Delete Orphaned Preferences Files?

In OS 7, 8 and 9 I routinely deleted orphaned Preferences. Is this procedure valid in OSX? I have 22 orphaned Preference files in iMac and 4 in MacBook.

Yes, it's valid in OS X.

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After deleting FF preference file, Footers are now located higher on all printed pages, causing some one-page emails to extend to a second page.

I upgraded my Mac OS to 10.6.8 to see if that would solve some of my FF hanging issues. It did not. So I decided to try deleting the preferences file as suggested in the Troubleshooting section to see if that would help. Unfortunately after deleting the prefs.js file per the instructions, on all my printed pages the Footers are now located significantly higher on the page than they used to be. They are located about 3/4" up from the bottom of the page, whereas before they were always located about 1/4" up from the bottom of the page. (Thankfully, the headers are in the same spot as before, 1/4" down from the top of the page.)
I don't understand how this happened to the footer placement in deleting the preferences. The placement/location of the headers and footers is not something that the user can adjust in FF Preferences or in the Printing window as a preference. Only the content of the headers and footers can be modified in the Printing window.
I am stumped as to how this occurred. Is there a way to restore the footer placement back closer to the bottom of the page? The higher location of the footer is causing many of my lengthier one-page emails to have to extend onto a second page which is a waste of paper and file space.

Try resetting the Page Margins to what you were using before deleting the prefs file.

Delete Lightroom preference file

Windows 7 64 bit. Currently with a Photographer CC bundle. Every time I open LR 5.5 and now 5.6 it acts as though its the first time and displays the tips dialog and changes my custom identity plate back to the original. On exit it prompts to backup even though I have it set to backup once a week on exit. My question is should I try to delete the preference file and try again or should I try a uninstall re install. How do you delete the preference file? I don't want to make things worse.

Deleting the preference file is the first and easiest thing to try -- it won't make things any worse:
Preference and other file locations in Lightroom 5
Reinstalling is the second thing to try.

Deleting Orphaned Preferences and Other Files

Under Classic there were a couple of apps that would seek out and list orphaned preferences and other files from applications that had been deleted from the computer. There are some UNINSTALLER apps for Leopard, but I can't seem to find any that will list orphaned files for deletion. What I want to do is get rid of orphaned files from apps that I probably hand-deleted some time ago.
Anyone know of a solution?

Uninstalling Software: The Basics
Most OS X applications are completely self-contained "packages" that can be uninstalled by simply dragging the application to the Trash. Applications may create preference files that are stored in the /Home/Library/Preferences/ folder. Although they do nothing once you delete the associated application, they do take up some disk space. If you want you can look for them in the above location and delete them, too.
Some applications may install an uninstaller program that can be used to remove the application. In some cases the uninstaller may be part of the application's installer, and is invoked by clicking on a Customize button that will appear during the install process.
Some applications may install components in the /Home/Library/Applications Support/ folder. You can also check there to see if the application has created a folder. You can also delete the folder that's in the Applications Support folder. Again, they don't do anything but take up disk space once the application is trashed.
Some applications may install a startupitem or a Log In item. Startupitems are usually installed in the /Library/StartupItems/ folder and less often in the /Home/Library/StartupItems/ folder. Log In Items are set in the Accounts preferences. Open System Preferences, click on the Accounts icon, then click on the LogIn Items tab. Locate the item in the list for the application you want to remove and click on the "-" button to delete it from the list.
If an application installs any other files the best way to track them down is to do a Finder search using the application name or the developer name as the search term. Unfortunately Spotlight will not look in certain folders by default. You can modify Spotlight's behavior or use a third-party search utility, Easy Find, instead. Download Easy Find at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Some applications install a receipt in the /Library/Receipts/ folder. Usually with the same name as the program or the developer. The item generally has a ".pkg" extension. Be sure you also delete this item as some programs use it to determine if it's already installed.
There are also several shareware utilities that can uninstall applications:
AppZapper
CleanApp
Yank
SuperPop
Uninstaller
Spring Cleaning
Look for them at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
For more information visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on removing software.
If you have uninstaller software already installed then it should, typically, alert you to associated files that you may want to delete. But they will not work for applications you have deleted prior to installing the uninstaller software.

How to delete the Preferences file in mavericks

I have seen advice to delete my preferences to fix some "wonky" behavior (radial filter doesn't show outlines when applying it) by LR 5.5. I have Mavericks on my Mac, and can't find out where to do this. Can anyone help? Thanks.

Preferences file location:
Preference and other file locations in Lightroom 5
Once you find the file, it can be deleted like any other file, but consider renaming it instead, so in case it doesn't help, you can rename it back..
Quit Lightroom first!

Backup issues. Trying to delete iTunes preference files, but Apple Computer folder is missing (should be in the roaming folder)

Want to backup before a restore, but I have no backup option available in iTunes. I'm pretty sure I found the answer as this has solved the problem for others in other forums:
Remove iTunes Preference files
Some of the files that iTunes uses to store settings and preferences may be unusable and cause issues. iTunes has two folders where preferences are saved. Move one of them to the desktop and test to see if the issue persists. If it does, move it back and remove the second folder. The location for the two preference folders are:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\iTunes
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes
BUT after getting into both my roaming and local folder I find I do not even have an 'apple computer' folder. I have iTunes installed on my computer and have used it so I am confused. I use Windows 7.
I would appreciate anyone's help. Thanks!

Nevermind. I found the files. It didn't work anyway as the files kept repopulating themselves after I deleted them and reopened iTunes.

Deleted apps preference file

How would one delete an apps preference file when the app is deleted.
Thanks

I'd like to think so, but I have deleted apps that have preferences in the setting that are still there.
These have been deleted from both the Ipad and Itunes.

How do I diable auto compression in cs5? I have tried looking for an option in file handling & and also deleted the preferences file with no luck.

Please help!

nataliec76701245 wrote:
Will that apply to saving psd files as jpegs also?
Natalie, JPG is a completely different format to PSD, but whereas PSD is loss-less with or without compression (it just takes longer to save with compression) JPG does affect image quality. But if you use the highest quality settings with JPG, and don't open and save multiple times, you'd be hard pressed to see any problem with JPG images.
As with so many things, Wikipedia has an excellent page on JPEG compression.
JPEG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I particularly like the sample images towards the end of the article, which demonstrate how the compression works.
JPEG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Image
Quality
Size (bytes)
Compression ratio
Comment
Highest quality (Q = 100)
83,261
2.6:1
Extremely minor artifacts
High quality (Q = 50)
15,138
15:1
Initial signs of subimage artifacts
Medium quality (Q = 25)
9,553
23:1
Stronger artifacts; loss of high frequency information
Low quality (Q = 10)
4,787
46:1
Severe high frequency loss; artifacts on subimage boundaries ("macroblocking") are obvious
Lowest quality (Q = 1)
1,523
144:1
Extreme loss of color and detail; the leaves are nearly unrecognizable

Final Cut Pro 5: How do i delete the preference files

Wen trashing prefrences, out of Final Cut Pro Obj Cache and Final Cut Pro Prof Cache what one do i trash?

Oddly enough, according to Apple's Knowledge Base article (for FCP 5), the answer is neither. <shrug> (this must be new for FCP 5)
Once you're done with that, go ahead and download FCP Rescue - graciously hosted by Patrick Sheffield - so you don't have to get your hands dirty the next time you're forced to do this.
edit: beaten to the punch by Mr. Sheffield!
Message was edited by a flying monkey who types too slow.

How do I delete Adobe PE 9.0 preference file?

I must apoligize for reading the answer to this somewhere on this forum, but now I can't find it. I want to delete preference files like I used to in the older versions. I used to locate the file within the program and just delete it. Can anyone tell me where that file is path is? Does holding down the shift key when starting the the program have the same effect as actually deleting the file?

You can delete the preference file by holding down the keyboard's left side Ctrl, Alt and Shift keys as you launch the program.
You can also actually delete the preference file itself -- but which file you delete and where it is depends on your operating system.

Adobe XMP Files not deleted with Raw Files in ACR

I am using Photoshop CS3 on a Windows XP platform. My camera raw files are mostly kept on a Windows 2003 file server, which has a gigabit connection to my workstation. However, I have the same problems when using PS CS3 on my Windows XP laptop.
I take many hundreds of 'technical' photographs using an Olympus E1 and Canon G9 cameras. I usually bracket the exposures on the E1, specially when photographing white painted yachts, and then rate and select the images that I want in ACR 4.1.1. Unwanted images are deleted at this time.
The problem I am having is that the associated *.xmp files are not always deleted with the camera raw files, with the result that I now have literally thousands of these 'orphaned' files cluttering up the server. The only options I have are to delete the files manually, which is a pain, or to leave them on the server, wasting unnecessary space.
I have the same issue with Canon and Nikon raw files, so this problem is not specific to Olympus files.
This is a long standing problem, and I would be grateful if anyone has any answers?
If any Adobe programmers are watching, it would be handy if you could provide a simple utility to delete orphaned *.xmp files, or at least compress them into some kind of archive.
Thanks,
Nigel.

[quote] As far as Photoshop and ACR go, ALL raw files are treated as read-only.
Your original raw files remain untouched, no matter what you do to them.
Any adjustments you make to a raw file are kept only as metadata (flags, if you will) in that XMP side-car file. Every time you want to re-open that raw image file, ACR will reach for the XMP file and apply the adjustments automatically, transparently. [/quote]
That is not quite correct. Camera RAW files can be permanently deleted from within Adobe Camera Raw. The problem with ACR 4.1 to 4.4 4 was that the XMP files were left behind. This now seems to have been rectified in the latest version (ACR 4.5).
Thank you Adobe!

Removing mail preference files

My mail appears to be corrupted. Accounts won't go online. If I rebuild or remove an account and then recreate it there is a chance it will be fine and some aren't (I have over 12 mail accounts running in Mac Mail. It occurs to me I need to delete the preferences file and recreate the accounts. For the most part my important mail is stored in folders in mail on my computer. Any suggestions?
- JC

Please follow these directions to delete the Mail "sandbox" folder.
Back up all data.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail
Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
Services ▹ Reveal
from the contextual menu.* A Finder window should open with a folder named "com.apple.mail" selected. If it does, move the selected folder — not just its contents — to the Desktop. Leave the Finder window open for now.
Log out and log back in. Launch Mail and test. If the problem is resolved, you may have to recreate some of your Mail settings. You can then delete the folder you moved and close the Finder window. If you still have the problem, quit Mail again and put the folder back where it was, overwriting the one that may have been created in its place. Post your results.
Caution: If you change any of the contents of the sandbox, but leave the folder itself in place, Mail may crash or not launch at all. Deleting the whole sandbox will cause it to be rebuilt automatically.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C). In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar, paste into the box that opens (command-V). You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

Dashboard preferences file is missing. Causes my CPU to run at 100%

I have Mid 2009 MBP here. Since I've upgraded to mavericks my computer has been running extremely hot and my fan as been speeding at 6200 rpm all the time. I figured out that the dashboard is not responding and in the activity monitor it says it is using about 95% of my cpu. after researching this online people have deleted the preferences file for dashboard and it fixed the issue when they rebooted. I don't have a dashboard preferences file! I've looked and looked and looked but I can't find it. When the system reboots it is supposed to automatically regenerate any missing preferences files, mine apparently doesn't regenerate dashboards file. Please help!!!! I feel like my computer is going to melt! Here's a link to a screen shot of my activity monitor http://imgur.com/4VaxmB4

My PC runs at high rates too. And I too like to use iTunes at the same time I use Safari.
And there's no quick solution to this...at least not yet. But here are few tips and tricks that you can apply to get this thing half solved.
1. First of all, if you don't intended to watch images while browsing, You can turn it off...Simply by going to 'Edit> Preferences> Apperance (Tab)' and from there deselect ' Display images when the page opens'
2. Secondly, Don't open too much tabs if it's not needed.
3. Thirdly, if you're using Safari for a few hours. Just try to close the whole window time to time. And after reopening get back to the last session (View) by selecting History> Reopen all windows from last session'
This will probably help you. Btw, these tricks are exclusives from me. Happy Surfing buddy!

PSE 6 MAC: Corrupted Preference Files

I have a frequent problem with my cursors for all editing functions turning into four lines in a square pattern. I shut down, restart, to no avail. Then, I restart using command option shift and opt to delete preference file. Then all is good again. Anyone got a fix for this?

Hi Lee,
You must have at some point set the 'Painting cursor' to 'Precise' in 'Display and Cursor' setting under Preferences for PSE. That's the reason why when you restart no change is seen but on deleting the preference file, you get back to the normal cursor.
You can go to the 'Display and Cursor' setting under Preferences and set 'Paninting cursors' to 'Normal Brush Tip', restart the application, and this should work.
You can also toggle between the cursor style for the opened image by turning on/off the Caps Lock.
Hope this helps.

Cant find Safari preference file in Mavericks

I upgraded to Mavericks and Safari isnt behaving right. It won't even launch at all now and just make my MBPR system fan scream like a banchee. I figured I could delete the preferences file and disable the exstensions for a start. Problem is I can't launch Safari to disable the exstension. I also can't find the pref file either. Looked all over....
Plz help.
Thanks
Greg

Open a Finder window. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder
Type or copy paste the following:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist
Click Go then move the com.apple.Safari.plist file to the trash.
For extensions. From your Safari menu bar click Safari > Preferences > Extensions
Turn that OFF, quit and relaunch Safari to test. If that helped, turn one extension on then quit and relaunch Safari to test until you find the incompatible extension then click uninstall.

Delete Orphaned Preferences Files?

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