Odds & Ends: OS 9.2 general release?; New QuickTime plug-ins; SuperDrive finicky?; more

OS 9.2 general release coming soon? A MacUser article states: "Information has just come to hand that OS 9.2 will in fact be a general release that can be installed on any Mac capable of running OS X. It was originally believed that 9.2 would be restricted to the new Power Macs, but sources have led MacUser.co.uk to believe that Apple is very close to releasing the final version in the near future."

New QuickTime plug-ins from Apple MacFixIt readers are reporting a minor update to QuickTime 5.0.2 for those running Mac OS 9.x: ZyGoVideo Support and iPIX Support (new plug-ins) and On2 Support (an updated plug-in). You may need to select Custom from the QuickTime Updater to select these files from download. (Thanks, Luiz Emilio and Ronald Leroux.)

DVD Player update in Software Update again? Several users report Apple DVD Player 2.7 was listed in Software Update control panel yesterday, even though the users downloaded the file weeks ago. Probably another glitch at Apple's end.

SuperDrive finicky? We have received a scattering of reports that the SuperDrive in high-end Power Mac G4s have problems reading certain CDs that other drives read with no trouble. One reader had this happen with an After Effects 5.0 CD: "The drive would not read it, it would just churn for a bit and then eject the disk. On other occasions it will give a message of wrong formatting and ask if I wanted to reformat."

Now Up-to-Date and Outlook Express conflict Bob Harris writes: "There is a conflict with Now Up-to-Date 4.02 and Outlook Express 5.02. If you open the Quick Day from the menubar and then set an appointment, while OE is open, you cannot choose one of your email accounts to send From -the pull down menu becomes blank (see enclosed jpg file) - at least if you have multiple accounts. You have to Quit and relaunch it to be able to send an email." We tried it and confirmed it.

NetBarrier banner filter blocks Yahoo Messenger? Nicolas Martin writes: "When I turn on the banner filter in Intego NetBarrier, it prevents me from connecting to Yahoo Messenger. Intego confirms that the banner filter can block the ability of Yahoo Messenger to establish a connection. According to their tech person, this can be mitigated by removing the /ads/ url path from the banner filter pane. I tried it and it works."

Illustrator EPS and Epson Regarding our previous coverage of an EPS problem with Illustrator 9.0.2 and the HP 1200: Klaus Hereth had a similar issue when printing to an Epson Stylus Photo 1200 served by an Epson Stylus RIP 4.00. The Stylus RIP would not print because of a PostScript error. Turning off background printing was a work-around.

Klaus was told that Epson StylusRIP 4.40 or later will solve the problem altogether. However, Donald Miller disagrees, noting: "Epson told me there is no difference between versions 4.1 and all subsequent versions through the current v4.5 except that each new release adds support for new printers and/or FireWire and USB support."