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mmapples

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 5, 2006
49
0
is there a way to restart/refresh finder without restarting the computer? and is it normal to have to do so in order to view an icon change?
 

mad jew

Moderator emeritus
Apr 3, 2004
32,191
9
Adelaide, Australia
Try COMMAND-ALT-ESCAPE to get a dialogue box asking which apps you want to restart or force quit. :)

It's not normal to have to do this after a regular icon change though. How are you changing icons?
 

GimmeSlack12

macrumors 603
Apr 29, 2005
5,403
12
San Francisco
mad jew said:
Try COMMAND-ALT-ESCAPE to get a dialogue box asking which apps you want to restart or force quit. :)

It's not normal to have to do this after a regular icon change though. How are you changing icons?
The other way of doing this is go to the Apple Menu and select FORCE QUIT. Select the Finder and you'll see the button say "Re-Launch". That will reboot the Finder for you.
 

tag

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2005
918
9
mmapples said:
i'm copy-pasting from the get info screens.

Are you by chance trying to change a system icon like that of Finder or Dashboard? I ask because they can't be changed by the usual copy/paste of an icon via get info. Though, if your experiencing this from a normal folder or app then yeah something is fishy.
 

mmapples

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 5, 2006
49
0
nope. just changing the icon of an alias. you think something might be wrong?
 

mad jew

Moderator emeritus
Apr 3, 2004
32,191
9
Adelaide, Australia
mmapples said:
nope. just changing the icon of an alias. you think something might be wrong?


So you paste the new icon over the old one and close the Get Info page but don't notice any change until you've restarted Finder?
 

kwajaln

macrumors 6502
Sep 18, 2004
368
0
CHICAGO!
max_altitude said:
You can always go into Terminal and type "killall Dock" which resets it.
I've NEVER used the terminal but this seems like a pretty simple way to break the ice. Are terminal commands case sensitive? Thanks.
 

tag

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2005
918
9
max_altitude said:
You can always go into Terminal and type "killall Dock" which resets it.

Just to note if you want to reset the Finder and not the Dock, then in Terminal you can reset it by 'killall Finder' which would help the OP a bit more I'd assume. ;)
 

Duff-Man

Contributor
Dec 26, 2002
2,984
17
Albuquerque, NM
Duff-Man says...if you are nervous around the terminal then I would suggest you search Version Tracker for a free util called "Tinker Tool" - not only does it have a restart finder button you can simply click but it opens up a lot of other useful options as well...oh yeah!
 

mmapples

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 5, 2006
49
0
mad jew said:
So you paste the new icon over the old one and close the Get Info page but don't notice any change until you've restarted Finder?

yes.
 

whooleytoo

macrumors 604
Aug 2, 2002
6,607
716
Cork, Ireland.
mmapples said:
is there a way to restart/refresh finder without restarting the computer? and is it normal to have to do so in order to view an icon change?

Option-Right click on the Finder icon in the dock, select Relaunch.

Relaunching the Finder (or waiting for your next log-in?) is often necessary I'm afraid.
 

Artful Dodger

macrumors 68020
I know that with CandyBar, some of the icons that get changed ask you to restart the Finder when your done, but as stated earlier that is for a system icon to change. It's been a few weeks since I did this myself so I can't say for sure what/why it's doing that :confused:
 
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