This week, a recent tidbit from the MacMaineiac Mailbag, lovingly and carefully edited, of course.

“Dear MacMaineiac. I recently wanted to install a second browser on my Mac, specifically Netscape. The installation instructions included the following: ‘For Mac OS and Windows users, it is strongly recommended that you exit all programs before running the setup program. Also, you should temporarily disable virus-detection software.’ Why should I disable my virus program (Virex, in this case)? If so, how?”

An excellent question! New applications can be installed on you Mac running OS X in three basic ways, depending on the functionality the new application will add to the system. For example, Now Contact & Up-to-Date (NC&UTD), a popular address book/calendar application suite, places two icons in your menu bar to give you handy access to your contacts and calendar events without having to open the entire applications themselves. NC&UTD uses a separate installer application to place everything where it needs to be to add this functionality. Installing NC&UTD onto Mac OS 9 would require a RESTART, while Mac OS X does not.

Most applications that require major additions to the system will require a RESTART, and some of them will be followed by a sequence where the installer program will optimize the system. Although this takes a minute or two, it keeps the system running smoothly with the new additions.

Some applications don’t require an installer. You simply drag the application file into your Applications Folder and you’re in business. The powerful MS Office 2004 suite uses this procedure. The first time you open each application, the elements needed by the application (fonts, etc) are installed. Sure, this makes the first opening take a bit longer, but after that everything needed is there and the application fires right up. It’s also interesting to note that MS Office will also repair itself (automatically add any files that have been deleted by mistake), if need be, each time it’s opened.

So, back to the question. If you are adding a new application with “drag and drop” installation, you can probably have other applications open with no problem. Obviously, Netscape is more picky and is concerned that it might want to place something where something else is already in use.

Now, as to virus protection - what’s a virus? Oh, yeah, they have those on Windows.

© 2004 Peter F. Zimowski