Spotlight running slow / showing inaccurate result in snow leopard [solved]

Problem raised: ?
Problem solved: Mid-Feb 2011
Solution type: unofficial solution

Description: The spotlight need a long time to work out the list of results for each and every query I made, and the result is simply nonsense, e.g. suggesting some internal program files that user won’t access on top of the .app file itself.

Causes:
Probably caused by a corrupted spotlight index.

Solution:
Turn off indexing, deleting the indexing file manually, and turn on indexing again
1. open terminal
2. type the following command in sequence, and provide your user password if prompted.
sudo mdutil -i off /
sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight*
sudo mdutil -i on /
sudo mdutil -E /

Remarks:
I have had a long time searching for this final solution, I have came across some alternative solutions, like using the official maintenance utility, or by excluding bootcamp from spotlight search,

but they all failed in my case, you may also try these out if you wish to

Credit:
mikeinpa @ apple discussion forum

Alert “This item will be deleted immediately” when deleting file on mac[solved]

Problem raised: Mid-Nov 2010
Problem solved: Early-Dec 2011
Solution type: unofficial solution

Description: After a full restore from my time machine backup, the trash of my mac becomes dysfunctional. Each time when I delete a file, the following alert shows up, implying that the file will be deleted directly without going to the trash, causing a risk of deleting the wrong file permanently.

Causes:
There are three possible causes for the alert above.
1. You are either no longer the Owner of your Home folder, do not have Access of Read & Write to such, or both.
2. Your account’s Trash, i.e. your ~/.Trash directory, has been deleted.
3. You no longer are the owner of your account’s Trash.

Solution:
Below is the solution I used in my case, apparently I was a victim of cause 1.
a. Open finder>select your home directory>cmd+i, you will see the following window.

b. Look at “Sharing & Permissions:” Make sure that your user name appears there and have both Read & Write Privilege.
c. If you cannot see your user name here, click the padlock icon on the bottom right corner, login with your user account, and then add the privilege back.

If you already have full privilege in your home folder, please check below for the troubleshooting procedures for causes 2&3:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html#Anchor-Files-46919

Credit:
thexlab

Adobe Photoshop Alert “Delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings file?” | Tools, functions behave strangely [Temp. resolution]

Problem raised: Mid-Nov 2010
Problem solved: Mid-Dec 2011
Solution type: unofficial solution

Description: After a full restore from my time machine backup, my photoshop CS3 doesn’t behave normally, the warning, “Delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings file?” appears when I open Photoshop, and the tools behave as if the Shift or Option keys are pressed. reinstalling doesn’t work, and upgrading to CS5 also cant solve the problem. Photoshop basically cant work as all the tools behave abnormally.

Causes: There appears to be a conflict between Mac OS 10.6.5, Photoshop, and some third-party utilities that alter keyboard shortcuts. These third-party utilities include Typinator, TextExpander, moveAddict, Things, xGestures, and so on.

Solution: There is a temporary resolution by uninstalling moveAddict or any other third-party utilities stated above

Credit:
Adobe KB

Plantronics Voyoger Pro not working on mac [solved]

Problem raised: Mid-Oct 2010
Problem solved: 2 Jan 2011
Solution type: unofficial solution

Description: I have bought a Plantronics Voyoger Pro for use with skype on mac at around august 2010, it worked very well until around October when it suddenly unable to input/output audio signal. It is still able to pair with the bluetooth module on mac, but when i try to play any sound from my mac, i am not able to hear any sound from the headset, and the beach ball appears on the mac, with some applications becoming unresponsive.

Causes: the Mac OSX 10.6.5 update includes an update for the bluetooth audio agent, with makes some bluetooth headset unusable with mac

Solution: rollback the bluetooth audio agent to an earlier version

1. locate the current bluetooth audio agent(BluetoothAudioAgent.app) in “/System/Library/CoreServices/”, My current version is 2.3.8.

2. Get a previous version of the BluetoothAudioAgent.app and replace the current file on your mac, my previous version was 2.3.3. You can get the previous version of the file from either one of the following ways.

a. here
b. Your time machine backup
c. MacOSX Installation disk (Get Pacifist to browse the package content of the disk, and find the BluetoothAudioAgent.app from the package contents)

3. Try to delete the bluetooth device and pair it again, it should work like what it did in the past!

Credit:
caseno7358 @ apple discussion forum

Hello World

This is a blog for sharing my experience on solving some tricky problems on Mac OS X. I am from Hong Kong, I am not really an expert on Mac, just a normal user like most of you are.

There is always times when you encounter some problems (on Mac) that have the following characteristics:

1. Not a serious problem – you can still use your Mac, but with some glitches
2. It become serious at times – when you come across a certain functionality, the problem makes you annoyed
3. You can search the question on Google, but not the answer – Mac is nice, you like it, and so do I. But it is undeniable that Mac user is still a small community, and it takes time for the community to discover, analyze, and solve the problem. It is even harder to make the problem noticeable by Apple, and see its action.

My experience is that many users are asking the same question on the Internet, even if there is a workable solution somewhere, it takes a long time to propagate through the whole community. With this blog, I would like to share some of my result in searching of solution for problems related to Mac, the solution may not be original, it mainly serves the purpose of reducing your effort on solving minor problems on Mac, and foster knowledge sharing among Mac users. I will try my best to credit the source.

I welcome your comment and it is even better if you can share your experience too.