on 20/11/02 23:00, Donald Keenan at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Why does moving the preference file help? > I occasionally have problems with OS 10.1.5 Mail app (annoying messages > about mailboxes being locked, etc) and an Applecare tech guy suggested > doing this, but I don't get why. For me, it didn't work. > Thanks, > Donald > On Wednesday, November 20, 2002, at 10:54 PM, Amber Rhea wrote: > >> On Tuesday, November 19, 2002, at 01:40 AM, (G-Books) wrote: >>> I'm not sure about the file structure used by Mail since I haven't used >>> it. >>> I would be tempted to suggest you remove the preference file, don't >>> throw it >>> a way, just move it out of the Library/Preferences directory, in your >>> home >>> directory and launch Mail again. See what happens. I would imagine that >>> the >>> file would be named 'com.apple.Mail' or something similar. >> >> This worked! (or at least, no problems again so far!) :) Thanks!
Glad it worked. Why moving the preference file help? Good question! Most likely because the file becomes corrupted. There are bogus values in it and when the application tries to make sense of it, you can start seeing the application getting busy and the busy cursor appears and the app never recovers. At that point, the application, if it doesn't crash, might be loss in some kind of endless loop, trying to get at non-existent or faked values. If you force quit, sometimes it just makes things worst if the application was updating that file. It can be left with even more bogus values. When you launch the app, it might still be working because some parts of the file are still fine, but as soon as the app tries to access the damaged part, all kind of things might happen. It's hard to tell because there are some techniques that you can sometimes use in order to detect something that doesn't make any sense. However, due to the highly object-oriented nature of the system, sometimes you don't have control over it since it's a private class or a private piece of code that is executing. In that case, there isn't much you can do, unless overriding those parts... -Laurent. -- ============================================================================ Laurent Daudelin AIM/iChat: LaurentDaudelin <http://nemesys.dyndns.org> Logiciels Nemesys Software mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Gates's Law: "The speed of software halves every 18 months." This oft-cited law is an ironic comment on the tendency of software bloat to outpace the every-18-month doubling in hardware capacity per dollar predicted by Moore's Law. The reference is to Bill Gates; Microsoft is widely considered among the worst if not the worst of the perpetrators of bloat. -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
