Why does my anchor handles keep disappearing?

Question

This is literally driving me mad.  When I change something via convert anchor tool and then release, the handles disappear and when I click back on the anchor point they go back to where they were originally.  I want them to stay selected. The path has been created using the pen tool.
Another related question, is there a way to just select one of the handles when clicking an anchor point?  Whenever I click both are selected so when I move the mouse, the other handle is being manipulated too.
And another question, is there any way to stop anchor handles reverting to their original position settings when clicking to activate them?  I always have to click, then undo.

Answer 1

You may work on one handle only by Alt/Option+ClickDragging it; you may also retract one handle that way.
ONLY IF you're using the white pointer. Doing that with the Convert tool will duplicate the segment. Again, Nicola, don't use the Convert tool to select points. That's what you're tripping over.
Funny name for it, show edges...how are you meant to work out what it means from that name?  With pencil and paintbrush you double click and choose keep path selected, you'd think it'd be the same.
Nicola, you need to spend some serious time in the documentation.
The Keep Selected option for the Pencil and Brush tools is an entirely different function. It determines whether a path you draw with the tool REMAINS SELECTED after you mouseup.
The Show/Hide Edges option in the View menu determines whether a path's selection edges DISPLAY when it IS selected.
I'm certainly not defending Illustrator's awful interface design; I'm just telling you how it is. (All the more reason you need to read and work through the instructions.) The Show.Hide Edges command is actually a workaround for a particularly bad aspect of Illustrator's poor design: it's insistence on displaying edges of all contents of selected Groups, Clipping Paths, etc. All those selection edges frequently get in the way, so somewhere along the way, Illustrator had to add an option to override the annoying standard behavior. This, too, is poorly done, because you really can't operate for long that way.
Other programs don't have to second-guess themselves in things so basic as selection display, because they have more sensible interfaces to begin with.
JET