WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?

I check for software updates for my Mac on a pretty regular basis. And when there's an update, I'm quick to install it. I've been with Apple since the 1980s, and my love for their products and software only grows stronger as time passes. But since the last download - updates for Safari and iTunes - I've had some problems.

Safari is now randomly crashing in the middle of routine, low-tech actions, but there is a bigger problem: I'm looking in to adding Bluetooth peripherals, but in order to research this, I had to log in to the Network Preferences Pane in System Preferences. The minute I clicked on the Network icon, I got a pop-up window displaying the following message:


Normally, when you get an error message like this, you either click, "OK" or "Cancel" and move on. But this time, when I clicked on "OK" the window disappeared, only to pop up immediately. This occurred every I clicked on the button, in a sort of endless, maddening loop. I had to force-quit System Preferences, and set to fixing the problem.

Not so easy, as it turns out. The interwebs were a-buzz with discussion board and forums on this very topic, and while very few of them offered real, workable solutions, I felt a little better knowing this wasn't an isolated problem. After about half an hour online, reading up on the problem, I ran MacScan (to check for malware, etc.), ran OnyX (a tricked-out utilities app) and even rebooted.

Finally, I found the answer: in the Security pane, I clicked on the button that reads, "require password to unlock each secure system preference." This one, little button stopped the problem dead in its tracks. Even when its going haywire, a Mac is still an intuitive, incredible product.