iMac losing settings after restart

[Kadonia]

Hi guys, first time poster (but big time lurker).
In this instance Google has not been my friend. I have battled with this issue for a couple of years and no longer turn off my iMac as a result - Every time I switch off the machine, it's like it goes back to default settings - the magic mouse no longer has secondary click (I have to go to System preferences to redo) Firefox and Chrome are no longer in my Dock - have to drag them back in, and Dropbox is no longer in my Favourites in Finder.

Might not sound like much of an issue but it is a pain, and I'm sure I'm not doing my baby any good by only putting her to sleep every night and not switching her off :-z
Has anyone got any suggestions about being able to set the above as my default settings?
I have the Os X Version 10.8.3 (I have not updated to Lion/Yosemite as I'm a luddite and have stuck to what works lol) Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[GGJstudios]

Might not sound like much of an issue but it is a pain, and I'm sure I'm not doing my baby any good by only putting her to sleep every night and not switching her off :-z

First, it's not a bad thing to put your iMac in sleep mode, rather than turning it off. Actually, it's a good thing, since there are maintenance scripts that run in the wee hours of the morning. If your computer is turned off during that time, they will not run. If your computer is asleep at those times, the scripts will run the next time your Mac is awake. Many users go for several months at a time without ever shutting down. It is not harmful at all.

As for your settings being lost, that obviously shouldn't be happening. You might try creating a new user account and see if the same problem exists on that account. If it doesn't happen there, just migrate your files to that new user account.

 

[hfg]

I would probably start with a PRAM reset and repair permissions on the system drive. How old is the iMac?

 

[Kadonia]

Thanks GGJstudios - I will try with a different user account and see what happens

Hi hfg, she's 21.5-inch, Late 2012 (according to her bio on About this Mac).
Is there a way to programme in these settings to default or do you think it's just a problem with my machine??

 

[hfg]

Thanks GGJstudios - I will try with a different user account and see what happens

Hi hfg, she's 21.5-inch, Late 2012 (according to her bio on About this Mac).
Is there a way to programme in these settings to default or do you think it's just a problem with my machine??

These settings should be saved whenever you change them. That is why I suggested perhaps a permissions issue (parameters file wrong access state) or a NVRAM (PRAM) reset might get them straightened out and going again. It won't hurt anything to try these, even if it doesn't fix the problem.

The new user account as suggested above would be my next thing to try.

 

[Kadonia]

You know, that makes sense hfg, I'm sure when I bought this I copied everything from my mums iMac (purchased 6 months prior) onto this one, and even now still use the same password as her machine does. It's probably related to access permissions, as sometimes I try to amend docs and the machine has the cheek to tell me I don't have permission.

hfg, you may just have cracked the case...

 

[Bomb Bloke]

It'll be permissions-related, but repairing permissions via eg Disk Utility won't sort it out - that only deals with system files, and the affected ones will be in your user folder.

If you Get Info on your home folder (highlight it in Finder and hit Cmd + I), down the bottom is a Sharing & Permissions section. You need to make sure your account is listed there - it should specifically say "(Me)" after it - and that the privilege level next to it is Read & Write. The other users / groups listed don't matter so much, but should be set to Read Only.

Assuming that all checks out, there's a button at the very bottom of the panel that looks like a cog, which should have an option to "Apply to enclosed items". That takes a while to complete (a few minutes, usually less than a dozen), but odds are you'll be sorted afterwards. Maybe reboot a couple of times to be sure.

You may need to click the little padlock in the lower-right and enter your password before you can make changes.

 

[Kadonia]

Solved!!!

Yay Bomb Bloke! I followed the instructions you left and it is sorted now! It was entirely a permissions issue, the primary user account on the Mac was listed in my mums name where she was down as Admin, by making her account standard, my account is now the primary as admin, and all my settings are saved/mouse is automatically set to secondary click etc,
Thanks guys, you helped me get there in the end - gold star!!!