Problem Summary. If you are a user of Callpod Keeper or KeeperDesktop secure password storage software for the Apple Mac OS X computer, you likely received an email today from Callpod indicating that an update is available.

The instructions describe that you should download the update and copy it to your Applications folder — overwriting the old version.

However, once you do this, presuming you’re using KeeperDesktop, you will write over the old version of the program (it it was named Keeper) and replace it with one that won’t open your old data files. As a result, when you re-open the program, you will be looking at an empty screen with all your data missing.

The quickest and easiest fix is to reinstall the latest version of KeeperDesktop (if you still have it). If you don’t already have a backup copy of the installation file, you’ll discover it’s not easy to find on the Callpod website because they’ve replaced it with their “new” cloud-based version that has fewer features.

Problem Solution. Follow these steps to fix the problem.

1. Click here to go to the universal download page for Keeper and KeeperDesktop. Notice the link address ends with mac_10_7, but you can replace that with 10_6 or 10_5 or 10_4 and end up on the same page. Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy or direct way to find and navigate to the download page. The site navigation encourages you to try or buy the new version and not the old one.
2. Download the 10.4, 10.5 version available on the drop down menu of the page linked above. It will be the KeeperDesktop program.
3. Install it, and you should have access to your data again.

Summary. Apple is moving toward a model of software distribution through their App Store instead of a traditional sales model. For academic institutions, this will initially present some challenges since the retail app store is not configured for education pricing and also charges taxes on sales.

Instructions. According to an Apple education rep, here are the steps required for schools to make purchases through the Apple App Store.

1. Those using credit cards, skip to step #5.
2. Obtain a purchase order and approval from your institution to purchase the software.
3. Calculate the cost of your software purchase, plus taxes — even if you are tax exempt (this will be explained later).
4. Based on the calculated cost of your purchase from step #3 above, use the purchase order system available through the Apple Store to purchase iTunes Gift Cards in denominations of $15 (part #M9949LL/C), $25 (part #M9950LL/C), $50 (part #M9951LL/C), and $100 (part #MC308LL/A).
   1. The total value of your gift card purchase should be as close as possible to the cost of the software you plan to purchase, but make sure the value of the gift cards is greater than the cost of your software and applicable taxes (even if you are tax exempt).
   2. When purchasing through the Apple Store for education, you’ll need to create a web order quote and then complete your order by telephone. There’s no way to make the full purchase online. There never has been (unless your’e using a procurement card).
5. Use the iTunes Gift Cards acquired in steps 2 through 4 (or a procurement card) to purchase software from the App Store.
   1. As explained below in step #6, you’ll be charged tax, and you’ll need to request a refund for that. The refund may appear in the next billing cycle, and this may cause your accounting department some distress. So, it’s best to plan your purchase at the beginning of the billing cycle to ensure that the credit for tax appears shortly after the purchase and on the same billing cycle.
   2. Be forewarned that you’ll need to setup separate Apple ID accounts for each computer in the school (or business). So, if you have 20 computers, you’ll need 20 different Apple ID accounts to remain in compliance with the rules of the App Store.
      1. Apple ID Creation. To create an Apple ID, you’ll need to provide an email address, password, security question, birthday, full name, address, and other details.
         1. GMail Account. Presumably you’ll want to setup a sequence of Google Mail accounts to do this. To setup Google Mail accounts, simply go to http://mail.google.com and provide a name, login name, password, security question, security answer, recovery email, location, birthday, and other details.
   3. Once unique Apple ID and GMail accounts are setup for each computer, then you’re ready to being purchasing software.
   1. Login to the computer as an administrator and then open the Apple App Store. When prompted to authenticate, use the Apple ID email and password established in step #5Bi described above.
6. You’ll be charged tax since there is no mechanism for being tax exempt in the App Store. So, this will require an additional steps as described below.
7. Get a copy of your school’s tax exempt form. This may be available on the web, or it may require contacting your purchasing department or accounting office. If the form is a printed hard-copy document, you’ll want to scan it and proceed to step #8.
8. Prepare an email that includes your order receipt and the copy of your school’s tax exempt form described in step #7. Send the email to salestax@apple.com or fax these items to 1-866-758-7713. A credit for the portion of your purchase that was taxes should be received as a refund.
9. If you used iTunes Gift Cards for your purchase, there will likely be a few dollars credit left on the card. You may need to haggle with the App Store support people to get the remaining balance back, or you might just need to eat the cost of the remaining balance (or use it on some music).

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Source. The above information is based on information received from an Apple Education representative.

Summary. Sometimes audio files can get corrupted. This can be for any variety of reasons. If deleted files are recovered, and those files have been overwritten, then corruption exists to the file format.

Most audio players will stop playing an MP3 audio file if any corruption is encountered. As a result, it’s no longer possible to listen to the audio files.

Pictured above is the waveform of a corrupted audio file as viewed in Audacity. Click here, or on the image above, to view this full size.

The solid vertical bars indicate that there is unrecognizable data. Attempting to play these portions of the audio will only result in a loud squealing noise.

Using Audacity, it’s possible to identify, select, and delete these segments of a recording. Once the corrupted portions are gone, the file should be playable in a regular music player program such as iTunes.

Summary. Symantec (Norton) Ghost 2003 is a utility program that makes it possible to create a complete system image that can be restored later (to the same computer) in the event of a hard drive crash. The backup includes data files, as well as the operating system, programs, and settings. The Ghost 2003 Version CD is included with versions as late as Norton Ghost 2009.

Hard Drive Compatibility. The Ghost program works well with most older computers manufactured prior to 2009. However, it needs to access the internal hard drive and an external hard drive to work properly. Some newer SATA internal hard drives and some external larger capacity USB drives aren’t recognized by Ghost. In such circumstances, use Acronis True Image Home 2010.

System Backup. Follow these steps to create a system image backup.

1. Insert CD. Be sure to have a compatible external USB hard drive attached with sufficient storage space to create a backup. Place the Norton Ghost 2003 System CD into the CD tray prior to starting the computer but don’t insert the CD tray into the computer yet. Turn off (shut down) the computer, then close (push in) the CD tray.
2. Start the computer. You will want to startup the computer with the Ghost program instead of Windows. Some computers are set to look for an operating system in the CD drive before checking for an operating system on the hard drive. This is configured in the BIOS setup. For Dell computers, press F12 at startup for a boot menu and choose the CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive.
3. Press any key. When the computer starts from the Norton Ghost CD, press any key when prompted to start using PC DOS (the disk operating system used by Ghost).
4. Select USB2. The next menu will have a list of options. Choose option #4 (USB2) if your system supports it (or USB1 if  you don’t have USB2). This will automatically include the CD ROM device drivers as well (so you can keep working with the CD after starting up). It is normal at this point to see error messages while starting because some of the CD ROM drivers may not be compatible with your computer. The very first message that appears, however, should indicate that the external hard drive was found.
5. Start Ghost. Once startup has completed, you should be at the A: prompt. Type C: and press Enter (or in some cases you may need to type D: and press Enter). Then type “cd support” (without quotes) then press Enter. Then type ghost and press Enter. This will start the Ghost program.
1. As an alternative, if you wish to backup to CD or DVD, at the A: prompt, type C: and press Enter (or in some cases you may need to type D: and press Enter). Then type “cd support” (without quotes) then press Enter. Then type the command ghost -bootcd -ghostoncd -z2 (This will allow you to backup to CDs or DVDs and will also put the ghost program on that media for future restores. The z2 ensures a relatively fast backup with some compression of data).
6. Make Drive Compatible. If you are using a new hard drive for your image backup, you will be prompted to make the drive compatible with Ghost. This only happens the first time. Confirm to make the drive compatible, then Click Ok at the About Norton Ghost startup window.
7. Start Backup. From the program menu, choose Local > Disk > To Image. Be sure not to choose the “To Disk” option because this would completely overwrite whatever drive you are backing the image up to.
   1. Select Source. On the “Select local source drive” menu, the source drive should be automatically selected and highlighted, so click the OK button.
   2. Select Target. On the “File name to copy image to” menu, the external drive should be selected. You may need to click on the drop down menu and specifically select the drive even though it is showing up as the selected drive. If you don’t do this, the process will halt with a non-desrcript error just after starting your backup. Once you’ve selected the external drive, give your image a unique name in the space provided below. Click Save. For Compress Image, choose Fast. Click Yes to proceed.
8. Finish. When done, shutdown and remove the external drive.

Video Instructions. Below are videos that demonstrate the use of Norton Ghost.

Backup to CD or DVD

Restore From CD or DVD

Backup to Hard Drive (Example #1)

Backup to Hard Drive (Example #2)

Restore From Hard Drive (Example #2)

System Restore. A system restore using Ghost will completely erase everything on your computer and replace it with the backup image you are restoring. Follow these steps to restore from a system image backup.

1. Insert CD. Be sure to have a compatible external USB hard drive attached with sufficient storage space to create a backup. Place the Norton Ghost 2003 System CD into the CD tray prior to starting the computer but don’t insert the CD tray into the computer yet. Turn off (shut down) the computer, then close (push in) the CD tray.
2. Start the computer. You will want to startup the computer with the Ghost program instead of Windows. Some computers are set to look for an operating system in the CD drive before checking for an operating system on the hard drive. This is configured in the BIOS setup. For Dell computers, press F12 at startup for a boot menu and choose the CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive.
3. Press any key. When the computer starts from the Norton Ghost CD, press any key when prompted to start using PC DOS (the disk operating system used by Ghost).
4. Select USB2. The next menu will have a list of options. Choose option #4 (USB2) if your system supports it (or USB1 if  you don’t have USB2). This will automatically include the CD ROM device drivers as well (so you can keep working with the CD after starting up). It is normal at this point to see error messages while starting because some of the CD ROM drivers may not be compatible with your computer. The very first message that appears, however, should indicate that the external hard drive was found.
5. Start Ghost. Once startup has completed, you should be at the A: prompt. Type C: and press Enter (or in some cases you may need to type D: and press Enter). Then type “cd support” (without quotes) then press Enter. Then type ghost and press Enter. This will start the Ghost program.
   1. Make Drive Compatible. If you are using a new hard drive for your image backup, you will be prompted to make the drive compatible with Ghost. This only happens the first time. Confirm to make the drive compatible, then Click Ok at the About Norton Ghost startup window.
6. Start Restore. From the program menu, choose Local > Disk > From Image, and follow the prompts. Accept the default destination, and accept the default settings for partitioning and drive size. Click Yes to continue.
7. Finish. When done, follow the prompts on screen to shutdown or restart and remove the external backup drive.

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Document History. This document was first published on 20080328at1407. It was revised on 20100720tu1404 with the addition of an accompanying video.

Summary. As is typical with various operating systems, when using an Apple Mac computer running the OS X operating system, it is possible to right click (or control + left click) on a file icon and then choose to open the file with a specific utility or application software program.

Problem Overview. The Open With recommended programs list may display duplicate entries for programs by including previous versions in the list. If program names remain the same from one version to the next, then it’s not possible to know which program is the most current, or if it even exists (assuming older versions have been removed).

Problem Solution. Cockail by Maintain is an inexpensive full-featured Apple utility program that includes the ability to rebuild (or reset) the Launch Services database (the list of default file associations). If you simply choose to Rebuild the database, most problems should be resolved. Alternatively, you can choose to Restore the default file associations, but some of your preferred program associations may be lost if you choose that option, so try using the Rebuild option first. See the program window below for available options.

Purchasing Cocktail by Maintain. Many software developers choose third party websites to manage the sales of their software. Maintain uses the Kagi software marketplace for the Maintain product sales page.

Summary. For several years running, AVG AntiVirus Free Edition has been the top downloaded antivirus program at the CNET Download.com website. This is because it is effective yet doesn’t slow computers down like other products.

Comparison. Security suite products can slow computers down. For example, Symantec Endpoint slows down computers and sometimes can only be removed by following a 139-step instruction guide for manual removal.

Purchase Notification. If you’re using the free version, and AVG has recently upgraded to an entirely new version of the program,  you may be notified that you can purchase the paid version of AVG AntiVirus. However, it’s not necessary to purchase the paid version. You can follow the helpful links below to find the free download again and upgrade to the latest version of the free program.

Helpful Links. Below are helpful links for more information about AVG.

• AVG Free download page on the official CNET Download.com website. Please read our advisory before visiting the download page. Or, click here to download now.
• AVG Free license agreement
• AVG Free users guide PDF
• AVG Official Website
• AVG Product Comparison

Summary. Audacity is a free audio recording, editing, and production software program that allows for saving audio files in various formats including MP3.

Export to MP3. Follow the instructions below to save in MP3 format.

1. The Audacity software should be installed and the separate Lame MP3 encoding files should be placed in a folder called lame inside of the folder where the Audacity program is located.
2. The first time an export to MP3 is attempted, the Audacity software will ask you to locate the lame library file. Simply navigate to the lame folder and click on the file. On Windows this will be in the Program Files > Audacity folder. For Apple, this will be in Applications > Audacity.
3. Because the Audacity software is not currently a multi-user program, even if one user on the computer has exported to MP3, others will still need to go through the instructions described in step #2 above.