Other Sites
If Preferential Treatment finds suspect files, it will list the files and allow you to reveal them in the Finder or move them to the trash. You may also configure a preference so that double-clicking on a file in the found files table to open it in the application of your choice (you can designate the default application from the preferences). There is also an option to save the results of a scan to a text file. (Note: if you trash a file before saving a report, the report will not include information on the file you moved to the trash.)
I donwloaded the latest Preferential Treatment 1.1.7 and ran it on my Pismo PowerBook. The program allows you to check your user preferences and system preferences separately, and on this machine the check runs too about 30 seconds respectively. You will need to enter an administrator password to check the system preferences by first clicking the little lock button in the PT interface window.
Nothing amiss was identified in my user preferences and just one baddie in my system preferences. There is a pull-down menu that gives you several options as to what to do with the bad preference file. I opted to send this one to the trash.
That's about it. Preferential Treatment is basically a GUI wrapped around the "plutil" command line tool provided by Apple Inc. since Mac OS X 10.2 (see "man plutil" in the Terminal). "plutil" just checks to see if .plist files are valid XML. This application is no panacea but it does help to fix blatantly corrupt preference files.
A .plist is a property list format document that applications, preference panes, and other software use to store preferences. According to the plist man page:
Property lists organize data into named values and lists of values using several Core Foundation types: CFString, CFNumber, CFBoolean, CFDate, CFData, CFArray, and CFDictionary. These types give you the means to produce data that is meaningfully structured, transportable, storable, and accessible, but still as efficient as possible. The property list programming interface allows you to convert hierarchically structured combinations of these basic types to and from standard XML. The XML data can be saved to disk and later used to reconstruct the original Core Foundation objects. Note that property lists should be used for data that consists primarily of strings and numbers because they are very inefficient when used with large blocks of binary data.
There are some files that require administrative permission for this application to check them properly. If the account from which you run this application is not in the admin group, you will not be able to check these files. For this reason, for maximum benefit, it is recommended that you run this application from an administrative account.
If you run a check and you receive a message to the effect that you don't have permission to read a file, you can authenticate the application with your administrative password. This will only be an option if you are using an account that is a member of the admin group. If so, to authenticate, simply click on the "lock" button at the top right corner of the main window. This will bring up an authentication dialog that will allow you to enter your password.
Preferential Treatment preferences allow you to set certain scan configurations. You may set the folders that the application searches. For most users, the defaults will suffice. If you are using a server or NetBoot environment, however, your preference files may be in a unique location and you can tell the application to search that location by selecting "Preferences..." from the application menu and specifying the appropriate folder(s) as necessary.
The other settings in the preferences are fairly straightforward. You may choose the default application "Preferential Treatment" uses when you double-click a flagged file and the creator code for the text file of the saved reports.
A few caveats:
* Before you move a preference file to the trash, you should quit the associated application if it is open. You should use your best judgment before deleting a preference file. In most cases, it is safe to do so and the associated application will simply regenerate a preference file based on the application defaults.
* Deleting the preference file (.plist) of some applications may mean you will have to re-enter a registration code and/or preferences (such as server and network settings for Mail.app) for the deleted preference file’s application to work properly.
* If you move one or more system preferences to the trash, it is probably a good idea to immediately restart your system.
* You must have administrative permission to open many system preferences—even to use this application to scan them for corruption. For instance, the files in the folder “/Library/Preferences/DirectoryServices/” (“ContactsNodeConfig.plist”, “DirectoryService.plist”, “DSLDAPv3PlugInConfig.plist”, & “SearchNodeConfig.plist”) may be listed as corrupt when using the application.
If you authenticate “Preferential Treatment” and then scan the preferences, this runs the “plutil” as sudo which should eliminate the permissions issue and allow the files to be parsed properly returning no error—unless, of course, there are errors with these files unrelated to permissions.
* If you try to open a flagged file for which you do not have read privileges, you may receive an error from the target application indicating the permissions error. This may happen even if you have authenticated “Preferential Treatment”, perhaps because you have not authenticated the target application.
* Some people have noticed that there are preference files in their user preferences that they do not have permission to read. Some applications write their preference files as the main administrative user for the system (“root”) so they can function at the lowest possible level to fix your system (i.e., root). This is why these applications (such as TechTool Pro or DiskWarrior) ask for your password either when they run or when they are installed and, in some cases, why they must be run from an external volume such as a CD. This is not a problem, per se, and as long as you authenticate “Preferential Treatment”, it should be able to determine if their preference files are valid XML.
The online help manual thoroughly explains how Preferential Treatment works, but it's quite intuitive anyway.
New in version 1.1.7:
* Updated to Universal Binary.
* Italian localization by Creative Shield.
* Vietnamese localization by Clytie Siddall.
* Minor code & interface improvements.
* Includes script for running any application as an administrator (as long as proper credentials are provided). This is useful as some users have problems authenticating within Preferential Treatment itself.
New in version 1.1.6:
* Fixed an error that occurred when trying to authenticate on some non-English systems.
* Fixed an error that resulted from scanning plist files whose name included an apostrophe.
* Updates to the French localization by Ronald Leroux.
New in version 1.1.5:
* Improved compatibility with Mac OS X 10.4.3 (Tiger).
* Added the ability to specify the user name of the admin account when authenticating (Mac OS X 10.4+-only).
* Minor code & interface improvements.
System requirements:
• Mac OS X 10.2 or higher
Preferential Treatment is freeware/donationware
For more information, visit:
http://www.jonn8.com/html/pt.html
Digg this
del.icio.us
Charles W. Moore
Tags: Blogs ï Hands On Mac ï
