🚀 go-pugleaf

Sam and Alastair Beadle <samnali@delfloria.deletethis.demon.co.uk>
wrote:

> OK I give up - someone tell me about Mac OS (7.5.7) extensions.

My rusty brain remembers 7.5, 7.5.1, 7.5.3 and 7.5.5 but not 7.5.7.
Check that again!

> After getting our Mac we had several clashes - some fiddling around and we
> got rid of all the problem ones. Now my daughter has got a new program
> that clashes with - guess what - our PPP extension - eek! So at the moment
> we have to start up, reset the extension (and virtual memory - it causes
> some of her games problems too) - then restart. THEN repeat it before we
> can use the internet.
>
> So - the questions:
> 
> Is there any way of resetting all these things in one easy step - a script
> sounds good but the Extensions manager is not scriptable (as, I have
> found, are a lot of other programs and controls).

All the Extensions Manager is doing is moving Extensions between the
"Extensions" folder and the "Extensions (Disabled)" (and similar for
Control Panels etc.) You could write a script to move the Extensions
around yourself. I'm not sure if you can script turning VM on and off
though... and AppleScript wizards around...?

> Why does the extensions manager not control all of them? If I turn them
> all off and look in the extensions folder it is still full of stuff. Files
> like Apple Guide files and so on I can understand but many of them are
> real extensions!

Now, there are 'real' Extensions and 'real' Extensions.

Some Extensions (e.g. QuickTime) patch new functionality into the
System, and to do this they have to load at startup time. They often
show their icons along the bottom of the screen while the machine starts
up. They sometimes conflict with each other and often use lots of
memory, and so you can use the Extension Manager to turn them on and off
if you have problems or need to free up memory.

Other Extensions don't patch the System in the same way. They don't need
to load anything at startup time, but only load when needed. They don't
cause Extension clashes in the same way that 'normal' Extensions do, and
don't use RAM until they are needed, and so don't need to be controlled
by the Extensions Manager.

The Extensions Manager (and third-party products like Symbionants) can
tell the difference between Extensions which load at startup and those
that don't, and only give you the option to switch the former on and off
as that's all you need.

There are other things that live inside the Extensions Folder that
aren't Extensions at all (e.g. Printer Descriptions, AppleGuide files)
and therefore aren't harmful to anything. Just leave them there, unless
you're sure you don't need them.

I hope that was a clear explanation!


And now some suggestions:

What versions of the software you have are you running? It might be a
good idea to re-install your System, and so it could possibly do with an
upgrade at the same time. What type of PPP software are you using?
OT/PPP 1.0.1 and FreePPP 2.6.2 are both current - make sure you're using
one of those. If you're using one of those at the moment, try the other
one - they both do more or less the same thing, and more or less as well
as each other.

See if the other software you're running has upgrades available (visit
the developers' Web sites, or try <http://www.versiontracker.com/>.

Conflict Catcher is designed to help in these situations, but I've never
tried it myself. It might be worth giving your system a rebuild/upgrade
and upgrading your other software before shelling out for it.

HTH

-- 
Mark Etherington @ London UK
mark@roxley.demon.co.uk