Things keep changing in Finder

[JajoPGH]

I am very new to the Mac world. I bought my second Mac last month (first one in 1996, returned it for a Compaq)

Lately, I have realized that things change in Finder.

For instance, I'll open my "Applications" folder and it will be in Detail mode. The next time I'll open the folder, there will be icons instead of the Detail/List view.

This happens quite frequently, and it annoys the living crap out of me.

Am I completely missing something here? How do I get my preferences to stay permanently?

One more thing. In Safari, I'll have my Status Bars turned off. After a couple Safari windows are opened, the Status Bar reappears for the new window. What's up with that?

 

[BlueRevolution]

Open /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app, select your system hard drive partition in the list on the left side of the window, and click Repair Permissions.

Worth a shot, anyhow.

 

[Gregg2]

I think it's more likely being caused by a corrupt Finder preference file. You could try replacing the com.apple.finder.plist file. You'll find it in your Home folder > Library > Preferences.

Move the file to your Desktop and Restart. A new one will be created for you in the Preferences folder. If that doesn't fix the problem, you can put the original file back if there are settings that you want to restore. The new file will be set to defaults.

If that didn't help, you should try logging in under a different user account. Mac Help can guide you. Good luck!

 

[JajoPGH]

I think it's more likely being caused by a corrupt Finder preference file. You could try replacing the com.apple.finder.plist file. You'll find it in your Home folder > Library > Preferences.

Move the file to your Desktop and Restart. A new one will be created for you in the Preferences folder. If that doesn't fix the problem, you can put the original file back if there are settings that you want to restore. The new file will be set to defaults.

If that didn't help, you should try logging in under a different user account. Mac Help can guide you. Good luck!

Thank you,

I didn't even have the com.apple.finder.plist file. I did a quick google search about this problem, and it suggested to enter Terminal and delete some files. I did, but to no avail. Things are still the same (ie. reverting back to icons)

 

[BlueRevolution]

Did you repair permissions?

 

[Gregg2]

I didn't even have the com.apple.finder.plist file.

Yes you do. Every Mac has at least one. (One for every user account.) It's right where I told you to look. Your Home folder is the one with the little white house icon. If you searched with Spotlight and didn't find it, I'm not surprised. I'm not a fan of Spotlight.

Do you have a second user account for troubleshooting? Mac Help will guide you on creating accounts and switching.

Report back on all three approaches suggested by me and BR, even if it's "haven't tried that one yet". Don't give up, it is fixable.

 

[JajoPGH]

Yes you do. Every Mac has at least one. (One for every user account.) It's right where I told you to look. Your Home folder is the one with the little white house icon. If you searched with Spotlight and didn't find it, I'm not surprised. I'm not a fan of Spotlight.

Do you have a second user account for troubleshooting? Mac Help will guide you on creating accounts and switching.

Report back on all three approaches suggested by me and BR, even if it's "haven't tried that one yet". Don't give up, it is fixable.

I tried BR's approach after yours, and it seems to have done the trick. Before I reset permissions, my HD file was a shortcut. After I reset, I had both the shortcut and the original on my desktop.

I tried again to look for the .plist file, but it really is not there. I'll try starting another user account and working from there.

Thanks to both you for the help.

 

[Gregg2]

Glad it's working! But, that ...finder.plist file really is there; absolutely, positively, definitely there. You must have one. You have to have one. You do have one. Everyone has one who uses recent versions of OSX. You just got the Mac. You have one.

You might need to find your plist files for other glitches. You might want to look again. Set the Preferences window to List View and Arrange by Name so the filenames will be in alphabetical order. Again, the Preferences folder (not Preference Panes!) is in the Library folder which is in a user account folder, also known as the Home folder, the one with the house icon. There are other Library folders. You have to be in the path I've given.

If someone accidently deletes the ...finder.plist file, a new one will be created automatically by the OS when the computer is restarted, if not sooner. For that one though, I think a restart triggers it. There are dozens of plist files, and they can become corrupt. That's one of the first things to look for... Does the application with problems have a plist file? If so, try the steps I outlined.

 

[JajoPGH]

Glad it's working! But, that ...finder.plist file really is there; absolutely, positively, definitely there. You must have one. You have to have one. You do have one. Everyone has one who uses recent versions of OSX. You just got the Mac. You have one.

You might need to find your plist files for other glitches. You might want to look again. Set the Preferences window to List View and Arrange by Name so the filenames will be in alphabetical order. Again, the Preferences folder (not Preference Panes!) is in the Library folder which is in a user account folder, also known as the Home folder, the one with the house icon. There are other Library folders. You have to be in the path I've given.

If someone accidently deletes the ...finder.plist file, a new one will be created automatically by the OS when the computer is restarted, if not sooner. For that one though, I think a restart triggers it. There are dozens of plist files, and they can become corrupt. That's one of the first things to look for... Does the application with problems have a plist file? If so, try the steps I outlined.

You're right, it was right where you said it would be. I looked in a completely different library. Turns out the Reset Permission procedure wasn't what fixed my problem since it started acting up after that was done. Deleting the plist file was what helped.

Thank you, now I'm off to another problem.

Thanks again Gregg