Mac Forum / Applications / Mac Applications / April 2007

My mum's computer runs the last version of Panther (10.3.9?) and has a dial
up connection. When I first set up Internet Connect, I created two
configurations, 'Main Number' and 'Alternate Number', which dialled one or
other of her ISP's numbers. We left it set on 'Main Number' and this worked
fine for years.

A few weeks ago her ISP notified her of a change of phone number. I opened
Internet Connect and typed the new number into the open configuration, which
was 'Main Number' but, when I tried to close Internet Connect, it prompted
me to save the configuration with a new name, (i.e. it wouldn't let me edit
the existing configuration). I saved it as 'New Number' and left it selected
when quitting Internet Connect. This appeared to work fine though the ISP
may have kept the old number active for a few weeks before disconnecting it,
which might account for...

As of this week, connecting by selecting 'Connect' from the drop-down menu
under the phone icon in the menu bar no longer works. I opened Internet
Connect to find that 'Main Number' was the selected configuration. I changed
this to 'New Number' and clicked 'Connect' in the Internet Connect pane and
everything worked as advertised, so I quit Internet Connect and tried
connecting from the menu bar and it again failed.

I opened Internet Connect and, again, 'Main Number' was the selected
configuration. I changed this to 'New Number' and, leaving Internet Connect
open, tried connecting from the menu bar. The selected configuration
immediately changed to 'Main Number' (and of course the connection failed).

I opened 'Edit Configurations' with the idea of deleting the two original
configurations but, when I selected either of them, the Delete icon and all
there data was greyed out, so I could neither edit nor delete them. When I
selected the 'New Number' configuration that I created the other week,
everything remained active and I could have edited or deleted it.

I discovered I could drag to reorder the configurations, and dragged 'New
Number' to the top of the list but nothing changed - trying to connect from
the menu bar still changed the configuration to 'Main Number'.

I trashed the file ~/Library/preferences/com.apple.internetconnect.plist and
a new one was created when I quit Internet Connect, but nothing changed.

My mum's in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, and I'm happy that she
can remember to connect from the menu bar; asking her to remember to open
Internet Connect and change the configuration every time she wants to check
her email is too much. I'm hoping somebody can tell me how to delete the
original two configurations, or at least, make the new configuration
'stick'.

Thanks in advance,
Steve  = : ^ )

P.S. Interestingly, checking my own computer running 10.4.8 I find the same
thing happening. (Lucky I have cable). The original configuration I created
has somehow changed to 'Apple Internal Mode' (I've _never_ had one of these)
and, when I create a new configuration which references the external modem,
trying to connect from the menu bar immediately changes the configuration
back to the old useless one. What is going on here?