Via MacFixIt:
In yet another case of AntiVirus software causing serious issues while purporting to be identifying infected files, it appears that Sophos’ AntiVirus software is generating false positives for the “OSX/Inqtana.B worm”, invoking users to delete critical application and system files and causing serious issues.

Again, the virus being identified by Sophos AntiVirus is marked Inqtana.B — apparently a variant of the Inqtana.A malware that likewise spreads by copying itself to other computers via a bluetooth connection.

As previously reported, OSX/Inqtana.A — a Java based proof of concept bluetooth worm that affects older versions of Mac OS X 10.4.x (Tiger). The vulnerability does not affect Mac OS X 10.4.5, and has not been found in the wild.

Despite that, Sophos’ software is identifying “infected” files — sometimes numbering in the thousands — on Mac OS X 10.4.5 systems.

The results of the false positives are, in some cases, disastrous…

…We currently recommend that users disable Sophos AntiVirus until further notice, and disallow the application to automatically delete any files it deems “infected.”

That really says it all. The state of commercial Mac anti-virus software is pathetic. It seems like the developers of this software are desperately trying to drum up business with scare tactics for viruses that don’t even exist in the wild while simultaneously writing code that damages people’s systems. Fucked up? You betcha.

I’m all for virus protection, even on the Mac. But when anti-virus software is worse than the viruses it claims to protect against, it’s no wonder no one’s buying it.

I find the recent upswing in cloning utilities strange. Apple’s bundled Disk Utility application has actually harbored the ability to clone a system disk for some time now (I believe as far back as Panther). And yet, it seems the easier cloning gets, the more apps there are with which to do it. And charge you for it.

Today’s script uses a handy command-line utility that’s actually been around since the Classic Mac OS days (though not, obviously, in command-line form): asr, which stands for Apple Software Restore. The asr command is essentially a command for cloning disks. In fact, that’s exactly what it is. When Mac OS X first came out, asr was not bundled. But in recent incarnations of the OS it’s hung around in the command-line, and it’s actually gotten quite refined and easy to use. Want to clone your boot drive? Here’s the command:

sudo asr -source [source_volume ] -target [target_volume ]

That’s it. I can’t imagine an easier command structure. In a way, it’s almost easier to use than GUI apps that do the same thing. Of course you can get into some very complicated uses of asr, but for basic disk-to-disk cloning it’s drop-dead simple.

Now there is one little, tiny bump in this road. Tiger, you see, has a brand spanking new way of making certain files on your boot drive invisible. You know, files like var and etc and private. And Tiger’s version of asr (as well as Tiger’s Disk Utility program) are none the wiser. So, if you want things set up properly, you need to explicitly set the visibility of these files. There are a few ways to do this. Today’s script will use a utility called SetHidden, which comes on the Tiger install disc (a la this Apple KB article). Just so you know.

So here it is. A very simple script for making an exact clone of a volume to another volume. Please keep in mind, because of the file visibility issue, this script MUST be run from the disc image, or it will not work properly. Also keep in mind that cloning will overwrite, replace or even erase the target drive. I am in no way responsible for any damage you incur to your system with this script. If you don’t feel comfortable using it, please don’t.

That said, here’s your free cloning utility.

Download ASRClone

The linked disc image contains the delayedACK Startup Item, and also includes an installer and an uninstaller for the Startup Item.

Enjoy, you lucky Intel Mac owners (of which, alas, I am not one… Yet…)

UPDATE:
A reader called Nubo recently left this comment:

…turning off delayed_ack is not necessarily something that should be left in the startup items forever. Having it on is normally beneficial or at least not severely degrading in normal environments. So this should be reviewed whenever Apple fixes the underlying problem in its implementation, or the actual root cause is found.

Nubo is absolutely right. This startup item should be removed — either by running the included uninstaller or by simply dragging the startup item to the trash — once the problem has been resolved by Apple.

Thanks, Nubo, for pointing this out.

Download the Delayed ACK Startup Item

So I tried it. I opened up DVD Studio Pro, created a new document, saved it to the Desktop, and then — with the document still open, mind you — I deleted it. Put it in the trash and deleted it. I received no warning message. And when I quit DVDSP, I was not prompted to re-save the document. It was gone, daddy, gone.

As astoundingly fucked up as this is, I do understand exactly why this happens. You see, active documents — that is, documents which are currently open — are stored in a temporary location, not, as one might suspect, where they are saved. The saved document and the open document are two separate files. Each application determines where the temporary storage location for open files will be. In the case of Final Cut docs, for example (and I know this from cold, hard experience), the temporary storage location is in a folder called .TemporaryItems on whatever drive is the active working drive. So, since the saved file and the active file are actually separate, it’s very possible to apparently delete a file that’s open in an application, because the file you’re deleting is not the open file you’re currently working on. It’s a saved version.

I don’t know if I mentioned that this is fucked up, but it really is. Astoundingly so.

In the same way that you can’t delete running processes, I think Apple really needs to make it equally impossible (or at least as difficult) to delete active files. The current paradigm just doesn’t make any kind of sense from where I sit.

UPDATE:
A reader has pointed out in the comments that one application actually works the way you might expect. That application is Microsoft Word. A saved Word document and an open Word document are (apparently) one-and-the-same, and Word is able to keep track of open files even when they’re moved. If the fact that Word behaves more sensibly than most Apple applications isn’t an indication that this is something that needs fixin’, I’m not sure what is.

Essentially, this script is made to take large files and cut them into smaller (theoretically CD or DVD sized) pieces. The same script can then be used to rejoin these chunks. For splitting, the script uses the split command, and to rejoin files, it uses the cat command.

So here it is in all its glory.

SplitAndRejoinFiles Script
See the code