Dean Cole followed up his Monday report with the solution to his force-rebind problem after restarting Snow Leopard clients. Turns out his fix, described in Apple Support article TS3248, is the same that another reader reported as the solution for "Snow Leopard clients bound to Active Directory getting stuck in screen saver mode." Cole reports:

I actually found a KB article on Apple's website to fix this, the fix has solved the issue on all of my Mac clients running Snow Leopard 10.6. I'm not sure if this fix works on OS X server as I am not experiencing any AD issues on that to try it out.

If you've tried this

Jason Sloaf suggests another Finder alternative for getting around slow SMB file sharing in Snow Leopard. Readers have previously suggested the Path Finder utility. Sloaf suggests Adobe Bridge:

The other product that gets around the SMB issue in the Snow Leopard Finder is Adobe Bridge. Adobe used to offer an option in the Creative Suite applications to use their own dialog box interface when opening and/or saving a file instead of the Finder's interface........Read entire story here

Alexis Rosen forwarded a fix for problems with Snow Leopard clients not being able to delete files on Linux SMB shares. There were also issues copying files. The fix is to edit the /etc/samba/smb.conf file on the Linux server. Editing this file can fix other issues as well. This time, the trick is to remove the "netbios name = XXXXX" line. Rosen's report:

I am running a stock Ubuntu Lucid, fully updated, with the standard Ubuntu packaged samba (v3.4.7). I spent several hours trying to get it working properly with OS X 10.6.4 last weekend. This is a new installation, so I have no track record of previous success or failure with this combination of software. The problem I was seeing was that the Finder could not delete files within folders of the share, failing with the message "The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items." Also, copying files into folders would work, but the Finder would leave them with a file type of "brkn"........Read entire story here

Jack Fruh had success with a previously reported tip for fixing slow SMB file sharing in Snow Leopard, and shared an alternative method:

Just wanted to say I tried the tip "DNS/Kerberos Setting workaround for slow SMB browsing." Like another reader, it cut approx 25 seconds off my time. (In my case, the delay is easy to measure repeatedly, as I have an Applescript that mounts the disk, so I don't have to type anything in.) Previous to this, it took 30 seconds from connect to 'login prompt', now it takes about 6........Read entire story here

Responding to Monday's report of using Cisco AnyConnect instead of Cisco VPN Client for better results in Snow Leopard, Oliver Block warns that the two are not always interchangeable:

Readers should understand that Cisco AnyConnect is not simply a substitute for Cisco VPN Client 4.x. Cisco AnyConnect works with recent Cisco devices and supports SSL VPN. The Cisco AnyConnect VPN client is not compatible with the IPsec VPN tunnels available on many older Cisco devices, e.g. Cisco PIX 500 series firewalls. If a user's network supports Cisco AnyConnect connections, then the user should work with his or her network admin to move to AnyConnect, but that won't be the case for many users. Readers can review this FAQ from Cisco for more information about Cisco AnyConnect VPN Client.

Alexis Rosen has a problem with a Linux server and a network trash folder with Mac clients:

If anyone knows how to enable a functioning trashcan on a network share (either AFP or SMB) I'd love to know about it. I see that my share has a "Network Trash Folder" and that netatalk knows to hide that from me, but I still can't hold files in the trash - the Finder destroys them immediately upon throwing them out (after warning it's going to do so). There was some comment on the netatalk mailing list *years* ago that this was "known broken" and that Apple was working on it. I didn't even try to see if samba could use one. (Apparently samba has a VFS module that will put all removed files into a trashcan, but that doesn't help me with netatalk, and I'd like something more Mac-like if I can manage it.)

If you know the answer

For Macs running Snow Leopard, John Brigance recommends Cisco's Anyclient overCisco VPN Client:

We quit using Cisco VPN Client for Mac here at UT Austin because it was too unreliable. We now use Cisco AnyConnect VPN Client for all our Macs running on Snow Leopard. You can check it out here. I never have a problem with it.

If this fixes your Snow Leopard/Cisco VPN problems

Dean Cole is having a problem with Snow Leopard clients requiring force-undbinding:

Hi I am just contacting you with regards to a post on your site on the 22nd September 2009 titled Reader's Mac OS X 10.6 Server requires forced-unbind after restart. I am experiencing the same issues on my Snow Leopard clients however it doesn't seem to happen every time the machines are restarted. Just the majority of the time!

If you've seen this

After upgrading to iOS4, Michel Wijnstekers is having the same problem described in the report "Reader's iPhone email not getting delivered through Exchange." He says:

I have the same problem as described in the website. We updated our e-mail server (new install) to Exchange 2010. Everything was working fine. But when iPhone users updated their IPhone to version 4, they were unable to send mail from their iPhone. There's no error message on the iPhone and the mail is not in the sent folder. Also, some of the users must fill in their password on there iPhone several times in a week.

We using Exchange 2010 and Microsoft UAG to publish Exchange to the web.

If you're seeing this issue

Laplink Software has released Switch & Save (US $40), a product that can move or synchronize files and folders and settings from a PC to a Mac, and converts email, contacts and calendars to Mac formats. Switch & Sync can convert Windows Mail, Outlook Express 6 and later, and Outlook 2000 and later to Mac Mail and Address Book and Microsoft Entourage formats. The product consists of a USB cable and software that installs on both Mac OS X and Windows.

Users can also perform two-way syncing of files and folders, either manually or automatically with a schedule. Drag-and-drop copying of files is also supported. The Switch & Sync software only copies the portions of files that have changed since the last sync. This results in fast syncs of large amounts of data, according to Laplink. The software can also recognized when files have been renamed, replaced, or deleted.

It was a good quarter for PC sales, but a great quarter for Macs. Mac sales in business and government saw their biggest increases ever in the quarter ending in June, outstripping growth of the general PC market. According to Needham & Company analyst Charles Wolf, as reported by AppleInsider yesterday, Mac sales to enterprise jumped 49.8 percent, three times the 15.7 percent of the PC market. Mac sales to government surged a whopping 200 percent, 16 times the 12.1 percent growth of the market. Mac sales in enterprise grew faster than Mac sales to homes, Apple's traditional stronghold......Read entire story here

Quest Software has beefed up its Mac Active Directory offerings with two new tools. Quest Authentication Services 4.0 is an agent-based Active Directory bridge solution that adds Active Directory's authentication and group policy capabilities to Mac OS X, Unix, and Linux. The other release, Quest Identity Manager for Unix, is a free web-based console for managing Macs, Unix, and Linux clients from any platform--with or without Active Directory......Read entire story here

A number of readers report that a fix for Mac authentication in .local domains works for them. There were also questions and a further suggestion. Alan Silcott reports:

Just wanted to say that the article: "TIP: Fix for Mac AD authentication failure after reboot on .local domains" fixed my problems with Snow Leopard losing the AD connection with our .local domain. This article was incredibly helpful.

It also worked for Clint Baxter, but he had a question about notebooks.......Read entire story here

David Gilding is another reader getting error 51 when he tries to connect to a Cisco VPN from Snow Leopard:

I appear to have the same problem as Ramon Espinosa (Tues Jun 1, 2010). Until last week, the Mac VPN client worked beautifully. Now it asks for password (via token), 'connects' for a second or two and then disconnects. Very annoying - colleagues with PCs were told to reinstall software from discs, which seems to have solved the problem for them.

If you have any ideas about this issue

We've previously reported some suggestions, but they don't seem to work for everyone.

VMware has released Fusion 3.1.1, a maintenance update to the virtualization software for Intel Macs. The update enables users of VMware Fusion to run VMware vSphere 4.1 as a guest OS on a Mac. vSphere is sometimes referred to as a "cloud computing OS." The update also fixes a problem accessing iSight cameras and a problem with recording audio when the sample rate was not 44.1 kHz. The VMware Fusion 3.1.1 is available from the Software Update feature within VMware within Fusion 3.x.

Apple has released "Mac OS X Server 10.6.4 Update for Mac Pro (Mid 2010)," an update of its server package. Apple lists about a dozen fixes for the update. These include a problem "copying, renaming, or deleting files on SMB file servers" and reliability of VPN connections. It also fixes an issue with CalDAV querying of email addresses with Active Directory and Open Directory servers. The update is for only the recently upgraded Mac Pro hardware running Mac OS X Server 10.6.3.

Does this release fix any issue for you?

Apple released the Snow Leopard Graphic Update, which is designed to fix performance and stability of specific games. It addresses frame rates in Portal and Team Fortress and Team Fortress 2, and bugs with Aperture 3 or StarCraft II. However game manufacture Steam said that performance of its games had been below that of Windows.

At it web site, Steam indicated that a "lot of buzz about performance, particularly relative to Windows" spurred them to contact Apple about it. Steam has a lengthy technical post about the update, including this:

...we have spent a large chunk of effort in the intervening months working with Apple and their GPU vendors to close the performance gap with Windows. The combination of changes in our code and the latest graphics update available from Apple today removes a variety of software bottlenecks, resulting in significant graphics performance enhancements for Mac gamers.

Is there a gaming performance gap between Snow Leopard and Windows in general? Post a note in our forums.

John Lundell said that problems with Outlook and iPads and iPhones, such as where messages deleted in Outlook remain on the iPad, are due to a corrupt Outlook file in Windows:

The user having these issues needs to re-create their .OST file. We've seen similar things (not just with iPads or iPhones) all related to corrupt .ost files.

Microsoft has information on how to fix a .OST file here.

If you've tried this approach

Readers are reporting Exchange email problems after upgrading iPhones and iPod Touches to iOS4. We've previously reported Apple's release of a new ActiveSync profile, but that doesn't help some readers. David Kerwin saw multiple problems on his iPod Touch with iOS4:

The moment I downloaded iOS4 I knew I'd made a mistake (iPod Touch 3G purchased 12-09). The battery doesn't last more than a day with normal use whereas before it would last a few days. My work email (Outlook 2003) instantly stopped functioning and I've tried every fix except jailbreaking and reverting to iOS 3.1.3......Read entire story here

John Thow in the United Kingdom answered another reader's question about turning of Windows XP's "simple file sharing" option:

Regarding this page: TIP: Fix for Mac OS X connecting to Win XP as a non-guest. I came across this as I'm trying to do the same thing on a friend's machine. The answer to Phil Gate's problem can be found at on this WikiHow page.

Patrick Reese said that a reported fix for wireless networking problems in Boot Camp didn't work:

I've tried the following fix: TIP: A fix for Windows 7 wireless drivers on a MacBook Boot Camp 3. But it just gives me an error message that the software failed to install. My Internet still won't work in Boot Camp in Windows 7.

If you've seen this problem

Cybele Software has released ThinVNC, a new, free remote desktop solution that allows remote control of Windows from any OS running an HTML5 web browser, including Safari, Firefox, and the iPad's browser. Unlike other VNC-based remote desktop solutions, ThinVNC does not require installing any plugin or software on the computer doing the accessing. ThinVNC is installed only on the computer being accessed remotely. ThinVNC uses SSL for security.

With the software's ThinVNC Presentation Manager, users can invite people to attend online demonstrations. Attendees don't need to download anything. IT administrators can also set up ThinVNC as a gateway to proxy other ThinVNC instances. The company said “By publishing only one IP, users can remotely get access to desktops on the LAN just by entering the internal IP/PC name in the welcome screen.”

ThinVNC is free for noncommercial use. For commercial use, contact Cybele Software.