How is MacOS 26.2 working out?

[Johnny Ragadoo]

So far, 26.2 seems to be working well. I haven't been running is long enough to determine much. Several applications I use would go through annoying suspended animation cycles. The app would stop responding for 30 seconds or so, then come back.

I believe 26.2 cured that. Or, I've been lucky so far this morning.

Any thoughts? Is 26.2 working out ok?

[Christophe Ribot]

Hello, same observation here. However, regarding the purely aesthetic aspect, the rounded corners are far too large for my taste, and I also find that usability has suffered.

[Bill Kochman]

Man, you just had to bring up Tahoe, didn’t you! 😂

I installed 26.2 not even twelve hours ago, and I don’t think I have used BBEdit since that time.

I really hope those window server stalls are gone, because they are REALLY driving me nuts. They happen every few minutes, and they last a good 30-60 seconds, unless I click on the desktop, and then back into BBEdit again as Rich suggested to me some time ago.

It is absolutely ridiculous that we are forced to do that. That Apple has not fixed the issue by this time is inexcusable. In fact, the fact that they even released Tahoe either that bug to begin with is excusable.

Oddly enough, I don’t know why, but BBEdit is the only app where I seem to experience those annoying stalls.

Regarding other macOS Tahoe complaints, let me begin with this:

My first complaint is that greedy Apple has apparently shortened the lifespan of the compatibility of older Macs with regard to installing newer version of macOS. It used to be that it would take about eight years before you could no longer install a new OS on a particular machine. Well, sad to say, I was shocked to discover that in its great "wisdom" and "benevolence", Apple has apparently decided to shorten that period to just SIX YEARS! As a result, I was unable to install macOS Tahoe on my 2019 27" 5K iMac.

On my Apple Studio, Tahoe installed just fine, and it has worked properly …. except for the stupid stalls in BBEdit.

HOWEVER, I do have some other complaints regarding the new user interface, or UI.

Honestly speaking, I don't know who designed the newer UI, but if you ask me, they were really sleeping at the wheel. Or maybe they had too much of that California wine. Who knows.

My first complaint is the hard drive icon. WHY in the world did you change it, Apple? The previous one was very nice: a shiny, metallic, modern-looking hard drive icon. I like it! At least I still see it on my 2019 5K iMac.

But the new hard drive icon on macOS Tahoe? Totally blah, bland and unimaginative. So they put a little Apple logo on it. Big deal! It is just a very BORING icon.

Next up, the desktop connected server icon. Guys, what in the world were you thinking. Aside from looking similar to the new hard drive icon, it is blue. And that's the problem. It is almost the same blue color as desktop folders.

If a person has a lot of folder icons on their desktop, and is in a hurry and not paying attention, they could accidentally pick the connected server icon my mistake. You should have made the connected server icon more distinct from the main hard drive icon, and a different color from folder icons.

Next up, the Disk Utility. Again, what in the world were you guys thinking? My great grandpa has more life than that icon! If there is one thing I really don't like, it is when Apple gets us used to seeing a particular icon, and then they suddenly take it out from under our feet.

Guys, the previous Disk Utility icon was great. It shows a hard drive with a stethoscope. We've seen it for years. You look at that icon, and you immediately know what it is and what it does.

On the other hand, when I first saw the new Disk Utility in my Dock, my jaw dropped! What is that ugly thing? What app does it even pertain to? Again, major error! Please give us back the previous icon which at least made visual sense.

Next up, the new, huge, rounded corners on Finder windows. Functionality-wise, they really add nothing, so exactly what is the point of them? I am still scratching my head.

And my last complaint for this response has to do with the Apple Mail app. More specifically, what Apple genius decided that it was a smart idea to put the "Archive" and the "Trash" buttons right next to each other?

Again, if a person is in a hurry and being a little absent-minded, they could very easily click on the wrong button and archive something, when they really meant to trash it. Those two buttons should NOT be next to each other in my view.

Let me just throw in one more complaint since I am on a roll here. And actually, this is really a longterm problem which has existed for I don't know how long.

Apple, when oh when are you going to get file sharing PERMANENTLY fixed, so that it isn't disabled whenever a user reboots their machine? As a result of this still-unresolved OS flaw, every time I reboot one of my two machines on my network, I have to remember to go into System Settings/General/Sharing to re-enable "File Sharing" if it has been disabled. Please fix it!

And with that, my friends, I will end this gripes session. If you have any of your own with regard to Tahoe, let me know ….. Well, unless Rich thinks that I’ve gone too far off-topic already.

😂😀😆

[Rick Gordon]

Bill,

I have never experienced the file sharing issue you’re referring to. I’m on Sequoia now, but have also put in a lot of time in Monterey and Mojave. I’m wondering if it could be a permissions issue, where the pertinent preferences are not permitted to be written to; or perhaps an extended attribute issue.

Rick Gordon

---

From:	Bill Kochman <wordwe...@gmail.com>
To:	bbe...@googlegroups.com
Reply-To:	bbe...@googlegroups.com
Date:	Mon, 15 Dec 2025 04:02:26PM GMT+00:00
Subject:	How is MacOS 26.2 working out?

[Bill Kochman]

Hello Rick. I honestly don’t know what is causing the problem, but it is a well-known macOS issue which has existed since at least 2019. Google it, my friend. All I know is, if I reboot either of the two machines on my LAN, File Sharing is disabled in General/File Sharing, and I have to re-enable it. As long as the machine is running, File Sharing works fine and as expected. It is just the reboots. The fact that this is a well-known and widespread issue convinces me that the problem is not on my end.

Kind Regards,

On Dec 16, 2025, at 2:45 PM, 'Rick Gordon' via BBEdit Talk <bbe...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Bill,

I have never experienced the file sharing issue you’re referring to. I’m on Sequoia now, but have also put in a lot of time in Monterey and Mojave. I’m wondering if it could be a permissions issue, where the pertinent preferences are not permitted to be written to; or perhaps an extended attribute issue.

Rick Gordon\

[Rick Gordon]

Hi, Bill.

I did a query in Perplexity concerning this, and it can be referenced here: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/i-have-heard-that-some-people-YQ686GfxQTatvbm_l81SEw#0

It did, as you said, confirm this as a widespread, but not universal issue.

There is more, along with citations at the link, but here are some snippets (and my hunch might be to take a look at the last recommendation):

The underlying cause remains somewhat mysterious, though several factors have been identified:

SMB daemon persistence issues: The smbd launch daemon may not properly reload or maintain its configuration after a restart. Some users report that the SMB configuration files lose their settings or are recreated incorrectly on reboot.​

Firewall interference: In some cases, the built-in macOS firewall blocks the smbd service even though it appears to be whitelisted in settings. This can cause file sharing to fail silently after restart.​

APFS snapshot signing: With newer macOS versions using APFS (Apple File System) with snapshot signing and sealing, there may be interactions between the read-only boot volume and file sharing configuration persistence.​

Session and credential management: One user noted that inactive connected users remaining in the sharing options after restart can prevent the service from restarting properly.​

Confirmed Workarounds and Solutions

Basic toggle and reboot method (most common workaround): Turn File Sharing OFF in System Settings > General > Sharing, then restart your Mac. After restart, turn File Sharing back ON. This works reliably until the next restart. This remains the most commonly reported fix, though it's frustrating to have to repeat it.​

Terminal-based SMB daemon restart: The following commands can restart the SMB service without rebooting:​

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.smbd.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.smbd.plist
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.smb.server.plist EnabledServices -array disk

Firewall exception: If toggling doesn't work, try explicitly adding smbd to firewall exceptions:​

sudo /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --add /usr/sbin/smbd
sudo /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --unblockapp /usr/sbin/smbd

Preference file deletion: If the above doesn't resolve it, disable File Sharing and delete these preference files, then reboot and re-enable:​

sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleFileServer.plist
sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.ByteRangeLocking.plist

Disable packet signing (for Mac-to-Mac sharing): If connecting to another Mac, running this command on the server Mac may help:​

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.smb.server SigningRequired -bool FALSE

Rick Gordon

---

From:	Bill Kochman <wordwe...@gmail.com>
To:	bbe...@googlegroups.com
Reply-To:	bbe...@googlegroups.com

Date:	Tue, 16 Dec 2025 06:10:49AM GMT+00:00

Subject:	How is MacOS 26.2 working out?

Hello Rick. I honestly don’t know what is causing the problem, but it is a well-known macOS issue which has existed since at least 2019. Google it, my friend. All I know is, if I reboot either of the two machines on my LAN, File Sharing is disabled in General/File Sharing, and I have to re-enable it. As long as the machine is running, File Sharing works fine and as expected. It is just the reboots. The fact that this is a well-known and widespread issue convinces me that the problem is not on my end.

--
This is the BBEdit Talk public discussion group. If you have a feature request or believe that the application isn't working correctly, please email "sup...@barebones.com" rather than posting here. Follow @bbedit on Mastodon: <https://mastodon.social/@bbedit>
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BBEdit Talk" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bbedit+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bbedit/DDDAA6BD-9FFD-4451-82C3-B78AC4C6D858%40gmail.com.

[Robert Schwalbe]

>Next up, the Disk Utility. Again, what in the world were you guys
>thinking? My great grandpa has more life than that icon! If there is
>one thing I really don't like, it is when Apple gets us used to
>seeing a particular icon, and then they suddenly take it out from
>under our feet.
>
>Guys, the previous Disk Utility icon was great. It shows a hard
>drive with a stethoscope. We've seen it for years. You look at that
>icon, and you immediately know what it is and what it does.
>
>On the other hand, when I first saw the new Disk Utility in my Dock,
>my jaw dropped! What is that ugly thing? What app does it even
>pertain to? Again, major error! Please give us back the previous
>icon which at least made visual sense.

Please accept my apologizes for piling on a discussion concerning
Apple's Disk Utility icon.

My reaction was a litany of profanities worthy of being ravaged by
cannibalistic humans infected by a mutated fungus in the genus
Cordyceps ("The Last of Us" reference).

I would be proud to put this 'artwork' on my refrigerator if it drawn
by a pre-schooler brought home from school.

I can only believe this was an Artificial Intelligence hallucination
that crossed an engineer's desk and he/she was being funny (which it
would have been), inserted into the code base fully expecting to be
caught. Now it is the ugliest wart that ever appeared in an Apple
Interface (public or private).

I think I tried to replacing the icon via the Finder but failed. I am
able replace some third party app icons for sentimental reason, so
maybe I am just some weirdo. This new Disk Utility is just downright
horribly ugly.

If I ever figure out how to replace icons on Apple Installed apps, my
.bashrc file will be entered into The International Obfuscated C Code
Contest.

[Rich Siegel]

On 16 Dec 2025, at 8:12, Robert Schwalbe wrote:

> [...]

This has all gone off-topic for the list, please feel free to continue the discussion privately. :-)

Thanks,

R.

> --
> This is the BBEdit Talk public discussion group. If you have a feature request or believe that the application isn't working correctly, please email "sup...@barebones.com" rather than posting here. Follow @bbedit on Mastodon: <https://mastodon.social/@bbedit>
> --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BBEdit Talk" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bbedit+un...@googlegroups.com.

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bbedit/p06240802e567000d5387%40%5B192.168.1.208%5D.


--
Rich Siegel Bare Bones Software, Inc.
<sie...@barebones.com> <https://www.barebones.com/>

Someday I'll look back on all this and laugh... until they sedate me.