Find window behavior

When I search using the Find Command (Command/F), I can't always expand the name field to read the entire name.
Sometimes I can place the mouse at the right edge of the Name column and I get a double arrow which allows me to expand the field and read the entire filenames. Sometimes, for no reason I understand, I don't get the double arrow and can't expand the Name column.
Any ideas why this happens?
Mary Lou

Hmmmm, might try this...
First, Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, test if things work OK in Safe Mode.
Then move these files to the Desktop for now...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist
Reboot & test.
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.

Similar Messages

Cover flow lion finder window

Horrible horrible horrible feature of Lion:
iPhoto is occupied iwth a large upload of images to flickr.
I want to review some more of the images I shot today in thumbnail to
open and start working on them in photoshop without waiting for iPhoto
to finish (this is reason #6099 why I do not let iPhoto control the
location of my photos on the drive, so I can access them without
opening their specific iPhoto library).
I open the enclosing folder for the images, click to view by icon,
enlarge the icons, then click to sort the photos by date, and....COVER
FLOW! they've Cover-Flow-ized the icon view when you do any kind of
sort except by name.
I cannot say how much I hate cover flow--nausea-inducing for the
motion sickness prone, nasty vile scheme in general--and now, it's
dropped the images I can see in one glance at the screen in this icon
by date view of the finder window to ONE, and I can't turn it off. I
do NOT have coverflow checked in view options.
Is there any way to kill coverflow completely in every place they've
put it?
(Feedback already sent to apple, BTW, if you have this problem too, and there's no solution offered by one of the bright folks on this board, please send them some at apple.com/feedback--the place to put feedback for programs like finder that don't have a 'send feedback' menu item))

Support call gave the solution: instead of 'Arrange by', use the 'clean up by' command under the view menu in Finder. This does what arrange by used to, and while the menu options are more limited than 'arrange by', it doesn't default to the cover-flow behavior that is so irritating.
If you hate cover flow like I do, please send them feedback. If enough of us complain about it, maybe they'll stop putting it all over the place.

Open in same window, when using simple finder window

When I am using finder windows in simplified mode (no sidebar) any folder I open, pops up a new window. Is it possible to have folders open in the same window?
Thanks

noondaywitch wrote:
Thanks for the correction ref. the opt key, Don. However I always have the finder selection unchecked and in icon view it still opens new windows…
Odd. When I check or uncheck that item in Finder Preferences, the resultant behavior is as expected in all folder view modes, including Icon view.

In Yosemite, dropping files in and out of folders on my desktop causes a freeze. Must relaunch the finder window.

After the first few days of operating my new computer, Yosemite began to develop strange glitches. I tried to drag a folder from a Finder window. It zoomed upward on Desktop and stayed where it stopped—and nothing worked. Everything froze. The cursor left a jittery trail of ghost images within a Finder window. We had to relaunch Finder. This became a pattern: no dragging-dropping to move files. Only within a Finder window was it possible.
A day or two later, I began to notice—with increasing seriousness and frequency—open windows stuttering when I tried to move them around the desktop. They moved, but with halts and stutters.
When we opened Activity Monitor and saw 6 BG of 8BG memory used, we figured this is serious. After an EtreCheck we noticed we had to update a version of FlashPlayer, which we did. But our problem is still here. Help!
One probably rare item used with this computer is a Maltron Keyboard. This keyboard is made to be used with Macs and I found no issues relating to Yosemite on their website, but just thought I'd mention it.
EtreCheck version: 2.1.5 (108)
Report generated December 20, 2014 at 10:40:00 AM CST
Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.
Click the [Adware] links for help removing adware.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) (Verified)
iMac - model: iMac15,1
1 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core
8 GB RAM Upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 0/DIMM1
empty empty empty empty
BANK 1/DIMM1
empty empty empty empty
Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Video Information: ℹ️
AMD Radeon R9 M290X - VRAM: 2048 MB
iMac spdisplays_5120x2880Retina
System Software: ℹ️
OS X 10.10 (14A389) - Uptime: 2:25:40
Disk Information: ℹ️
APPLE SSD SM0512F disk0 : (500.28 GB)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 499.10 GB (310.00 GB free)
Core Storage: disk0s2 499.42 GB Online
USB Information: ℹ️
PNY Technologies USB 3.0 FD 62.06 GB
USB30FD (disk2s1) /Volumes/USB30FD : 62.06 GB (61.85 GB free)
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
MALTRON USB Keyboard
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
Anywhere
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Support]
[invalid?] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Support]
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
AirPort Base Station Agent Application (/System/Library/CoreServices/AirPort Base Station Agent.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.2.2.3 [Support]
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.235 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.235 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 15.0.0 - SDK 10.10 Check version
Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
RealPlayer Plugin: Version: Unknown [Support]
Silverlight: Version: 4.1.10329.0 [Support]
iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
AdBlock [Installed]
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
APC PowerChute Personal Edition [Support]
Flash Player [Support]
Flip4Mac WMV [Support]
Perian [Support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
Skip System Files: NO
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 499.10 GB Disk used: 189.10 GB
Destinations:
LaCie [Local]
Total size: 0 B
Total number of backups: 0
Oldest backup: -
Last backup: -
Size of backup disk:
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
7% mds
2% WindowServer
1% fontd
0% taskgated
0% Finder
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
472 MB firefox
249 MB WindowServer
223 MB soffice
146 MB Finder
146 MB Activity Monitor
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
3.78 GB Free RAM
2.55 GB Active RAM
1.34 GB Inactive RAM
923 MB Wired RAM
1.94 GB Page-ins
0 B Page-outs
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
Dec 20, 2014, 10:35:50 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Install Adobe Flash Player_2014-12-20-103550_[redacted].crash
Dec 20, 2014, 10:28:33 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Install Adobe Flash Player_2014-12-20-102833_[redacted].crash
Dec 20, 2014, 08:14:56 AM Self test - passed

Mac users often ask whether they should install "anti-virus" software. The answer usually given on ASC is "no." The answer is right, but it may give the wrong impression that there is no threat from what are loosely called "viruses." There is a threat, and you need to educate yourself about it.
1. This is a comment on what you should—and should not—do to protect yourself from malicious software ("malware") that circulates on the Internet and gets onto a computer as an unintended consequence of the user's actions. It does not apply to software, such as keystroke loggers, that may be installed deliberately by an intruder who has hands-on access to the computer, or who has been able to take control of it remotely. That threat is in a different category, and there's no easy way to defend against it.
The comment is long because the issue is complex. The key points are in sections 5, 6, and 10.
OS X now implements three layers of built-in protection specifically against malware, not counting runtime protections such as execute disable, sandboxing, system library randomization, and address space layout randomization that may also guard against other kinds of exploits.
2. All versions of OS X since 10.6.7 have been able to detect known Mac malware in downloaded files, and to block insecure web plugins. This feature is transparent to the user. Internally Apple calls it "XProtect."
The malware recognition database used by XProtect is automatically updated; however, you shouldn't rely on it, because the attackers are always at least a day ahead of the defenders.
The following caveats apply to XProtect:
☞ It can be bypassed by some third-party networking software, such as BitTorrent clients and Java applets.
☞ It only applies to software downloaded from the network. Software installed from a CD or other media is not checked.
As new versions of OS X are released, it's not clear whether Apple will indefinitely continue to maintain the XProtect database of older versions such as 10.6. The security of obsolete system versions may eventually be degraded. Security updates to the code of obsolete systems will stop being released at some point, and that may leave them open to other kinds of attack besides malware.
3. Starting with OS X 10.7.5, there has been a second layer of built-in malware protection, designated "Gatekeeper" by Apple. By default, applications and Installer packages downloaded from the network will only run if they're digitally signed by a developer with a certificate issued by Apple. Software certified in this way hasn't necessarily been tested by Apple, but you can be reasonably sure that it hasn't been modified by anyone other than the developer. His identity is known to Apple, so he could be held legally responsible if he distributed malware. That may not mean much if the developer lives in a country with a weak legal system (see below.)
Gatekeeper doesn't depend on a database of known malware. It has, however, the same limitations as XProtect, and in addition the following:
☞ It can easily be disabled or overridden by the user.
☞ A malware attacker could get control of a code-signing certificate under false pretenses, or could simply ignore the consequences of distributing codesigned malware.
☞ An App Store developer could find a way to bypass Apple's oversight, or the oversight could fail due to human error.
Apple has taken far too long to revoke the codesigning certificates of some known abusers, thereby diluting the value of Gatekeeper and the Developer ID program. Those lapses don't involve App Store products, however.
For the reasons given, App Store products, and—to a lesser extent—other applications recognized by Gatekeeper as signed, are safer than others, but they can't be considered absolutely safe. "Sandboxed" applications may prompt for access to private data, such as your contacts, or for access to the network. Think before granting that access. Sandbox security is based on user input. Never click through any request for authorization without thinking.
4. Starting with OS X 10.8.3, a third layer of protection has been added: a "Malware Removal Tool" (MRT). MRT runs automatically in the background when you update the OS. It checks for, and removes, malware that may have evaded the other protections via a Java exploit (see below.) MRT also runs when you install or update the Apple-supplied Java runtime (but not the Oracle runtime.) Like XProtect, MRT is effective against known threats, but not against unknown ones. It notifies you if it finds malware, but otherwise there's no user interface to MRT.
5. The built-in security features of OS X reduce the risk of malware attack, but they are not, and never will be, complete protection. Malware is a problem of human behavior, not machine behavior, and no technological fix alone is going to solve it. Trusting software to protect you will only make you more vulnerable.
The best defense is always going to be your own intelligence. With the possible exception of Java exploits, all known malware circulating on the Internet that affects a fully-updated installation of OS X 10.6 or later takes the form of so-called "Trojan horses," which can only have an effect if the victim is duped into running them. The threat therefore amounts to a battle of wits between you and Internet criminals. If you're better informed than they think you are, you'll win. That means, in practice, that you always stay within a safe harbor of computing practices. How do you know when you're leaving the safe harbor? Below are some warning signs of danger.
Software from an untrustworthy source
☞ Software with a corporate brand, such as Adobe Flash Player, doesn't come directly from the developer’s website. Do not trust an alert from any website to update Flash, or your browser, or any other software. A genuine alert that Flash is outdated and blocked is shown on this support page. Follow the instructions on the support page in that case. Otherwise, assume that the alert is fake and someone is trying to scam you into installing malware. If you see such alerts on more than one website, ask for instructions.
☞ Software of any kind is distributed via BitTorrent, or Usenet, or on a website that also distributes pirated music or movies.
☞ Rogue websites such as Softonic, Soft32, and CNET Download distribute free applications that have been packaged in a superfluous "installer."
☞ The software is advertised by means of spam or intrusive web ads. Any ad, on any site, that includes a direct link to a download should be ignored.
Software that is plainly illegal or does something illegal
☞ High-priced commercial software such as Photoshop is "cracked" or "free."
☞ An application helps you to infringe copyright, for instance by circumventing the copy protection on commercial software, or saving streamed media for reuse without permission. All "YouTube downloaders" are in this category, though not all are necessarily malicious.
Conditional or unsolicited offers from strangers
☞ A telephone caller or a web page tells you that you have a “virus” and offers to help you remove it. (Some reputable websites did legitimately warn visitors who were infected with the "DNSChanger" malware. That exception to this rule no longer applies.)
☞ A web site offers free content such as video or music, but to use it you must install a “codec,” “plug-in,” "player," "downloader," "extractor," or “certificate” that comes from that same site, or an unknown one.
☞ You win a prize in a contest you never entered.
☞ Someone on a message board such as this one is eager to help you, but only if you download an application of his choosing.
☞ A "FREE WI-FI !!!" network advertises itself in a public place such as an airport, but is not provided by the management.
☞ Anything online that you would expect to pay for is "free."
Unexpected events
☞ A file is downloaded automatically when you visit a web page, with no other action on your part. Delete any such file without opening it.
☞ You open what you think is a document and get an alert that it's "an application downloaded from the Internet." Click Cancel and delete the file. Even if you don't get the alert, you should still delete any file that isn't what you expected it to be.
☞ An application does something you don't expect, such as asking for permission to access your contacts, your location, or the Internet for no obvious reason.
☞ Software is attached to email that you didn't request, even if it comes (or seems to come) from someone you trust.
I don't say that leaving the safe harbor just once will necessarily result in disaster, but making a habit of it will weaken your defenses against malware attack. Any of the above scenarios should, at the very least, make you uncomfortable.
6. Java on the Web (not to be confused with JavaScript, to which it's not related, despite the similarity of the names) is a weak point in the security of any system. Java is, among other things, a platform for running complex applications in a web page, on the client. That was always a bad idea, and Java's developers have proven themselves incapable of implementing it without also creating a portal for malware to enter. Past Java exploits are the closest thing there has ever been to a Windows-style virus affecting OS X. Merely loading a page with malicious Java content could be harmful.
Fortunately, client-side Java on the Web is obsolete and mostly extinct. Only a few outmoded sites still use it. Try to hasten the process of extinction by avoiding those sites, if you have a choice. Forget about playing games or other non-essential uses of Java.
Java is not included in OS X 10.7 and later. Discrete Java installers are distributed by Apple and by Oracle (the developer of Java.) Don't use either one unless you need it. Most people don't. If Java is installed, disable it—not JavaScript—in your browsers.
Regardless of version, experience has shown that Java on the Web can't be trusted. If you must use a Java applet for a task on a specific site, enable Java only for that site in Safari. Never enable Java for a public website that carries third-party advertising. Use it only on well-known, login-protected, secure websites without ads. In Safari 6 or later, you'll see a padlock icon in the address bar when visiting a secure site.
Stay within the safe harbor, and you’ll be as safe from malware as you can practically be. The rest of this comment concerns what you should not do to protect yourself.
7. Never install any commercial "anti-virus" (AV) or "Internet security" products for the Mac, as they are all worse than useless. If you need to be able to detect Windows malware in your files, use one of the free security apps in the Mac App Store—nothing else.
Why shouldn't you use commercial AV products?
☞ To recognize malware, the software depends on a database of known threats, which is always at least a day out of date. This technique is a proven failure, as a major AV software vendor has admitted. Most attacks are "zero-day"—that is, previously unknown. Recognition-based AV does not defend against such attacks, and the enterprise IT industry is coming to the realization that traditional AV software is worthless.
☞ Its design is predicated on the nonexistent threat that malware may be injected at any time, anywhere in the file system. Malware is downloaded from the network; it doesn't materialize from nowhere. In order to meet that nonexistent threat, commercial AV software modifies or duplicates low-level functions of the operating system, which is a waste of resources and a common cause of instability, bugs, and poor performance.
☞ By modifying the operating system, the software may also create weaknesses that could be exploited by malware attackers.
☞ Most importantly, a false sense of security is dangerous.
8. An AV product from the App Store, such as "ClamXav," has the same drawback as the commercial suites of being always out of date, but it does not inject low-level code into the operating system. That doesn't mean it's entirely harmless. It may report email messages that have "phishing" links in the body, or Windows malware in attachments, as infected files, and offer to delete or move them. Doing so will corrupt the Mail database. The messages should be deleted from within the Mail application.
An AV app is not needed, and cannot be relied upon, for protection against OS X malware. It's useful, if at all, only for detecting Windows malware, and even for that use it's not really effective, because new Windows malware is emerging much faster than OS X malware.
Windows malware can't harm you directly (unless, of course, you use Windows.) Just don't pass it on to anyone else. A malicious attachment in email is usually easy to recognize by the name alone. An actual example:
London Terror Moovie.avi [124 spaces] Checked By Norton Antivirus.exe
You don't need software to tell you that's a Windows trojan. Software may be able to tell you which trojan it is, but who cares? In practice, there's no reason to use recognition software unless an organizational policy requires it. Windows malware is so widespread that you should assume it's in every email attachment until proven otherwise. Nevertheless, ClamXav or a similar product from the App Store may serve a purpose if it satisfies an ill-informed network administrator who says you must run some kind of AV application. It's free and it won't handicap the system.
The ClamXav developer won't try to "upsell" you to a paid version of the product. Other developers may do that. Don't be upsold. For one thing, you should not pay to protect Windows users from the consequences of their choice of computing platform. For another, a paid upgrade from a free app will probably have all the disadvantages mentioned in section 7.
9. It seems to be a common belief that the built-in Application Firewall acts as a barrier to infection, or prevents malware from functioning. It does neither. It blocks inbound connections to certain network services you're running, such as file sharing. It's disabled by default and you should leave it that way if you're behind a router on a private home or office network. Activate it only when you're on an untrusted network, for instance a public Wi-Fi hotspot, where you don't want to provide services. Disable any services you don't use in the Sharing preference pane. All are disabled by default.
10. As a Mac user, you don't have to live in fear that your computer may be infected every time you install software, read email, or visit a web page. But neither can you assume that you will always be safe from exploitation, no matter what you do. Navigating the Internet is like walking the streets of a big city. It can be as safe or as dangerous as you choose to make it. The greatest harm done by security software is precisely its selling point: it makes people feel safe. They may then feel safe enough to take risks from which the software doesn't protect them. Nothing can lessen the need for safe computing practices.

Mail "New Message" window retreats to background after drag and drop attachment from Finder to Mail "New Message", click, and Finder window stays in foreground even when not in focus

Hi, I'm surprised I can't quickly find if anyone else is having this issue. For me it has been going on since Lion on my 13" MacBook Pro 2011 and it's still persisting in Mavericks, and even still now that I've "downgraded" to a 15" MacBook Pro 2010 with Mavericks. The behavior is odd and difficult to explain concisely. Basically, when I want to add an attachment to Mail, I'll Cmd+Tab over to Finder click and drag and Cmd+Tab back to Mail, and drop the attachment. At first it looks fine, but when I click in the New Message window where I just dropped the attachment, to move the cursor, it retreats to the background and the Mail Main Window comes to the foreground. Then, if I click on that, the Finder window that I just used comes to the foreground. Sometimes if I switched to another app before going to Finder to select the drag and drop, that other app window will appear in the foreground instead. If I click on the other app window that is now in the foreground, then the Finder window that was last used will come to the foreground. The only thing that seems to fix this switch-a-roo effect is Cmd+Tab-ing back and forth a few times, or click on the window "frame" at the top to move the window around.
The way to prevent this is to have my Mail Message window visible in the foreground side by side with the Finder window when the drag and drop occurs (this is a tedious extra step if mulitple windows are open, or to use the add attachment command in the menu within Mail. But it sure is annoying buggy behavior.
Thanks
Daniel

Yep, I get exactly the same thing when using Thunderbird mail client on my 2011 iMac running Lion. I've been putting up with it for at least a year, maybe longer.
For me it appeared to start after a Thunderbird update, so I figured that was the cause and couldn't find a solution at the time. However I've now noticed it starting to happen in Apple Motion 4 when dragging files from Finder into a DropZone in my animations. Motion remains the active program but the Finder window sits on top until I Cmd-tab out to a third open program (ie not Finder) and back to Motion again.
This is the first indicator I've had that it's an OS X issue.
Be great to find a solution as D&D is by far my preferred way of adding attachments to emails and similar tasks.

No finder windows on startup

Hello,
I have just upgraded to Mountain Lion on my mid-2012 MB Air. When I start the machine the objects on my desktop, e.g., desktop printers, are present, however, there are never any finder windows no matter how many I have created prior to shutting down. I thought about deleting the <com.apple.finder,plist> preferences file and restarting, but this file doesn't appear to get created any longer, or at least spotlight doesn'f find it on my machine.
What can I do so that I have the same number of finder windows on startup that I had on shutdown and in the same location (this didn't seem to be an issue in 10.7)? There isn't anything that, to me, seems like a setting for this in the Finder Preferences panes.
Some extra information:
I had to have the logic board and SSD replaced last week. The Apple Store installed 10.8 for me after the repair. I did not want to use MigrationAssisant or whatever it's called in case it brought over some corruption from my previous Lion system. So I planned to do a drag and drop of my data and re-download all my applications. I began by dragging over only the mail and mail downloads folders from my 10.7 TimeMachine backup. Before dragging any other data over, it then became clear that the new 10.8 system had some terrible problems; these occurred in my (Admin) account and in a new guest account I created (so not related to the mail and account data I had dragged over). I re-downloaded and re-installed 10.8 and did the system updates. Things seem to work ok now in so far as the issues that occurred before no longer do, BUT with the Finder windows exception mentioned above.
Thank you.
Richard

It is normal behavior on log in NOT to have an open Finder window.
If you want them open when you Shut Down on your Apple menu in the dialoge window do you have "re-opnen windows when logging back in" check marked? It should be.
In System Preferences > General do you have "Close windows when quitting application" check marked?
It shouldn't be.

Strange window behavior with CS5

I have begun experiencing strange behavior with PS CS5. I should begun with the machine configuration: 2.66GHz iMac (8,1) Intel Core Duo with 4GB RAM and OSX 10.6.6, Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics card. The initial symptom showed up suddenly as an inability to display an image window; that is, I could open PS normally, everything would show up properly, but when I opened an image file of any sort, there would be no image window. Other cues indicated that the file was open; for example, the window menu would show it selected, and the layers palette would show the file's layers.
It did not seem to matter what type of file was involved: PSD, JPG, TIF, whatever. Occasionally, this behavior would begin during a session. Sometimes it would happen right off the bat. Sometimes, stopping and restarting PS seemed to clean things up; other times, this had no effect. After messing around quite a bit with different permutations and combinations, all I could say was that the problem was random.
I might add that I've had PS CS5 on this machine pretty much since it was announced, and had not had problems with it before. So this issue came along quite suddenly a couple of weeks ago. This was a little after I'd installed an update for Nik's Viveza 2; and I began to suspect that. Although why Viveza should do such a strange thing was odd, and Viveza was never part of the files I was experiencing issues with. Anyway, I went back to an earlier version of Viveza and the problem persisted.
Since I run Time Machine, I also went back to versions of the entire PS folder from a month back, and found the same problem. Along the way, I experimented with the files I was using with PS CS4 & CS3, which I also have installed on this machine. These two versions of PS run perfectly well. At least the CS4 version has precisely the same plugins as the CS5 folder, and this seems to discount the potential problem with plugins.
To be sure about CS5, I completely deactivated, deinstalled, and reinstalled it. The same issues occurred. Now, I have to admit that I let PS run its update process so that I brought it back to the most recent version in this step of my troubleshooting. So, I can't be certain that the issue isn't with some update of CS5.
I might add that I have been running CS5 in 32-bit mode, for compatibility with certain plugins. This may or may not be an issue, since I have limited experience with running in 64-bit mode. At this point, I should add a bit more about the confusing behavior.
While messing around with CS5, I also suspected the GPU support, since my problem had to do with windows. When the problem presents itself, the usual cycle through window views that you get by pressing the "F" key seems to get messed up. In particular, the "F" key doesn't work at all. Next, if you use the View menu to select different views, the full screen with menu bar view will often have garbled pixels, while the full screen view will show a blank grey screen. Then, cycling back to a window view will show a window with blank grey contents. This is interesting since the starting point was no window at all; but going into full screen and then back will produce a window with bogus contents.
Now, the next strange thing, having to do with the GPU, is that CS5 often fails to recognize the Radeon HD 2600 card. Oddly enough, it did originally. And I had it running in Basic mode. However, CS4 does recognize the GPU; and I can set it in any variety of modes: Basic, Normal, and Advanced. This behavior is not consistent at all either; that is, while CS5 almost always now fails to detect the GPU, sometimes it does. As near as I can tell, this failure to detect the card does not depend upon whether I start CS5 in 32-bit or 64-bit mode. OTOH, CS4 always recognizes the GPU.
Another form of this odd behavior arises if I start CS5 cold, and then just open a new blank window. This almost always works. I get a blank white window, and I can paint on it with a brush, etc. However, if I go ahead at this point and open a file, then the new file takes over the window; and there are no tabs. If I select the original new file, usually labelled "Untitled", the window bar will show the change of filename but the window's contents and the layers palette will continue to show the old file that I had opened. Cycling through views can sometimes get back to the new Untitled file, but just selecting file windows never works.
Yet another aspect of this messed up window behavior is that the workspace bar, which shows the Bridge, MiniBridge and view icons on the upper left and the various workspace options and CS Live on the upper right, is present but blank. OTOH, the tool bar is always displayed correctly, as is the horizontal bar that shows the various tool options. Likewise, the palettes for the workspace such as layers, swatches, adjustments, and so on, are always correctly displayed on the left.
My next steps in trying to figure this out will be to ensure that I am running the latest of all plugins so that I can get everything running in 64-bit mode and try this again. However, the single factor that seems consistent in this whole mess is that whenever I do find this odd behavior, the performance preferences window will indicate that CS5 is not detecting the GPU. Whenever this happens, if I open up CS4 and check the same performance preference in it, the GPU is detected. I can have the two preference windows side by side on the screen in fact, CS4 sees the GPU and CS5 does not. The counter-indication is that sometimes CS5 will work properly and the preferences window still shows that the GPU has not been detected. Having said that, I can add that if I have opened up CS5, and it has found the GPU, and I have set it into, say, Basic mode, and then later found CS5 messing up, and I go back and check the performance preferences again, the GPU has always been lost. So, CS5 can mess up windows with or without the GPU detected and active; but when if it started with the GPU present, it will show up as lost after the weird behavior starts.
To add one more observation, I have had Macs and other computers with failing GPUs. This computer is showing none of the typical signs of that. Every other program seems to be working just fine, and I have a lot of these, many graphics intensive; e.g., Corel Painter 11, Parallels v6 running Windows 7, PS CS4, Lightroom v3, Aperture v3, and so on. It is just CS5 that is messing up.
I could load up this message with screen shots of all this nonsense, but I'm not sure what that would add to the strange tale, other than I'm not pulling your legs. I am, however, pulling out my own hair.
As I stated before, this began quite suddenly a couple of weeks ago, early Feb 2011. My best guess as to cause is some combination of incompatible updates between CS5, OSX, and maybe some plugin or other. I found unusual behavior with onOne's FocalPoint v2 last year after Apple updated GPU drivers in some OSX update, and cratered that program. It took onOne a month or two to fix that. I have CS5 on a laptop with the same OSX version, and on that I haven't seen these issues; but then, I haven't been using it as intensely over there. Also, that machine has different CPU and GPU models than this iMac.
So, to the community: is anybody else starting to see this odd stuff? Am I alone?

Here's the reason I say that the same plugins exist for both CS4 & CS5. Sometime last year, the internal hard drive on this computer died (as they so often do), and it was replaced under the Apple care warranty. As a consequence, I decided to rebuild the OS and applications from scratch and bring back my user files from backup. I among other things, I reinstalled all of CS4 as well as CS5 (and I had to put CS3 back too for reasons having to do with printing calibration images for Quad Tone RIP). Then, I went to reinstall the plugins that I needed. I use Nik Software, onOne, Portrait Professional and various Topaz plugins. To my recollection, most of these install in PS CS3, CS4, CS5, Aperture, and Lightroom. In short, it is not that I've copied or moved plugin folders from one application folder to another, just that the installers automatically detect the presence of the various applications and put the various plugins into each, as appropriate.
The only 32-bit plugins that I have that don't fit into this category are from Vincent Versace. He provides special versions of certain Nik plugins (Tonal Contrast, Contrast Only, etc) that function with some Acme Educational extensions for performing B&W conversion, sharpening, blah blah blah. These plugins are only 32-bit and the extensions are only CS5 compatible. I've installed these ones only into CS5; so, you've got me. OTOH, I've had these from Vincent as soon as CS5 was available; and they've worked so far without problems. Perhaps I should just edit the extensions so I could use the latest plugins direct from Nik instead of the Versace special editions...
I've checked fonts and repaired permissions. I am presently going through the rather tedious process of disabling plugins and extensions to see if anything yields consistent results. The rather random arrival of the strangeness makes ensuring that a change is really having an effect more difficult to validate, as you will appreciate.
I apologize for my long-winded original post. I add all of the detail so that anyone who'd experienced similar strange behaviors might properly pattern-match what they were seeing. On the one hand, in finding the cause of a problem, you look for what's changed; and theoretically nothing is new. On the other hand, there's always so much changing behind the scenes with automatic updates of this, that, and the other thing that it's impossible to make the claim that nothing's new.

Zoom level when opening a pdf in Preview from a Finder "find" window

I do a Finder search, and the search window shows a bunch of pdf files. If I double click on one, it opens in Preview with the Finder search term highlighted in the pdf text-very nice. But the zoom level of the pdf is very high, like 300%. So I always need to zoom back out to 100% to see the context of the found term. Is there a way to change this default behavior?
Another point is that once I open one of the pdf's, it vanishes from the Finder window. Although this might make sense in some ways, because, after all, I've already had a look at the file, it's often not the behavior I want. In particular, it's hard to know what the next pdf is that I was going to open, when the one I just looked at is no longer in the list. I should also point out that not all pdf's vanish in this way, but most do. I can't see any pattern.

Hi,
You mentioned that "JavaScript in the PDF can hide toolbar buttons."
According to the Javascript docs for Acrobat 7 the App.HideToolbarButton function only runs at AppInit. Which means that I would have to have the javascript in a file. How can I do that from within the document? Is there another way to to do set this from our web application?
Rob

Lion finder window not displaying file info

I have a MacPro which I've updated to Lion. I have four hard drives installed. When I open a finder window from three of the drives, I get the expected (from Snow Leopard) behavior: in icon view, images display pixel dimensions, movies or audio files display run time. This is assuming I have Show Item Info clicked in the View Options. But if I open a finder window on my start-up drive the file info is not displayed. If I open the View Info panel and click/unclick the Show Item Info ckeck box, I can see space expand or contract beneath the file, but no info is displayed. Is this a bug or a "feature"?

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
Step 1
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.
Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”
While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your personal files or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.
Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem?
After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.
*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac” is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.
Step 2
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login, or by a peripheral device.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain iMacs. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of steps 1 and 2.

How do I get Finder windows to hold their settings?

Reading in other discussions, I see some folks are having problems with desktop icons moving around. My desktop icons are fine and stay put, but my Finder windows continually rearrange themselves to whatever random design Lion wants to give them.
They will not retain size, toolbar on / off, arrange by / sort by, icon size or grid spacing etc. For a while I thought I had the problem sorted by leaving the main User window open when I shut down at night, but this 'solution' didn't hold either.
I have worked my way through the View options, tried resetting defaults etc etc, but either there's nothing I can do about it (bug?) or I am missing something simple.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. TIA

I have this problem too, and it's maddening. My latest effort fo fix it has been to make .DS_Store read only using the Terminal. This will work for directories that you never alter; I did it to my home directory. If you do it to directories that change, the results will be undefined, because the Finder will be unable to write changes to the .DS_Store file reflecting the position of the new files.
To do this, open Terminal in /Applications/Utilities, and then type:
cd "/Path/to/directory/to/fix"
Replace the path with the folder you need to fix. If you're not sure what it is, you can just type "cd " (without the quotes, but note the space after the letters 'cd') and then drag the folder you want to fix onto the Terminal window. Then press return.
Now, type:
chmod 444 .DS_Store
Make sure you include the period at the beginning of the .DS_Store name. Press return. This will effectively lock the .DS_Store file and prevent the Finder from screwing it up. Your icon positions and window settings will be fixed in place until you make the .DS_Store file writable again. To do that, repeat Step 1 above, and change Step 2 as follows:
chmod 644 .DS_Store
That will return the .DS_Store file to its original state and undo the changes you made.
I have tested this only on my home directory, which never changes. Doing this to directories to which files are added and removed will result in undefined behavior. It will not damage your computer or your files, but Finder windows for that directory will not behave in a predictable fashion.

Desktop always opens as Finder Window - PPC

Hi all,
This is a strange one and kind of hard to explain.
I'll just start out by saying it only happens on my G5 PPC running 10.5.x
Some background: I always have "open safe files" in Safari turned off and all files are downloaded to the "Downloads" folder.
Anyway, when I double-click to extract a zipped file, either from within the downloads folder or from the Safari download list, a new Finder window pops up containing the contents of the extracted file and the Desktop. Basically the entire Desktop opens as a Finder window.
This behaviour doesn't happen on Intel machines - just the G5.
What would be causing it?

I'm sorry for retreading this topic again. I assure you I searched for this issue on the forums and googled for it extensively (but obviously not enough) and didn't find anything. I only found about it as I installed my first AirDisk and thought this particular behavior was neither elegant nor useful.
I fear that Apple will not restore this the way of 10.5.7 since a lot of updates have come and go and this issue remains.
Thank you very much William for giving me background knowledge on this!

How do I keep the finder in Yosemite from restoring the tabs that were open last time I closed a finder window?

I find it annoying that, if I have a finder window with several open tabs and I close the whole window at once, the next time I click the finder it will open up that same window with multiple tabs I don't need anymore instead of my default location. I've looked all over for a way to turn off this behavior, any ideas?

ok, first of all I haven't given up on you yet.
I just restarted my computer and had reopen files checked, the settings remained the same.
I restarted without remember open windows checked and the setting is still the same.
I hit cmd n multiple times and the setting still opens my finder window to the specified folder.
So this is a bug and worthy of calling apple support about fixing it for you.
also feel free to make some feedback so they might know to fix it.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
Maybe someone will come along and know the answer but it's best to file feedback when you see a bug.

File dates not updated in finder window (Mozilla only)

OK, folks - here's a real puzzler for you. I'm using Mozilla 1.7.12 to maintain a simple set of web pages. When I save an HTML file with Mozilla composer, the file's modify date in the Finder window does not update consistently. (The window is in list view.)
The date does not update as long as that finder window remains in the background. Selecting the window sometimes updates one file date (but not others if I've modified multiple files). Switching to icon view sometimes updates the file dates, sometimes not. Only logging out and back in (i.e., starting a new Finder) guarantees that all dates are current. This only happens with Mozilla composer - saving files with other software results in the date in the finder window updating immediately. It seems to me this behavior is new since I updated to OSX 10.4.3, but I can't be positive.
Any bright ideas? - Andy
PowerMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Is this causing any problems, or is it just a quirky behavior? For example, if you change to list view and sort by date, does it still get the dates wrong?
I'm thinking this is probably a really marginal bug, where Composer isn't telling the Finder to refresh the date as most applications do, but then, Mozilla does a lot of unMaclike things. Eventually the Finder figures out that the files have been updated though. There are probably a host of ways you can force it to update, as you've already discovered. You can also force it to update with a simple AppleScript:
tell application "Finder"
update every item of window 1
end tell
This tells the Finder to update everything in the frontmost window to match what's on the disk.

10.4.3 File Size Shown Incorrectly in Finder Window

Tiger 10.4.3 --- Sometimes file sizes don't display correctly in Finder windows. For example, I was just downloading a bunch of large files from an FTP site. They were all 44.1Mb in size. After they finished DL'ing, some of the file sizes showed a much smaller file size. But cmd-I on those files and the correct size is displayed.
Some of these files show up with the correct size, but only after waiting a loooong time...
Can anyone tell me why don't file sizes show up correctly? Or immediately? Any help will be appreciated!

Is this causing any problems, or is it just a quirky behavior? For example, if you change to list view and sort by date, does it still get the dates wrong?
I'm thinking this is probably a really marginal bug, where Composer isn't telling the Finder to refresh the date as most applications do, but then, Mozilla does a lot of unMaclike things. Eventually the Finder figures out that the files have been updated though. There are probably a host of ways you can force it to update, as you've already discovered. You can also force it to update with a simple AppleScript:
tell application "Finder"
update every item of window 1
end tell
This tells the Finder to update everything in the frontmost window to match what's on the disk.

Finder window not appearing when selected from the Dock

Hi
My Finder exhibits the following behavior:
Right Click Finder in Dock
Finder displays list of currently open windows, etc.
I select one of the windows
Nothing happens
Note: If a select "New Finder Window" a new window is opened. This has become my work process which is not optimal and very frustrating.
Previously I could select "show all windows" and then navigate to one my existing windows. Now, this command does not show any windows either, which then prompted this post.
Doing the above process whilst e.g. Safari has focus; it would seem that something is happening because the menu bar does show "Finder" after selection is made (so the focus changes), just does not show it.
It is almost as if the Finder window is shown but on some coordinate outside of the screen coordinates (or on some phantom 2nd screen)
This happens all the time. If I reboot it might work for while, but after an unknown time and level of usage this behavior returns (always).
I am running Yosemite with everything up to date.
This is very frustrating and natively affects my every workflow on OS X.
Any help will be most appreciated.
Carl-Hein

Go to your Finder "Go" menu hold the option key and choose Library. Then go to Preferences folder and trash these files:
com.apple.finder.plist
com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
Then, restart, or log out and in again.
(You will have to reset a few finder prefs the way you like them.)

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