Security Update Fixes Screen Effects Problem -- Apple has released Security Update 2003-07-14, fixing a potential security issue related to using a password when waking a Mac from a running Screen Effects screensaver. The update, which requires Mac OS X 10.2.6, fixes a situation where an unauthorized user could gain access to the computer when the password prompt was displayed. Apple has posted the update as a 1.7 MB stand-alone download, as well as made it available under Software Update. [JLC]
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Syslogd Overwhelming Your Computer?
If your Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) system is unexpectedly sluggish, logging might be the culprit. Run Activity Monitor (Applications/Utilities/ folder), and click the CPU column twice to get it to show most to least activity. If syslogd is at the top of the list, there's a fix. Syslogd tracks informational messages produced by software and writes them to the asl.db, a file in your Unix /var/log/ directory. It's a known problem that syslogd can run amok. There's a fix: deleting the asl.db file.
Launch Terminal (from the same Utilities folder), and enter these commands exactly as written, entering your administrative password when prompted:
sudo launchctl stop com.apple.syslogd
sudo rm /var/log/asl.db
sudo launchctl start com.apple.syslogd
Your system should settle down to normal. For more information, follow the link.
Written by
Glenn Fleishman
Published in TidBITS 689.
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Security Update Fixes Screen Effects Problem
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