"Mirror Agent" and problems shutting down

Several readers have reported a problem that persists through Mac OS X 10.3.3 where shutdowns or restarts are stalled, and the message:

"Could not shut down because application Mirror Agent was still active. Quit Mirror Agent and try again."

Mirror Agent is a component of the .Mac iDisk in Mac OS X 10.3.x. In order to work around this problem there are two options:

• Disable iDisk completely. This option is absolute for resolving the issue, but obviously does not represent the best choice for users who wish to retain their iDisk functionality.
• In the .Mac pane of System Preferences, select the iDisk pane, then change the setting from "Automatically" to "Manually" for "Create a local copy of your iDisk." Unfortunately, this means you will have to (as implied) manually synchronize your iDisk, and this solution has not solved the problem for all readers.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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