Virex eUpdate .. outdated

Have you noticed that Virex's eUpdate function reports the May 12, 2003 definitions are the latest available ? Accordingly, that the one you find on .Mac in the Virex section. But since those are over a month old, Virex keeps notifying you that they might be out-of-date ..
:(

Check MacAfee or VersionTracker, and you'll notice that the latest version was released on June 1, 2003 (hum).

So what's up with .Mac ? After all, isn't it for not having to worry about matters like theses that we pay a subscription ? (thumb down Apple). A workaround is to configure Virex to download the definition updates from MacAfee instead of .Mac. I found the following solution on .Mac's Virex discussion board.

• Launch Virex.
• Under "Virex 7.2" menu, select "Preferences..."
• Toward the bottom, under "Virus Updates," click-on the checkbox "Customize my eUpdate server settings"
• Immediately below this and to the right, click the "Server Settings" button which just turned from gray to black.
• A new window named "eUpdate Server Settings" appears.
• For the pop-up menu named "Type" select: FTP
• Fill in the remaining text boxes as follows:
  Server URL: ftp.nai.com
  Port: leave blank
  Username: anonymous
  Password: leave blank
  Account: leave blank
  Directory: /virusdefs/mac/virex7/
• Click OK to enter these settings and close the "eUpdate Server Settings" window.
• You return to the Preferences window where you must Click Ok again.

My 2 weekend tips (nothing really new)

Fonts organisation
Did you know that you could organise your font in subfolders now ? While testing Font Agent Pro vs Font Reserve this weekend, I accidentally dropped a folder of fonts in the ~/Library/Fonts/ and to my big surprise, their appeared in the available font list.

I checked MacOSXHints.com, and the hint was posted last August (hum, better late than never I guess).

Anyway, I thought I'd let you know, might come in useful to those of you who don't use a font management system.

Hide (or display) certain root folders
The other thing I discovered was how to hide certain directories you'd rather not see in you root directory. There's a hidden file called .hidden at the root of your disk. If you open it, you'll notice a list of directory names. Simply add those you'd rather not see listed (such as Temporary Items or sw e.g.), and they'll be hidden at the next Finder launch.

This hint was also available on MacOSXHints.

Edit your Preferences

Defaults Manager enables you to view and edit the preferences of almost any application that are stored in your User Defaults database.

The info is presented in a standard 3 pane window [pix]. I haven't tried the demo, but it looks strait forward to me. Guess it could come in handy eventually.

Price is USD 35, with a 10% off if you use coupon "KNDM100BETA" when purchasing while still in beta.

Back in Sync

Back to reality. It's been a while since my last post. For those who may be interested, our May break was real smooth.. there's nothing like a real holiday when you just follow your feelings, desires and envies. Basically, we gravitated around the beach, the villages' restaurants and the pool .. But while time stood still for us on our Greek island, life went on back here in Geneva and on the net.

It took me the best of two week to touch base with the bulk of e-mails, on going projects, updated software, etc. and consequently, Macinblog ran late , not being high on the list of priorities. Sorry about that.

I'll skip all the updates and announcements that came out these last weeks to concentrate on a product I wishfully added to « Macinblog's Best of 02 », namely iSync.

I gave it a serious try early this year, but never really managed to get it to work with all of my devices. The latest version (1.1) changed all that. I spent last night backing up my data and using iSync to update my cell phone and Palm PDA with the contents of my Address Book and iCal Calendar. The results are encouraging.

First, a word on backups. working at several different locations, I have two desktop Macs and on portable at home. Backup and synching have always been a priority for me. Over the years, I developed my own strategy for maintaining my different workstations documents and settings in sync. Basically, I use a portable drive and a software called Folders Synchronizer. I've been using that program since version 1.0, and it's ben a life saver over the years. I have a different set of settings for each workstation, and run a synchronization every time I change location. The external drive carries my e-mail, internet bookmarks, Palm backup, and settings of my main communication and internet apps (Proteus, NetNewsWire, etc.) It works fine.

Nevertheless, iSync offers an elegant and versatile solution, as long as you own a .Mac account. So, after backing up the contents of my cell phone and Palm PDA, making copies of my Address Book and Calendars, I launched iSync and reset all my devices before running the first sync. Well, believe it or not, it worked first go.

All the contacts in the Cell category were uploaded to my phone, all my contacts and calendars to my Palm and iPod, without a glitch. This morning, I ran iSync on one of my Desktop Macs, and the Address Book and Calendars were successfully updated. I guess I'll have to carry on testing this new way of updating my data before I really recommend this application, but if you're willing to live with the few drawbacks linked essentially to the bad (inexistent) category management, give iSync a try.

I've always used my Palm as my main address and datebook, but things might change now. I'm willing to manually assign a category to new events entered on the Palm and viewed in iCal, or the opposite. It shouldn't be too much of a draw back.

Funnily, I happened to forget my Palm on my bedside table this morning .. and was quite relieved to be able to access my calendars via the .Mac backup. Kudo on that one.

My word of advice: stick to the recommended hardware. I personally use a Sony Ericsson T68i and a Palm Tungsten, both recommended by Apple. The latest version of iSync offers a much wider cell phone and PDA compatibility than its previous version. A sync can take a long time. Make sure to have enough time to let the sync process run through completely. The Palm is accessed through Hot Sync, not the fastest of applications, especially if like me you have years of appointments on your Palm. Don't sync in a hurry. Beware of levels of battery charge. Provide enough power for the process to run through. All my devices were running on battery last night, and I had to plug the PowerBook in to let it complete its sync. My experience is that BlueTooth drains the batteries, whatever the device (phone, PDA or notebook). Backup all your data before synching. GSM Remote, and Palm Desktop can backup your phone and PDA. Finally, if you're serious about iSync, you'll need to subscribe a .Mac account.

I'll update this post in a month time to let you know how well iSync stood up the trial of time.