Random programs not opening?

Question

Hi all -
It seems oddly in the span of a week that three un-releated programs suddenly don't open period. I am on an iMac that I bought brand new back in May and everything ran fine up until now. Strangely, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft Office 2004 suite (I only use Word, though) and Adobe After Effects 5 don't open. They will bounce once in the menu bar, but nothing else loads (doesn't even load quickly and crash, just bounces one and done). They all worked flawless before for the first 8 weeks that I've had this... Hasn't seem to afflicated any other apps I use (including Adobe PS CS3 and the full Apple Studio Pro 1 suite). I've tested disk utility options and ran this "Onyx" program, deleted preferences, un-installed and re-installed everything... nothing works?
Anyone with a solution would be very helpful, thanks.

Answer 1

My recommendation is to copy your Home folder to the HDD.  Then open Accounts preferences, Click on the lock icon and authenticate, then CTRL- or RIGHT-click on your account and select Advanced Options from the contextual menu.  You should see a field labeled, "Home directory" with a Choose button on the right side.  Click the Choose button, locate the Home folder on the HDD, select it and click on the Open button.  Click on the OK button of the Advanced Options window.  Immediately restart the computer.
This points OS X to the Home folder located on the HDD.  Leave the Home folder on the SSD as is.  If you have your data already installed there, then delete it from the various folders within the Home folder in order to regain the storage space.
Oh, you can also copy your Applications folder to the HDD, then create an alias to it that you will put on the SSD in place of the Applications folder on the SSD.  Rename the alias to "Applications."