Round Three: I went back through old list messages regarding this bug. Some version of the hiding bug has been observed since PowerMail 5.0 beta 12. This leads me to believe this was introduced in PowerMail 5.0. Possible causes of this bug mentioned on the PowerMail Discussion List over the years (and I am a proud contributor) include:
- CodeTek Virtual Desktop (the _only_ one reported before PowerMail 5, but continually accused) - OS X 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5 and point updates thereof... - Unsanity's APE (everyone's favorite red-headed stepchild...) - unrepaired permissions - unrun maintenance scripts due to computer being shut down overnight - OS X needs a restart - too much uptime causes PowerMail to grow unstable needing app relaunch/ restart - Finder and all other apps are hidden already, therefore hiding PowerMail doesn't do anything - third party software remaps Command-H so there is no Command-H in PowerMail (e.g. iKey, Key Xing, Menu Master) - Desktop Manager, Net Monitor, LaunchBar, Default Folder, Pathfinder, ASM (all mentioned, not necessarily accused) - DragThing (it's just an app not a hack people, srsly) - PowerMail and OS language versions are different - user preferences corruption, perhaps only on one account - Carbon applications have this hiding problem - switching and hiding an application at the same time (e.g. command- option click another app in the Dock) - the Identify Spam button triggers it - selecting PowerMail/SpamSieve-marked spam message and then using Command-H triggers it - computer going to sleep messes it up - computer screensaver activation messes it up - it's a PPC problem - it's an Intel problem Work-arounds mentioned include: - if Other Software X causes problem, don't use Other Software X! (well, duh...) - highlight a message - empty the mail trash - quit and relaunch PowerMail - force-quit and relaunch PowerMail - relaunch the Finder - restart the OS - reinstall PowerMail - use a third-party utility to hide all apps, then just select the one you need visible - click on the Desktop/go to the Finder and back. - switch to another app and back to PowerMail, twice. - update PowerMail to the latest version - update the OS to the latest version I knew certain spam messages (surprise, surprise) were triggering this bug, but not all. So I duped my message database, deleted most of the messages and pulled a few likely culprits into the In Tray. After much hiding, not-hiding, quitting, relaunching I think I have finally got it. The Mail Browser needs to be in a three-pane view. Two-pane view will not trigger it. HTML view is off (curiously, but I don't know if that's necessary). All you need to do is to have selected one of these malformed messages in the Mail Browser. It need not be the current selection when you hit Command-H! So you might be going through a list with the arrow keys, and hit Command-H on a good message and thus have no idea. Because there needs to be a preview section as with the three-pane views of the Mail Browser, I suspect the Recent Mail Window will manifest the same behavior. But I don't get enough spam to test that. (thank goodness for small blessings :) So now I have a pared-down, 784 KB zipped PowerMail folder with a database of messages. There is a label set to identify the crashers amidst a few benign control messages from wealthy Nigerians. I've also left a selection of past PowerMail Discussion List messages that are related to this problem in its own folder. Some of the PowerMail release notes are in there too to get a sense of the timeframe. E-mail me if you want it (CTM, check your inbox). Ladies and Gentlemen: the PowerMail 5 Hiding Bug: With certain malformed messages, after selecting them in the Mail Browser or the Recent Mail Window, hiding PowerMail via Command-H will cause the Mail Browser and Recent Mail windows grey-out but remain visible. Other windows (new messages, individual message browsers) will hide properly. Switching back to PowerMail (via Command-Tab or clicking on the Desktop and back to an "inactive" PowerMail window) will not reset it the first time. The menubar item "PowerMail" appears stuck. None of of the menubar items yield any menus. An application switch (Command-Tab or click on the Desktop, then back to the application) needs to happen again to "unstick" it, or a key command for some other menu item (e.g. Command-N new message). Occuring with PowerMail 5.x on OS X 10.2.x-10.5.1, PPC and Intel. Workaround: Quit PowerMail and relaunch. Conclusion: The workaround is easy enough, but if a spam message can mess with the application menus, what is it doing to the rest of the database? CTM, please investigate this and make PowerMail just that much more robust. Chris --
