Tiger does a funny

[singlefinyellow]

Hey, new(ish) to MAC's but not new to unix, was a windows user but love my mac now.

Question tho, I upgraded to tiger recently and ever since then every time I use the ctrl-click (powerbook touchpad) to try and get the pulldown menu on say a desktop item the finder seems to crash and all the icons on the desktop refresh without ever displaying the pulldown. never did this on 10.3

this also happens in any finder window.

I've updated to 10.4.3 and still teh same. any ideas?

Cheers

Pete

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Have you repaired permissions?

Also, log into another user accout on your Mac (make one if necessary) and see if the problem occurs there, too...

[grapes911]

Try repairing permissions:
http://guides.macrumors.com/Repairing_Permissions

[singlefinyellow]

Hey thanks for that, never even entered my head that they could get wrong. is this a problem with the upgrade?

[grapes911]

It is not uncommon for permissions to get a little screwy. It's not a cure all, but it is usually the first fix I try when I have a problem. I also repair permissions before and after all upgrades.

[Makosuke]

That's definitely a rare occurrence. If the permissions fix doesn't work, the next thing I'd try is locating the relevant preference files and deleting them.

...only thing is, I'm not quite sure which ones would be relevant. Finder, maybe, but that menu might be handled by a different subsystem.

The other thing I can think of is if there's a cache somewhere that stores something in that menu (list of apps to "open with", maybe?), then it might be corrupt. A program like Tiger Cache Cleaner would be your best bet in that case, and I'd try it if the first two things don't work.

[Soulstorm]

Hey, new(ish) to MAC's but not new to unix, was a windows user but love my mac now.

Question tho, I upgraded to tiger recently and ever since then every time I use the ctrl-click (powerbook touchpad) to try and get the pulldown menu on say a desktop item the finder seems to crash and all the icons on the desktop refresh without ever displaying the pulldown. never did this on 10.3

this also happens in any finder window.

I've updated to 10.4.3 and still teh same. any ideas?

Cheers

Pete
It's not MAC. It's Mac!!

[ToastyX]

Why do people keep recommending repair permissions for every problem? Permissions are rarely the cause of problems, and repairing permissions will not fix this problem. You do not need to repair permissions.

This problem is most likely caused by a contextual menu item. Start by removing items from the "Contextual Menu Items" folder in /Library and ~/Library. Then relaunch Finder ("killall Finder" in the terminal, or hold down the control and option keys, then click the Finder icon in the dock and choose "Relaunch"). That should take care of the problem.

[kgarner]

Why do people keep recommending repair permissions for every problem? Permissions are rarely the cause of problems, and repairing permissions will not fix this problem. You do not need to repair permissions.
People reccomend it because it is a painless thing to do that actually does cure some problems (about 50% of oddities have cleared up with a permissions repair in my experience). If it doesn't work, at least it was easy and didn't require a full backup and reinstall or some major hunting around.

[singlefinyellow]

wow, my first post and its brewing an arguement. fantastic!

firstly - MAC, Mac, Apple, Pear.. whatever, as long as its silver and shiney and has my stuff on it its good enough.

I did the repair permissions thing anyway, it fixed tons of them so I guess it was sorthwhile anyway.

Thanks for the other suggestions I'll give them a go later.

Pete

[SummerBreeze]

wow, my first post and its brewing an arguement. fantastic!

firstly - MAC, Mac, Apple, Pear.. whatever, as long as its silver and shiney and has my stuff on it its good enough.

I did the repair permissions thing anyway, it fixed tons of them so I guess it was sorthwhile anyway.

Thanks for the other suggestions I'll give them a go later.

Pete

I think geeks get pissed of at the MAC thing because they see capitals and think MAC addresses and the like. And grammar junkies like me are just freaks who don't like to see all capitals (I hate the "I-POD raffle!" signs they put up at my school). Not a terribly big deal though, and a common newbie mistake ;)

[singlefinyellow]

I think geeks get pissed of at the MAC thing because they see capitals and think MAC addresses and the like. And grammar junkies like me are just freaks who don't like to see all capitals (I hate the "I-POD raffle!" signs they put up at my school). Not a terribly big deal though, and a common newbie mistake ;)


you guys crack me up....

[hopejr]

This problem is most likely caused by a contextual menu item. Start by removing items from the "Contextual Menu Items" folder in /Library and ~/Library. Then relaunch Finder ("killall Finder" in the terminal, or hold down the control and option keys, then click the Finder icon in the dock and choose "Relaunch"). That should take care of the problem.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Only problem is, you lose things like the Automator conext menu in Finder, but if you don't use it (I don't), it wouldn't matter.

[singlefinyellow]

Gents,

Thanks - it was a stuffit plugin causing the problem. guess I'll now have to look into why its causing the problem.

Cheers

[pknz]

StuffIt !:p