OS X Odds & Ends: NDD and renaming files error; Can't deleting locked items; Speakers cause kernel panic; more

Norton Disk Doctor: don't let it rename files Faisal Jawdat warns against letting Norton Utilities 6 fix "minor problems" on a Mac OS X volume. Disk Doctor may want to rename files which start with a "." to start with a " _" instead. As these are UNIX-related files that the OS expects to start with a period, renaming them will clearly cause problems! See also this MacFixIt Forums thread.

Update: Symantec replies: "Both Norton Utilities and Norton SystemWorks for Macintosh, which feature Norton Disk Doctor, are shipped with the option to fix file names that begin with a period turned off by default. Therefore, this should not be a problem for users unless they go in on their own and change the preferences to turn this option on." You'll find the option in Edit>Preferences>File Check. It was indeed disabled when we checked our copy.

Can't delete items locked in Mac OS 9 Several readers report that items that have their "lock" checkbox enabled in their Get Info window when running Mac OS 9 cannot be deleted when running Mac OS X, even if you hold down the Option key. You get an error that says: "The operation can not be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for [filename]." Further, the Show Info window will indicate that the file is locked, but the option to unlock it will be dimmed and not selectable.

Update: One reader suggested that the ability to unlock the item will be undimmed if you drag the item out of the Trash. We have not yet confirmed this.

Analog speakers cause kernel panic Steven Solomon writes: "After talking to Apple, I've confirmed a pretty darn obscure OS X bug. If you have more than 512MB RAM installed and you have analog speakers plugged into the sound port of a dual processor G4, you will get system instability and kernel panics when running classic apps. Unplug the speakers, no problem. Plug in the speakers, problem. Apparently analog devices are treated very differently in OS X. The final suggestion of tech support? Dump my analog speakers and go USB."

Can't startup from OS X CD We continue to get reports of users unable to startup from the Mac OS X Install CD. One user cited getting an error message that said: "Startup Disk was unable to select the install CD as the startupdisk.(-2)." We are still not certain what the cause of this problem is.