on the phone.

of files which you suspect may be infected. Please do not try to call him

Please mail him a detailed report and, if it is at all possible, include copies

Disinfectant for assistance. His addresses are at the end of this manual.

have a new virus, then you should feel free to contact the author of

If you have followed all of this advice and if you still think that you may



user group and ask for help.

gurus within the department for help. Go to a meeting of your local Mac

you work for a corporation with a computer department, ask the local

faculty member, ask for assistance at your campus computing center. If

friend or local expert. If you are a university student, staff member, or

If your problems continue, try to obtain the assistance of a knowledgeable



several files.

modification date. Look for consistent patterns of change which affect

you may see a legitimate increase in size and/or change in the last

a virus. Also, some applications modify themselves, and in these cases

modification date of your System file; this is normal and does not indicate

however, be concerned about changes in size or changes in the last

that there may indeed be a virus spreading on your system. Do not,

last modification dates are consistently changing, this is one indication

command. If your applications are consistently growing in size, or if their

application file sizes and last modification dates with the Finder’s Get Info

a new virus, there are a few additional things you can try. Monitor

If all else fails and you still suspect that your system may be infected by



Option, and Shift keys while opening the Control Panel desk accessory.

To reset the parameter RAM under System 6, hold down the Command,



release the keys at this point.

zapped, you will hear a beep, and the system will restart again. You can

Option, P, and R keys while restarting your Mac. When the RAM has been

To reset the parameter RAM under System 7, hold down the Command,



Some problems can be cured by resetting the parameter RAM.



consult note number 134, “Hard Disk Medic & Booting Camp.”

Mac sold. If you have access to Apple’s Macintosh Technical Notes,

available, including Apple’s Disk First Aid, which is included with every

floppies or tapes. There are several good disk recovery utilities

reinitialize and reformat the disk and reload your files from backup

you may attempt to use a disk recovery utility, or you may be forced to

the disk at all, or the system may simply behave strangely. In this case,

disk become inaccessible, or the system may not even be able to mount

sometimes be so serious that all or some of the files and folders on the

contain file directories and other important system information. This can

In some cases, software errors can damage the areas on your disk which



the old System folder.

version. If the problem persists, delete the problem file. Finally, remove

which is causing the problem. Replace the problem file by a known good

last few files from your new System folder one at a time to locate the file

problem to the last few files which you copied. You can now remove these

problem reappears, you will have narrowed down the cause of the

not come back, copy a few more files over and repeat the process. If the

use it for a while to see if the problem has come back. If the problem has

new System folder. Restart your Mac after each copying operation and

Next, copy files, a few at a time, from your old System folder into your



file.

fonts and desk accessories from your old System file to your new System

System file. Under System 6, use the Font/DA Mover to copy all of your

of your old fonts and sounds from your old System file to your new

Under System 7, open both your old and your new System files. Drag all



that the cause of the problem was something in your old System folder.

from this hard drive. If your problem disappears, then you have verified

disks to install a completely new System folder on the hard drive. Restart

drive System folder “Old System Folder.” Then use your Apple installer

file outside of the System folder on your hard drive. Rename your hard

scratch. Restart your Macintosh from a startup floppy. Drag the Finder

The best way to cure this problem is to rebuild your System folder from

Another common problem is damaged system files in the System folder.



locked original master floppy.

behaving unusually, try replacing it with a known good copy from your

Another common problem is damaged applications. If an application begins



when the alert appears.

keys while inserting the floppy into a floppy drive. Click the OK button

To rebuild the desktop on a floppy disk, hold down the Command and Option



button when the alert appears.

appear asking if you really want to rebuild the desktop. Click the OK

Option keys held down throughout the startup process. An alert will

System 6 or System 7, restart your Macintosh, keeping the Command and

that you want to start up using Finder instead of MultiFinder. For either

use the “Set Startup” command in the Finder’s Special menu to specify

To rebuild the desktop on a hard drive, if you are using System 6, first



desktop.

your icons are not being displayed properly, you should rebuild the

few icons. This problem is almost always due to a damaged “desktop.” If

virus, save for the Scores virus which does change the appearance of a

display of icons in Finder windows. This symptom is almost never due to a

One very common symptom on the Macintosh is problems with the proper



and see if the problem disappears.

software lately?” If the answer is “Yes,” try removing the software

Thus, the first question you should ask is, “Have I installed any new



or any other kind of problem imaginable.

piece of software can cause crashes, hangs, damaged files, trashed disks,

error in an application, extension (INIT), control panel (cdev), or other

The most common cause of problems is simple errors in software. An



virus. There are several things you can do to try to isolate the problem.

yield to the temptation to immediately blame the malfunction on a new

If your Macintosh begins to malfunction or behave unusually, please do not



were actually new viruses.

experts but, after careful investigation, only a handful of these cases

people have reported strange behavior on their Macintoshes to anti-virus

all of them have absolutely nothing to do with viruses. Thousands of

There are many, many things which can go wrong on a Macintosh. Almost



locate any known viruses.

may be infected by a new virus, but Disinfectant reports that it cannot

This section discusses what you should do if you think that your system








åProblem Clinic



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