Thanks Dr. Smoke

I personally thought you were only good for software tech support of Mac OSX and nothing else. You have remained silent when I have made detailed comments about OS 9, Apple II's, ProDOS,etc.. So I personally thought you only new OSX. Yes you have a book which I have read but this does not make you an expert in non OSX areas.
However you have proved otherwise. You have shown that you also know a bit about HTML. No you may not be a expert in this area, but you certainly where helpful enough to solve my problem. Thanks!
Design and tech support are totoally different fields. I know people that are good with design, but cant tell you a thing about the technical problems of their computer, nor can they tellyou how much RAM they have, what a hard disk is,etc.. I'm better for tech support. However I seem to know a bit more about Mac OS 9. OSX has just been too stable for me to have any troubleshotting experince.
Thanks again
John

You wrote: "But i had the impression you were ignorant of those oses."You should not assume that because someone has neither seen nor answered some obscure post you made on one of the many forums in the Apple Discussions that a particular individual may or may not have the associated expertise.
Those who answer questions here do so voluntarily. I generally choose to answer questions that interest me, not whether or not I know the answer. How the question is written also has bearing on whether or not I will answer it. If the question is poorly written, I frequently pass: my time is my most valuable asset.
I've been in the IT industry for 30 years. In that time I've become familiar — and in many cases, expert — with numerous operating systems, a slew of programming languages, and a plethora of applicaitons. Many of those products are now obsolete. I'd also bet that you'd never even heard of many of them.
This is turning into a chat, so I think we're done here.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

Similar Messages

Is this a Virus??? Or What Is Going On???

Also posted in Discussion Feedback since I could not find an actual Virus related group and the following refers to both a G3 and a G4.
I realize that Apple, especially 10.4 is supposed to be immune to a virus but in the past two days I have run across two separate systems that both show signs that if it were a Windows machine I would say VIRUS!
I could not find and specific location for posting a virus related question so if you could enlighten me as to where it should go, I would be happy to post the following on that group’s page.
Yesterday a G4 which was upgraded to 10.4.3 from DVD and then 10.4.4 from Software Update (direct from Apple's site) gave me the following problem:
Opening Firefox on my normal home page opened normally.
Trying to go to www.adobe.com resulted in a Firefox crash
Restarting the system, going to a couple of other web sites resulted in normal operation. Then going back to Adobe resulted in a Firefox crash after about a second of Adobe's home page appearing.
Restarting, permissions check and correct found no errors. (Permissions were corrected immediately prior to the DVD update)
Restarting trying to go to Norton or Symantec resulted in a crash.
Restarting, going to MacAfee resulted in a strange looking page unlike what I normally associated with MacAfee (I don't go there but a few times a year so the page might be a new style they have up.)
I tried a virus scan using Sophos (latest version) but the system locked up after scanning about 18,000 files.
Going back to Symantec crashed and then the system would not boot. First I got the beach ball forever, restarting again gave me the spinning disk chasing its tail.
Trying to boot from DVCD resulted in the DVD being ejected and never mounting.
A network install of an entirely new (clean disk before install) resulted in a normal install and operation.
Today I had a G3, 40 Gig HD, 768 Meg Ram, built from the DVD in my shop and tested and setup in my shop and running for three or four days without problems suddenly exhibit the exact same problem with Firefox going to the Adobe site. Safari seemed to work okay. Opening up MS Word (Office 2004) crashed Word and I had to use Forced Quit to break the endless loop it seem to get into trying to send a notification and the reopening Word.
I did not continue after the second or third Word crash. One thing I did check was that Root Was Enabled which I would almost definitely say was not the way I left it when I built this system! Unless I suffered a MAJOR mental lapse, Root is never left enabled unless I am actually on the system and I know that I did not enable it today.
Given these two happenings, can anyone tell me what might be going on or is there something happening with Macs and the virus world????

Just to update, I will reply to some of the postings.
I do not nor did I have any anti-virus software other than Sophos installed on this system. The reference to Symantec and McAfee pages was simply that I went to these pages as a part of trying to see how the systems handles contacting AV companies.
No third party plug ins were installed since the one system was a brand new build with Adobe Reader and Sophos and not much else installed.
When I reloaded, via a Net Install, the system came up perfectly normal and has continued to run great for the last few weeks. I did not actually determine exactly the problem cause(s) location. Once the system went to failing to boot, and would not accept a CD/DVD I didn't have a whole lot of choice.
The image used was exactly the same as the image that had the problems so unless the files were corrupted (presumed to be the problem) during the installation over the network, I don't have a clue as to why or where the problem came from.
One thing I did notice was that Adobe Reader 7.(latest) and the web browsers do not play well together. I have gone to disabling the automatic opening in the Adobe setup (Adobe reader) and installed the plug-in listed on the Mozilla.com plug in web pages. This was only done in the last few days and was not present when the problems occurred. The plug in allows in browser display/saving/printing of PDF files without the need or annoyance of the window asking you to save the file when using Adobe Reader.
See the info at:
https://pfs.mozilla.org/plugins/?application=firefox
I am wondering if the apparent problems with Adobe Reader and 10.4 may have either been the basic cause or contributed to the problem.
Thank you to all who replied with suggestions or thoughts. I will consider this question answered since file corruption was mentioned by many people (not necessarily a particular file) and reloading the image on a clean install cleared up the problem.
I especially would like to thank Dr. Smoke and Chris Habig for the links they posted. Although the information did not actually help with this particular problem (once the system completely failed to boot nothing much helps ;-( the info contained in those links was most educational and I am sure it will be VERY USEFUL in future problems.

Opening files is SLOW

The first time I try to open or save a document in Word it can take from 45 seconds to two minutes for the box to open that allows me to choose a file, or a destination. Of course the beachball is spinning away the whole time.
I'm finding that this is the case with more apps than just Word. This lag does not happen on successive attempts to save or open. It only happens the first time after opening the program.
Has anyone else had this problem? Solutions? Ideas?

thanks dr smoke!! finally someone with a brain!!! guess i'll put the hammer away and not try to fix that blasted colorwheel with it.
Hi, pgreensoup.
Do you have an iDisk? If so, disable iDisk auto-sync
in System Preferences > .Mac per this thread.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

Check this out.

After much fine tuneing and a few small problems solved by updating my bios.
I managed this OC.
I have to say I love this system.
Thanks Tire Smoke and everyone who helped me.

Quote from: Stick on 18-May-06, 00:57:54
isn't virtualization some sort of hyperthreading? and since the conroe is a multi core CPU, you won't need the old fashion hyperthreading anyway.
Nah... From what I understand, virtualization allows more than one OS to run simultaneously without emulators (Like Virtual PC, etc.) that bog down the works.
As I use Mac for my Graphic Design biz, I'm waiting for Intel to enable virtualiztion on the next gen Intel Macs so I can do XP (for gaming & some apps where there's no Mac equivalent) & OSX (for work).

How to setup FaceTime so I can send and receive calls?

I'm having issues setting up my mac to make outgoing and receive incoming calls.
I've opened Facetime preferences on my mac and I don't see where I can toggle the option to "allow iphone cellular calls" (See attached ScreenShot).
Any suggestions / tips / tricks?
Thanks!

Smoke-A-Lot wrote:
This still isn't working. I've signed out from all of my devices.
And signed back in? you are using the Same Apple ID?
Your iPhone number appears as an option under "You can be reached by FaceTime At" on the iPhone?
Is it showing up under that same section in FaceTime on the Mac?
Are you signed into the same iCloud account on both devices?

Oh blast! - what have I done? How can I evert back to this morning?

Ok - you are going to believe this - it's me - StressedMum! I have been trying to connect on Messenger. I have Office for Mac but that messenger software was useless. Couldn't do what we wanted to do. So I downloaded (:(( ) aMSN. Great piece of kit. Then there were additional pluggins and skins to download, add, and configure. I clicked my way through and now I cannot connect on aMSN anymore, neither can I use my Entourage in Mac Office. I have tried restoring Office to no avail, I have removed aMSN to trash. No good. I haven't done anything on the Mac today that needs to be saved apart from a few emails, so can I use TM to take me back to this morning, which will rid me of all my mistakes. I can't seem to identify one particular file that will help me - so a reckon a 'complete back in time' would do the trick? Can't find anything on the help pages. Hope you can help. Thanks. SM

ok - thank you for your concern. I'll try and start at the beginning. I download aMSN - which I was very happy with - then I started to to add pluggins and skins for aMSN - I thinkI must have added something there that I shouldn't have. I closed aMSN and tried reopening it a half hour later only to be told - this: "There was an error executing aspell. This is probably because it was not installed properly and is required for plugin to work. etc etc and to go to aspell.sourgeforce.net to supply correct path..." I could not rid this message - I had to force quit. No amount of patience would allow me to reopen aMSN. I think that during the add ons and plugins I must have selected something to do with emails, or similar - because I notice that my whole Mac for Office applications had gone and was unable to open Entourage. The message referred to a problem with upper and lower case. (I can't find it now as I have restored) The first thing I tried to do was to bring aMSN back to the moment I installed it (before I added any extras) but I still got the same executing error. I then trashed everything to do with aMSN; being more concerned about office. I searched for a typical 'safe' restore for Office and clicked restore - but only 5 items were restored - losing 4 because of this error about upper and lower case??? So I finally tried using the same restore point for Office but this time instead of replacing the exiting folder; I added to it. I then had 2 Office folders, one with only 5 items in it and the other with the correct 9 items. I therefore have trashed the folder with just the 5 items. Everything seems ok at the moment - but I have downloaded again aMSN and it doesn;t like me - it comes up again with the same errors. I have looked at Adium briefly - but not sure that's going to be suitable - that too looks like it will need add ons - video, sound, skins etc... ?? Hope you can make sense of all this. I have not reinstalled OX - wasn't going to without advise - I was just guessing that would be the way in the event of casastrophy? Nothing deleted from TM either.

Logout failure by AuthContext

Hi All,
I have setup a J2EE agent and IdServer successfully. I would like to write a logout jsp/servlet at agent side server. I try to use AuthContext where logout method is offered. Here is the code:
AuthContext lc = new AuthContext(token);
lc.logout();
But logout didn't succeed and there is error message in amAuth debug log at IdServer side.
05/11/2004 02:53:30:363 PM HKT: Thread[Thread-83,5,main]
failureModuleSet is : [LDAP]
05/11/2004 02:53:30:370 PM HKT: Thread[Thread-83,5,main]
LOGINFAILED Error....
05/11/2004 02:53:30:371 PM HKT: Thread[Thread-83,5,main]
Exception
com.sun.identity.authentication.spi.AuthLoginException(1):null
java.io.IOException(2):110
java.io.IOException: 110
at com.sun.identity.authentication.service.DSAMECallbackHandler.handle(DSAMECallbackHandler.java:114)
at javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext$5.run(LoginContext.java:812)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext$SecureCallbackHandler.handle(LoginContext.java:808)
at com.sun.identity.authentication.spi.AMLoginModule.login(AMLoginModule.java:766)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:324)
at javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext.invoke(LoginContext.java:675)
at javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext.access$000(LoginContext.java:129)
at javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext$4.run(LoginContext.java:610)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext.invokeModule(LoginContext.java:607)
at javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext.login(LoginContext.java:534)
at com.sun.identity.authentication.service.AMLoginContext.run(AMLoginContext.java:284)
05/11/2004 02:53:30:375 PM HKT: Thread[Thread-83,5,main]
Came to before if Failed loop
Does anyone have this experience before? Any help will be appreciated.

1. You wrote: "Thanks Dr. Smoke for responding. So if I set Mail to check after the log out limits, then it should resolve this?"If Mail's checking was the cause, then yes. For example, setting Mail to check once every two hours, but log out after 45 minutes of inactivity.
2. You wrote: "On second thought, no programs are open, generally, when I leave."You'd want to be certain about that.
However, assuming you've closed all your usual applications and documents, then one would have to consider background processes. If you close all open applications, but then launch Activity Monitor, you'll see that your Mac has a slew of background processes that are always running.
Some of these faceless, background processes may be invoked as third-party Startup or Login Items you've installed. My "Troubleshooting Startup and Login Items" FAQ can help you pin that down if such an item is causing the problem.
It could also be something with your Internet connection. Consider "Mac OS X: Dial-up connection (PPP) fails to automatically disconnect." You might want to consult with your networking group (I'm presuming this is a work computer) to see if some network polling might be involved.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

10.4.6 to Classic: "Connection Failed" Message

Hi. Hope this is the right forum. It think so, as follows:
I have one Classic app on my computer that I must use for work, two or three times each month (its a great time billing program). Since going to 10.4.6 (Combo update) a few weeks ago, whenever I launch the application (from the dock) and Clasic starts up, I get a message: "Connection failed. The file server is running on your machine. Please access the volumes and files locally." I hit OK, and then OK again, and the Classic up comes right on up. never got this before 10.4.6.
I have a two Mac network (Airport). The other computer can access the Classic app, and does not get this message. I am admin on my computer. I have ownership permissions on the Classic app and all the data files, with the other computer having read-write permissions on the data.
I've checked System Prefs (Network and Classic) and see nothing out of the ordinary.
This is more of an annoyance than anything else, but can someone tell me why an app on my hard disk is trying to connect to server, and what I can do to fix it?
Thanks!

I presume this means that if you launch the application directly by double-clicking its icon, you do not have this problem?
No - I haven't double clicked the icon from the hard disk while in OS X(I always open from the dock) - I'll try that 1st thing in the AM when I get back to work and see what happens. My point was that I was launching Classic mode from OS X and not booting into Classic. But - I did select OS 9 as my starup a while earlier today and launced the app in true Classic by double clicking the icon and I got the same message.
So, I think it has something to do with Network.
1. I'd try removing and replacing the app's icon in the Dock.
I'll try this too!
2. Is the other computer also accessing the application when this occurs?
No - we never do that.
3. See also:
• "Mac OS X 10.2, 10.3: Your Own Computer Appears in List of Available Servers." Perhaps may not apply, but it's the only reference to the exact message you cited I've found. The "solution" therein gave me the idea re: the Dock icon.
• "Mac OS X 10.4: Classic - 'Connection failed, the server may not exist or is not operational at this time" alert." Not an exact match, but may give you some more insights.
Yes - I saw those and they were informative but not helpful.
4. Was the Mac OS 9 System folder on the affected Mac copied over from the other Mac, e.g. via Migration Assistant?
No. Both are original Apple insalled.
5. Were the Dock settings, including the app in question, copied over from the other Mac, again via Migration Assistant?
Likewise, no.
Thanks, Dr. Smoke, as always, for your insights!

Stateful webservice using topdownAssemble task.

Hi,
I have looked all over to find documentation on how to assemble a "stateful" webservice using the topdownAssemble task in Ant. It looks stateful webservice creation is supported using the bottom up approach but not the top-down approach. All the documentation I have found so far refer to the "assemble" task. Is my assumption true that topdownAssemble does NOT support stateful webservice creation?
Thanks!

Smok,
Are you just trying to up your post count?
My question is NOT about runtime support for stateful services. Nor is it about JDevelopers capabilities to support stateful service. I know that you can develop stateful services using JDeveloper and deploy them into OC4J/SOA Suite.
My question is about an ANT task called "topdownAssemble" - thats the exact name of the task; and its ability to generate java code out of WSDL for **stateful** webservices.
Get it now? By the way, I do consider this part of SOA development. So unless you tell me there is better forum for this question, don't be suggesting that it belongs elsewhere.
Edited by: user645090 on Oct 7, 2008 11:21 AM

Javaw startup time

Hi
I recently downloaded jdk & jre 1.5. Thanks for that. I am going to
get around to using it soon. :)
In the meantime I've noticed, or think I've noticed, that javaw.exe takes about 3 minutes at startup to start. It seems to be hitting the disk,
a lot of disk noise, and its mem usage in Tasks grows from zero to 17M.
I have stopped javaw in Tasks and shutdown the Window XP laptop and switched it on again. Javaw runs along with the others and takes about 3 minutes to let go of the disk.
I just want to know whether that 3 minutes is necessary for something? Can i set something somewhere to stop this?
thanks
greg

Is smoke actually coming out of your computer during this time?
Seriously though.
What do you mean javaw takes a long time at startup? javaw only runs when it is called. So I think what you really have is a service or program of some sort that is starting when your computer starts. javaw is all that windows knows about because that's the Java VM. But ultimatley you have a Java program running. It's not just starting up... it's doing something.
So yeah... you could turn it off but you're going to have to find out what it is first.

Cannot verify email for ipod touch

the link to verify my email is not recognized any suggestions?

Thanks, g-smoke. I have applied for a Mexican credit card, which I should receive next Thurs.
In answer to your four things: 1) yes, my CC is a Visa 2) My credit limit is far higher than I've ever needed; plus I have no problems with non-Apple purchases; 3) I verified my security card with a call to the bank issuing my card; 4) iTunes store is available in Mexico (but not the music part.)
I have already called Apple USA, Apple Mexico, and my local Apple store. Apple USA and Mexico focused on the need to be very precise in entering all fields. I even changed my official address with the credit card in order to make it "fit" the Apple Mexico iTunes store format better. The Apple store technician here, however, agrees with me that there is an Apple inherent conflict between the fact that my credit card is USA based, but my billing address is in Mexico. The billing address being Mexican is a requirement per the Apple site information--and that is precisely what I have.
Thanks so much for the iTunes site. In all my perusals, I'd not seen that one yet. I sent them an email, and might get a response in another day or so.
I'd like to add that this problem is the reverse of one I had late last year with Apple USA. At that time, Apple refused to make an order for me because my billing address was in Mexico, and Apple seemed unwilling to believe that my credit card was indeed a USA credit card. (I was planning a laptop purchase for a USA trip--a perfectly legal item to bring into Mexico.) So, I walked into Apple SF, and had no trouble using the same credit card to buy a laptop off the shelf--not the configuration I'd wanted to special order, but. . . .
Also of interest--the company from which I bought the digitally transmitted iTunes card is, after investigating the issue, processing a refund to my account.

Colour Management - who does what - Some thoughts now the smoke is clearing

First up, thanks very much to everyone who contributed their ideas and expertise to my recent query here, when I was seeking help for a problem with colour management issues when printing a magazine I edit. I have a ton of suggestions to work through and study but the smoke is slowly clearing and it raises some interesting points which I think are worth recounting.
First of all, I have been editing short run magazines now for 25 years, at first part time and later on a professional contract basis. I am not a trained graphic designer nor a trained printer. I did start out training as a graphic designer, many years ago but gave it up for a career in IT (as a networking specialist). That was full time until 10 years ago, although I did some freelance writing and editing in my spare time.
And yes, I did start originally with scissors and cut and paste, and moved on through black and white with spot colour and Pagemaker software to full colour and InDesign today. One thing which may be different about my experience to most of yours is that I am a PC user and always have been. All my editing and graphics work has always been done on a PC - Pagemaker was our DTP package of choice for a long time and we supplemented this with Corel-Draw (which has a range of graphics handling options). All my software is legal and I always register it and keep it up to date. I have used the same graphic designer for quite a few years now and whenever we upgrade our software he goes and gets trained on the latest release.
Around 10 years ago I was offered the chance to edit a specialist short run magazine (not the current one). This was a chance I took and gave up the day job and became a full time freelance. Editing is not my main or only source of income. I am also a freelance writer and photographer and heritage consultant and I have a specialist image library.   I sell my own sell my work - articles and pictures - to the national and local press. I also write books (non fiction) on commission. The magazine editing is really an extension of my interest in historic landscapes. I have never had any complaints, or problems, with the freelance work, photos and archived images I sell. Clients include national newspapers here in the UK, national magazine groups and my books are available in national bookstore chains. I supply my work digitally, naturally, and it includes photos I have taken myself and items which I have scanned into my library of historical images and store on line. No reported colour management issues there.
I have always enjoyed a good relationship with my publishers and printers because I seek to be as professional as possible, which means delivering my stuff on time, to the required standard so that minimum intervention is required from them. This does assume that I have a clear brief from them on what they need from me.
Recently this approach has not been enough to avoid colour management issues with the short run magazine I currently edit. I have been wondering when and where things went astray and date it back to the upgrade to InDesign two years ago. However it may have its roots in my earlier decision to use PCs not Macs for my work.
Until 4 years ago I had used the same printers for magazine editing for many years. They were a well respected firm specialising in short run magazines. They were not far from where I live and work and if there was a problem I would go over and discuss it with them. They were happy, and competent, to handle Pagemaker files generated on a PC and convert my rgb images to cmyk if there was any concern about the colour balance. On a few occasions I paid them to scan a photo for me. However 4 years ago the owner decided to retire and shut up shop. I needed to find a new printers and it had to be someone who specialised in short run magazines and could meet the budget of the charity I edit for. Also someone who could handle copy generated using Pagemaker running on a PC. I chose a printers I had used briefly in the past where I knew some of the staff and was promised PC based Pagemaker would not be a problem. I even got this in writing. I started to send them proofs generated using Pagemaker v7 on my PC.
I soon found that although they had agreed they could handle Pagemaker on a PC in fact they had only a few PC based clients and were using a single ageing PC running Pagemaker to proof their work. In fact nearly all their jobs were Quark based. I was also told we had to supply CMYK images although not given any further requirement so I now did the conversions from rgb to CMYK using my PhotoPaint software. (There are quite a few settings in Corel for the conversion but there was no guidance by the printer on which to use so to be honest it did not occur to me that it might be a problem).
Now of course I understand that the drive to get customers to supply CMYK images was a Quark driven requirement back in the late 1990s. I did not and do not use Quark so knew nothing for this. I did have some early colour problems and font incompatibilities with the new printers and was pressured by their senior Graphic Designer (who designed for their own contract clients) to upgrade to InDesign and provide them with a .pdf, which I was assured would solve all my problems. The .pdf would be the same as the final printed magazine because "it would not require any further intervention by the printers".
I expect you are collectively throwing up your hands in horror at this point, but I think he was speaking genuinely. The creation of a .pdf using InDesign, is widely promoted as the ultimate answer to all printing issues.   I have encountered it recently with a lot of printers' salesmen and my friend, who edits a learned journal, has just been told the same thing by her printers, to get her to upgrade to ID. Incidentally she also uses a PC.
So we upgraded our design process in house to InDesign and our graphic designer went on a course, two courses in fact. When we came to produce our first .pdf using ID, the printers' Senior Graphic designer came on the phone and talked our designer through the ID Export function. I think he may at that time have told him to create a preset profile with MPC and the defaults, but to be honest I don't recall. We were never sent anything in writing about what settings we needed to match theirs. I continued to have intermittant colour management problems but put this down to my photos. Things came to head with the most recent issue where the colours were badly out on the cover, supplied by a press agency and taken by a professional photographer. The printers seemed to have little or no idea about possible causes.
Initially I thought that part of the underlying cause must lie in some mismatch between what I was sending the printers and what they expected to receive so I asked them to specify what I should send. All they said was use Profile preset as MPC setting and accept the defaults which accompany it.
So I came on here looking for a solution. A lot of people were keen to offer their own experience which I really appreciate. However the messages could be conflicting. Some of you suggested it was the underlying cover photo which was at fault, some that it was my monitor which needed better calibration.
Many of you here said that part of the problem, if not the whole problem, was the way I was generating my CMYKs for the printer and I should use Photoshop to do this. You also mentioned a number of possible colour management settings which I should try.
At times the advice seemed to change tack. There were suggestions that the colour management issues I had were nothing to do with the printers, that it was up to me not them. Quite a lot of you said I needed to be better informed about Colour Management issues. I agree, but I had never had any previously (maybe good luck, maybe good support from my previous printer) so I was not even aware that I needed to be better informed. Some of you mildly chastised me for not finding out more and doing more to manage my own colour management with the switch to ID. To which I can only say if I had needed to train up, I would have done. I did not realise I needed to. Nor was my designer aware of the issues as colour management was not really covered on his ID courses which were about typesetting and design.
Some of you even seemed to hint that unless I was prepared to use an expensive high end printer or effectively retrain as a print specialist or get my graphic designer to do so, then I probably shouldn't be in the magazine editing game at all. OK maybe that is a bit harsh but you get the drift.
The fact is that printing is much more accessible these days to all sorts of people and in particular to people with PCs. My brother lives in a large village in an isolated area and produces a village magazine which has been a great success. It is in black and white with spot colour but he would like to move to an all colour issue. He is a bit nervous of the colour management issues as he has no experience of graphic design and is his own designer using a low end entry level design package. He too uses a PC. The printers reps all tell him the same thing they tell me, that all he needs to supply is a .pdf using InDesign.
Somewhere I feel a black hole has developed, maybe back in the 1990s with Quark 4.11. A lot of printers standardised on that, and set up a work flow and prepress dependent on CMYK images as provided by the clients. They assumed the the clients would doing their own colour management. This approach also assumes everyone is using Quark on a Mac with the full range of Adobe software. When it became possible to generate .pdfs using InDesign, this was held out to users as the Holy Grail of magazine printing, even though their workflows and prepress were still based on Quark 4.11 principles. Any underlying colour management issues the clients now have to tackle themselves.
So now we have the situation in which I find myself, having to learn from scratch a good deal about colour management issues so that I can tell the printers what is needed for my magazine. Meanwhile all the printing salesmen, the ones I encounter anyway, are still busy pushing the InDesign to .pdf as the "be all and end all" solution. Some re-education is needed for all parties I think.

I am glad to see that the sun is peeping through the clouds.
I apologise for my Aussie-style straight talk earlier, but as I said before it was not directed personally at you but in the direction of others whom you epitomize, repeating a conversation I have had many times over the last 10 years or so where respectable, well-meaning photographers, designers and other contributors refuse to accept that colour management is being thrust upon them.
It is a simple fact of life, there is this 'new' thing that has butted into the very root of our trades and changed the most basic principles of printing and photography. We expect that this kind of thing does not happen but the industry we now work in is not the same one we trained in twenty years ago.
Many printers are still struggling with the same conflict, so many tradespeople cannot accept this change.
This is exacerbated by the fact that colour management is so complicated to learn and implement and confounded by the fact that the default settings and a clumsy workflow often yield acceptable results with incorrect, generic settings, hence the old 'use InDesign and make a PDF and it will be ok' route.
When the chain of colour management includes the photographer, the photographer's client, the designer, the other designer maybe, the prepress person, and the platemaker, and a single incorrect click by any one of those can kill the CM it is not surprising that in the end when someone is looking back to see where it fell over they usually never find out.....   They will meet someone who says ' I never touched it, I simply opened the file and scaled it and closed it'. And that person will be a reputable photographer or designer (and CLIENT) who has no idea they just broke it. So what do we do? We go with the generic setting that seems to yield adequate results therefore avoiding the confrontation.
You need to understand the situation of the printer who took his business through the 'early' days of colour management, we had all kinds of very reputable sources supplying incorrect files, we did not have the expertise yet to be able to address the entire workflow, it would have meant training photographers and designers all through the best design houses and national institutions, because they blamed the printer. Only in the last few years have I seen these people coming around to the fact that they bear responsibility for implementing their own cm and maintaining it through their own work.
Sadly, many high end sources are still not there, and I mean HIGH end! Probably the ones that don't even visit this forum because they want to keep blaming the printer... They tend to live with the poor quality reproductions and just pull up the worst ones and fiddle with those and try to avoid the 'elephant in the room'.
I am sorry to say that it was not practical for a printer to reject mismanaged files for fear of losing clients who would happily accept less than perfect results in order to avoid the painful truth that was being told to them. The best thing we could do was to gently make those clients aware that their workflow was imperfect and hope to show them how we could help... Many print shops do not have someone knowledgeable enough or patient enough to do this, or the boss does not understand the issue either and tries to work around it to keep his jobs flowing in the expectation that all those experts in the chain will eventually tame the thing.
The many experts on this holy forum are waaaaayyyy ahead of the printing industry in general and photographers and designers in general in their understanding of colour management workflow. I have seen first hand how reputable local industry people and trainers alike are spreading misinformation and bad techniques, when I discovered these forums back in about 2002 I found that they opened up a whole new galaxy of knowledge and facts that actually worked and made sense, unlike what I had been told locally.... This forum taught me what the Adobe text books did not, the Tech' teachers did not, local 'experts' did not!
I tell all interested people to join these forums and learn to discriminate between the good and bad information.

How do I make a title disappear in smoke or just vanish

Hello, I've searched for tutorials regarding this but couldn't find anything but how to make writing out of clouds and title appear from smoke. I want to make a title on a black backround disappear in smoke or vanish in smoke or smth like it. Does anybody know any tutorial that explains this? Also the writing shouldn't be from smoke or cloud or anything, just tipical font, but when it disappears it should disperse in smoke like it's flown away. I would really appreciate some help please!!!
Thanks!

There are about a zillion ways to do this. A quick Google Search brings up dozens of tutorials. Like this one, or this one, or . . . If you want to look at video tutorials just click the word videos in the left column.
Some use 3rd party plug-ins, some use stock footage, some use displacement. The process usually involves displacement maps or turbulent displace, some blurring, and some smoke. Smoke can be generated with fractal noise, particle systems, stock footage, or simply filming some smoke against a black background.
Hope this helps. It's too complicated to put the entire process in a post.

Need suggestion for creating 'whispy smoke'

Hi All,
I'm trying to figure out a way to create a cartoonish looking whispy smoke. I've played with Trapcode Particular and that creates some very realistic looking smoke, probably too realistic. I've played with CC Particle World, and also tried painting the smoke and then animated it on with a mask and a stroke set to reveal the original based on the mask. Nothing really gets close to what I'm looking for. Here's a sample of the client's original art:
Any suggestions for how to achieve this?
Thanks,
CJ

Trapcode 3D Stroke with taper enabled.
Mylenium

I just restored my 24 inch imac and it seems to be running MUCH slower than before. Any Ideas why? thanks in advance for your help!

I have erased and restored my 24 inch Intel iMac. I have upgraded to the last version of X os. My system is running WAY slower than it was before. Even opening windows seems to lag and the spinning wheel come up for everything. Every task is slow, even typing this! lol
Here are my specs:
Model Name:          iMac
Model Identifier:          iMac8,1
Processor Name:          Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:          2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors:          1
Total Number Of Cores:          2
L2 Cache:          6 MB
Memory:          4 GB
Bus Speed:          1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version:          IM81.00C1.B00
SMC Version (system):          1.30f1
Any ideas would be helpful. Is this a hardware issue?
Thanks!

Matt:
Thanks for the update. It is good to know that the maintenance procedures helped. Regular maintenance and a good backup are key to computer security. Gulliver's article has a suggested schedule. Dr. Smoke's FAQ on Backup and Recovery has excellent information and advice. I part company with him on his insistence on Retrospect, which I have found to be difficult to use. SuperDuper has been shown the best backup software in these tests.
If you usually leave your computer on or asleep, it is good practice to shut down and start up in Safe Mode occausionally. I do it about once weekly.
Good luck.
cornelius
Message was edited by: cornelius

Thanks Dr. Smoke

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