I myself have _some_ idea how OS X works, but not much. So I rely on others to tell me what to do. For years I have been reading advice from many sources that say "repair permissions, use the combo updater, repair permissions at the end, disconnect firewire devices while updating" etc. Maybe all of them are right. Maybe you are right. What you say certainly SOUNDS right, but then so did whatever else I read. I have no way of knowing who is more right, so I just do the things that have worked for me and figure as long as they aren't hurting anything, they might help.

I wish I knew enough to know for sure. But, actually, I don't wish I knew. I don't have enough space in my brain to hold that info plus all the stuff I need to do my actual job. And I shouldn't need to. The computer should be smart enough to download the right updates and do them the right way, but having read about a billion horror stories of updates not working, and lacking a personal IT department to take on these headaches for me, I must continue to endure them.

You're right. It's a bad analogy. Really bad. I mean, smoking is unhealthy yet fun, making it also stupid. Permissions repair is innocuous (or possibly helpful) but boring.

Am I the only one who dreams of computers that can actually diagnose and fix their own problems...?

OK - back to work...