OS X Odds & Ends: Preview to Acrobat fix?; AIM quit; File Sharing Windows & Macs; Network Time sych; more

Preview to Acrobat: another fix? Loren Latker fixed the problem with Preview button in the Print window launching Acrobat instead of the Preview application (see yesterday's item) by deleting the "LS" preferences (LSApplications, LSClaimedTypes, and LSSchemes) from the Library/Preferences folder in his Home directory. After logging out and back in, the problem was gone.

File sharing between Windows and Macs Bruce McKenzie has posted two pages, File sharing Windows under Mac OS X (10.1) and File sharing Mac OS X (10.1) under Windows) that offer tips on dealing with these matters (also see our previous coverage).

Network Time not auto-synching? As noted in this Apple Discussions Board thread, there may be a problem with QuickSilver G4 Macs not staying automatically synchronized to the Network Time Server in OS X 10.1. It typically loses about 2 minutes a day. Only a manual synch fixes it.

AIM quit Postings on this MacFixIt Forums thread confirm a problem where AIM for OS X may quit when you try to sign on.

AppleTalk failure work-around? Massimo Marino writes: "AppleTalk has stopped working for many who updated to 10.1 and I was no exception. On the Network Preferences, although one can check the "Make AppleTalk active" the zones stay gray and AppleTalk does not start. If this is true for you. Entering <sudo appletalk -u en0> in Terminal may get it working, but it will be gone again after a restart.

Date and time reset error links to SCSI card? Martin Synder found that the date and time on his Power Mac kept reverting to Wednesday, December 31, 1969, 7:00 pm on restart - after installing OS X 10.1. Removing the Apple (Adaptec) SCSI card eliminated the error. We know that many users with this setup do not see this errors, so something more must also be involved.

Update: Merle Reinhart has a similar setup, with a Sonnet SCSI card, and had the same problem. However, he is not convinced the card is at fault. In any case, he found, by starting up in Verbose mode (Command-V), that the time is listed correctly at startup but then shifts to the wrong time after a "getGMTTimeOfDay " error.

Changing menu clock format Kenneth MacArthur writes: "You can change the formatting of the date and time in the menu bar clock in Mac OS X 10.1 by modifying the following file in System/Library/CoreServices (assuming your system is set to English):
<Menu Extras/Clock.menu/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Localizable.strings>.
This may be especially useful for Mac OS X users in English-speaking countries other than the US who actually format their date in the correct order rather than in the somewhat bizarre MM/DD/YY format used by the US! It will also be useful if you prefer the 24-hour clock to the 12-hour clock. Take a look at the equivalent file in Dutch.lproj as an example of how to format it." [As always, modify System files at your own risk; changes you make may be overwritten by later updates to the OS; they may also have unpredictable side-effects.]

Update: Several readers correctly pointed out that these settings can be modified from the International System Preferences pane. However, we had previously posted an item suggesting a potential glitch here. For example. Kevin Horton notes: "The menu bar clock on both my machines (G4 Cube, and new iBook), running OS X 10.1, does not respect the format selected in International System Preferences. The menu bar stays in the MM/DD/YY format, no matter what selections I make in International System Preferences."

We thought this item might overcome these glitches. However, if International works for you, it is clearly the preferred way to go.

Word X problems: another suggestion Tom Sykes notes that Word X Test Drive installs several files in your Home/Library/Preferences folder. They almost all start with the phrase "Install Word X Test Drive." If previous tips to restore Word icons or other problems involving Word X (see previous coverage) do not work, try deleting these files as well.

Word X launch problem: a suggestion Vincent Jalby claims that the problem where Word Test Drive for X quits as soon as it is launched (see previous coverage) is related to fonts. He removed some added bitmap fonts in ~/Library/Fonts/ and the problem vanished. As we never added any fonts there, this could not be the cause for us.

DVD error in OS 9 after installing OS X Tom Sykes reports that after installing 10.1 on his G3/BW which does not support DVD Player, he could no longer play DVDs in OS 9.2.1. He gets an error that says: "DVD Player (version 1.3) could not find the necessary hardware to play a DVD."

Update: Michael Barolsky believes it is an extension conflict of some sort. He had this problem, but when he rebooted with just the extensions needed for DVD support, the Player worked.

Print from Preview tip A reminder: If you can't use your printer in OS X, a work-around is to save the file as a PDF document (using the Preview button in the Print dialog box). Then use Acrobat Reader running in Classic to print the document (thanks,Jason Staffin).