KIU Frequently Asked Questions
General Troubleshooting
If you experience problems when using KIU, always
first check the KIU log file. The messages in this file will often point you
to the problem you're trying to resolve. Also, 90% of the problems experienced
with KIU can be solved by:
- checking your hard disk using a disk utility
like Disk First Aid / Norton Utilities / TechTool Pro ...
- rebuilding your desktop file
- trashing the "KIU StartUp/WebLaunch/WebLog
Items" folders and re-creating all aliases.
- trashing the "KIU Preferences" file.
General questions
When an application puts up a modal dialog box, KIU doesn't do anything
any more.
Try the freeware Okey Dokey Pro, which dismisses all dialogs
after a certain period. Always set the Okey Dokey activation period to less
than 60 seconds. Currently, Okey Dokey doesn't have a homepage any more,
but you should be able to locate some download sites by searching the web
for "Okey Dokey Pro"
Where can I obtain the latest version of KIU ?
I always upload new versions to the Internet. Any info-mac mirror archive
for the latest version or try
for info on the latest version. Check on the same address for the latest
release notes, known bugs, etc ...
KIU remote management
What is the URL for accessing the KIU Webserver to perform remote maintenance
?
You can access your Mac using an URL of the type http://mymac.mydomain.net:2666
or http://156.45.33.2:2666, depending on whether your know the Internet Name
or IP address of your Mac. You can always find your IP address in the TCP/IP
control panel.
Mind you: sometimes IP addresses are dynamic, which means
that they can change. This is typical for a dial-up connection: each time
you dial-in, you'll probably get a different address. This makes it very difficult
to perform remote management, so getting a static IP address may be a good
idea.
Ask your network manager or network provider for more
information on this subject.
When I try to access the webserver, I need a username and password.
What do I enter as username ?
The username is always "kiu"
What kind of security measures does KIU offer to prevent somebody from
guessing my password ?
- each time a bad password is entered when accessing the webinterface,
the delay for re-entering the password is doubled. Somebody trying to guess
the password will be slowed down considerably, because after only a few wrong
guesses, the delay increases to minutes, making the guessing attempt completely
impractical.
- after 5 wrong passwords, the access is forbidden from that browser-session,
forcing an intruder to relaunch his browser for each additional attempt.
This should slow intruders down even further.
The embedded webserver doesn't work. How can I fix this ?
There's a lot that can go wrong with your network configuration, so I
can only give a few pointers.
- First of all, you should always check the KIU log file. The error
messages in this file will often indicate what is wrong. If the log indicates
an error occurs after startup, you should verify your network settings and
hardware.
- Make sure that you use Open Transport 1.1.1 or better and that OT
TCP/IP is correctly configured. KIU will not work with MacTCP, only OT TCP/IP
will do !
- Use a "ping" or "traceroute" utility to check if the server
is reachable from the remote computer. If the ping fails, you've got a network
connectivity problem. Consult your network manager if you can't solve this
problem yourself.
- Check if OT TCP/IP is correctly configured on the server by connecting
from the server to another machine using any network application (e.g. a
browser).
What is the meaning of "System Load" in the general info webpage ?
The number indicates how often a background application
gets CPU time (in ticks =1/60s). It is influenced by the relative load on
the machine, but can also go up when badly written applications don't release
the CPU often enough. Higher numbers indicate worse response times. Anything
above 120 probably indicates a very busy machine. If Keep It Up is the frontmost
application, the generated number is meaningless.
I forgot my password, and now I can't quit KIU or change the preferences.
Trash the KIU Preferences file (in the preferences
folder) and restart your Mac from the finder.
When I use the remote Clean Restart/Shutdown commands, sometimes the
computer gets stuck on a dialog box and sits there waiting for user input,
rendering my server useless.
First make sure you get Okey Dokey Pro. But even
Okey Dokey can't dismiss all types of dialogs. One solution is to use the
Forced Restart/Shutdown commands. These never fail, but can cause some
data loss.
KIU error messages/problems
KIU crashes during/after an attempt to relaunch an application.
When an application crashes, it sometimes corrupts
memory and your system can become unstable. It's possible that KIU
will crash under these circumstances when it attempts to relaunch this application.
If you encounter this problem, you should select the "Application relaunch
limit->restart Macintosh" option. After the restart, the system will be
more stable.
I added a new application named "SuperServer 2.1" to the KIU items
folder and now this application always pops to the front.
Make sure your alias doesn't end with ".1" which
activates the "Keep application in front" feature of KIU.
Some aliases I put in the "KIU StartUp/WebLaunch/WebLog Items" don't
launch or don't show up in the list of files using my webbrowser.
The KIU log file says: "Could not resolve alias 'xxx' in the KIU StartUp/WebLaunch/WebLog
Items folder. Please consult the KIU FAQ file for tips on how to solve this
problem."
This indicates a problem with the aliases you created. There are several
possible error messages:
- This error indicates that original file of the alias could not
be found. Check if the aliases in the Items folder are valid by double clicking
them in the finder. If not, re-create them
- if the target for the alias is a packaged application
, you need to create the alias in a different way: control-click on the
application package and select "Show package contents". Inside the package,
you should find an alias to the actual application. Make a copy of this alias
and put this inside the correct KIU Items folder. Next control-click on the
application package again and select "Hide package contents"
- The volume on which the target file resides is not found. Make
sure all necessary volumes are mounted.
- Check your hard disk using a disk utility like Disk First Aid.Try
rebuilding your desktop by holding down command-option on system startup.
If all else fails, trash the KIU StartUp/Weblaunch/Weblog Items folder
and start over again.
KIU doesn't do anything, it doesn't (re-)launch my applications
and it sometimes doesn't perform a scheduled restart.
KIU doesn't do anything until it considers
the computer to be "idle". In some circumstances (e.g. when using a keyboard
switch), KIU may be led to believe somebody is continuously using the
Mac and it will never launch the applications . Set the "idle time before
activation" to zero to solve this problem.
KIU doesn't open some documents in the KIU StartUp Items folder.
What can I do ?
- Check the KIU log file. If it says something like "The creator
application of this document could not be found. KIU will continue without
watching this document" , the application for this document could not be
found. Make sure the correct application is available or try rebuilding your
desktop by holding down command-option on system startup.
- Make sure you don't put both an alias to an application and aliases
to documents of that application in the KIU Items.
- If the watched application is already running when KIU is launched,
the documents will not be (re-) opened. If documents are closed, without
closing the application, KIU will not re-open these documents.
When KIU wants to (re)launch an application I get an error (-108)
or (-601) or (-605). What does this mean ?
There isn't enough memory available to
launch the application. Reduce the Memory Requirements of the application(s)
you're trying to launch in the Get-info dialog in the finder.
I'm running System 7.5 or later and when KIU restarts my Mac, it
gets stuck on restart with a dialog warning me to shutdown properly in the
future.
Switch off the shutdown warning in the
general controls control panel.