Desktop icons jump about!

Hi All.
Here's the problem: I'll arrange all my desktop icons just so, then I'll open a finder window and if I click on the desktop in the sidebar, all my icons jump back to their old position, it's as if they have one arrangement memorised. How do I prevent this?
Nick.

If you are having this much trouble with the Desktop and a Finder window, perhaps it's time for an Archive and Install or an Erase and Install to get your system software back in shape.
Reinstalling Mac OS X
Under some circumstances, you may need to reinstall Mac OS X. *You can reinstall Mac OS X while keeping your files and user settings intact.*
Insert the Mac OS X Install Disc and double-click the Install Mac OS X icon.
Follow the onscreen instructions. In the panel where you select the destination disk, select your current Mac OS X disk (in most cases, it will be the only one available).
Click Options. *If you want to save your existing files, users, and network settings, select "Archive and Install," then select "Preserve Users and Network Settings.*" If you want to erase everything on your computer and reinstall Mac OS X, select "Erase and Install." You can't recover erased data.
Click Continue.
Click Customize to select which parts of Mac OS X you'd like to install, or click Install to perform a basic installation (recommended).
If you purchased a standalone version of Mac OS X, these installation instructions are in a booklet included with Mac OS X.
If you need to reinstall the version of Mac OS X that was on your computer when you purchased it, or if you need to restore all the software on your computer, including Apple, bundled third-party applications, and printer drivers, instructions are in the manual that came with your computer.
For more information, visit the Mac OS X Install and Upgrade Support website at www.apple.com/support/tiger/install/.
Carolyn
Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

Similar Messages

What happens when the external icon jumps on top on the hard drive icon on the desktop?

The external drive icon jumped to the hard drive icon on the desktop and after that happen the iMAC started running slow. Not sure how that happen or what is happening to the iMAC after it happen. All my applications are running and launching slow. Also, when I tried moving files to the external drive I'll get a "error code -36". When I looked up the error message it says that the file is corrupted even though I could still open them. How can I fix this problem and not lose any files? Thanks for any help.

RRFS has probably got the answer basically - but the combined contents of the two drives has probably maxed out the drive space on Macintosh HD, meaning the OS can't use virtual memory properly.
Open a Finder window and read the available space at the bottom.
If you have copied the drive, it should show as a folder under Macintosh HD in the Finder.
I hesitate to tell you to delete the whole folder as that may be too much for Finder to cope with. Open the folder and delete files and folders in small chunks, emptying the trash each time before doing the next..
Meanwhile, if you go to the Finder preferences and uncheck the item for Hard Disks in the desktop list, then move the icon for the external away from that corner before re-enabling the Hard disk option.
You may need to go to View options from the right-click menu on desktop and set 'arrange by' to 'none' in order to get the icon to stay where you want it.

Desktop icons keep jumping to the right

Okay, suddenly all my desktop items jumped to the right of the desktop, and I can't put them back to - for example - topleft.
It happened after I imported a CD into iTunes (a Beatles album, the irony). I wanted to access the CD to watch the documentary, but the CD did not show up in the Finder. I also could not select any icon on my desktop, could not dubble click the icon for my harddrive for example. So I went to File > New Finder-window and opened the CD from within that window. I watched the documentary and then I wanted to copy it to my desktop. As soon as I dragged the .mov file to my desktop, all icons jumped to the right.
What's up with that? Thanks!

nvm
I need to learn to restart my Mac before making such posts... Still strange that happened, though...

Question about desktop icons

Hi, My question is what are the settings that need to be changed to get rid of the icon menu that appears around desktop icons when your cursor is over the icon? The feature I'm refering to comes up around the icon and has a button to resize the icon a button to rotate the icon a button to close the icon and one to give the prperties. I have several different distro that use kde4.2 or 4.3 and all have this disabled by default. At this point the only distro I have with this annoyance on the desktop is Arch. I tried to google this question but without knowing the proper term for this "feature" I was unable to find an answer. I hope I have descibed it well enough here that someone can tell me how to disable this great annoyance.

Right click the desktop and select "lock widgets"

Question about sysprep re-arranging desktop icons

I can deploy my windows 7 image just fine, the copy profile is working as well, but I have setup the icons a specific way on the desktop on a couple of my images, and after deployment they always go back to the standard looking rows, and I lose all the customization
of the desktop icons that I set up.
Is there a way to tell sysprep or is there something I can do in the task sequence to keep my nice desktop icon customizations, and not have it go back to the standard rows after imaging?

Hi,
You could check the thirt-party below.
"If you want to email the arrangement to someone or if you simply want to export it from the program, then you can also easily do that by saving the arrangement in ‘.dok’ format. The ‘.dok’ files can be exported and imported by DesktopOK only.
You can even register this extension for DesktopOK but for this you will need to grand Administrator Privileges to the software."
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/desktopok-save-restore-icon-positions
Note: Microsoft provides third-party
contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.
Best Regards,
Joyce

I was running firefox beta 9,selected about firefox, which then updated to 10, and when opening 10, began to update to version 11. now the desktop icon is beta 9, start menu beta 10, and version 11 is installed. how do i correct this problem?

after updating from beta 9, to 10, to11, my desktop icon still says beta 9. The start menue has beta 10, and will not allow me to select open file location, which when accessing through programs(x86) is listed as beta 9. When checking uninstall programs, beta 11, is listed.
how do i remove references to beta 9 and 10?

Mr. Willener,
Thank you for your reply.
I did un-install and then re-install per the Adobe recommendations which are what you listed in your reply. The problem remained until I did a MS Windows restore to a restore point a month or so ago. The IE problems vanished. However, now I'm using an outdated and unsupported version that is lower than most of the web pages require for their sites, at least the ones I want to view (they all say I need to upgrade my Flash Player which, when I did, put me in this fix).
As to:
Pat Willener wrote:
Usuallyexasperated wrote:
it requires a...... 2.33 Ghz processor!
You can safely ignore that requirement; it is simply not true.
Why would Adobe post a system requirement of 2.33 Ghz for 11.2 if it simply were not true?
Message was edited by: Usuallyexasperated

"Mini Barcode" follows pointer and overlays desktop icons after 10.4.10 upg

I have a G5 (about 4 years old). I recently upgraded to 10.4.10. After the upgrade I noticed a Mini BarCode like feature following the pointer around. In addition all desktop icons and the menu area were overlayed with this Mini BarCode type feature.It does not seem to affect the operation of the computer, but is extreemely annoying.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
JTPass
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Hey Jim,
Yes a new card fixed my problem but....
After reading your post I searched around on the various forums and noticed that someone else had a similar problem when they upgraded to Tiger from Panther. (not an update they upgraded to Tiger from Panther) Here's the link to the message. You should read this....
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4555151&#4555151
After I read it dawned on me that when I upgraded to Tiger this past November I started having this problem with the video card. Could be I may have jumped the gun on replacing it. The guy that posted the above thread also posted a link to the driver that he installed that got his monitor working properly again.
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/mac/atidisplays4-5-7.html
If you only updated to version 10.4.10 from an earlier version of Tiger then I would go with replacing the card. I replaced mine with a 9800XT w/ 256MB I picked up from OWC for around $230.
http://otherworldcomputing.com/
I really wanted to upgrade to the X800 XT mac addition but it looks like ATI is no longer manufacturing this particular card. Don't believe the wait times you see on some websites regarding shipping dates for that card. I spent many hours searching for this card and finally when I talked to ATI I found out they are no longer manufacturing the X 800XT mac addition. too bad.
If you need to replace your card here's something else you may want to check into.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2894453&#2894453
good luck,
dave
G5 dual 2.0, 3.0 GB ram, 2x250 internal Mac OS X (10.4.8) ATI 9800 Pro. FCP 5.0.4 DVDSP 4.0.3 Motion 2.0.1 Soundtrack pro 1.0.3 QT 7.0.4

All my desktop icons are Adobe Reader icons, can't access related files

I was trying to open a file this morning, and when a pop-menu asked what application I wanted to choose (from a list) to open it, I clicked on Adobe Reader - just as a guess. After that, just about all my desktop icons are Adobe icons, and when I click on them, the pop up menus says I can't access the file. These icons also show up on my menu of all my MS Office programs like Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.
Tech support at Adobe recommended I use System Restore, but it also is now an Adobe icon, so I can't open it. If anyone can help reverse this, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
David

Hi,
This also happened to me this morning. Now all my icons are PDF symbols and Reader opens when I try to open any other program. I uninstalled Reader it and it fixed itself but when I reinstalled the program the same issue occurred.
I wanted to make PDF reader the default application when openning PDF's vs. Distiller, tinkered and broke my computer.
Any clues on how to bring everything back to normaL?

The Finder Icon "jumped" off my dock..how do i get it back?

Hi. I just got my new MacBook earlier today and I was moving some of the dock icons around and somehow the Finder icon "jumped" off the dock and is now no longer selectable. It just sits on the desktop and hovers above all other programs but behind the dock. I can't click on it or move it or even select it using the lassoo, so any ideas what I could try? Or anybody have a clue what happened/has this happened to anyone before?
here's a picture:
It's not like it's something I could've manually removed. I've tried moving the finder before and you can't do it. (this isn't my first OS X mac)
I'm just as baffled as you are.
MacBook 2.0 GHz 13.3" Mac OS X (10.4.7)
iMac G4 17" Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Try trashing this preference file and reboot.
HD > User > Library > Preferences > com.apple.dock.plist
-Bmer
Mac Owners Support Group
Join Us @ MacOSG.com
ITMS: MacOSG Podcast
 An Apple User Group 

[Solved]Conky causes desktop icons to dissappear

I decided to fool around with conky, since I saw the thread lower down in the forums. I kinda mashed some code together and I have a conky I like (though I cant get all the modules working...) but, activating conky causes my desktop icons to dissapear (and re-appear if I mouse over). It's my frist time actually using conky...so I might have messed up something in my (well, a mash of other's) code.
# set to yes if you want tormo to be forked in the background
background yes
cpu_avg_samples 2
net_avg_samples 2
out_to_console no
# X font when Xft is disabled, you can pick one with program xfontsel
#font 7x12
#font *mintsmild.se*
# Use Xft?
use_xft yes
# Xft font when Xft is enabled
xftfont Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:size=8
# Text alpha when using Xft
xftalpha 0.8
# mail spool
#mail_spool $MAIL
# Update interval in seconds
update_interval 1
# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus)
own_window no
# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)
double_buffer yes
# Minimum size of text area
minimum_size 230 5
maximum_width 250
# Draw shades?
draw_shades no
# Draw outlines?
draw_outline no
# Draw borders around text
draw_borders no
# Stippled borders?
stippled_borders 8
# border margins
border_margin 4
# border width
border_width 1
# Default colors and also border colors
default_color white
default_shade_color black
default_outline_color black
# Text alignment, other possible values are commented
#alignment top_left
#alignment top_right
#alignment bottom_left
alignment bottom_right
# Gap between borders of screen and text
gap_x 13
gap_y 25
# Add spaces to keep things from moving about? This only affects certain objects.
use_spacer no
# Subtract file system buffers from used memory?
no_buffers yes
# set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
uppercase no
# stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen
TEXT
${color #88aadd}$nodename - $sysname$kernel $machine
$hr
${color lightgrey}
${execp ~/.conkycalendar.sh}
#$hr
#${execi -l ~/.conkyforecast.py}
$hr
${color #88aadd}System Info:
${color lightgrey}CORE 0:${color} ${cpu 0}${color lightgrey}% ${alignr}${offset -49}${color}${freq_g 0} ${color lightgrey}Ghz
${color lightgrey}CORE 1:${color} ${cpu 1}${color lightgrey}% ${alignr}${offset -49}${color}${freq_g 1} ${color lightgrey}Ghz
${color lightgrey}CORE 2:${color} ${cpu 2}${color lightgrey}% ${alignr}${offset -49}${color}${freq_g 2} ${color lightgrey}Ghz
${color lightgrey}Uptime: ${color}$uptime
${color lightgrey}Processes:$color $running_processes/$processes ${offset 6}${color lightgrey}Load:$color ${loadavg 3}
${color lightgrey}RAM:$color $mem${color lightgrey} /${color}$memmax ( $memperc% )
${color lightgrey}Swap:$color $swap${color lightgrey} / ${color}$swapmax ( $swapperc% )
$hr
${color #88aadd}Top CPU:
${color lightgrey}Name CPU%
${color lightgrey}${top name 1} ${top cpu 1}%
${color lightgrey}${top name 2} ${top cpu 2}%
${color lightgrey}${top name 3} ${top cpu 3}%
${color lightgrey}${top name 4} ${top cpu 4}%
$hr
${color #88aadd}Top Memory:
${color lightgrey}Name PID CPU% MEM%
${color}${top_mem name 1} ${top_mem pid 1} ${top_mem cpu 1} ${top_mem mem 1}
${color}${top_mem name 2} ${top_mem pid 2} ${top_mem cpu 2} ${top_mem mem 2}
${color}${top_mem name 3} ${top_mem pid 3} ${top_mem cpu 3} ${top_mem mem 3}
${color}${top_mem name 4} ${top_mem pid 4} ${top_mem cpu 4} ${top_mem mem 4}
$hr
${color #88aadd}Network:
${color lightgrey}Net: $color${addr eth0}${offset 6}${color lightgrey}
#Essid: ${color}${exec sudo iwconfig eth0 | grep "ESSID" | cut -c 32-45}
${color lightgrey}Up:${color} ${upspeedf eth0} k/s${color lightgrey}${alignr}${color lightgrey}Tot:${color} ${totalup eth0} ${color lightgrey}
${color lightgrey}Down: ${color}${downspeedf eth0} k/s ${alignr}${color lightgrey}Tot:${color} ${totaldown eth0}
Local Ip ${alignr}${addr eth0}
Public Ip ${alignr}${execp ~/.conkyip.sh}
$hr
${voffset 5}${color #88aadd}Disks:
/ $color${fs_used /} / ${fs_size} (${fs_free /})${fs_used_perc /}${color lightgrey}%${offset 5}
${color #88aadd}Win7 $color${fs_used /media/Windows7} / ${fs_size /media/Windows7} (${fs_free /media/Windows7})${fs_used_perc /media/Windows7}${color lightgrey}%${offset 5}
${color #88aadd}DataI $color${fs_used /media/DATA} / ${fs_size /media/DATA} (${fs_free /media/DATA})${fs_used_perc /media/DATA}${color lightgrey}%${offset 5}
${color #88aadd}DataII $color${fs_used /media/DataII} / ${fs_size /media/DataII} (${fs_free /media/DataII})${fs_used_perc /media/DataII}${color lightgrey}%${offset 5}
${color #88aadd}Win7 $color${fs_used /media/DataII} / ${fs_size /media/DataII} (${fs_free /media/DataII})${fs_used_perc /media/DataII}${color lightgrey}%${offset 5}
#$hr
#${color #88aadd}Banshee - ${execi 15 ~/conkyshee.py --status}${alignr}#${offset -22}
# $color artist: ${color #88aadd}${execi 15 ~/conkyshee.py --artist}
# $color track: ${color #88aadd}${execi 15 ~/conkyshee.py --title}${voffset 5}
Last edited by JerichoKru (2010-02-01 06:55:18)

Maybe try:
double_buffer yes
own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type normal
own_window_hints undecorate,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

All of a sudden my itunes wont come up when i hit the desktop icon. un and re installed many times, tried new users, it finally gave me "you need to reinstall sqmapi.dll " im a noob and i have know idea what that is or where i can get it. i cant open any

all of a sudden my itunes wont come up when i hit the desktop icon. un and re installed many times, tried new users, it finally gave me "you need to reinstall sqmapi.dll " im a noob and i have know idea what that is or where i can get it. i cant open any file or library that has anything to do with itunes except safari and quicktime are fine. im about to pull out whats left of my hair.

Okay, that's got one thing ruled out at least.
Can you check something for me, big? I'd like to see if iTunes launches with the Bonjour Service disabled.
In your Start menu, right-click Computer and select "Manage".
Expand "Services & Applications".
Open "Services". (Perhaps maximise the screen to better see what's going on.)
Right-click the Bonjour Service and select "Properties".
In the General tab, set the Startup type to "Disabled":
... and click OK.
Restart the PC and try launching iTunes. Does it open this time?

I have to re-install Firefox everyday, when I click on the desktop icon, it does not open.

When i double click the desktop icon Firefox to open it, nothing happens. I have to install the program from the setup file again. This happens everyday, it used to only happen maybe once every 2-3 months, now it's all the time. Any advice?
Aaron

Please update to the current Firefox 25.0.1 release.
*Help > About Firefox
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/update-firefox-latest-version.
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Updating+Firefox
Download and save the Firefox installer to the desktop and start the installation with a double-click on the desktop icon.
You can find the full version of the latest Firefox 25.0.1 release in all languages and for all Operating Systems here:
*http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html
It is possible that your security software (firewall, anti-virus) blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.
Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full unrestricted access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.
See:
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Server+not+found
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Firewalls
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/fix-problems-connecting-websites-after-updating

How to create a Windows 8.1 Desktop icon from the Metro/Start and/or Search Tool?

I'm a Desktop user, but often find myself needing to go to the Metro/Start and Search Tool to find programs and App(let)s in order to run them. However, after doing this several times for many programs, I find myself wanting to create
Desktop icons to run the programs more easily. Is there a way to do this from the Metro/Start Icon and/or Search Tool results?
If not, Microsoft, please consider adding the ability to do this.
It would be very nice if this ability supported all of the icon types shown in the Metro/Start, Search Tool, and Control Panel interfaces, e.g.: Metro Apps, Desktop Programs, Charms, and Control Panel Applets.
Currently, there is a way to pin the Metro/Start Icon to the Desktop, but the Taskbar will get very cluttered with even only a handful icons.
It would be very nice if the desktop icon created by this also supported the context options that the program/app(let) now shows as Tasks when the icon is pinned to the Desktop Taskbar.
Additionally, it would be nice if I could also simply drag a Pinned Taskbar icon onto the Desktop area, again, retaining it's Tasks as context menu options when the Desktop Taskbar icon is right clicked.
This ability would be very helpful for people needing to get to programs and App(let)s, without having to resort the Metro/Start and Search Tool, because when there are a lot of Metro/Start icons, I have well over a hundred icons, it
can be very hard to find one simply eye-balling lot. The Search feature is much better, provided I know the name to look for and can remember it.
Finally, this ability would be very helpful, because the kinds of desktop shortcut icons that I can create using the New Shortcut option, assuming that can I find the program/App(let)'s name and path information, do not support the context options
that the icons could in Windows 7 when an icon is created while installing the program.
Thanks,
Howard Brown
hrb

Hi Howard Brown,
Thanks for your suggestions about Windows user experience. Actually, we are glad to hear more feedback
about Windows operating system so that we can improve Windows to make it be more easier to
use.
As a suggestion for your current situation, you can use Windows Charm Bar to search Apps, it is also easy to use.
Alex Zhao
TechNet Community Support

How do I make the clickpad cause the size of my desktop icons to change?

As I work through the day, something I do to the clickpad seems to cause my desktop icons to suddenly grow larger, or shrink smaller. I have noticed that the icon change happens as I sweep my regular clickpad finger across the clickpad. I'm not sure what I'm doing with the other hand at the same time, but I seem to be touching the clickpad's left button area at least part of the time. The sudden increase in size of icons causes them to rearrange themselves into an unfamiliar pattern, i.e. a mess. So I then must take time to rearrange about 40 icons, thereby becoming vastly less efficient with a computer than I would be if using pencil and paper. I am not able to reproduce this action at will; it only happens while I'm working normally well, concentrating on other things.
If any of you know exactly how this occurs, and what the feature is called, please tell me the name and, much more importantly, please tell me how I can stop this from occurring. I've searched HP's instructions for the clickpad, searched for a newer driver, and searched the forums to no avail. The notebook computer is a Pavilion DV7-4280us (a quick-ship model). The offending clickpad is, apparently, being beta tested on unsuspecting consumers who, choose to believe the HP tech support and sales folks instead of the numerous previous consumers who have complained about these clickpads in customer reviews. Overall, this computer really is terrific; but I sure could use some help to prevent these undesirable scramblings of my desktop icons that suddenly outgrow the space allocated to them. Thanks in advance for your help.

Firefox now always stores the old session which you can access by going to the History menu and selecting "Restore Previous Session".
If you always open the last set of tabs, an alternative approach is this:
# In the Firefox menu select Preferences to open the Preferences window
# Go to the General panel
# Change the setting "When Firefox starts" to "Show my windows and tabs from last time"
If you have it set to the above but it is not remembering the tabs, the file that stores details of sessions may be corrupt.
# Open your profile folder, for details of how to find it see https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Profiles
# Close Firefox
# In the profile folder delete sessionstore.js
That file will be recreated when you next start Firefox

I can no longer access Yahoo from desktop icon; attempt to report this to Firefox fails. Help.

I have always been able to access Yahoo from my desktop icon. In the last few days, this has not worked 90% of the time (once in a while I can get through). I need to access it through my Verizon account. Why is this suddenly happening - for years I have been able to use the Yahoo icon.
And when I tried to send a help message to Firefox it refused to go through - the green line would go over and over and never finish.

What do you mean when you say you "can no longer access these sites?" Does that mean you can't connect to those sites in your web browser, or that they aren't showing up in iWeb?
If the latter, note that your iWeb data is all entirely stored in a hidden file. In the Finder, choose Go -> Go To Folder and paste the following path into the window that opens:
~/Library/Application Support/iWeb
In that folder, you will find a single file, called Domain. That's got all the data for all your iWeb sites. If that file is missing, or if it has become corrupt, you will need to restore it from an earlier backup.
As for replacing iWeb, either Sandvox or RapidWeaver should work. Which works best will depend on your own tastes. Note that neither is capable of fully importing iWeb sites, as those sites will have a lot of content that is copyrighted by Apple. For more information about transitioning to one of these products, see:
http://rapidweaverfaq.org/site/migrating_from_iWeb.html
http://www.karelia.com/sandvox/help/z/Transitioning_from_iWeb.html

Desktop icons jump about!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for