“If you use [Intuit’s] QuickBooks 2006 or 2007 for the Mac – don’t launch it. An apparent bug in the software update code causes the accounting software to throw a vague “you don’t have enough memory” dialog after attempting to download a 100k update while it simultaneously deletes your desktop folder,” Jason D. O’Grady blogs for ZDNet.
“If you’ve already launched QB and it’s asking you to update, force quit the application (command-option-escape),” O’Grady wrties, “If you haven’t launched the application yet, disable the update code in Terminal with this command:
defaults write com.intuit.QuickBooks2006 QBCheckForUpdatesKey NO
Full article here.
Christina Warren reports for TUAW that this is “Just another reminder for all OS X users – whether you use QuickBooks or not – it is NOT a good idea to store files or folders, especially if they are important, on the desktop! I say this because of how system resources are allocated due to windowserver and icon memory usage. It can slow things down tremendously and lead to a less stable system. Use your Home folder or Documents folder instead.”
Full article, with more info about this QuickBooks issue, here.
More info here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Robert T” for the heads up.]
2006 or 2007? Is this a new update for QB that foobars your desktop folder?
So I’m guessing we just wait for Quicken to change/fix the updater then things will be ok?
MS would call this a feature.
As far as I can remember, this is a first, and extremely bad. To have an application (any application) be able to just obliterate ANY folder, not to mention one of the standard user folders that is essentially part of the OS, is just totally unacceptable. I have a hard time understanding how is it possible that a company with a long history of Mac development, and a fairly successful and popular application for the Mac, could allow something like this to escape, not to mention actually deploy it as an update!
It seems to me that Apple is going to need to put even more limitations on what applications can do to the user environment.
Another example of the high esteem Intuit has towards Mac users. First they will give Mac users a POS called Quickbooks which comes nowhere near the functionality of QB in Windows and then they deliver a poorly tested update to their existing POS software.
Didn’t they test this update? There doesn’t seem to be a way that they did if this is reproducible over several type of systems.
“At least malware under Windows is free…”
Not necessarily:
Windows Vista Home Basic: $199
Windows Vista Home Premium: $239
Windows Vista Business: $299
Windows Vista Ultimate: $399
Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade: $99
Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade: $159
Windows Vista Business Upgrade: $199
Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade: $259
Auto-updates/checks are basically snitchware, giving valuable marketing data (and other things like your privacy) away. 1% of the time there is a update and 99% of the time there isn’t.
Install Little Snitch, it catches all outgoing network connections for your approval (delete the default rules and go from there). One can pernamently allow/deny any connections. One can then visit the developers site for any updates or wait to check if the update is solid BEFORE something horrible like this desktop deletion occurs.
It’s really interesting how some web pages open secure connections on ports other than TCP 80 for god knows what purposes. A lot of Apple software contacts them as well.
It’s very interesting. BTW the “Monopoly” game software will not run unless it makes regular calls to the developers. So be warned.
The Desktop on my machine has 24 Gb of data.
It is by-no-means slow or behaving odd.
This is an old safety measure back in 10.2.x to 10.3.9
Still one should practice what TUAW states…
but I figure…
WHY USE QUICKEN?
david smith
I stopped putting even test files, downloads, and anything else on my desktop because I’m using Leopard and Time Machine. I’ve created a specific folder on a second drive thats a catchall folder. I’ve specifically listed it in Time Machine to not be backed up.
Isn’t QuickBooks a cheap windoze port to the Mac?
In my opinion, QuickBooks for Mac sucks. But when your accountant uses QuickBooks for Windows, you are almost forced into using it.
When I use it, I feel like I’m sitting at a PC… it’s not a pretty picture….
Thank you Intuit!
Deletes Desktop contents, not the folder itself.
I experienced this update snafu over the weekend, but did not realize I had lost anything until seeing this article. I only saw the dialog stating there was not enough space.
I usually don’t keep stuff on the desktop, but occasionally a few files might remain there until I file them away. It was a great time to see Time Machine in action. Files recovered, filed away properly now and I don’t see any other side affects.
I have not read thru the alert on Intuit yet, but I would image you could move files from your desktop and then launch QuickBooks. Best to visit the Intuit site and read up on the issue first.
QuickBooks 2006
OS X 10.5.1
Clone your whole boot drive to another drive using Carbon Copy Cloner the first week, keep disconnected for best security.
Second week clone the whole boot drive to a differnent drive than the first, then alternate drives every other week.
Hold option and boot from any clone, repair permissions.
Always “Erase with Zero” any new drive before cloning.
Update files to a backup like a flash drive, DVD-RW, CD-RW daily using auto-software.
Rest easy.
Discussion on Intuit site: http://www.quickbooksgroup.com/webx?14@@.f7ca359/19
Who really cares about this update, When:
Apple cant ship:
1) an updates that does not make my two iPhones: a) randomly restart, b) randomly freeze , c) sync properly with iCal, d) not have to be ‘restored’ three or four times before before not getting a mobile sync error.
2) an update to Leopard that can actually sync the dock correctly (without constantly losing safari of all things, seems they want you to use firefox), import calendars into iCal, actually fix the addition error in Calculator (funny the calculator in dashboard works correctly), doesn’t randomly shutdown safari, doesn’t ridiculously slow down your system when Time Machine is backing up. But hey, they only asked for an extra 5 months to ship Leopard.
3) .Mac – Where do I even start.
Note: If using new Quickbooks, pull a hasta la VISTA and downgrade to 5.0.
My wife is a Quickbooks beta tester. She shared the following link on the QuickBooks Blog site about this bug:
http://www.quickbooksgroup.com/webx/forums/mac/1917
If you are running QuickBooks for Mac, I strongly suggest that you read the information on the link above.
For the record, my wife has found Intuit to be very helpful and responsive. And this comes after years of screaming at them about treating Mac users as third-class citizens. This is a nightmare for Intuit, and she told me they are burning rubber to fix this.
My wife just IM’d me another update on this story from from Intuit. She spoke with a support rep about the issue this morning. Apparently this is a huge issue at Intuit, and they expect a patch to correct this by the end of the day today. If you are a QuickBooks for Mac user, DO NOT run the latest updater from last week, and DO NOT run QuickBooks today. But do look at the site below:
http://www.quickbooksgroup.com/webx/forums/mac/1917
A message from Intuit posted on their site a few minutes ago stated:
“Update:
“We appear to have identified and resolved the problem that is causing this. If anyone is still getting the update prompt combined with the message about lack of disk space, please post here letting us know.
“For those of you who have been affected, we are testing out options for recovering the deleted files. Our recommendation for now is to shut off your machine and do not use it further. If you continue using your computer, you may over-write the area on the disk where the deleted data is stored, preventing any recovery efforts from being effective.
Further updates to follow.”
nstall Little Snitch, it catches all outgoing network connections for your approval… —Pete
I would burn my computer if I had to use Little Snitch, which is the most obnoxiously intrusive piece of software I have ever seen!
Don’t know how badly Intuit f’ed up to let this bug through, but Apple’s not immune to amateur mistakes either.
Anyone remember the iTunes 2 update bug? It wiped out your drive if the first character in your drive’s name was a space–quite a bit worse than losing your desktop items, though that’s not to let Intuit off the hook.
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2001/11/48149
I did have a space in front of my main drive (up until Leopard actually, when Quick Look made this impractical), and I narrowly escaped this bug. Those days I normally applied Apple updates immediately, but I wasn’t home that weekend. After that incident I made sure to wait a few days after Apple updates were released before applying them.
@ alansky re: Little Snitch
Security and privacy is a tradeoff against convenience.
Yes, LS feels like Vista’s “Cancel or Allow”, but at least LS is optional for those who *want* that level of information and control.
Probably no one remembers, but back when OS X 10.0.x first came out, Apple was not going to allow users to put documents on the desktop. Only after an uproar ensued did Apple relent and implement a Desktop folder.
Personally, I don’t ever put anything in that folder, except occasionally for a few seconds as a temporary holding place while I open up the folder that will be the file’s new home.
——RM
Ive been using Little Snitch, and I don’t think it is obtrusive at all. But I find it interesting how many applications and webpages want to open up strange ports on my machine.
For those of you using your desktop folder as a catchall place to put everything (or anything), now might be a good time to reconsider your file organization. You can always create shortcuts to those files, folders or apps and place those on the desktop.
In my view, just another instance of second class application development by Intwits for the Mac. They have such a long track record of bad apps it’s appalling. They have been taking advantage of the Mac users for way too long now.
I left Turbo-tax for Tax Cut and will do the same with quicken as soon as someone comes out with a program that approximates the investment capabilities. Then it’s Hasta la Vista Intuit!!!!
LS feels like Vista’s “Cancel or Allow”, but at least LS is optional for those who *want* that level of information and control.
Exactly, and it’s not annoying once it’s trained. Set certain rules permanently.
For instance allowing Safari to make TCP 80 connections forever, but alert on anything else, like a web bug making a secure connection on TCP 81 to a Chinese web server. (do a whois on the domain name LS gives you)
Put your kool-aid aside right now, because exploits will grow as the OS X market share grows. It’s has mushroomed already, so begin to learn how to keep your machine safe now.