Desktop folders + icons moving after startup

Some (but not all) folders and icons on my desktop change position each time I start-up. It is always the same folders & icons and they always move to top right of my screen. How can I stop this? It make no difference I use sort by > align to grid or none.

Same here Bonamy. Are the icons that move by any chance network-connected folders or drives? Seems for me that if there is a hiccup in connection, then icon is created anew next time it sees the connection made. I'll keep sniffing.

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Desktop folders/icons moving when awakening from sleep

When I open my laptop and it awakes from sleep, it moves some of the folders around on my desktop. What's going on?

proceed at your own risk...
heres what i found. go to HD>Users>'owner'>Library>Prefs find and delete com.apple.desktop.plist
that seemed to work for me. who knows...im kind of riffing right now.

Mac Mini desktop folders/icons and top menu blinking on and off

Hello. I've just returned to my Mac Mini after being away for a few days. Upon booting and having the desktop fully load, I have been experiencing all folders/icons and top menu bar blinking on and off every ten seconds. I have only opened Fire Fox to try and diagnose why this is happening. No solution yet.
I am running Snowleopard with Mavericks and I'm aware Mavericks is a little buggy at the moment (beach ball used to blink on and off every now and again and performance has gotten slow) I only have the HDD replaced last week as the last one failed. I really need to fix this problem soon as I rely on my Mac to work from home.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Jan

I have sovled the problem! for now at least. I came across another users suggestion to dissable "sync status icons" in google drive as it confics with the finder in Mavericks. I guess this would only work with others having this problem with Google Drive and Mavericks.

Icons change after startup

After starting up the icons on my desktop, for example a Acrobat Professional .pdf, just looks great but then changes just before finishing startup into a 'normal' icon with just some text as icon.
Does anyone know how icons can be viewed as defined by the program (such as Adobe)?

Sorry, didn't mean to confuse you.
After the login window, the mac starts up and then shows the desktop. The .pdf, docx and xlsx icons on this desktop (so I saved them there once) are first shown as application icons (kind of nice icon with colors). Then during the startup of the Login Items (in my case Mail, iCal and Activity Monitor) the icons change to a regular graphic design which looks like ugly text-icons.
(I think that on the startup of the Login Items the mac is not finished its regular startup so I don't know if these login items have something to do with it. Guess not.)

ICONS MOVING after sync. CAN I KEEP POSITIONS FIXED?

Hi. My preference is to have app icons displayed across 10 pages rather than in folders. It's just how I prefer it.
My device is a new iPad with retina, on IOS 6.0.1
So after a lot of rearranging I had the iPad set up and displayed just as I wanted.
On my next sync I added another dozen apps, and found that unlike my iphone where all new apps find available spaces without moving the current ones, my careful arranging had been completely messed up with the newly synced apps just randomly placed amongst already full pages. Pushing out apps to the next page.
I've tried to research an answer before asking here, but I'm hoping someone can help.
Thanks in Advance...

UPDATE...
Ok, this time round, after arranging icons in the order I wanted, I rebooted device.
I then synced iPad with PC, the 10 or so apps installed on the device correctly, in available spaces without moving any previously positioned apps.
I think first time round, I hadn't rebooted the iPad, and this time it worked well.
Thanks for responses.

Desktop icons moving and growing in size

We just purchased a MacBook Pro 15", 2.8GHz. I transferred all my files from my old MacBook via FireWire. Everything seems to work fine. The only problem I have is that my desktop items keep moving after I organize them the way I want them. And they also growing in size each time. I have only about 8 icons on my desktop and they take up almost the whole screen. Any suggestions to keep them from omving around? Thank you very much!

FGI_Webmaster: Close or minimize any open windows on your desktop so the desktop is exposed. Click once on it to make the Finder the active application. Place the tips of your thumb and forefinger on the middle of the trackpad and slowly move them closer together, then farther apart. See what happens to your desktop icons? This "pinch to zoom" trackpad gesture is probably responsible for the oversized icons on your desktop. I suspect you've been doing it accidentally without noticing. Getting used to the trackpad and avoiding having two fingers in contact with it when you don't mean to is the solution.

I cannot select any folders/icons on my desktop.

I cannot select any folders/icons on my desktop.
Sometimes my desktop folders/icons disappear for a few seconds.
I get a message:
"Restore Windows": The application 'Finder' unexpectedly quit whilst trying to restore its windows.

What did your phone carrier say when you contacted them about your issue?

HD icon moving to the very right top corner of the screen after startup...

Hi everybody,
this is apparently an old problem in Mac OSX (I have found only very old posts) that should have been resolved already. It happened to me sometimes that, after startup, the HDD icon, which is normally on my right top corner, moves by itself to the very top right corner almost behind the upper bar (almost at behind the magnifying glass of spotlight). In the finder preferences I have forced the snap to the grid option a long time ago and it seemed to have solved the issue but not! it is not the case.
I have the feeling that this happens at some starts (not the very first one) after making ONYX maintenance but I am not sure of that.
May you please tell me if other people have already encountered a similar problem?
It is not a virus or malware, is it?
Cheers

It is not a virus or malware, is it?
oh, please don't even mention viruses. there aren't any OS X viruses and what's happening to you is decidedly not a virus or a malware. you have a minor corruption of finder preferences or of the desktop DS_Store file.
reset your finder preferences. delete the file home directory/library/preferences/com.apple.finder.plist. then control-option-click on finder in the dock and choose "relaunch". next close all finder windows, and delete ALL .DS_Store files on your hard drive using ONYX http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/systemdiskutilities/onyx.html
start ONYX, go to maintenance->rebuild and delete .DS_Store files. then restart and set up your desktop as you want. it should stay put from now on.
Cheers

Hard Drive icon missing - Desktop folders won't open - Need Help!

I need help! I have a 400 MHz PowerPC G4 with 768 MB SDRAM, no DVD drive - was running OS X 10.3.9 quite happily. We became owners of a new iPod Nano - so we had to upgrade to 10.4.
(I'm writing this on my 800 MHz PowerPC G4 with 768 MB SDRAM, (also no DVD drive) that I upgraded from OS X 10.3.9 to 10.4.11 without incident.)
Installed 10.4 using a FireWire Hard Drive - installed software updates to 10.4.11 - ran Disk Utility - ran MacJanitor - ran DoktorKleaner - everything was working well.
Rebooted and the Hard Drive Icon had disappeared from desktop. Folders on desktop have all lumped together in the top right hand corner of the screen, and refuse to open.
Only programs in the dock still work - clicking on the Finder icon only gives the option to hide. New Finder Window does not work. Programs can be found in Spotlight, but if they're not in the dock they won't open. Trash won't open or empty.
I attempted to reinstall Mac OS X using FireWire, but now the Hard Drive is full and is telling me it will erase and reinstall. I need to save files off this computer now (Sadly no backup exists) before my wife readies divorce papers.
I tried using FireWire Target Disk Mode to copy files - with the 400MHz as Target I just get a spinning Beach Ball any time I click on the Icon. After far too long it opened up an empty window.
With the 800MHz as the target, the 400MHz does not show it on the desktop, so I have no way of copying files to it.
Anyone have some advice that doesn't involve a time machine?

Whenever something starts going wrong with the computer I suggest you first boot from the installer disk, select language if applicable, choose utilities, run Disk Utility and verify (and repair if necessary) the drive. Then repair the permissions on your computer. You can also repair permissions from DU on your main drive while booted, but to properly verify and repair your drive you have to run it from a drive other than the boot drive.
[Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214]
[Using Disk Utility in Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302672]
[Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751]
From BDaqua (couldn't have said it better):
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
Then Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes."
A few questions:
Was this a retail installer disc that you used to do the upgrade?
How much free space do you have on the computer?
Did you use the [PPC Combo updater|http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10411comboupdateppc.html] to get to 10.4.11?
Did you do all these updates in one single session or restart and check your computer had accepted them okay between each update? It is critical to repair permissions before and after each update otherwise the installers won't install fully and you end up with a mix of versions.
You can set the Finder Preferences, general, to display a hard drive icon, but it sounds like your problems are going beyond that?
You can also try trashing your Users -> home folder -> Library -> Preferences -> com.apple.finder.plist file and see if that clears up the issue. That sets the Finder preferences and if it gets corrupted it will cause Finder problems.

No desktop after startup

I just recently purchased the HP Pavilion 21 All In One Touchsmart and after about a week of use I can no longer get the desktop to appear after startup. After asking for my hotmail password, the computer takes forever to load and when it finishes, all I get is a black screen. I'm able to move the cursor and the taskbar appears, but the taskbar only has the keyboard, the help center and calender in the bottom right. The windows tab is available in the left but does nothing. Touchscreen is unresponsive. Can anyone help? Thank you.

Did you make recovery media?
If you can invoke the search charm type in system restore. Click on the system restore icon. Choose a restore point dated before the issue began.
If that fails then, use Windows 8 Refresh. Choose the option that does not affect your documents and other data.
Don't forget to keep us posted.
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer

HP Pavilion P7-1225 Desktop Freezes After Startup. Frustrated!

Hi,
My family's HP Pavilion P7-1225 desktop computer freezes a few moments after startup, most times. However, it will occasionally work just fine for hours and then suddenly lock up. Over the weekend a sort of clicking sound was heard followed immediately by the freeze. Restarted a few times, heard noise, got lock up. We're not hearing the noise now but it's still freezing up.
We have yet to talk to HP Support about it, but no other professional has been able to solve it (and we have had many try). Please help!
Thanks in advance,
Leo

Hi Leo,
Many things could be causing your issue. Intermittent freezes can be very difficult to solve. Since so many professionals have already tried to solve your issue then it's probably time to contact HP Support. As such, I am not going to suggest what has probably already been suggested and/or tested.
I don't know if you are using an UPS but transient changes in line voltage (too low or even too high) will often times cause a failover and clicking noises (relay closing and opening) with some UPSs will be heard. I hear clicks from my UPS at times even though the lights don't flicker. A poor or faulty UPS could cause issues like you are experiencing. You might also having an electrican check the circuits in your house. You might want to isolate your PC equipment off circuits that might have high current start up devices that might cause local voltage surges.
HP DV9700, t9300, Nvidia 8600, 4GB, Crucial C300 128GB SSD
HP Photosmart Premium C309G, HP Photosmart 6520
HP Touchpad, HP Chromebook 11
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Drag and drop folders to desktop printer icon

I would like to drag and drop folders containing various documents, such as word, excel, pdf, to a desktop printer icon and have all the documents within the folder print automatically.
Does anyone know if it is possible, and if so, how to do so?
Thank you.
PS-I posted a similar question yesterday, however I incorrectly noted "files" instead of "folders". Sorry.

The printer has been set up on the desktop and works
fine with individual documents. My desire is to drag
a folder, containing several documents, to the
printer icon and have all the seperate documents
within the folder print.
That's not possible - dragging a folder, as I am sure you have seen, will print the contents of the folder.
By automatic print, I meant that the print dialouge
window would not open and require the print button to
be selected, ie, simply drag a folder and all the
documents start printing without further input/action.
The closest you'll get, I think, is dragging a group of documents of the same kind that are handled without presenting the print dialog - pdf or text files. It depends on the file types, the printer to a degree, and how the receiving application handles the Apple Events.

Since upgrading to Lion, sometimes the icons on my desktop are lined up after i reboot.

since upgrading to Lion, sometimes the icons on my desktop are lined up after i reboot, rather than staying whre i put them.
how can i convince them to stay where i put htem?
thank you

Step one, start with one of these. I recommend https://discussions.apple.com/message/15790205#15790205

After installing Windows 7 my desktop Adobe icons have change in appearance. How do I change them back?

After installing Windows 7 my desktop Adobe icons have change in appearance. How do I change them back?

The file icons is one on the change features MS removed from the Explorer options. Supposedly you can do the change with the registry, though I have not figured out that option. If you want to try, backup the registry first and then you might try the instructions at How to Change a File Type Icon in Windows 7 and Vista - The Winhelponline Blog. If the application icon is not correct, try to fix that before the approach above. Good luck and be careful (dealing with the registry can make your computer not work..

I am Trying to sign into revel but after giving my user ID and password all I get is a clocking icon moving very slowly

I am using photoshop elements organizer and click on the i beside Mobile Albums. After entering my user ID and password all I get is a clocking icon moving very slowly

Hello Timmy790
Try the suggestions in the article below to resolve the issue of seeing your old Apple ID on your iPhone.
iOS 7: If you're asked for the password to your previous Apple ID when signing out of iCloud
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts5223
Regards,
-Norm G.

Desktop folders + icons moving after startup

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