Ugh, it was perfect, now my Mac won't remember anything!

[ikermalli]

Hey all,

So I recently reformatted my Mac and now when I open Microsoft Messenger it resets everything, I have no more hot corners, spaces, etc. My dock goes back to how it first started with iPhoto, iMovie, and all the other programs, also I need to use the set-up wizard each time. My Adium will not work anymore, and it's really annoying me, my mac was perfect before, and now it's doing this to me now. No I do not have any trojans or cracked apps or anything so I don't know what is happening. If I need to do another restore I will do it.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

When you reformat your HD and start all over, that's what happens.

 

[ikermalli]

Haha, I know, I've done this many times before I'm not really a noob (except for some things in Leopard), but now just all of a sudden when I open up programs everything resets, like back to how it was when I first reformatted.

 

[ikermalli]

Please, anyone? 40 views and no more answers? My address book isn't working now!?! Should I just reformat and use my time machine back up?

 

[miiles]

Your computer did exactly what you asked it to. Reformatting resets it to how it was when you got it out of the box for the very first time.

 

[Dan73]

I dont think anyone here is getting what hes saying. He knows what formatting does but his apps seem to reset everything he restarts his computer, they don't remember their settings.

I'm not a huge Mac expert having mine only a month but first thing I'd try is repairing permissions, if that didn't work I'd just reinstall the OS.

 

[toxictrix]

So you change the settings then close the app and open it back up and it doesn't remember them?

 

[ikermalli]

I dont think anyone here is getting what hes saying. He knows what formatting does but his apps seem to reset everything he restarts his computer, they don't remember their settings.

I'm not a huge Mac expert having mine only a month but first thing I'd try is repairing permissions, if that didn't work I'd just reinstall the OS.

This is exactly what I mean.

No I do not change any settings

I open Microsoft Messenger - all goes well

I close Microsoft Messenger - all goes well

I re-open Microsoft Messenger - everything resets, no more spaces, hot corners, dock goes back to how it was when first reformatted

Dan73, thank you for understanding this, haha it makes me feel better that I made at least some sense

 

[plinden]

Don't use Microsoft Messenger ...? Does this happen only with Messenger?

Adium supports MSN accounts.

 

[Dan73]

Don't use Microsoft Messenger ...? Does this happen only with Messenger?

Adium supports MSN accounts.

See

...it first started with iPhoto, iMovie, and all the other programs, also I need to use the set-up wizard each time. My Adium will not work anymore...

 

[angelneo]

Try it with a new user account? It could be limited to your current user account.

 

[plinden]

See

[My dock goes back to how]... it first started with iPhoto, iMovie, and all the other programs, also I need to use the set-up wizard each time. My Adium will not work anymore...

Ok, granted I missed the Adium bit, but the OP is saying his Dock reverts to the default Dock containing "iPhoto, iMovie, and all the other programs", not that these programs make the Dock revert.

Trying with another account is a good idea.

 

[Lewiji]

Tried repairing permissions?

Type disk utility into spotlight, select your HD and hit repair disk permissions.

 

[ikermalli]

I'll try the new user account, hopefully it will work. I have already verified and repaired my disk and disk permissions.

 

[ikermalli]

Yup it only happened to that user account, that's weird. Does anyone know how I could give this new account (administrator account) access to my other accounts files so I could move my music and movies over?

 

[Makosuke]

Since a clean account is ok it sounds like the account in question doesn't have permissions to write to its own Library folder or something within--this would result in the behavior you're seeing. Depending on how you did the reformat and transferred old files back to the clean system you could have screwed up permissions on that account in the process--I've done that one or twice when I resorted to a manual transfer.

You could try to just fix it by logging into the BAD account (not the good one), and running this terminal command:

sudo chown -R yourshortname ~/

...and then entering your password when prompted. Followed by:

sudo chmod -R 700 ~/

...which at least in theory should fix it. It's already broken, so it at least shouldn't make it any worse.

Alternately, for transferring files over to a new, working account, just make sure that account has admin privileges, and from the bad account open the good account's user folder, then put anything you want in its Drop Box folder (in Shared). It might prompt for an admin password if it needs it due to the weird permissions. You can then log into the good account and put the files where you want them (I hope, but am not positive, that they will have ended up with the right permissions this way).