OS X - reset everything on me

[pilotError]

Hey all,

I came home today, jumped on my iMac to check my mail and found that nothing came up. I started clicking around and it seems like it lost pretty much everything I had.

My mail reset, address book, firefox, system preferences, desktop preferences, etc. almost like a new install.

I can see the mail in the finder, so something strange happened.

My kids play on the Mac all afternoon, I'm not sure if one of them were clicking around and moved something or what.

Is it time to head off to a genius bar with this thing?

 

[PlaceofDis]

did the name of your home folder change?

 

[CanadaRAM]

Probably the User folder got renamed from the user;s shortname to something else, now your user account cannot find its folders.

How many folders are there in the User folder, and what are they named?

 

[pilotError]

Thanks for any help Before I start.

My home folder seems OK, I have

Desktop
Documents
Library
Pictures
Public
Sites

Under Library I have

Address Book Plug-Ins
Application Support
Autosave Information
Caches
Documentation
Fonts
Icons
Keychains
Logs
Mail
Mail Downloads
Preferences
Syndication

Kind of strange, I also lost my desktop organization and my mouse preferences. I assume they are all stored in the same place.

 

[PlaceofDis]

has the actual name of your home folder changed though?

and as CanadaRAM asks, what folders do you have in HD>Users>?

 

[pilotError]

It doesn't look like it changed. Its my name, and its spelled correctly.

 

[pilotError]

I do suddenly have Documents and Pictures in the left pane under Applications.

I never had that before.

 

[johnmacfan]

It sounds like someone added a new user to your computer. Do the fast user change thing and maybe your stuff will come back. maybe, maybe not.

 

[SC68Cal]

Do you use FileVault? Did you do a hard reset?

 

[pilotError]

No hard reset (maybe the kids?), no Filevault.

I thought that maybe they were in the finder and started moving directories around.

 

[SC68Cal]

Can you think of anything that you did prior to the issue appearing that might have been a cause? You mentioned moving things in finder, did you move your Library folder in your home directory?

 

[pilotError]

Thanks Everyone.

I finally figured it out.

Apparently the Library folder was moved to the desktop. One of my kids must have been exploring! The system re-created the Library folder and with all the icons on my desktop, I missed it.

Thanks again!

Mike...