Dr. Mac's OS X Tip-of-the-Day  

When you choose Go--> Connect to Server...(Command-K) in the Finder, you should see a list of all the servers you can choose to connect to. Sometimes you will see multiple entries for a computer or computers on your network. For example, my computer is named "Bob's Big Mac". Every so often when I try to mount a server volume I see six Bob's Big Mac items in the Connect to Server dialog box instead of the one I should see. It's annoying and unsightly, and worst of all, only one of the six actually works - selecting any of the other five brings on a quick episode of spinning beach ball as your Mac searches for a machine that doesn't exist.

There are probably several ways to fix it but the one Apple recommended to me was this:

Launch Terminal. Type:

• cd.. (return)
• cd.. (return)
• cd var (return)
• sudo rm slp.regfile (return)

Now restart your Macintosh. When you revisit the Connect to Server dialog box, you should only see one instance of your Mac. There are no ill effects I know of.

UNIX-to-English Translation:

• cd = change directory (change the active folder).
• .. = to parent directory (to the folder that contains this one)
• = execute (do what I just typed).
• So typing "cd.. (return) cd.. (return)" moves you up two levels in the directory tree.
• cd var (return) = changes directory to var (make the invisible folder "var" the active folder).
• sudo = act as root temporarily (lets you do things you canÕt usually do under UNIX).
• rm = remove (delete).
• slp.regfile = name of file to be rm-ed (name of file to be deleted).

If you want to see for yourself if the file slp.regfile is really in your var directory (folder), before typing the sudo line, type "ls (return)". That will display a list of files in the current directory (which should be var). Try using ls before you rm (remove) the file and then again after.

One last thing: I suspect that my cable modem, which uses DHCP, has something to do with this issue's occurrence. The Apple guy said as much (seems to happen to cable users a lot more than DSL users...) And since DHCP means I donÕt have a fixed IP address (I get a new one every time I start up my Mac), my theory is that the Connect to Server dialog box doesn't forget all or some of my previous IP addresses.

Anyway, I do know how to fix it now so when it happens, it just takes me a few keystrokes before all's well again.

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Bob LeVitus is a leading authority on Mac OS and the author of 37 books, including Mac OS X For Dummies and The Little iTunes Book.