While you’re drooling over Snow Leopard, Apple is already said to be testing 10.5.8. Yes, it’s even been called an imminent release, although we all know how that turns out. Anyway, as all things go, Apple’s OS updates are known to cause problems for a certain number of people. I’ve seen it happen after every point update, where certain number of users will face blue screens, spinny wheels, or crashed applications. Yeah yeah, I know most of you are so far sailing on ultra smooth updates.
The problem with Apple’s updates is that you have to install them, without which you won’t be able to install any new software from Apple. I admire this bold policy of making sure everyone’s running the latest system, but it ultimately requires you to put your files at risk. I’ve so far been nicked by the 10.4.8 update (spotlight stopped working), followed by 10.5.4 (Kernel Panic every 1 hour 4 minutes), and recently with the 10.5.7 update (InDesign crashed permanently).
The reason why this happens is there is something broken in your system to start with. It’s why this doesn’t usually happen with those who install very few applications, and stay away from haxies. Now we’re not going to stop overloading our systems with apps neither are we going to stop hacking it. So here are a few suggestions to get the system back to normal before updating it.
1. Disk Utility
The most important thing to do before updating your system. I fear my 10.5.7 update went bad only because I didn’t run Disk Utility. Run a permissions check and verify the disk. You should do this after the update as well.
2. The Combo Update
Always download combo updates. They’re a little bigger to download, but because they contain all the fixes from start to finish, any broken files in between will be fixed as well. I downloaded combo updates for 10.5.5 and 10.5.6, but couldn’t do so for 10.5.7 because of my internet connection woes. I wish I had. If you have the bandwidth the combo update will go a long way in ensuring a smoother update.
3. Disable Startup Items
A lot of the times some startup item will not be compatible with the new OS and will throw a fit. Go to your Preferences » User Accounts » and disable whatever login items you think might create some issues.
4. Maintenance scripts
Run maintenance scripts from Onyx or even the Automator script that will go through your system fixing up things along the way. Here’s a bunch of apps that will keep your system ready for anything.
5. SuperDuper backup
This app will create a bootable clone of your current system on an external hard drive. If something unexpected happens you don’t have to wait 3 hours for Time Machine to restore your drive. Yes, restoring 200GB of data on my iMac took 3 hours with Time Machine. Here’s a review of the SuperDuper, if you want to know more about it.
6. Twitter
If you’re not in a hurry to update to the latest and greatest, you will probably hear about any major issues on your favourite Apple blog (*hint* *hint*). But if you’re impatient and want to get in on the action as soon as possible, I’d suggest you give search.twitter.com a visit. Search for “10.5.x problems”, “10.5.7 #sucks” or something like that to see if there are any major errors with the system.
Now I’m sure most of you will never come across major issues with an OS update, but to sound wise and ancient: prevention is better than cure.
