Daemon Killer? Need Tiger Exorcism

I’ve been having the oddest problem on my PowerBook the past few days.

At least 4-5 times, I’ve goten a cryptic message like this one:

database daemon

In some cases, the phrase Database Daemon is missing, replaced by an obviously screwed-up “null.”

A couple of Google searches reveal the likely culprit: Microsoft Office X.

Mac OS X doesn’t use extensions, so at startup Office launches a “database daemon,” an invisible app responsible for Office-wide integration and for running background tasks such as Notification for Office apps and MSN Messenger (version 2.1 is bundled).

I have been have some issues with it lately – crashing and general screen-drawing wierdness. Most of it’s been associated with getting Word documents from people I know are PC users. The only apparent solution, of course, is to check if there are any updates from Microsoft. And, in fact, there are 6. All separate, of course:

office update

More info later if this solves the problems ….