In which case I�d definitely recommend updating to 9.1, 9.2.1 or 9.2.2. Virtual memory was more of a problem with Photoshop in 8.x than in 9.x versions. The main downside is that 9.x versions do require more memory � you may need up to 50MB maximum just for the OS, whereas 8.6 would generally not need more than 20MB or so.
Three other things that you may want to check for are disk fragmentation (use Norton SpeedDisk), directory damage (use DiskWarrior), and a disk that has too little free space. Also check how much memory is allocated to PhotoShop � three times the size of the largest image you regularly work with is a good rule of thumb, but make sure to leave some free memory for printing over that taken by the OS itself. Letting MacOS 8.x or 9.x run out of memory is a sure-fire way of triggering system crashes. 8.6 was quite a good version of the OS, but it did have its problems. Main ones that I can recall were that Open Transport would screw up from time to time, stopping connectivity working correctly, and the bug with the Font Manager that caused fonts to get corrupted. At the end of the day, however, the biggest problem with all versions of MacOS prior to MacOS X (in my view and experience) is that firstly a system crash can occur (primarily because it�s not a protected memory operating system), and secondly that almost inevitably when a system crash occurs some damage is done to the Directory. The damage is often minor and appears to cause no side effects, but over time the minor faults add up to a point at which something goes wrong. At this point it is sometimes possible to fix the problems with something like DiskWarrior (or often make them worse with Norton Utilities!!), but quite often a system file is corrupted which stops some part of the OS from running correctly. Ultimately the only way of fixing this is to reinstall, even if it seems like the majority of the OS is otherwise working fine. The one way of significantly reducing this problem is to install the extension provided with DiskWarrior, (called DiskWarrior Extension!) and then make sure that you switch it on from within the DiskWarrior application � for some reason it�s off by default. This extension is absolutely invaluable under MacOS 9, and not many people know about it. It basically does two things � firstly, for performance reasons when files are written to disk without the extension, the directory is not updated immediately by the OS � there�s a pause until the system detects some idle time, when all pending updates are performed. This is fine if everything is OK, but if the system crashes before these updates are performed the updates to the directory just get lost, even though the disk contents may have changed � not a good thing to happen. So DW Extension makes sure that all updates are performed straight away, without any pause. On any Mac based on a PowerPC you just won�t notice any difference in speed as a result of this change, but the reliability of the directory is greatly improved. Secondly, DW Extension also monitors all attempted updates to the directory to make sure that they are correct in all respects, so maintaining the integrity of the directory. Nothing is totally 100% foolproof, but in my experience a system with DiskWarrior Extension installed is dramatically less likely to suffer from directory problems or corrupted system files. MacOS X renders all of this redundant through its use of a number of measures that maintain the directory integrity, both at the time of updates and by regular maintenance (assuming you leave the system on at all times). But if you can�t run MacOS X, make sure that you get, install and turn on DiskWarrior Extension! Hope the above stuff helps somebody! Nick -- Nick Collingridge - Zapp Computer Consultancy Tel: 01438 812802 Mob: 07831 381404 e-wk: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> e-hm: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: Bob Bonnington <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: "Mac UK" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 18:29:48 +0000 To: "Mac UK" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: OS 8.6 'restart' not working > The question I was actually asking was what version of the Operating System > you have. Nick, It's OS 8.6 B:-) -- Mac UK is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... 123Inkjets.com <http://lowendmac.com/ad/123inkjets.html> Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Mac UK list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/mac-uk.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-uk%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
