[SimeyTheLimey]

Does any one else get this problem? I'm running 10.2.6. My default browser is set in preferences as Safari, my default e-mail client is set as Mail. Yet mysteriously, my defaults keep getting reset to Exploder and Entourage. It is annoying!

How do I stop this MS intrusion (other than the obvious step of deleting the MS software)?

[Diggory Laycock]

IE will overwrite any changes to InternetConfig preferences when it quits.

Make sure that IE is not running when you make the changes - if that doesn't help try trashing your com.apple.internetconfig.plist preference file (and maybe your launchServices plist too)

there is a hint on Mac OS X Hints that explains it in greater detail - tried searching for it, but couldn't find it - sorry.

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally posted by Diggory Laycock:
IE will overwrite any changes to InternetConfig preferences when it quits.

Bastards.

Apple should fix this. I am not a computer geek so I don't know how or if it can be done. But it does seem to make common sense that an application shouldn't be able to override user preferences in the operating system.

[Diggory Laycock]

Originally posted by SimeyTheLimey:
Bastards.

Apple should fix this. I am not a computer geek so I don't know how or if it can be done. But it does seem to make common sense that an application shouldn't be able to override user preferences in the operating system.

InternetConfig is quite an old API - I think LaunchServices is slowly replacing it.

[Developer]

Originally posted by SimeyTheLimey:
Bastards. Apple should fix this.

Neither are they bastards nor should or could Apple fix this. It's a common practice to save preferences on quit. It's just an oversight by Microsoft that these are preferences shared by multiple applications.

[Diggory Laycock]

Originally posted by Developer:
Neither are they bastards nor should or could Apple fix this. It's a common practice to save preferences on quit. It's just an oversight by Microsoft that these are preferences shared by multiple applications.

It's not Apple's fault - but the IC docs specifically state that caching the IC prefs in your own app, then writing them out on quit is the worst of the three documented ways to alter IC prefs.

Luckily IE is receeding into the distance as we speak. Thank god for Safari.

[Developer]

Originally posted by Diggory Laycock:
It's not Apple's fault - but the IC docs specifically state that caching the IC prefs in your own app, then writing them out on quit is the worst of the three documented ways to alter IC prefs.

Yes, but as I said it is common practice to save preferences on quit, so someone made a mistake. Just because someone made a mistake doesn't make him a bastard.

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally posted by Developer:
Yes, but as I said it is common practice to save preferences on quit, so someone made a mistake. Just because someone made a mistake doesn't make him a bastard.

Hang on, hang on. I set my preferences in the system preferences of OS-X. I have them set for Safari, and Mail. Every now and again, they get reset such that when I click on a link or an e-mail address, programs other than the ones I want launch. That is why I am pissed.

Maybe there is something normal about this. I am not a computer geek so i don't understand the programming involved. But I hardly think it makes sense for an application to override user preferences. If it were OK, then why does OS-X allow you to set the default browser and mail app at all? It doesn't do any good if Microsoft can hijack the system anyway.

[dfiler]

It is common practice, but it is also a bad practice. There is absolutely no reason not to immediately save the changes upon closing the preference window. Preference values should also be freshly read every time the preference window is opened, not just upon app launch. These are fundamental principles of applications programming. Good thing the coder responsible isn’t writing database front-ends. They would certainly screw up record locking.

But you're right.
Bastard? -- No.
Lazy or incompetent? -- Yes.