Mac acting really buggy

[d27]

I have had chronic "buggy" issues with my mac. Here are some examples:

- When I open a new window (ie. double click on a Word or pdf document from the finder) it will open behind other windows.
- When I click on a window that I want to work on, it won't come to the front, I have to click on other windows in front of it then click on the window I want to finally get it to the front.
- In Finder if, for example, I click on a file to re-name it, the renaming box appears elsewhere on the screen - not in the spot that I clicked. Also, if I am moving a file from one folder to another, the folder I want to move it to often won't highlight when I am hovering on top of it, but when I am elsewhere on the screen (it's as if what is showing on the screen is not aligned with where the mac thinks things are located on the screen).

This is fairly a clearly a software issue. I'm a relatively sophisticated user but not a tech master.

These problems started with a 2009 mac mini. They persisted when I migrated over to my 27" iMac. This has been increasingly frustrating and can't find any posts anywhere describing similar issues. Any help welcome.

Thanks.

 

[Xavier]

You should repair your disk permissions, Zap PRAM, and run FSCK.

All outlined here.

See if any of that helps

 

[Detrius]

The issue migrated, so that means it's somewhere in what was migrated. None of what Xavier recommended is going to make a difference in this case. I promise. It's like telling you to turn your car off, fill the gas tank, and change the oil filter when you have a flat tire. They fix some things, but it's the wrong approach to this problem.

Create a new user. Do you have these problems there? This basically splits your search in half. If it's gone, the problem is in your home directory (e.g. user preferences, login items, etc...). If it's still there, it's elsewhere (e.g. haxies, global preferences, startup items, etc...). Tools like Apple Jack will check for invalid preferences files, so that's something that could legitimately make a difference, but it can't spot bad settings in the preferences files.

 

[Velin]

They persisted when I migrated over to my 27" iMac.

Back up all your data, including address book, calendar, bookmarks, iTunes. Then wipe the hard drive and do a fresh Snow Leopard install.

Your computer will run beautifully after a fresh Snow Leopard install. I've seen these kinds of OS errors before, and they nearly always arose after an OS migration or upgrade. The only solution is a fresh install.

 

[Detrius]

Back up all your data, including address book, calendar, bookmarks, iTunes. Then wipe the hard drive and do a fresh Snow Leopard install.

Your computer will run beautifully after a fresh Snow Leopard install. I've seen these kinds of OS errors before, and they nearly always arose after an OS migration or upgrade. The only solution is a fresh install.

Verify that it happens with multiple users first. If it does not, this won't fix your problem. If it does, this very well could fix the problem. As Velin does, I also suspect it not to be user-specific.