Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!lll-winken!uunet!cbmvax!vu-vlsi!swatsun!jackiw
From: jackiw@cs.swarthmore.edu (Nick Jackiw)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Can MultiFinder turn itself on?
Message-ID: <2646@carthage.cs.swarthmore.edu>
Date: 6 Apr 89 14:17:43 GMT
References: <7671@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Reply-To: jackiw@carthage.UUCP (Nick Jackiw)
Organization: Visual Geometry Project, Swarthmore College, PA
Lines: 51

In article <7671@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> mha@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Mark H. Anbinder) writes:
> This may sound like a silly question, but is there any way that the
> Set Startup option could become set to MultiFinder instead of Finder
> through any way OTHER than the user doing so manually?

Of course it IS possible, but (VERY) highly unlikely.  MultiFinder is an
application, but its file-type is set to System Software (instead of the
normal application's type of APPL); consequently it will not appear in
lists of applications provided by most transfer menus, auto-application-
executives, etc.  Furthermore, the format of the "Finder Startup" file
(which determines which applications--and what Finder environment--are
executed initially) is not publically documented.  While certain 3rd-party
products may access or alter its function (having obtained the format from
Apple), these products are all "finder-substitutes" which your user would
be aware of had she one installed.

> She KNOWS that she didn't turn it on, and
> she's VIRTUALLY CERTAIN that no one else would have done it (she's
> the only one who has physical access to the computer most of the time, 
> as it's in a locked enclosure).  Could this happen any other way?  Is
> there a procedure that would allow software to change this setting?  If
> so, does anyone know of any software that's rude enough to do so?

No no and no. At this point, I would either suspect the system file of
being corrupted or begin to doubt the expertise of the user as a bug-
reporter / recaller-of-her-former-actions.

> This is just the latest in a string of problems she's been having with
> this computer, including Excel reporting file locked errors when the
> files were definitely NOT locked or otherwise busy, and Excel setting
> the Save As format to SYLK all by itself.

I have seen FileLocked errors appear sporatically in place of both "File
Damaged/Busy" and "File Open Elsewhere" contexts.  Remember that in the
event of a crash, certain files may be left open; and consequently in-
accessible until the user or some observant program choses to shut them.
(The DeskZap da has an explicit CLOSE option, for instance.  Use it with
caution.)  Many programs set the Save As format to the format of the last
opened file ... could this be Excel's "problem?"

These are just stray thoughts.  "User debugging" is so much more a heuristic
endeavor than "program debugging (:->."  Hope it helps.

> Mark H. Anbinder                                ** MHA@TCGould.tn.cornell.edu


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