My computer is fritzing, the screen turning to mush every hour or so with a demand to be shut down. It's a hardware problem, too complicated to go into here (even supposing I actually understood technology) but I thought it would be a good time to try out my Atrios impression:
Fix it.
Until then, I'm going to wean myself gradually by using my daughter's FireFox-free computer. Expect many spelling errors as I compose posts in Safari. (What's up with TypePad not working properly in Safari anyway? Maybe I should have Atrios talk to them.)
I use Firefox for security and for tabbed browsing, but I think it is one over-rated piece of software. For overall functioning, I think IE is a lot better. Firefox gets on my nerves.
Posted by: Diane | October 12, 2005 at 05:53 PM
Kathy, are you sure your computer's up do date and such? I have no problem with typepad in Safari, unless you're talking the proprietary parts.
Which computer? I had an early G4 computer that liked to shut down with a terrible message. For some reason, it hated a particular iTunes update. Are you only using Safari when this happens?
Posted by: John Ashman | October 12, 2005 at 08:10 PM
It's still under warranty; it's the logic board. Many seem to suffer the same fate. I'm trying to hook up my old Mac, a '99 model that keeps on running despite old age. TypePad in Safari doesn't have all the bells and whistles, the web-based posting software I mean.
Posted by: KathyF | October 12, 2005 at 08:52 PM
Well, obviously getting it fixed is the good thing. If you need to rely on it in the mean time, make sure you empty the Safari cache about once every 15 minutes. Are you using Tiger? Tiger has a LOT of flaws right now. Panther should be stable. Anything earlier than that and you could be having other issues aside from the logic board. Safari on Tiger will lock you up, especially if you're running other apps at the same time. OTOH, I've only hard crashed my Mac Mini (the Apple Multi-Language Screen of Death) once. And it took three or four restarts to cleanse it.
IOW, you might be able to keep it limping along if you need to by not throwing it too much. If I'm not doing anything important that needs to be saved in Safari, I often will simply quit it, then reopen it and that helps. A new patch seems to have alleviated the problem, at least til 10.4.3 comes out.
Posted by: John Ashman | October 13, 2005 at 01:12 AM
Kathy, there are two ways to fix a computer: Ignore it and hope it goes away, or call a guy who fixes computers. The first never works. The second always does. I call him and he comes out of his little cave, squinting in the daylight, scurrying into my office with his big sack of stuff, from which he plucks CDs and a little can of air and a few small, oddly shaped screwdrivers. He mutters and does things with my keyboard, murmurs a few incantations, reboots, mumbles and chants a bit more, reboots again, then shuffles off into his gnomish little car and drives away.
It's a good system.
Posted by: Christie Keith | October 13, 2005 at 01:48 AM
Christie, I'm not saying "don't fix it", I was just saying those are things she can try as a stop gap, as I had a similar problem. They might not work at all. Sometimes a logic issue can only cause problems based on what you're doing to the computer at the time. Or so it seems.
Posted by: John Ashman | October 13, 2005 at 10:56 AM