Crashes when spell check component accessed in Mac OS X 10.4.x

A few MacFixIt readers have recently reported an issue where various applications unexpectedly quit when accessing the spell checking component of Mac OS X.

One reader writes:

"Something has happened to one of my user accounts; the spell checker is causing apps to crash.

"For example, both TextEdit and MacJournal crash on launch, apparently because they are opening a window for editing with spell check enabled.

"Mail works a bit differently. If the Prefs are set to 'Check spelling while I type,' it crashes when you try to create a new message. If you set 'Check spelling when I click Send,' it crashes when you click Send. And if you say 'Check spelling never,' it doesn't crash."

In many cases, this issue can be resolved by deleting the following files:

• com.apple.kernelcaches (a folder in /System/Library/Caches)
• Extensions.kextcache (a file in /System/Library)
• Extensions.mkext (a file in /System/Library/)
• com.apple.ATS (a folder in /Library/Caches/)
• Files that start with com.apple.LaunchServices (in /Library/Caches)

or the use of a utility like Cocktail to perform a "deep" clean of system caches and a re-build of the launch services database.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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