<b>StuffIt Deluxe 4.5 problems: new information

TFI problems Users writing to Aladdin Systems about problems with StuffIt Deluxe are getting a reply that includes the following statement:

"Aladdin Systems is currently investigating reports of some problems running the True Finder Integration control panel. We are examining the possible causes of the problems but do not have conclusive evidence yet. We have not been able to identify the exact nature of the problem nor whether it is caused solely by an Aladdin product."

The full message also offers some fairly standard troubleshooting advice. One of the problems specifically mentioned is "discoloration (colored noise) in your menus," an issue previously covered here.

FinderPop The contextual menu utility, FinderPop (now up to version 1.5.1), has been implicated in TFI related problems. A "Bug Alert" on the FinderPop web site states: "There may be a problem with the True Finder Integration part of the upcoming StuffIt Deluxe 4.5, certainly version 4.5fc1 in conjunction with FinderPop crashes on my Mac; TFI appears to be doing some very funky stuff. I'm investigating." (Thanks, Rick Camp and Josh Davidson.)

Speed Doubler 8 conflict Aladdin also writes: "There is a known incompatibility with Speed Doubler 8. You will need to download an 8.0.1 update from Connectix." (Thanks, Tom Mackie.)

Confirming this, several readers have indicated that Speed Doubler 8.0 and TFI produce a startup freeze.

Deleting encoded files: a solution Regarding the issue of Expander not deleting encoded files, after unencoding them (even if you have selected this option), William Perez suggests a solution: " Even though I was setting the preference inside the Expander application, if you use Mac OS 8's contextual menus and select Magic Menu, you can also set the preferences there. For some reason, Expander has the delete encoded files turn on but the Magic Menu CMM did not reflect this. Turning it on in both places fixed this problem for me."