ostuneup
Feb 19, 2009, 01:02 AM
I do Internet tech support for Comcast and have seen the same issues going on for months with the latest Mac OS and updates on older systems.
I would think that by now Apple would try to do something to change the situation.
I have subscribers who call in with painfully slow Internet performance. Just today I talked extensively with a gentleman who was persuaded at the Apple store to "upgrade" to Leopard from his older Tiger OS. He admits it got slower right away. But once he got his latest series of updates the speed took a total dump.
I also have folks who bring a brand new Leopard Mac home and it works fine for a few weeks until they get updates and then the same thing happens.
Even during peak traffic periods where the throughput seems to dip to 3mbps (based on checking at speedtest.net) for some folks - our speed is still at least 3 times faster than the typical DSL connection. ...and DSL isn't exactly shabby on speed.
A few months back when I first saw this trend - I went out and did a little checking on the web and found that some expert users who dug a little deeper discovered an error problem between the built-in network interface and the internal DNS server. Basically it keeps asking itself the same question over and over which slows things down.
In some cases adding a brand new Mac notebook to a home network with mixed devices such as a Windows PC and Playstation can bring the whole network to a crawl. Basically the network gets overloaded with error traffic.
My personal theory is that the chips being used are compatible with the OS at the time of implementation: but as updates come out the chips become less and less compliant.
I saw the same issue with Service Pack 3 updates on Windows XP. Certain huge manufacturers sell so many computers that they can have custom chipsets made in China. The minute these computers sucked up SP3, the onboard nic card got nuked - at least as far as their Windows OS was concerned: it no longer existed.
Dell doesn't seem to know the issue exists even though their customers were hugely impacted: but the Microsoft tech I spoke with when he called in on behalf of a Dell customer was fully aware of the situation. One poor lady was charged $200 and eight hours on the phone with a "very nice" rep from India and in the end she got shuffled back to her internet provider's tech support after they were unable to get her Ethernet working again.
I see other strange things such as email functions quitting after updates on brand new Sony and IBM computers running Windows Vista.
However other brands such as Toshiba never seem to have any issues at all.
Even Acer customers hardly ever call in.
It all comes down to the diligence of the manufacturer. My dad's HP laptop simply rejected SP3.
I really think that Apple could be doing more to protect its customers rather than hiding behind a massive PR machine that makes their beautiful looking machines seem absolutely beyond reproach.
>>
Everybody thinks Apples are immune to viruses and the Apple tech support staff told my customer today that he should get rid of his antivirus program designed for the Mac. However with 23 million subscribers, you can bet we get bulletins regarding Trojans that infect the Macintosh.
These nasty little vermin continually emanate from certain corners of the globe that think Americans have more money than they can spare. Once you get one on your computer - everything you type gets broadcast elsewhere. One infected customer found airline tickets charged to his visa, with transactions originating from China.
In a recent ecourse we took for our job, we learned that this is a very widespread problem. The typical hit to an American's bank account is $1400 yanked out without warning, once your details get compromised. Unless you have an awesome banking institution this money is gone forever.
How do you get a Trojan? From the banner ads that load on your favorite web site. You don't have to click on them to have controls loaded into your browser. The web site operator has no way of knowing which banners happen to be loading on their pages because they are supplied by a separate agency who simply rents the space. The process of taking out a banner ad is essentially anonymous - so there is no way of knowing if its legit or not.
The normal use for these controls is for the banner agencies to figure out what you are into so they can serve up ads that match your interests.
Web browsers are platform-independent and must all conform to the same basic rules in order for complex websites to work properly, so it doesn't matter what your OS happens to be.
Recently when my own computer became infected, I found 42 open connections to the Internet. It takes only two connections to download an intensive webpage - and at the time I wasn't surfing, or emailing, or chatting. Needless to say my internet performance was slow and I was very concerned by the constant hard disk activity. This is because Trojans not only forward your own keystroke and click data but also turn your computer into a peer-to-peer router to forward data from other infected systems.
It was also unnerving to frequently hear that "sound" my computer makes whenever my built in camera would go on and off - seemingly by itself, thanks to unknown Java controls I inadvertently picked up.
A great anti virus package for the Mac, Windows & Linux is available at Avast.com Avast is nice because its transparent and has dedicated scanners to check the various types of internet traffic in real time. They also offer antivirus protection for smartphones.
Watch out! Because there is a massive wave of programs out there that are packaged to look like virus & spyware removal tools - but in fact are actually viruses themselves.
Many computer brands try to sell you additional software via trial-ware that is already loaded on the system when you get it from the factory. These systems include program updaters for the trial-ware that also are known to let in malware due to built-in spyware features designed to keep you from stealing the application without paying.
>>
Apple used to be a shining star for recording musicians who like to use the Firewire audio interface - jointly developed by Apple and Texas Instruments. Without much warning Apple switched to a smaller, cheaper Agere chipset. Suddenly many audio interfaces became incompatible.
System updates also have been known to cause important audio recording applications to become unusable due to system slowness.
>>
I'm not sitting here trying to flame Apple. I just hope that vocal users will make enough noise that something will actually change in the business model.
But that probably is wishful thinking.
I remember the guy in college who ran the computer shop located inside the bookstore. He snickered at folks who were buying the current systems because he knew that a new generation of Macs were coming out in a few weeks. He didn't want to curb his sales by telling people that the in-stock models were about to be obsolete.
He was saving up $6000 to buy the new "Quadra". Well you can imagine his chagrin when the big day finally arrived and his all-powerful Quadra was painfully slower than the older models.
If you are one of those folks who have nothing but perfection in your Leopard experience: don't be a snob! Have a little compassion for all the folks that aren't.
If you take a look at Cnet you will see that it is possible to restore your system to before you got the problematic updates by running the disk that came with your Mac. Once you have done that - the only way to prevent a relapse is to turn off the automatic updates.
I would think that by now Apple would try to do something to change the situation.
I have subscribers who call in with painfully slow Internet performance. Just today I talked extensively with a gentleman who was persuaded at the Apple store to "upgrade" to Leopard from his older Tiger OS. He admits it got slower right away. But once he got his latest series of updates the speed took a total dump.
I also have folks who bring a brand new Leopard Mac home and it works fine for a few weeks until they get updates and then the same thing happens.
Even during peak traffic periods where the throughput seems to dip to 3mbps (based on checking at speedtest.net) for some folks - our speed is still at least 3 times faster than the typical DSL connection. ...and DSL isn't exactly shabby on speed.
A few months back when I first saw this trend - I went out and did a little checking on the web and found that some expert users who dug a little deeper discovered an error problem between the built-in network interface and the internal DNS server. Basically it keeps asking itself the same question over and over which slows things down.
In some cases adding a brand new Mac notebook to a home network with mixed devices such as a Windows PC and Playstation can bring the whole network to a crawl. Basically the network gets overloaded with error traffic.
My personal theory is that the chips being used are compatible with the OS at the time of implementation: but as updates come out the chips become less and less compliant.
I saw the same issue with Service Pack 3 updates on Windows XP. Certain huge manufacturers sell so many computers that they can have custom chipsets made in China. The minute these computers sucked up SP3, the onboard nic card got nuked - at least as far as their Windows OS was concerned: it no longer existed.
Dell doesn't seem to know the issue exists even though their customers were hugely impacted: but the Microsoft tech I spoke with when he called in on behalf of a Dell customer was fully aware of the situation. One poor lady was charged $200 and eight hours on the phone with a "very nice" rep from India and in the end she got shuffled back to her internet provider's tech support after they were unable to get her Ethernet working again.
I see other strange things such as email functions quitting after updates on brand new Sony and IBM computers running Windows Vista.
However other brands such as Toshiba never seem to have any issues at all.
Even Acer customers hardly ever call in.
It all comes down to the diligence of the manufacturer. My dad's HP laptop simply rejected SP3.
I really think that Apple could be doing more to protect its customers rather than hiding behind a massive PR machine that makes their beautiful looking machines seem absolutely beyond reproach.
>>
Everybody thinks Apples are immune to viruses and the Apple tech support staff told my customer today that he should get rid of his antivirus program designed for the Mac. However with 23 million subscribers, you can bet we get bulletins regarding Trojans that infect the Macintosh.
These nasty little vermin continually emanate from certain corners of the globe that think Americans have more money than they can spare. Once you get one on your computer - everything you type gets broadcast elsewhere. One infected customer found airline tickets charged to his visa, with transactions originating from China.
In a recent ecourse we took for our job, we learned that this is a very widespread problem. The typical hit to an American's bank account is $1400 yanked out without warning, once your details get compromised. Unless you have an awesome banking institution this money is gone forever.
How do you get a Trojan? From the banner ads that load on your favorite web site. You don't have to click on them to have controls loaded into your browser. The web site operator has no way of knowing which banners happen to be loading on their pages because they are supplied by a separate agency who simply rents the space. The process of taking out a banner ad is essentially anonymous - so there is no way of knowing if its legit or not.
The normal use for these controls is for the banner agencies to figure out what you are into so they can serve up ads that match your interests.
Web browsers are platform-independent and must all conform to the same basic rules in order for complex websites to work properly, so it doesn't matter what your OS happens to be.
Recently when my own computer became infected, I found 42 open connections to the Internet. It takes only two connections to download an intensive webpage - and at the time I wasn't surfing, or emailing, or chatting. Needless to say my internet performance was slow and I was very concerned by the constant hard disk activity. This is because Trojans not only forward your own keystroke and click data but also turn your computer into a peer-to-peer router to forward data from other infected systems.
It was also unnerving to frequently hear that "sound" my computer makes whenever my built in camera would go on and off - seemingly by itself, thanks to unknown Java controls I inadvertently picked up.
A great anti virus package for the Mac, Windows & Linux is available at Avast.com Avast is nice because its transparent and has dedicated scanners to check the various types of internet traffic in real time. They also offer antivirus protection for smartphones.
Watch out! Because there is a massive wave of programs out there that are packaged to look like virus & spyware removal tools - but in fact are actually viruses themselves.
Many computer brands try to sell you additional software via trial-ware that is already loaded on the system when you get it from the factory. These systems include program updaters for the trial-ware that also are known to let in malware due to built-in spyware features designed to keep you from stealing the application without paying.
>>
Apple used to be a shining star for recording musicians who like to use the Firewire audio interface - jointly developed by Apple and Texas Instruments. Without much warning Apple switched to a smaller, cheaper Agere chipset. Suddenly many audio interfaces became incompatible.
System updates also have been known to cause important audio recording applications to become unusable due to system slowness.
>>
I'm not sitting here trying to flame Apple. I just hope that vocal users will make enough noise that something will actually change in the business model.
But that probably is wishful thinking.
I remember the guy in college who ran the computer shop located inside the bookstore. He snickered at folks who were buying the current systems because he knew that a new generation of Macs were coming out in a few weeks. He didn't want to curb his sales by telling people that the in-stock models were about to be obsolete.
He was saving up $6000 to buy the new "Quadra". Well you can imagine his chagrin when the big day finally arrived and his all-powerful Quadra was painfully slower than the older models.
If you are one of those folks who have nothing but perfection in your Leopard experience: don't be a snob! Have a little compassion for all the folks that aren't.
If you take a look at Cnet you will see that it is possible to restore your system to before you got the problematic updates by running the disk that came with your Mac. Once you have done that - the only way to prevent a relapse is to turn off the automatic updates.
