MISHA  3.5rc1 finally gets a nice 512x512 px icon :-)  
(Version 3.5rc1)

MISHA  You want DVDRemaster Pro.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12826/dvdremaster-pro  
(Version 2.6.6)

MISHA  The update is free. The app itself costs $15 if you don't already have a copy.  
(Version 2.8.4.1)

MISHA  BS0D: The reason I was asking is because we have blocked some third party tools from searching our site. Obviously if you are searching macupdate.com from the home page you should not have an issue. I'll investigate this further to make sure it's not an issue at our end. Is it affecting other search engines you use, as well?  
(Version 10.5.3)

MISHA  how are you initiating the search on MU?  
(Version 10.5.3)

MISHA  This sounds like a config issue at your end.  
(Version 12.1.9)

MISHA  Try 2.8.4 again... they rev'd the build (but kept the version #) and say it should work. If it still doesn't, contact the devs.  
(Version 2.8.4)

MISHA  Version 2.8.4, released June 8, fixes this.  
(Version 2.8.4)

MISHA  Version 2.8.4, released June 8, fixes this.  
(Version 2.8.4)

MISHA  Version 2.8.4, released June 8, fixes this.  
(Version 2.8.4)

MISHA  Your brilliant eyes failed to read the System Requirements above that clearly state:

Mac OS X 10.5 or later, resident in the UK.  
(Version 3.3)

MISHA  Got it, that makes more sense.

But that's also the way this sort of software works. There's no magic bullet to protect/recover data. I imagine the 5GB TechTool is using in your case is a lot less space than it would take to create full backups of all your drives, no?

Having said that, you can just disable those features of the app. There's still lots of other good tools for performing preventive maintenance and repairs (and you don't even to install it on your drive, you can just boot from DVD when you want to run those).  
(Version 5.0.4)

MISHA  I think the bigger issue with TT is that a lot of trackers don't work with it and that development seems to have ceased.  
(Version 1.5.1)

MISHA  So what's the issue here, exactly? It using up 5MB?  
(Version 5.0.4)

MISHA  This is pretty cool. But looking at proteins all day makes me want to eat a steak.  
(Version 2.1)

MISHA  I'm not sure what is going on exactly -- please contact the developers of DVDRemasterPro: support (at) metakine.com

I'm sure they'll be able to help you!  
(Version 5.1.3)

MISHA  Unsanity released Mighty Mouse back in 2003 (if not before).

Apple's Mighty Mouse came out in 2005.

I don't think there's going to be any complaints here.  
(Version 2.0b1)

MISHA  For what it's worth, all games released by Electronic Arts for the Mac in the last 2-3 years have been Intel only.  
(Version 1.0)

MISHA  It was free when it came out.  
(Version 3.0)

MISHA  Thanks, I'll update the listing now.  
(Version 2.0.2b)

MISHA  Working fine for me. So you boot from the disc and when you get to the language screen the app becomes non-responsive? Very strange... contact Micromat support, they'll help you. micromat.com  
(Version 5.0.4)

MISHA  Yes, it's very safe to use. MacFormat (biggest UK Mac magazine) gave it 5/5 and Macworld (biggest US Mac magazine) gave it 4/5. I have used it since January on all my Macs without a single issue -- I wouldn't have let it be included in the bundle if it wasn't up to par.

Having said that, *all* disk utilities of this sort can potentially cause issues, which is why all of them recommend that you have a recent backup just in case.

If you look at the reviews on MU that claim TechTool Pro hosed their drives or data, you'll see it's really quite low -- only a few instances, vs. the 100,00s of downloads this app has had over its lifetime. Happy people tend not to find the outlets to voice their happiness, since the app does what it was supposed to do. Unhappy people make a point of bashing the app everywhere they can, since the app did not do for them what it was supposed to.

Many of the complaints here stem from Micromat's policy of charging for new DVDs that can boot up newer Macs, as they're released. But this is congruent with the policies of Alsoft (DiskWarrior) and ProSoft (Drive Genius), its two biggest competitors. Bandwidth isn't free and if every time a new DVD was released they sent it out to all their customers free (at a 700MB download a pop) they would incur huge expense. So these companies charge anywhere from $5-$20 for the new DVDs. Micromat also has a plan where you pay an annual fee and get ALL the new DVDs automatically mailed to you.

When you take TechTool Pro for a test drive please let us know what you think.  
(Version 5.0.4)

MISHA  I understand your point... although gor all you know, other Safari enhancers you've used in the past were hijacking your links and just not disclosing it (obviously you never noticed Glims was doing this until you read the Read Me)... you never know.

I think the Glims guys are pretty stand-up folks, actively developing the best Safari enhancer and always keeping it free. I guess the middle ground would be for them to charge $10 for a version that doesn't do that.  
(Version 1.0b17)

MISHA  I'm with MacUpdate and I found them from the parent comment -- which is why I was asking where *he* found them, so we can be more on top of these moving forward :)  
(Version 1.2.1)

MISHA  + MTR and RipIt get the DVD off the disc and onto your Mac.

+ DVDRemaster Pro and Handbrake re-encode the DVD to the kind of media you want.

+ MTR and RipIt are NOT necessary in the process. DVDRemasterPro and Handbrake can work directly with the DVD.

However, getting the DVD off the disc and onto your Mac will improve the encoding speeds, since the drive can become the bottleneck (+ wear & tear).

+ The exception is if you are looking only to do full uncompressed backups of discs to your Mac's hard driven -- then you must use MTR or RipIt and Handbrake and DVDRemaster Pro are unnecessary.  
(Version 5.1.3)

MISHA  Right -- but even http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/history/

is only showing notes for up to 1.2, not 1.2.1..  
(Version 1.2.1)

MISHA  Where are you finding these release notes? :)  
(Version 1.2.1)

MISHA  Just copy the DVDRemaster Pro app to you Applications folder.  
(Version 5.1.3)

MISHA  There are *two* TechTool Pro 5 DMG... one is on this page with the Download Now link, which provides the installer (it used to provide the updater, but I changed it to help mitigate confusion). It's about 70MB.

There is another DMG that is bootable that is about 750MB. The link for that bootable DVD Is in your bundle receipt under "Special Instructions", below your list of serial numbers.

Hope this helps!   
(Version 5.0.4)

MISHA  Do you want to explain what makes it "stupid"? The folks at Koingo Software are responsive to customers. If you have already contacted their support I'm sure you'll get an answer. If you haven't, they'll probably see this post and reply here.  
(Version 1.1.7)

MISHA  There are *two* TechTool Pro 5 DMG... one is on this page with the Download Now link, which provides the installer (it used to provide the updater, but I changed it to help mitigate confusion). It's about 70MB.

There is another DMG that is bootable that is about 750MB. The link for that bootable DVD Is in your bundle receipt under "Special Instructions", below your list of serial numbers.

Hope this helps!  
(Version 5.0.4)

MISHA  You don't *need* to burn the DVD. You can always just mount it and run the installer. But in order to get maximum utility out of TechTool Pro, you need to run it off a bootable drive that's not your main hard drive (like all utilities of this kind).  
(Version 5.0.4)

MISHA  Please kindly try the link again. There was an issue affecting a few users but it should be fixed. We uploaded a new DMG to the server and I downloaded it just now and verified that it mounts correctly. Rest assured if you are continuing to have troubles we WILL get this resolved! Thanks for your patience!  
(Version 5.0.4)

MISHA  Can you back this up a bit more?  
(Version 4.0)

MISHA  Wow, crazy. You can always try eBay... not only will you save money, I'm sure the seller will have no problem just giving you the SN#.  
(Version 2.1.3)

MISHA  Good points, but unfortunately in the speech recognition space I don't think we're going to see any compelling or superior offerings any time soon. MacSpeech is (I believe, last I checked) already licensing what is considered the best recognition technology.  
(Version 1.5.1)

MISHA  This just means that they modify the link to include their affiliate tracking ID. Nothing else is affected -- the link still points you to where you wanted to go, it's just that the Glims team will earn a small % if you buy the item.

Totally harmless, I assure you. It's just a way for them to earn a bit of money for their efforts on the free software.  
(Version 1.0b17)

MISHA  Please check your email receipt from the bundle for the URL to download the bootable DMG -- this is not normally publicly available, and we only link to the updater here on MacUpdate (which you will not need since your bundle copy has the latest version).  
(Version 5.0.4)

MISHA  I suggest contacting Parallels support with your issues. What you are experiencing are features of Parlallels designed to make running Windows apps seamless with your Mac apps (so if you launch an .exe directly, it launches it in Coherence mode like it's a Mac app, rather than launching Parallels in Windowed-mode -- it assumes since you are not launching Parallels from the app, that you just want to run that app alongside your Mac apps). Of course, that should probably be a setting and it's not hard to switch out of Coherence mode back to Windowed mode. Which documents are being associated with Parallels/Windows apps (the two red lines)? From my experience that only happens if I open a document in a Windows app via Parallels... like all my Vizio docs will launch Vizio in Parallels, since I opened them with that (even though OmniGraffle could handle Vizio docs). This behaves the same as a Mac app -- if you associate a file type with an app, it will always open only in that app. You can't have some .mp4 files open in QuickTime and others in iTunes (unless you manually specify them so), they either will always open in one or the other, until you change that setting.

Anyway, contact Parallels support, they know their stuff.  
(Version 4.0.3844)

MISHA  I'm pretty sure it should only be launching Parallels if you trying to run a .exe or if you have a document type associated with a Windows app. You can fix document type associations by Getting Info on the file and selecting what app you want to open it.

Have you tried Parallels support?  
(Version 4.0.3844)

MISHA  Yes.  
(Version 1.2.8)

MISHA  http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/6366/adium  
(Version 3.4)

MISHA  why crack?  
(Version 1.1)

MISHA  It shouldn't affect anything. Processors are designed to run at specific safe speeds within specific safe temperature ranges. A processor running full-out is still running within that range, and Apple designs its systems so that the cooling provided is adequate regardless of CPU load (fans speed up if they need to).  
(Version 6.6.29)

MISHA  As the note at the top of this listing in bold says, we're getting ready to launch MUD5. It's a full re-write and quite excellent so far. It's in late beta and we expect a release in a few weeks. Stay tuned and thanks for your patience and understanding!  
(Version 4.2.4)

MISHA  Thanks for pointing this out, I have updated the price.  
(Version 6.10)

MISHA  Wow, great story -- thanks for sharing!  
(Version 1.2.2)

MISHA  I'd bet the developer is French, despite showing the english versions of the app... tampon=buffer in French, so not quite as bizarre.  
(Version 1.3.8)

MISHA  Not seeing the problem at my end. Have you pinged the developer?  
(Version 4.1.3)

MISHA  What issue do you have with mkv on Mac? Have you read the specs on the container? What it allows for is really impressive. It's not backwards compatible with older systems, sure, but that's what lets it have some of those features. The same way that h.264 can't play on older systems, but is vastly superior. I agree, though, that Apple needs to embrace mkv at the QuickTime level. It's a drag to have to use VLC (which forces someone to download VLC).  
(Version 7.0)

MISHA  crashes when?  
(Version 4.1.3)

MISHA  There is definitely a propensity to complain rather than commend here. If an app works, people generally are pleased that it does what it says and leave it at that.

If an app doesn't work, people seek out venues to voice their displeasure.

TuneUp has 3000+ downloads from here and 5 bad reviews. While 0 good reviews isn't a very positive sign, 5 out of 3000 isn't exactly a worthwhile sample.

Should we assume 2995 are happy with the app? Maybe not. But I'm sure it's not 0%.

We're trying to figure out ways to entice people to review apps they like more. Any ideas, feel free to share.  
(Version 1.5)

MISHA  Give it a shot and let us know what you think, I know they put a TON of effort into the new version.

Worst case, you wasted a few minutes and need to uninstall it.  
(Version 1.5)

MISHA  I wish there was a feature where if I opened 5 .torrents at the same time, I didn't have to choose the save as location for each one manually. In other words, so that all 5 would be presented to me as if it were a single .torrent and thus I only need to choose a single location (the way Azureus/Vuze works).  
(Version 1.61)

MISHA  If you need the user's email address, please contact me: misha@

I will delete his comment if you are in fact sure he is fabricating his story.

You may also want to claim the listings for your apps from your MU developer account, so your comments appear as DEV.  
(Version 1.5.1)

MISHA  The developer just submitted it to us last night. It's hard for us to post what we don't know exists. :)  
(Version 0.893)

MISHA  I just deleted all the comments pertaining to the *name* of this app. The name is what it is, and it's not offensive, so let's leave it at that. Please post comments/reviews about the app as a whole from here on out.  
(Version 4.0.1)

MISHA  Care to elaborate?  
(Version 0.6.5)

MISHA  Bummer. Contact Frank, he's great about helping customers.  
(Version 8.18)

MISHA  You should probably contact the dev and ask him to link to your 2.8 version:

http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/contact.html

We can also host/distribute it from here, if you want to upload the file to this listing (you might need to create a MU dev account and claim ownership of the listing first to upload the file):

http://www.macupdate.com/developer

http://www.macupdate.com/submission/prodinfo.php?id=16837  
(Version 2.7)

MISHA  Thanks for the heads up, I updated the listing.  
(Version 0.4rc)

MISHA  Try uninstalling and re-installing the hot key plug-in.  
(Version 8.18)

MISHA  Actually I get the icon with an X through it on my Intel Mac, too. Not sure what the deal is.  
(Version 2.2.5)

MISHA  Not sure why you even visit that other site anymore. ;-)  
(Version 10.5.7)

MISHA  Thanks, fixed the crashing issue. If you can add column sorting that will be great :)  
(Version 2.0.1)

MISHA  Tried out 2.0, first time I've checked out this app... first annoying thing: radio stations are only organized by State, and you can't fine tune that list further (by city or region).

Second annoying thing: you can't sort the stations, be it by frequency or call name.

Third annoying thing: when I went to play a station (any station), all I get is "RRMplayer unexpectedly quit."

Hmm..  
(Version 2.0)

MISHA  You should probably list some so your comment has more merit.  
(Version 3.8.17.6241)

MISHA  thanks, where did you find that list?  
(Version 1.1.2)

MISHA  Thanks, updated the link.  
(Version 2.5.0.2)

MISHA  This is definitely prudent advice, although by no means necessary. I have run OS X updates w/o repairing permissions before/after without issue. But then again, I've done it w/ repairing permissions before/after, as well.

As part of general preventive maintenance, things like disk permissions, repair/verify disk, and third party tools like Drive Genius, TechTool Pro, or DiskWarrior should be run monthly.  
(Version 10.5.7)

MISHA  Are you sure you don't already have 9.1.1? I'd try deleting Adobe Reader completely and re-installing 9.1, then try the 9.1.1 update on that fresh copy. Might be a permissions thing. Who knows.  
(Version 9.1.1)

MISHA  huh?  
(Version 1.1rc1)

MISHA  Link has been updated.  
(Version 10.5.7)

MISHA  Thanks for bringing this to our attention, we'll investigate.  
(Version 0.9.8)

MISHA  Reinstall OS X. Don't do an archive/install or erase/install, just run the installer that came with your Mac (or 10.5) again. It should intelligently find/add just the files back you deleted.  
(Version 1.3.9)

MISHA  Thanks, fixed it. Glad the typo got you to rate the app, too... the more ratings on MU = the more useful for all. :)  
(Version 2.0)

MISHA  Can you not allow forever and be done with it? mdnsresponder is not harmful.  
(Version 2.1.1)

MISHA  Downloads/mounts without issue for me under 10.5.6. Must have been one-off download corruption thing at your end.  
(Version 5.0.2)

MISHA  How is an app that is being constantly developed and updated 'dead'?  
(Version 3.0v351)

MISHA  Version 3.1? According to this page 2.4 is the last English PowerPC release...  
(Version 3.1)

MISHA  .mkv has already been the preferred contained for x264 media for some time. It's only on the Mac where Apple pushes .mp4 down our throats that it's not. There are many advantages of .mkv over .mp4...

DivX 7's purpose remains the same as previous versions: to provide decoding/encoding options for DivX media. The other features (x264 support) are just extras.  
(Version 7.0)

MISHA  I have the same issue as ROBERTS2424. Just tried TubePod for the first time today, popped in a URL (curious to see whether it was smart enough to grab the HQ version), but no go... when it was almost done I got the message:

"There was an error in calculating the conversion process."

Then I click OK and get the message:

"Where is Play Sound.app?"

(Hint: it's here, on MacUpdate, and not on my Mac since it's quite old and I have no use for it.)

So I click "Cancel" since I don't have Play Sound which yields the error:

"AppleScript Error File Play Sound.app wasn't found. (-43)"

Then the app crashes....

Process: TubePod [1004]

Path: /Users/mishas/Downloads/TubePod.app/Contents/MacOS/TubePod

Identifier: com.evancoleman.tubepod

Version: ??? (1.0.5)

Code Type: X86 (Native)

Parent Process: launchd [188]

Date/Time: 2009-05-07 18:51:58.674 -0500

OS Version: Mac OS X 10.5.6 (9G55)

Report Version: 6

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)

Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x000000002732c550

Crashed Thread: 0

This should probably still be in beta... it will be cool when it works well (and if it grabs HQ video).  
(Version 1.0.5)

MISHA  Works great, no complaints. :)  
(Version 3.5.1)

MISHA  You're correct, deleting this listing... thx.  
(Version 0.3)

MISHA  What makes it "extremely bad"?  
(Version 2.0.1)

MISHA  Your review, Formica, isn't a review. It's a rant. "The app is crap because betas come out every 2 days." That's like saying the BMW Z4 is crap because it rains too much where you live to enjoy a convertible. It has nothing to do with the app.

We list beta builds and always have. We stop listing them when developers specifically request so (1Password). Other sites list betas, so we do as well to maintain our position as the most comprehensive source for Mac software updates.

We're currently working on adding a feature to the site so that users will be able to hide betas entirely if they desire. Sounds like this is something you'll take advantage of.

Next time, try to actually review an app for its merits, not the fact that developer is very active and constantly soliciting feedback from users.  
(Version 1.5)

MISHA  Thanks, updated the listing.  
(Version 10.0.3)

MISHA  What to investigate? The software works, who cares what the developer does besides coding little widgets...  
(Version 1.0)

MISHA  This is pretty standard pricing for an anti-virus product. The beauty of our free market is that you can decide whether you want to pay it or not. :)  
(Version 10.5.8)

MISHA  Looks like the $10 offer is no longer available. I have deleted the editor's note.  
(Version 1.0b11)

MISHA  Tried deleting all your iChat prefs and stuff?

You might want to run iChat through Koingo's Amnesia uninstaller. Let it clean out all the associated files, but tell it not to actually delete the iChat app itself. Then set it back up again.

Or, you might have a Firewall or filter (LittleSnitch) set up that is blocking connections to oscar.aol.com ...  
(Version 4.0.7)

MISHA  You rock, thanks again.  
(Version 1.1.1)

MISHA  Thanks, updated the listing.  
(Version 1.1.4)

MISHA  "But it doesn't tell you anything's wrong with your drive until the moment it dies. It's crap."

That's not true -- I've had other utilities alert me of S.M.A.R.T. failures prior to a drive dying, which gave me time to copy the data off of it.

The attributes S.M.A.R.T. monitors are pretty thorough, see here.

No, it won't help if your drive suffers a sudden catastrophic failure, but it has its place.  
(Version 2.0.1)

MISHA  Thanks, added them. Where did you find the notes? Any idea what 1.1.1 changes?  
(Version 1.1.1)

MISHA  Fixed! Thanks!  
(Version 6.2.9)

MISHA  Fixed. You need to give your email address to download.  
(Version 3.1.1)

MISHA  FWIW We (MacUpdate) monitor all comments posted. We delete obvious trolls. We log things like IPs to confirm whether the same person is posting comments, etc.

To address your concern: Transmission is a really popular, free app. It's not surprising it has so many positive reviews. Look at other apps that have tons of downloads (VLC) and see all the positive "hyperbole" going on there, too.

People like free stuff that works, especially when developers are attentive. That is what Transmission is.

Also, ask yourself: What's the point in artificially hyping up a free app? Obviously not to sell more copies. And the download #s speak for themselves.  
(Version 1.6b1)

MISHA  PowerPC apps still run on Intel Macs under Rosetta, of course. It doesn't look like this app is being developed anymore, mind you.  
(Version 1.2)

MISHA  Last week it was in beta. This is the final 4.3 release.  
(Version 4.3)

MISHA  It must be a DNS issue somewhere. The link we have in Download Now is identical to what is on the developer's page (he submitted the app directly to us).  
(Version 0.2)

MISHA  Download Now works fine for me a few times now...  
(Version 0.2)

MISHA  The reason why DVDRemaster is downloaded when downloading Fairmount is that the latter is distributed with the DVDRemaster package.  
(Version 1.0.4)

MISHA  See the reply to the previous comment...  
(Version 2.1)

MISHA  Fine, you win, I'll change the listing to Shareware ;)  
(Version 1.0.4)

MISHA  R10BatchMail is available in three editions:

Free Edition - Contains a link to R10BatchMail at the footer of each email

Standard Edition - £25

Site License - £100  
(Version 1.0.4)

MISHA  The Firefox 3.0.9 download we've been linking to today is the correct/final one. They just hadn't updated the landing page release notes yet, which they have at the time of this post...  
(Version 3.0.9)

MISHA  Yea, I still hate them for abandoning the 68040 chip... it had so much life left in it!  
(Version 7.0)

MISHA  Version 7 is intel only.  
(Version 7.0)

MISHA  Ah, thanks. I haven't used Personal Backup since back in the day before Intego bought it.

The app might need a name change to communicate better that it's not just for grandmas ;)  
(Version 8.0.608)

MISHA  However "slow" or "bloated" Leopard is (it's not really to me, it was at 10.5.0 but is good at 10.5.6), it offers a number of more modern frameworks that makes app easier to develop and take advantage of more features.

That's why so many developers have gone 10.5 only.  
(Version 1.4)

MISHA  Is Personal Backup good for enterprise environments? Can I manage all my client backups remotely with PB?  
(Version 8.0.608)

MISHA  It's a professional video hardware solution. The firms that buy this sort of gear don't bat an eye at that price (they're the ones spending millions of dollars making movies).  
(Version 3.1)

MISHA  Obviously it's a point of opinion... I wouldn't call an 8 year old Mac modern, just because the Quicksilver G4 *can* run Leopard. I mean that system/architecture as a whole is something like 8 generations old now.

Still, we're much closer to the release of 10.6 than we are 10.5, and at the rate DivX development seems to take place (it's been years since a major rev), I'm not surprised they decided to ignore PowerPC systems. It seems a lot of the improvements in DivX 7 are geared towards HD content, for which x264 is dominating the space. A QuickSilver G4 can't even play back HD content smoothly (you need at least a 1.5GHz to play any decent bit rate 720p video... even faster if it's 1080p).  
(Version 7.0)

MISHA  I'm pretty sure it's a limitation of QuickTime that prevents MKV files from playing in real-time, otherwise I'm sure the Perian folks would have figured this one out long ago.

The DivX Player has been around since version 6, I believe. But I have to admit I've never used the app... having said that, I find VLC to be a superior solution for playing DivX/XviD, anyway, and I'm not even sure if DivX Player 7 can even play back MKV files with AC3 audio (properly Dolby 5.1 or DTS), nor do I really care to figure it out since VLC works so great, anyway. :)  
(Version 7.0)

MISHA  Then you're complaining about a feature that doesn't exist. The release notes clearly state "DivX Player 7.0 now supports playback of DivX Plus files (.mkv/H.264/AAC) and has an updated UI" not the plug-in...

The MKV container and 264 codecs have nothing to do with DivX, so it's really just a bonus that they're supporting them in their Player, anyway. DivX remains primarily for playback and creation of DivX (and XviD) formats. If you want real-time MKV playback, use VLC it's much better for your needs.  
(Version 7.0)

MISHA  Mac OS X 10.6 is going to be Intel only, I guess you can tell Apple/Mac OS to take a hike, too, since Yellow Dog Linux will always keep being available for PowerPC...

Which is only to say this is the direction things are headed, so prepare to gripe more and more as apps go Intel-only. There are more modern Intel Macs (modern = last 6 years) than there are PowerPC Macs and the gap between the two platforms will only keep growing...  
(Version 7.0)

MISHA  My 6.5 Pro registration works fine in 7.0 fyi.  
(Version 7.0)

MISHA  Link fixed. Sorry/thanks.  
(Version 1.2.2)

MISHA  Did you try playing the MKV with the actual DivX Player in your Applications folder?  
(Version 7.0)

MISHA  This is fixed in 2.5b2.  
(Version 2.5b2)

MISHA  Fixed in 2.5b2.  
(Version 2.5b2)

MISHA  Site not found :(  
(Version 1.4b2)

MISHA  At the time Cocktail was in the MacUpdate bundle (2 years ago?) I don't believe the developer had started offering life-time free upgrades.

Customers who purchased Cocktail from us as part of our 24-hour Promo in December definitely get free updates for life.  
(Version 4.3.3)

MISHA  Stay tuned... we know by today's standards that MUD4 is not as good as it could be, which is why we're preparing an all-new MUD5 for release. :)  
(Version 4.2.4)

MISHA  Image Well has been around forever... it was one of the first apps that could do what it does. It's seen 100,000+ downloads over the course of its existence at MU (which is quite a lot) and the reviews are quite positive as you can see.

We generally don't turn off a Hot Pick unless something measurably better comes along (and even then, we'll probably just add that as a Hot Pick and not take away the other app's Hot Pick status, unless it stops being developed).  
(Version 3.7)

MISHA  Fixed this, sorry...  
(Version 1.22jb)

MISHA  eBay owns Skype.  
(Version 2.8.0.438)

MISHA  Sorry guys, this *used* to be free. I have updated the listing.  
(Version 2.1)

MISHA  We fixed this, sorry about that. Admittedly we do not always verify that previous system requirements have not changed between releases (because 99% of the time they do not). Thanks for bringing this to our attention.  
(Version 2.0.40115)

MISHA  You need to select the item in the playlist and then choose Get Info.

I know, it's annoying because if you only have 1 item playing (and thus 1 item in the playlist) you shouldn't have to bother with that.

But the feature is still there, and it still works. Btw, if you just want to get media info try Media Info.

1 star review for a small nuisance isn't quite right, btw......  
(Version 0.9.9)

MISHA  I've used this sporadically and it's actually a pretty solid reference tool, especially for $1.99. It doesn't have the breadth of Oxford or AHED, but it's also a fraction of those prices.

One thing that's annoying: the word you entered isn't retained between portions of the app. So if you try to look up a word in the Dictionary that you're not spelling correctly and then switch to Spell Check to find the proper spelling, you have to re-enter your word there.

But overall, a good value for the money.   
(Version 1.1)

MISHA  Loads fine for me, although a call mysteriously dropped half way through once.

The biggest issue is that there's no way to pass audio through to a Bluetooth headset. Or speaker phone, for that matter. Sort of annoying but by no means a deal breaker. I'm still really happy to see this out!  
(Version 1.0.1)

MISHA  We changed the way we log downloads at MU so that only 1 download per app per IP counts every 24 hours.

When we did this, daily downloads of CDFinder (which ranged from 25-5000) mysteriously stayed around 25-75 after that.  
(Version 5.5)

MISHA  Thanks for the comment, we've updated the list to reflect the standard 1-license price.

Additional pricing options can be viewed here: http://www.objectsonline.com/advanced_search_result.php?search_in_description=1&keywords=artlantis+studio+2&x=0&y=0  
(Version 2.1)

MISHA  No, just randomly. Search "MacBook Pro screen flicker" in the support forums at Apple, there's a ton of posts about it. The top 2/3 of the screen will flash black for a split second. Sometimes it happens a lot (50x a day) sometimes it never happens.

Some people think it has to do with using the 9600 vs 9400 graphics chip. It happens for me with both. Some people have had Apple swap their logic boards to no avail, either. Maybe they fixed the issue in newer models (I got mine right when they came out last year), but they certainly haven't figured out a fix for those who bought early...  
(Version 1.0)

MISHA  Hmm...I wonder when Apple will release an update that fixes the flickering issue with the built-in display on new MacBook Pros...  
(Version 1.0)

MISHA  Reviews can be read in the primary SRS iWow listing: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/22847/srs-iwow-premium  
(Version Upgrade)

MISHA  I love this app. I tried CDFinder, which is very good, but simply prefer DCM. Maybe it's because I remember using old Classic versions back in the day... but I just had a need for something like this again recently and it's fitting the bill perfectly. Great app!  
(Version 6.0.1)

MISHA  This is a great app for simple personal finance tracking. It's allowed me to pitch my check book's register and not worry about keeping things in a spreadsheet or using one of the bigger personal finance apps whose features beyond what CheckBook Pro offers I'd never use.  
(Version 2.0.2)

MISHA  You're not the only who has noticed this... there's been some suspect behavior surrounding this, but we've taken care of it. Some developers like to write scripts that ping our download link every second to inflate their numbers and get into the Weekly Popular. We've taken some measures to prevent this from happening moving forward.  
(Version 5.5)

MISHA  Chax is terrific, albeit a bit less relevant in Leopard than it was in Tiger.

Nonetheless, it's one of the first things I install on a new Mac and I absolutely love the new Send Camera Snapshot feature—what a great idea!

But please give us the option of having a 3-2-1 countdown timer for the snapshot like Photo Booth, so you won't need to keep a hand on the mouse button to take the shot...  
(Version 2.2)

MISHA  This works fine, not sure what all the complaints are about. Mind you, I've only used it for concatenating files, not splitting them. But it's pretty stupid simple to use, just drag the .001 file on top of it and away it goes.

If your files aren't concatenating correctly, it's probably because the files are corrupt, not an issue with this app.

Thx for the work, dev, and for making this free.  
(Version 2.5)

MISHA  I've been using Parallels 4 since its release, primarily with a Windows XP SP3 installation on Boot Camp (I prefer to use Boot Camp for the very few times I can actually spare a moment to play a game since some that I play require DirectX 10 and Shader 3—Parallels 4 only supports DirectX 9 and Shader 2).

I haven't had a single major issue with Parallels 4 whatsoever. The initial release had a few bugs and there were times the VM would seemingly freeze up for a bit, but that went away with first update. Since then, it's been a smooth ride whenever I've needed to run Windows apps.

Having said that, I'm a fairly lightweight Parallels user. I use it for networking and printing but nothing as involved as what it's capable of handling, although I am running it on an 8-core Mac Pro and it's GREAT to be able to give it 4 of those cores to work with as everything I use in Windows absolutely flies (and I notice no performance hit to Mac OS X).

I will say that I wish MacDrive 6 played nicely with it, but I'm not sure if that's a Parallels shortcoming or a MacDrive shortcoming.  
(Version 4.0.3810)

MISHA  Reviews of Parallels Desktop 4 can be read on the primary MacUpdate Parallels Desktop 4 listing page.  
(Version (U.S.))

MISHA  Wired Server is a great client/server tool. I use it to access my files on my home Mac remotely, and let others I trust do the same. It has some great features like encryption and automatic updates of the search index.

It's also missing a lot of features, like threaded news, a connection monitor, and activity logging (so you can see a history of activity, etc.)

Then there are the bugs: first, for no reason, it seems to crash a lot and while you can set Wired Server to auto-launch at login, you can't set it to auto-restart if it crashes. I also have an issue with Drop Boxes—creating them doesn't always work. Also, uploading to them (and sometimes other directories) sometimes doesn't work, either. It will look like the upload completed successfully according to the transfers window, but the files will not have actually been transferred. I thought this was a permissions, but not only does it occur in folders that have the exact same privs as others that do work, it happens even on folders that you create using Wired Client.

All in all, it's great that Wired exists and is free, I just wish development was a bit more active and the application a bit deeper.  
(Version 1.3.2)

MISHA  Why did you revert to 2?  
(Version 3.0.0.255)

MISHA  Just use the official Google uninstalled I linked to above in this thread, Gunni (also linked at the top of the MacUpdate page).  
(Version 5.0.11337.1968 )

MISHA  Or you can download the plug-in uninstaller here:

http://earth-api-samples.googlecode.com/files/GoogleEarth-Plugin-Uninstaller.dmg

Google said that they are going modify the installer to also give you the option of not installing it. No personal information is every captured or transmitted, and the connection to Google uses SSL for extra protection.

Still, not a smart move on Google's part to do this, but not exactly malicious, either.  
(Version 5.0.11337.1968 )

MISHA  If you are viewing places that are not very densely populated or interesting, the resolution is typically quite poor.  
(Version 5.0.11337.1968 )

MISHA  Coming along nicely as an app, but still crashes or becomes non-responsive more than it should.  
(Version 2.2)

MISHA  I've been using SpamSieve for years—it's the best solution out there for Mac users, and Michael keeps improving it.

I only wish that it was easier to transfer configurations and corpuses to other Macs. Right now it's a fairly tedious process of copying a few different things over (Preferences, Application Support, the app itself, and any scripts that you have changed). .Mac syncing or something similar would rock!  
(Version 2.7.3)

MISHA  It's only $20 or $30 if you buy the Gold or Platinum version. The plug-in for iTunes is free, right?  
(Version 3.9)

MISHA  Wow, Cinepak... haven't heard that name in years. That's an ancient codec, great for its time in the '030/'040 and 386/486 days but pretty ancient by today's standards and seldom used. Not saying that's a reason why it *shouldn't* playback in QuickTime anymore, just that that probably shouldn't be your benchmark for whether QuickTime playback is performing up to expectations.

For that, I'd check out something newer... like a video encoded with h.264 at an HD resolution, such as one of these: http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/earth/hd/

If you're still using Cinepak, I'd be curious to know why... unless you need compatibility with really old hardware, h.264 is the way to go. The baseline profile is relatively lightweight (which is why even 5G iPods can play back video encoded with it).  
(Version 7.6)

MISHA  Might be an issue with the test video, then. VLC is more forgiving of encoding errors than QuickTime is, but that doesn't make it any 'better'. What codec does the video use? When was it encoded, and using what?  
(Version 7.6)

MISHA  Works like a dream... even on a massive table of text that generated 4.5MB PDF, WebSnapper had no problem. I still use SnapzPro for quick captures of small elements on a site, but WebSnapper can't be beat when you need a more complete or comprehensive solution.  
(Version 2.3.2)

MISHA  This is sort of neat. Reminds me of the told tone creator on my Sony Ericsson T610.

Except for the fact that unless I'm missing something, this can only play one sound at a time... it would be better if you could have multiple tracks going, and even better if it was set up like Sony did it, with percussion, melody, etc.

As it is this is mildly fun but not really useful—if you have GarageBand, you can play with those loops and export a much higher quality ringtone directly to iTunes.

Still, thanks for the work dev!  
(Version 2)

MISHA  This is pretty neat, I just tried beta 4 for the first time. The only feature I wish it had was the ability to drill down into sub-c ategories... my search for "Mac Pro" in "Austin, TX" produced results that included a 1995 Cobra Convertible..

I realize this app is effectively just scraping the results of the barebones Craigslist search, but it would further be cool if we could restrict searches to just titles or those with images, too.  
(Version 1.0b4)

MISHA  This is harder to play with your fingers than your feet. Something about the touchscreen and the translucent background of the controls makes it to focus on when you should be tapping (I think because part of me is looking at the screen to make sure I'm tapping in the right place, instead of focusing on arrows).

Still, a blast from the past and the music is as worse as ever! (That's a good thing.)  
(Version 1.0.1)

MISHA  Looking forward to '09!  
(Version 08)

MISHA  I've been looking for something like this for a while; Spotlight under 10.5 is really annoying to use when you're just searching file names. I just wish this allowed a little more interaction with the results... i.e. letting you drag/drop from the results list to move a file to a different folder, or allowing you to move files to the trash directly.  
(Version 0.1)

MISHA  This really sounds like an issue with the wireless keyboard. I'd try the game again with a regular keyboard and confirm that there's an issue with that one before I'd call it a game flaw...  
(Version 1.0.7)

MISHA  I've been using this since it first came out... there's nothing else like it on the Mac. It's definitely a power user's app—grandma probably wouldn't be able to figure out the prompts it displays or what to do.

But if you know anything about network security and want to make sure that nothing on your Mac is connecting anywhere it shouldn't be, LittleSnitch is terrific.   
(Version 2.0.4)

MISHA  I've been using X5 for a couple weeks now, it's the first version I've used since VirusBarrier came out.

I'm quite impressed with it so far. The interface is a bit confusing and it's not entirely clear at first launch whether the whole system has been scanned, is going to be scanned, is going to be scanned in "turbo" mode, or what not (most Windows AV software is a bit more transparent in that regard).

So I ran a full scan on 6TB of volumes and was impressed at how fast it was (maybe an hour or so but I have a lot of large media files, and it ran in the background nicely without slowing down any of my work).

It found 3 Windows viruses that were in files I had grabbed a long time ago. Not a threat to my Mac, but a good call since I'm running Windows in Boot Camp and might have used those files at some point there.

I was also impressed when I attached an external drive and started copying a number of documents that I had backed up... VBX immediately caught an infected file (again, another Windows attachment/virus) the moment it tried to touch my hard drive and repaired it. I wasn't even aware that VBX was actively scanning *everything* that comes onto my Mac (be it via download or a HD copy) since it doesn't impact copying speeds or performance at all.

One caveat... I had originally told it to "quarantine" that infected file... which I guess threw off the Finder because the copying process was immediately stopped and the Finder reported an unexpected error. When I did it again and chose to repair instead of quarantine the file, it worked fine.

All in all, a nice little app that delivers a lot of piece of mind and very little background footprint as far as I can tell. You pay what you get for, as they say.  
(Version 10.5.5)

MISHA  Sorry but no can do... the software is reasonably priced for the memories it will retrieve, I'm sure you'll agree.  
(Version 3.1.7.11394)

MISHA  Like others, I have only a success story to share about this app. It got back about 98% of the photos from an SD card that I accidentally deleted. This was version 2, mind you, but the only issue I had was that the date created and files names were quite garbled... which meant there was a bit of legwork needed to put the photos in correct chronological order again.

My only complaint is that the upgrade from version 2 to version 3 is $19. I already paid $29 for the app... upgrades to tools like this should always be   
(Version 3.1.7.11394)

MISHA  This app stuns everyone I show it to... truly unique and innovative! Now, if only I actually had any sort of musical skill with it...  
(Version 1.1)

MISHA  Awesome upgrade... glad to finally see this out. Some of the new presets are solid, and performance seems improved... only takes 40 minutes to encode a 90 min movie at the "High Quality -> Film" setting on my 8-core Mac Pro.  
(Version 0.9.3)

MISHA  A lot of nice touches and improvements...

The best part is app store links from Safari now work again on the iPhone, so I can browse

http://m.macupdate.com/

from my iPhone and actually download/buy apps again!  
(Version 2.2)

MISHA  This is one of the best collections of system icons I've come across, another good job by the folks at The Iconfactory.

My only gripe is that the icons lose a lot of their detail at smaller sizes (16x16), and basically resemble just black blobs, which is a sharp contrast to Leopard's grey GUI.  
(Version 1.0)

MISHA  This is super slick. Subtle but elegant, and really quite clever.

Works fine for me (MacBook Air, 10.5.5)  
(Version 1.0)

MISHA  This is cool. It's nothing particularly impressive, but hopefully it's a sign of what's to come with more bands and albums. The next-generation of liner notes.  
(Version 1.1)

MISHA  Yelp is a great, free service and the iPhone app makes it even easier to access. The only feature I wish it had was the ability to add my own reviews on the go, but that's coming in a later release.

It's fast and speedy, even over EDGE. I highly recommend it if your city has a big Yelp community.  
(Version 1.0.4)

MISHA  The video card requirements alone basically take the PPC out of the question. So even if the PPC was supported, you still couldn't play it on there.  
(Version 1.7)

MISHA  I don't think this will ever be possible because of limitations to USB2.

But I agree... it literally took about 20 hours for me to migrate 40GB or so from a MacBook Pro to a MacBook Air over 802.11n (yes, full-speed n).

And it didn't even work, in the end the user was not recognized on the Air (although all the files were there and my home folder was in the Users folder, there was no way for me to login). Apps and stuff worked fine, but those are easy to install normally anyway.

Suffice to say I didn't wait another 20 hours to try it again and just did things manually in a couple hours.

Very frustrating.  
(Version )

MISHA  For free this isn't bad, but it certainly isn't hard. Keep the elevation at 75 and all you need to do is adjust the power. Still, a good time killer for 15 minutes or so when you're waiting in line or something.  
(Version 1.0)

MISHA  I used WeatherPop forever. This is the only replacement that's not only as good as WeatherPop, but actually better. If you want quick access to weather in your menu bar, this is the only way to go.  
(Version 2.5)

MISHA  I wish I could say the same thing, but from my experience Adium-Adium transfers work ok, but iChat-Adium transfers fail more than 50% of the time. Usually the person on the receiving doesn't even see that I'm sending a file to them. But if they switch to iChat (so it's iChat-iChat) it goes off without a hitch.

There was a time when Adium transfers were REALLY poor (years ago) and they have improved since then, but the reliability from my use still isn't at the level it typically is with iChat.

I've also been impressed with the reliability of iChat's transfers. I've sent 2GB files over iChat without it failing, when attempts to send smaller files with Adium have choked after a while (my company had multiple VLANs set up so Bonjour wasn't an option).  
(Version 1.0b1)

MISHA  I really don't see the advantage of this over iChat, except a slightly different interface. It definitely has advantages over Adium for some things (file transfers, mostly, which still are painful with Adium over AIM), but so does iChat.

Still, it's good to see AOL continuing to develop this, I suppose.  
(Version 1.0b1)

MISHA  Seeking works fine for me. Does this happen with ALL your MKV files? Are they all from one source (i.e. your own rips) or many? It could be the mkv's you are testing are not properly encoded.  
(Version 0.9.3)

MISHA  Nice--only took about 2.5 months to release this after Sun made it available for other platforms.

The way Apple is working this whole Java thing is really embarrassing. Java was supposed to be a cornerstone of OS X, it's really a second-class citizen.

For those wondering, from what I understand, the reason for the delays between Sun's releases and Apple's OS X release is because Apple's own engineers need to substantially rework and improve the code to make it run at all decently under OS X (and even then the performance isn't up to par with other platforms).   
(Version Update 2)

MISHA  The tracker is probably configured to reject Tomato Torrent. A lot of trackers only let approved clients access them. Try Transmission instead.  
(Version 1.5.1)

MISHA  I used this until Safari 3/Leopard. Then I stopped really seeing the benefit, since Safari 3 works about as quickly. The only thing Safari 3 doesn't have (and that no add-on enables) is Favicons in the bookmarks bar. I liked that my Camino bookmarks bar was basically all icons.

With the iPhone, Safari's Bookmark syncing (both with iTunes and Mobile Me) gave it another big advantage. I still use Camino as a "second" browser for testing sites and having a browser that's not exploding with cookies, but as a primary browser I just don't really see the advantages overs Safari 3 anymore (for my use, at least).

I am looking forward to 2.0. If they can add some of the features that make OmniWeb nice (features no other browser has), that would be great.  
(Version 1.6.4)

MISHA  Can you even figure out what the differences are between Billiards and MacPool? From their site, I can't (there's hardly any info). Except it looks like MacPool has online play and Billiards only supports local multiplayer? I don't get it.  
(Version 1.0)

MISHA  How about if you want to chop a 5GB file into 50MB segments? What's the quickest and easier (and free) way to do that on Mac OS X? StuffIt does it well, but that's a lot to pay for that feature.  
(Version 13.0)

MISHA  Am I really not seeing an upgrade price for version 12 users? In this day and age of built-in compression and cheap hard drives, it's hard to justify paying $80 every 12-18 months for marginal new features. Check out BetterZip (shareware) or BetterZip QuickLook Plug-in (free, let's you quicklook inside .zip files)... both are listed under "Other People Suggest" above.  
(Version 13.0)

MISHA  Still the best renaming utility by a mile... I've been using this since the days of OS 9 (and maybe even OS 8, it's been so long now!) and ABFR has only been getting better and better. Version 8's unified window and improved performance are the biggest perks of this new version for me. Frank's a terrific developer who fires back quick replies to your queries and is always pumping out new versions of his software to fix bugs and meet user requests.  
(Version 8.0)

MISHA  I don't use ID much so I haven't noticed those problems... I have had issues with PS in the past, but a clean install of CS3 fixed it. Never had the font issue, but I had the problem where PS wouldn't open PNGs because it "wasn't a supported file type" (right). I suppose you've tried clean installing CS3 again? Given that the blog post notes that it's a "relatively small percentage" I'm not sure it's fair to claim that CS3 doesn't work with 10.5, it's obviously the case with just certain configurations. Still, that's a bummer about your problems.  
(Version 10.5.5)

MISHA  What do you mean?   
(Version 10.5.5)

MISHA  Works fairly well, but is mostly targeted at beginners. I wish there was at the least a more minimalist (yet equally detailed) view as Azureus had, and at the most advanced features that could be configured like Azureus could. Still, for grabbing fresh Linux distros or whatever else suits your fancy, Transmission is fast and easy.  
(Version 1.34)

MISHA  This won't work for me with my AT&T USA account.

"Sending failed! Unexpected response from server. Try again or update later."  
(Version 1.0.9a)

MISHA  This application is a MUST for any sports fan. It's probably the only one you need, too... the only area things could be improved is the interface, it's a bit on the basic side and not very pretty. But the info is all there and best of all it's free!  
(Version 1.1)

MISHA  Super handy... I don't use this nearly as much as I should, but it definitely saves me time anyway!  
(Version 3.1)

MISHA  I'm amazed iDisk/MobileMe can't do this. I'm even more amazed that this free. Nice!  
(Version 0.6.384)

MISHA  If you run Software Update you will get a much smaller package just for the printers you use. For my HP 1012 it's a 52.4MB update. This 400MB version has ALL the drivers.

Frankly, it makes sense. Would you rather get them AL in one file, or have to poke through a list a mile long to find your driver? Bandwidth's cheap. Storage is cheap. Use Software Update if you want to save some time, though. :-)  
(Version 1.1.1)

MISHA  I think it's important to distinguish between the kinds of pirates. There are the ones who belong to BitTorrent communities and will never pay for anything, then there's the ones who borrow a friend's disc and install it. This DRM solution helps prevent the latter casual piracy.

The pirates do not get it DRM-free, either. At least, not completely. They can play the single-player game just fine, but they can't play it online at all, which is where the more compelling (and long-term) gameplay lies.

I'm not agreeing with the DRM schema at all, but I think the inconvenience is relatively minor and the backlash is way extreme.

You have to enter your serial number (normal practice) and activate automatically online (everyone's on the net, anyway). It only inconveniences the few people who actually own more than 3 computers (and plan to play it on all of them, and if you look at the requirements it means you own more than three VERY new Macs), and I think that's a small minority

What I don't get is this: when Apple puts DRM in their music and movies, Apple folks find ways of defending the move. But when a company that's NOT Apple employs DRM, they're the devil. Hey, I drink the same Apple Kool-Aid as everyone else on MacUpdate, but I think it's important to keep things in perspective.  
(Version 1.0)

MISHA  The DRM mechanism (for those who care to actually know the facts) prevents the game from being installed on more than 3 systems at a time. If you need more than that, you need to call EA and get them to give you another authorization code (hang on to proof of purchase, etc.). Yes, it's a pain... but we're Mac users, we're not some PC geeks who put a new motherboard in their system every month. More than likely, you will not own/play the game on more than 3 different Macs during the course of your interest in it.  
(Version 1.0)

MISHA  If you bought this through MUPromo contact nate (at) macupdate (dot) com. He'll help you out, he manages things over at MUPromo. 5000+ people have received their licenses, but of course nothing's perfect so something may have gone awry for you. I am sure it will be squared away promptly!  
(Version 3.6.7)

MISHA  If it would display the encryption type in the list (like others do), then I'd give this 5 stars... until it does, I will have to keep using another utility alongside this to give me that information when needed.  
(Version 1.0.6)

MISHA  Handy utility to have (when you don't feel like loading whatismyip.com in a browser) but why is it 9MB (unzipped)? This should be a few hundred KB tops...  
(Version 2.0)

MISHA  The best Mac utility for extracting this sort of info from media files. There are still better utilities like this for Windows, but that's really irrelevant to us: we're Mac users! Thanks for making this.  
(Version 0.7.7.52)

MISHA  This seems promising. It would be great if it could automatically scrape portfolios from the leading online brokerage houses.  
(Version 1.0beta1)

MISHA  There are lots of word games on the iPhone already, it seems to be an obvious and easy idea to develop. But wurdle actually shows a lot of polish, which many of the others are lacking. When you compare this to other $0.99 or $1.99 games, it's clear there are developers who know what they're doing and then there are those who are riding the wave. This company knows what they're doing!  
(Version 1.0)

MISHA  MKV plays back pretty well in VLC on a Mac. The advantages of MKV over mp4 are pretty substantial. If you're technically inclined, read about it on Wikipedia. For me, I like the fact that it supports AC3 5.1 audio, something mp4 doesn't really do (and don't get me started on QuickTime playing Dolby Digital 5.1 audio).

You only need a newer machine for MKV because they're typically x264 encodes, often high-profile which is quite CPU intensive to decode.  
(Version 2.0)

MISHA  "You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.2 Update on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume".

Are you renaming the Microsoft Office folder or any of the apps or other files?

Have you moved it outside of the Applications folder?  
(Version 12.1.2)