New to Apple and have a iMac running Tiger. Have created icons by making aliases and placed them on the desktop. They worked fine for a day but don't open now. The corresponding icon in the dock works fine. Apple support asked me to reload the OS using the procedure that would save data and it worked fine for a day. Any ideas?
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Icons won't open
- Thread starter bob rose
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Try repairing permissions using the Disk Utility in your Utilities folder (which is inside the Applications folder). Can I assume that you haven't moved the original apps folder and that you haven't moved the actual apps either?
mad jew said:
Thanks, that did the trick. But now I seem to have a new problem. Before I was able to double click on any of the icons and it would open immediately. Now I have to double click 4-5 times to get it to open or the cursor needs to be positioned exactly in the center of the icon to open it.
mad jew said:So is everything okay now?
Thanks again! So, tell me why I had this problem and why I was on 2 support calls with similar problems the other day? Is there something in the OS that is doing this or did I screw something up adjusting all the settings?
I'll be honest. Coming from the MS world I had access to a huge support organization to help with the many problems I encountered almost daily. I just retired and thought that I won't have this assistance and best to get to a better place where the problems are fewer. So far, I find the Apple world confusing and have already spent a few hours solving problems. I want to make this switch work but am wondering if I'm just riding in another leaky boat?
Well, I don't think you've jumped into a leaky boat. It's understandable that you're finding OSX confusing after years of Windows. It takes some getting used to, but I find OSX much much more stable than Windows and I use both daily.
Every now and then, permissions will become corrupt/false and simply repairing them using the aforementioned method always solves the problems. The most likely reason that it happened is because you may have installed a third party program that messes with your system. As far as I know, it's only the installers that require your password that have the ability to alter permissions unlike the (very hazy) Windows equivalent, the DLL (I use the term very loosely, they're quite different), which requires no user password meaning any app can do what it likes with DLLs, plus it has no utility to fix idiosyncrasies.
In short, a similar error in Windows would have been much harder to fix.
The good news is that once you have installed all your apps, you shouldn't be getting this problem as frequently. However, I personally have never had this problem so maybe it's a specific problem with one of the apps you have installed. What have you been using/installing recently? There could be an incompatible pieces of software on your Mac which is causing this.
Absolute summary (I promise): I have no idea what specifically caused the problem.
Every now and then, permissions will become corrupt/false and simply repairing them using the aforementioned method always solves the problems. The most likely reason that it happened is because you may have installed a third party program that messes with your system. As far as I know, it's only the installers that require your password that have the ability to alter permissions unlike the (very hazy) Windows equivalent, the DLL (I use the term very loosely, they're quite different), which requires no user password meaning any app can do what it likes with DLLs, plus it has no utility to fix idiosyncrasies.
In short, a similar error in Windows would have been much harder to fix.
The good news is that once you have installed all your apps, you shouldn't be getting this problem as frequently. However, I personally have never had this problem so maybe it's a specific problem with one of the apps you have installed. What have you been using/installing recently? There could be an incompatible pieces of software on your Mac which is causing this.
Absolute summary (I promise): I have no idea what specifically caused the problem.
bob rose said:
Well that's really weird. So nothing has asked you for a password yet your permissions were faulty. Next time it happens, write down the permissions that were repaired and they may give us some insight into what exactly is happening. Oh, and congratulations on retiring.
bob rose said:
Let's hope not, but these forums are great places to learn about OSX regardless of problems.
bob rose said:
I think I just figured out what you did. You must have clicked on an application and created an alias of it, changed the icon of the aliased app and dragged it into the dock.
If you want to change the icon, you need to do it to the original app. The icon in the dock is always an alias. There are a couple of ways of getting it to the dock. One way is to open the app and it will automatically appear in the dock. To keep it there, right-click on the icon of the app (in the dock) and a menu will appear.Choose "Keep In Dock". The other way is to locate the app and simply click-hold and drag the app into the dock where it becomes an alias.
The reason your original way didn't work was the alias in the dock went to the alias you created and then to the app. The finder was confused by the missmatch of icons, so it tried to "correct" it.