The private message below, about NETSCAPE, was received this
morning. I think it is worth sharing.
Ludwik Kowalski
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Most of this is assembled from several Net sites:
The following are the basic troubleshooting steps used to
resolve <<most>> problems with the Mac and
Navigator/Communicator. There is always an element
of Voodoo involved.
1. Give Netscape more memory
2. Turn off Fake RAM (VIRTUAL MEMORY, RamDoubler, OptiMem)
3. Increase the Apple Disk Cache in the Memory Control Panel
4. Turn off MODERN MEMERY MANAGER with system 7.5.3 or lower.
5. Upgrade to MacTCP 2.0.6 or Open Transport 1.1.2
6. Trash the Netscape Preferences
7. Rebuild the desktop
8. Conflict test with Control Panels and Extensions
9. Run MacTools, Norton Disk Doctor, or Disk First Aid
10."Clean" Install the System Software
11. Zap the PRAM
12. Conflict Test some more
Once you take care of easy memory management problems,
errors on a Mac can generally be traced to conflicts between
Control Panels and Extensions. Thus, if we disable all but
the bare-minimum necessary to run Netscape, we've
eliminated all the variables that could affect the Mac.
1.) System 7.5 comes with the Extensions Manager Control
Panel. (Find it in Apple Menu | Control Panels).
a. Go to the Apple Menu, select Control Panels, and open
Extensions Manager.
b. In the top-right corner of the window is the set-list.
Choose "Save Set..." Name it "Before Netscape". It's possible
to save different sets of Control Panels and Extensions
for different tasks. That's what we've just done. To return
to your old configuration just open the set-list, choose
the "Before Netscape", and relax.
c. Turn of any extensions that you do not need for the internet.
This will include nearly all of them. If we leave any
favorites running, then we can't be sure if we've eliminated
a conflict or not.
d. Go back to the "Set-list" popup menu and select "Save set..."
e. Name it "Minimal" or something like this.
f. Restart the computer to put our changes into effect.
Note: There are other Extensions Managers utilities out there.
Conflict Catcher and Now Startup are probably the most popular.
If you have one of those, then make sure anything with "TCP",
"PPP", and "Open" (as in Open Transport) is turned on. If you
have any questions about it, just check out your manual.
2) Give Netscape more memory. Netscape on the PC has both a
disk cache and a memory cache in the Network Prefs. Netscape
on the Mac has only a Disk Cache setting. Where's the memory
cache?
Macs have a flat memory structure. If you allocate more
memory to an application, it will use it, if necessary. Netscape
does the same. Note: You can not allocate too much memory to
an application, the application will just take as much as
possible out of your remaining RAM.
a. Make sure the program is not running -- go to the
Applications Menuin the top-right corner of the screen, make
sure "Netscape" is not listed. If Netscape is running, select
the Netscape item from the menu, and then go to the File Menu
and select Quit. (<command>-Q is the keyboard equivalent.)
If Netscape is not running, select the Finder item from the menu.
b. Find Netscape. Click ONCE on it. (Do not open the file; if you do,
go back to step a)
c. Next, go to the File Menu and select "Get Info... There are two
boxes here: Minimum size and a Preferred size. Do not change
the Minimum size.
d. Change the Preferred size box to around a minimum of 16000
and a maximum of 20000. This is a rough value that will give
Netscape all the elbow-room it needs. You can increase of
decrease this value based on: how much RAM is installed on
the computer, whether the you'll be running plugins or not,
and if you require some unused memory for Helper Apps.
Note: If the Preferred size is greater than the amount of free
RAM, the max amount possible will be allocated. You'll get
"Out of Memory" errors when you attempt to run helper apps.
This is a non-fatal error, so don't be too concerned about it.
3)
a. Turn off Fake RAM ( RamDoubler, OptiMem) Note: If you can't
find the Memory Control Panel, it is disabled. Turn it on
using the Extensions Manager Control Panel. Note: changes
don't take effect until restart.
b. Optimize the Apple Disk Cache (in the Memory Control Panel).
There is a Disk Cache setting inside the Memory Control
Panel. It should be set to 32K per 1 MB of RAM. Multiply it out.
ex. 8MB RAM==256K
ex. 16MB RAM==512K
Note: More may help in some cases, but start with these
values; you'llget slow performance when the Disk Cache is
too large.
c. Turn off the Modern Memory Manager (if present in the
Memory Control Panel). This should help improve compatibility.
Inside the Memory Control Panel may be a heading called
"Modern Memory Manager". If present, click the "Off" button.
(if you are running system 7.5.5 or 7.6.x DO NOT TURN MMM
OFF!!)
6. Upgrade MacTCP 2.0.6 or Open Transport 1.1.2. Call Apple for
instructions on getting these.
7. Trash the Netscape Preferences. Quit Netscape if it's running.
(You may want to make sure it doesn't appear in the applications
menu, the menu in the top rightmost corner of the screen. If it's
present, select it. Then go to the File Menu and select Quit.)
Open the HD. Open the Netscape Communicator Folder. Go to the
profile manager. Create a new profile. Start Netscape
Communicator using the new profile. If the new profile corrects
the problems you are having, trash the old User Profile. If this
does not correct the problems you are having, you will need to
uninstall and reinstall Netscape.
8. Rebuild the desktop. Restart the Mac, hold down the <option>
and <command> keys until the Mac asks "Do you want to rebuild
the desktop?". This may take up to 10 minutes.
9. Run MacTools, Norton Disk Doctor, or Disk First Aid. These
first two are payware HD diagnostic programs. The third is a
free disk diagnostic that comes with all Macs on either the
Disk Tools floppy or the Apple System CD-ROM. Do NOT run
these if you use some type of HD driver-level compression
such as TimesTwo or Stacker. If you don't know, then you
probably don't have this type of program on your computer.
Do NOT run these if you use some type of Security program on
the Mac such as Empower or FolderBolt.
10. "Clean" Install the System Software. A "Clean" install
replaces all of the Apple components in the System Folder
with virgin copies. A typical install doesn't do this. Call
Apple for instructions.
11. Zap the PRAM. Some information on the Mac remains
constant from restart to restart as in <<CMOS>> on the PC.
If it becomes corrupted, the computer will not work properly
until it's reset. Depending on the model of Mac you
have there are a few different combinations of keystrokes
during startup that reset this.
Incompatible with FreePPP 1.0.5 and earlier:
RamDoubler 1.6.0 and earlier can get in the way of FreePPP
and cripple the connection.
RamDoubler 1.6.1 is OK, upgrade at www.connectix.com.
Incompatible with Netscape:
Speed Doubler 1.0.causes B-Tree Corruption.
SpeedDoubler 1.1 is OK. upgrade at www.connectix.com.