Basic Step TWO: ALWAYS make SURE that you have the proper software versions. Unfortunately, sometimes this does not mean the latest version. How do you know which version is appropriate? Check with your user group leaders or read the Internet trade correspondence (see below: e.g. MacFixIt). Version Tracker is an excellent Internet site that tells you what the latest versions are for most Mac software: check Software Versions. As an aside to this, if the solutions below do not work, it maybe worth your time to reinstall problematic software, including the System software. But my opinion is to only reinstall System software as a LAST RESORT. See the notes below if you want to upgrade your system to a newer version, or absolutely have to do reinstall the current version*.

That being said, a SIGNIFICANT issue is that you MUST have a stable version of the operating system software. Although there are some differing views on this, our recommendations are that you use only the following:

OS 7.1 update 3 [only for pre-030 Macs, like an LC]

OS 7.6.1 [030 until G3’s]

OS 8.1 [040 until iMacs]

OS 8.6 [any G3]

OS 9.1 or 9.2.2 [most G3’s and any G4]

OS 10.4.8 [some G3’s and any G4 or G5 or Intel]

Basic Step THREE: In OS 9, try to minimize what you have in your System folder. Since many problems are with Extensions or Control Panels, you SHOULD have a utility program to identify these items. A good choice is Extension Overload. With this you can take your time to carefully check out ALL System items you are not sure about.

If you have System software 7.6+ through 9.2.2 then the built-in Extension Manager (a Control Panel) can also be useful in getting a basic description on many System folder items AND for giving you a way to not load things you don’t frequently use. Whatever way you use, put items you do not EVER expect to need into a new folder (call it “Unused System Items”), and keep it outside of your System folder. [Do not trash items until you are SURE you do not need them...]

Another way to determine if your problem is Extension or Control Panel related is to restart you computer while holding the shift key down (until you see the message about starting with Extensions off). If your problem goes away then you may very well have an Extension/Control Panel conflict. To find out which is the problem item, drag the contents of Control Panels folder into a new folder on the desktop and restart. If the problem continues, put those back and drag the contents of the Extensions folder into a new folder on the desktop and restart.

For whichever folder eliminated the problem, drag half of that into the new folder on your desktop. (Hint: to keep track of what you are moving, do them alphabetically through a particular letter. You can also give them a unique label color.) Restart. If the problem continues, put back the items you just moved out, and then move half the original remaining items out. Continue until the problem goes away.

As soon as the problem does go away after one of these moves, it indicates that one of the moved items is the likely culprit. So label all the items in the desktop folder a unique color and then move half of them back. By trial and error you should eventually find the problem item(s).

As part of the reduction of the System folder effort you should also go to the Preferences folder (in the System folder) and trash all unused preferences, since corrupted preferences are a known source of some problems. Sometimes problems are related to the “Finder prefs” file, which can also be safely trashed. If the difficulty you are having relates to a specific software program you might want to also trash the preferences for that software. (This will mean that you will have to reestablish Preference choices for these programs. For most applications [other than Netscape or Internet Explorer], this is not a big deal.)

As still another part of the reduction of the System folder, you should also go to the Font folder (in the System folder) and move all unused fonts into a new folder you create inside your System folder, called “Fonts (Disabled)”. Corrupted Fonts are a well documented cause of other problems. Unfortunately it is difficult to tell whether a Font is corrupted, so trial and error may be needed. A font checking utility like FontAgent can be helpful.

Basic Step FOUR: Eliminate RAM memory problems from the equation. Start by verifying that your computer has adequate RAM for the applications you are running (under the Apple Menu, select “About This Macintosh/Computer...”). If not, add more physical RAM (best), or a commercial utility program like RAMDoubler. Next increase the “preferred size” memory allotment in the Get Info window of any problematic or frequently used applications.

Note that a good technique to tell how much RAM should be allocated to an application is to open the “About This Macintosh/Computer” information window. Move the window so that the memory bar for the application you are monitoring is at the bottom of your screen. Then go through several activities with that application (e.g. working on graphics) and watch the memory bar. If at ANY time the free space is less than 10% of the bar, increase the memory allotment. [Don’t worry about the System bar, as it is always basically full, and self-adjusting.]

If you suspect that you may have a physical RAM problem, TechTool Pro (a commercial test utility program) does a good job of running a variety of tests that will check your RAM chips.

Basic Step FIVE: Do some testing of your hard drive. The first thing that you should verify is that your hard drive “driver” is current. Check with the supplier of your hard drive for the latest version of their software. If you bought an out-of-the-box Mac that uses OS 9, Apple’s utility is called “Hard Drive Setup”, which is applicable for all 040 and above Macs, using system versions 7.5.1+ through 9.2.2. IN OS X the utility is called Drive Utility.

In OS 9 the most important general test utility you can run is Norton Disk Doctor (Symantec), although TechTool Pro (Micromat) is a close consideration. Both of these find and fix many behind the scenes problems (like invisible directory errors). Apple’s Disk First Aid is a mini version of these and running it is certainly better than doing nothing. A special mention test item is Alsoft’s DiskWarrior, which basically does one important thing (rebuild your directory) very well. Norton Disk Doctor or TechTool Pro should be run at least once a month. In OSX Disk Utility and Disk Warrior are the two most recomended items, and also should be run once a month.

The next test is to do a virus check. NAV (Symantec) is well recommended. The more Internet downloading that you do, the more frequently you should run a virus utility. It is also a good idea to set up a “safe zone” folder on your desktop (e.g. for Downloads). If you use NAV, it will automatically check anything that goes into this special folder. To finish the loop, set up the options in Netscape to download files into this folder.

Lastly, using TechTool to rebuild the desktop and to reset the PRAM (Parameter Random Access Memory) are sound prevention and solution practices. (TechTool is the free little brother of TechTool Pro.) Rebuilding the desktop should be done once a month and resetting the PRAM maybe once every three months.

When unexplained problems occur, forget the recommended schedules, and run ALL of the above mentioned utilities. It is wise to do this BEFORE reinstalling software, or attempting other more complicated solutions.

MOST problems will be solved by taking the basic five steps. If not, then you need to do a bit more research. Here are the Internet sites we suggest, in the order recommended:

If you want to upgrade your system to a newer version, or you absolutely MUST reinstall the current system software (i.e. as a last resort), here are some basic steps that you should do for OS 9, in the following sequence:

[Note that in some cases it may be advisable to reinitialize you hard drive.
Since this is somewhat more complicated, the steps below assume that this is NOT necessary.]

That’s it — this should be a good start!
Comments about or Suggestions for troubleshooting?
Click here to E-mail Mac consultant, John Droz

rev: 02.1.07