The system doesn´t let me change the dock and .jar files

Question

Dear professionals,
since a couple of days I come across with a weird problem:
I am logged in as admin but the system doesn`t perform several modifications:
such as:
if I remove a broken link from the dock (grey questionmark) and replace it with a new link to the new app the next session everything is unchanged and the questionmark is back.
if I want firefox not to play quicktime and try to change the preferences it flips back immediately
if I want to open Cocktail to schek something it does not accept me as admin - whereas the systems calls me admin.
maybe the futile attempt to alter the minecraft.jar has the same reason.
At many files the file info shows a strange entry at the botten where the sharing/permission are listed: Name is "Laden..." meanig "Loading..." with the dots and as symbol a grey person with tiny questionmark; permission is "read only"
History:
Till now I never used a password and logged in automatical as admin
I upgraded to Lion
I installed a second account to have a workspace not as admin
I gave a password to the admin account
I got nuts with the second account as I couldn´t change the preferences of firefox and delete files and so on
I gave administration rights to the second account to customize the workspace
I realized the problems with the admin account - changes where ignored/forgotten by the system w/o warnings
I deleted the second account as it seemed to cause the trouble
I repaired the rights in the admin account
I repaired the HD with HD recovery
I try to check the system with cocktail but cocktail tells me the password is not sufficient - it opens the app but it refuses any modifications
I switched to manual login
System tells me that the keychain.login does not accept the password
I set the password for keychain also
keychain first aid tells me the password does not work ?
I removed the password from admin account
I removed the password from keychain first aid is happy
Repair rights does not find any trouble
Cocktail does not accept me anyway anymore, without password (as i logged in) or the former passwords- it blocks at all.
And all the other stuff listed at the beginning drives me crazy
File Info window tells me i have adapted rights- whatever it means, as i am listed with full read/write rights
now I am stunned.
I would like to use my Installation disk to repair anything - but as it is not the lion system I am afraid to cause more trouble.
Does anyone have a clue?
And sorry for the strange text- english is not my native language
And, btw, is netinfo manager removed by lion? it does not appear on my volume.
Thanks for Your help
Bernhard

Answer 1

Repairing the permissions of a home folder in Lion is a complicated procedure. I don’t know of a simpler one that always works.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.
Drag or copy – do not type – the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
chmod -R -N ~
The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. When a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) appears below what you entered, it’s done. You may see a few error messages about an “invalid argument” while the command is running. You can ignore those. If you get an error message with the words “Permission denied,” enter this:
sudo !!
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up.
Next, boot from your recovery partition by holding down the key combination command-R at startup. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
When the recovery desktop appears, select Utilities ▹ Terminal from the menu bar.
In the Terminal window, enter “resetpassword” (without the quotes) and press return. A Reset Password window opens.
Select your boot volume if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select  ▹ Restart from the menu bar.