Comments on: Your network settings have been changed by another application

By: Pwaid18

Pwaid18 — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:03:29 +0000

Thanks for that guys. I was trying to set up a proxy last night and my mac went bonkers! I’m just glad I found a legitimate forum that helped me out.Thanks!

By: D.T.

D.T. — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:24:39 +0000

Lifelong Windows XP user (could count the hours spent with OSX on one hand) visiting sweetie’s brother in northern CA for Thanksgiving holiday. Inserting a Netgear wireless router between his DSL modem and an iMac. Attempting to configure network settings for the new hardware, stumble on above Mac bug. Straighaway, stumble on a solution:

- Click OK on offending msg, revealing network dropdowns you need to access.
- In the 0.5 secs between offending msg rolling up and then rolling back down, click the Location drop down (ya gotta be fast for this, it usually requires multiple attempts to get this to work).
- When you finally get the Locations drop down to display, select Edit Locations.
- Change the name of one of the locations (any change will do).
- Save the change.
- Et Voila: the offending msg ceases to intrude.

Clearly a case where constantly butting one’s head against recalcitrant XP behavior, and finding workarounds via trial and error, has its benefits. :-)

Note that this is only a temporary solution: if you close out the Network Prefs pane and then re-open it again, you will need to repeat this workaround procedure. Sigh.

Also please note: I have nothing but the highest regard for OSX in general, it is certainly superior to other OSses in terms of stability and ease of use. This episode simply affirms one of my basic tenets: no operating system is perfect.

By: Kent D

Kent D — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:58:46 +0000

First off, when you get in the infinite loop, you can place the mouse over the “red” close button in the window and click the “return” key (or enter) to hit “OK” while you click the “close” button simulataneously with the mouse. A little less drastic than force-quit, and you get out safely.

Next, to fix the issue, open System Preferences, go to the “security” icon, then click “Require Password to unlock each secure system preference” and Voil

By: Chris Eccles

Chris Eccles — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:02:17 +0000

This is the first real “bloomer” Apple have made with OSX 10.4, so I guess we shouldn’t be TOO hard on them.
As Greg M says, Windoze users have to put up with this kind of crap 24/7.

What would be nice would be a security update which actually FIXES the problem – Come on Cupertino; get off
your asses and sort this out.

Chris

By: BruceLee5000

BruceLee5000 — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:39:48 +0000

@ Pieter B,

That DOES indeed fix the SYMPTOM. But then you have to type your password every time you want to change a system setting. I tried it and once you turn it off, the problem comes back again. I’m going to try to trash all the preferences…

By: Pieter B

Pieter B — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 06:58:26 +0000

A simpler fix I found tonight is to open System Preferences, go to Security and check “Require password to unlock each secure system preference.” Badda boom, badda bing.

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:42:43 +0000

Glad it helped! Thanks for the comment!

-Greg

> Bingo – simple and effective. Thanks so much!