Open windows shift around uncontrollably on my desktop??

Sometimes when I'm working on a number of programs (Lightroom, Photoshop, Photomechanic, Word) and have a number of windows open on my desktop the windows shift around, changing uncontrollably which window I'm able to work on. I'd appreciate any insight. I could also use some recommendations for care and maintenance regimens and/or software. Thanks much.

I saw an article on MacFixit address this:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10350897-263.html

Similar Messages

Expose's Show Desktop hides open windows in finder

how do I get it to show me those open windows?

the toggle shows the desktop, but hides any finder windows and doesn't make the finder active. I want to see those finder windows and make the finder active.

Seeing all open windows in 10.7

I just upgraded from 10.6.8 to 10.7.5. I miss being able to use a hot corner to see all open windows. I cannot find that in 10.7. Does anyone know where it is?

Thank you, brenden dv. I found that and used the hot corners to show the windows open, grouped by application. One thing that confused me was that the Help Center window stayed front and center, even though I was clicking on other windows. When I closed that window, then the correct application window opened up front.
However, the problem remains that all the windows are grouped by application, and it is almost impossible to tell which window is which when I have 3 or 4 windows open from one application, since they are stacked so tightly on top of one another. This means that I often cannot get to the window I want.
Grouping windows by application makes no sense from a user point of view. When I want to get to a certain file, I do not think, "Oh, that is a Word doc, I better get to Word." No, I just want to see my doc and click on it. Who still organizes all their files by the application that created it? No one I know.
OS 10.6.8 had a hot corner that showed icons or large thumbnails of all open windows, all shown separately on the desktop, so all one had to do was go to the hot corner, find the window and click on it, and voilå, that was your window, front and center. I cannot find that in 10.7.
Thanks for the help.

How do I fix my left shift key? Any open windows leave and make the desktop visible.

How do I fix my left shift key? Any open windows leave and make the desktop visible. I have tired to go into system preferences and reset all of the keyboard settings to default but the issue hasn't gone away.

You are not running as administrator, I think, which may be required and the only way to properly work and register. Also check for compatibility mode settings, UAC and DEP, all of which may require to be adjusted for a legacy app like PS CS2 to run properly. Also turn off Aero and switch to a conventional visual theme. The brush issue may be related to that or is a more generic problem with your graphics card and mouse config, but since you didn't provide any info on that, it will be hard for anyone to advise.
Mylenium

My left shift key on Macbook Pro Retina (15") is behaving like the F11 key (show/hide open windows). The key behaves the same for the laptop keyboard and for an external Apple keyboard? This just started in last week after 6 months of use

My left shift key on Macbook Pro Retina (15") is behaving like the F11 key (show/hide open windows).
The left shift key behaves the same on the laptop keyboard and on an external Apple keyboard.
This just started in last week after 6 months of use. The right shift key and other keys on the keyboard all appear to work correctly.
Suggestions greatly appreciated.

I have a solution to this issue now after a discussion with Apple Support. Some where in the last few weeks, there was a change in the key that would do a Show Desktop under the Mission Control settings in the System Preferences. Even though the key sequence that was shown for the Show Desktop setting did not include the Left SHift key, by changing this first to having no key sequence and applying that and then changing it back to the F11 key, the Left SHift key issue that I was having has cleared up.
A second issue that was uncovered was that the SSD had some issues (uncovered when I ran Disk Utility using the Repair Disk key). I had to restart and use the Disk Utility through the Command R sequence to get to the stand alone Disk Utility. The SSD appears to be running better as a result as well.
Hope that this is of use to someone else in the future.

How can i open a link in new window (shift + Mouse Click) while not switching to the new window

I want to open a new window (shift + Mouse Click) while not switching to the newly opened window. The focus should remain on the window from where i have opened the link.

You can do that with tabs, but not with windows AFAIK.

I am running Vista and Windows Mail, I can not open PDF files when in Windows Mail, I must save to Desktop first, this has changes recently and I do not know why or how to fix

I am running Vista and Windows Mail, I can not open PDF files when in Windows Mail, I must save to Desktop first, this has changes recently and I do not know why or how to fix.
Why after 6 year's this has changed?
I would like to open PDF's straight from Window Mail.

Good day Jeff.
I am running most current Adobe Reader X.
Tks Mark

I have Firefox Home installed on my iPhone. It has all of my current open windows and bookmarks. I have a new desktop computer. How do i transfer?

I don't want to lose all of my open windows and bookmarks!

The Firefox Home uses Firefox Sync, and as I said, you can't transfer from iPhone to Desktop, it's 1-way. You can transfer your data from your old computer to your new one, but not from iPhone to Desktop. Firefox home isn't even developed or supported anymore.

After installing Lion os I cannot see my desktop 1 nor can I see my open windows when I go to finder, I just get the grey/black background that comes with mission control. Any ideas as to how to solve this problem?

The top picture is what my Desktop 1 looks like. And the picture below is what my desktop looks like after clicking mission control. Ive tried changing wallpapers, changing preferences, etc. and I still can't figure out what's wrong. As you can see, on mission control you can't see any of the open windows, or anything that I have placed on my desktop. Any ideas as to how to solve this issue?

Hello cor-el, thanks for your reply. I changed my settings for downloads to desktop and it has appeared on there. When I double click I am asked which program I want to open file. I click firefox and another box "opening install" says I have chosen to open the file which is an application and do I want to save it. This is the only real option so I press save file. I get a box saying this is an executable file which may contain viruses - do you want to run. I press ok and the final box showing C drive file name and desktop appears stating application not found.
This happens the same whenever I try to install.
To my untrained eye the application is not being recognised as an application and I cannot work out how to get it to do that.
My plugin is still showing as out of date.
Is there anything you could suggest. Thanks for your time.

In my old OS I could press F11 and clear all the open windows from view to see only the desktop. How can I do that now in Mavricks?

In my old OS I could press F11 and clear all the open windows from view to see only the desktop. How can I do that now in Mavricks?

system preference > Keyborad > click the box thast says use all f1,f2,f2 keys as standard functiong Key and then the f11 key should casue all window fo fly to the side and you can see your desktop

Why do my tables in Numbers shift around when I open the spreadsheet in Numbers on iOS?

When opening a Numbers spreadsheet made on OS X on Numbers for iOS the tables shift around. Does anyone have a fix for this or know why this may be happening?

More compatible are OpenOffice or NeoOffice. Also if you are using a PowerPC Mac you may not be able to use the most recent Office anyway. Make sure the version of Office you get is compatible with your Mac. PPC indicates PowerPC, which was only found on Macs early 2006 and older. Go to Apple menu -> About This Mac to determine which CPU is on your Mac. If it says G3, G4, or G5 it is PowerPC. If it says Intel Core you can upgrade to Snow Leopard minimum and possibly the latest Office, if it says Intel Core2Duo (with the 2 in the middle) or Core i with some number you may be able to upgrade to Lion, but certainly no trouble wiht the latest Office.

Firefox 4 - Opening in a new window puts a second windows frame around the firefox browser window

Using Firefox 4 in Windows 7
I have customised the position of tabs (Tabs on top) and which toolbar items I would like to see.
The first window I open of firefox 4 always has the configuration as I set it.
Whenever I open a new window of firefox either:
# - Right-click a link to open in a new window
# - Click a link anywhere (such as an email) to open a new window
# - When a website opens a page in a new window
Bad Results:
# - The new window does not have the configuration as set in the main window (Tabs on top)
# - The new window has a windows type window frame around the firefox window (see two sets of window controls eg. "minimise", "restore" and "close")
# - The open page does not show the url - navigating to a new page within this window will not update the url :: strangely enough clicking the url page icon will update the url as it should be
# - Sometimes when restarting firefox, it will open the first main window with the remembered tabs and then open approx 8 or so blank new windows as described above

I have troubleshooted this issue and have found what I think is a resolution.
The cause of this issue seems to be Profiles.
Previously when running firefox 3 I had multiple profiles setup. when deciding to update to firefox 4 I removed these old profiles.
When installing firefox 4 for some reason it used a "default" named profile, and this caused the problems I described above.
RESOLUTION:
Ran firefox.exe -ProfileManager
created a new profile, it named itself "Default User" I then selected the new default and tested. The window behavior is now acting as it should wothout the above problems.
I deleted the old profile and now it works, using the new profile.

On my Mac desktop I must have changed a setting so that now when I move the mouse the open windows fly off to the sides and I can't see them. They come back when I move the mouse, but it is so annoying. How can I make the windows not disappear like that?

On my Mac desktop I must have changed a setting so that now when I move the mouse the open windows fly off to the sides and I can't see them. They come back when I move the mouse, but it is so annoying. How can I make the windows not disappear like that?

Click on the Hot Corners.. button and look at the four definitions. In the picture below, if you moved the cursor to the right top of the screen, it would slide all the applications off the screen as you describe and show the desktop. Set it to "-" to deactivate.

'Picture frame' around open window

After I updated to OS10.4.10 via a download, many applications (including Office) would not open. I reloaded the original disks for my MacBook (OS10.4.6) (not a clean reload) and the applications now work. However, the frontmost (open) window now has a bizarre antique-style picture frame as a border around it that I do not know how to delete!

Welcome to Apple Discussions.
I've never seen an antique picture frame around a window.
Check in System Preferences >> Universal Access >> Seeing
Also read this Apple support topic.About "Downgrade" installations
"You should not reinstall an earlier version of the same software over a later version. These "downgrade" installs may seem to work, but Apple does not test nor recommend downgrade installations in most cases. Some installers prevent downgrade installations. If you need to reinstall an earlier version of Mac OS X, erase your disk first or choose the erase option in the Mac OS X Installer. Be sure to reinstall any software updates after reinstalling the operating system."
-mj
[email protected]

How to hide open windows with one swipe so i can see my desktop clear, as it was in snow leopard?

Hi, this was one very handy feature which I can not find now in Lion and kinda frustraits me. When I wanted to go strait to a clear desktop to open a folder, while being on another window, I had to swipe three fingers up (I think). Now trying swipe up, down, whatever, I got different showing of all opened windows, the one which says desktop though when clicking on it, brings the current window. Is it me or Lion is missing that? thanx

Hello,
Apple employees do not read very often the messages here.
The only (and official) way is to send a suggestion via this page :
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Open windows shift around uncontrollably on my desktop??

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for