Mac OS X 10.5.3 Released
May 30, 2008
Apple has released the latest service pack for Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” - weighing in at a hefty 420 MB, available now through software update or on Apple’s website.
Registry Corruption
February 26, 2008
Error message - “Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: C:\WINDOWS\ SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM.” I’ve seen this problem many, many, times. It might occur when the computer is shutdown suddenly and unexpectedly, causing corruption of the file system, or physical disk failure. Could be that the planets are out of alignment and Mercury is in retrograde. It almost certainly means the death of a Windows installation.
Microsoft has a procedure for restoring your registry from System Restore, but I have historically had very little success with this. Occasionally a CHKDSK will fix the problem, but more often than not, we’re looking at a reload of the computer. Major inconvenience. The registry is a fragile being. The best plan of attack - back up your files off the drive, note any installed applications, wipe the drive and start over. Make sure the drive hardware is solid before you spend all that time rebuilding.
Death of an iPhone
February 26, 2008
On Friday my iPhone, cold and lonely, ran out of charge and never came back to life. Multiple chargers, multiple cables, much troubleshooting, and all I got was a brick. Black screen, no signs of life, total asystole. It’s a mighty fine thing that I was snowboarding the whole weekend, making it a little nice, actually, that I was out of touch. (Until I needed to look things up on the way home!) So I called Apple on Monday, and on Tuesday my rental iPhone/ return shipping box showed up. That pleases me very much.
Update: I shipped my phone back to Apple on Wednesday, they got the phone Thursday morning, replaced it and shipped it out Thursday afternoon. I expect to have it in my hands this afternoon. That’s about as expedient as it gets. I am very happy with Apple’s customer service.
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