there is more than one way that a movie can attempt to disable Save, thus requiring more than one way needed to try to circumvent the attempt. Just a thought.

"Jerky" playback in QuickTime full screen mode By the way, when playing the Star Wars trailer in full screen mode in OS X, we had the"jerky" playback that others have occasionally reported when playing QuickTime movies in OS X. Playing the same movie in OS 9 or playing it at a smaller size in OS X resulted in smooth playback.