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Question

Multiple weird issues. How do I resolve them?

Jun 13, 2014 6:31PM PDT

Multiple weird issues in OS X Mavericks. How do I resolve them? And how do I backup my files and applications?

Good day everyone. I've been experiencing a lot of issues with OS X Mavericks a few weeks after I bought my first Mac last April. Below are the issues that I am experiencing with it:

This happens randomly. I have no idea why the icon shows I am not connected even though I am.

http://imageshack.com/a/img819/4654/yi6x.png

I don't know if this is the arrangement of the default Safari bookmarks. I hope it isn't because of the app, SafariSort that arranged my bookmarks alphabetically. If you have the unmodified version of the following bookmarks in the bookmarks bar, kindly send me a screenshot of it or export the bookmarks bar for me, please Happy Thanks.

http://imageshack.com/a/img822/7176/vhgb.png

Happens randomly. I have no idea what happened with the thumbnails.

http://imageshack.com/a/img834/7017/vjhg.png

Whenever I download something, the progress bar does not disappear. It happens randomly.

http://imageshack.com/a/img834/5746/f3k3.png

For this feature of OS X hence the "Gatekeeper", you have the option to "allow" the apps that needs to be manually allowed right? Well, what if you don't want that specific app to be inside the "allowed" list. How can you remove that app?

http://imageshack.com/a/img855/8509/vq6h.png

Another thing. Happens randomly. I have no idea why there are no icons.

http://imageshack.com/a/img822/315/kqt0.png

I actually talked to Apple Chat Support and they keep on blaming the third-party apps. It seems they just want me to use applications designed by Apple. As far as I can remember, I was asking them how to reset the OS X Firewall. I want all of the automatically approved apps to be deleted after I decided to turn off the firewall. They just wanted me to delete "/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration" which I did. After restarting the computer, nothing happened. I told them that I found a solution myself, using the Terminal. I used the following commands, "sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist" and "sudo ipfw flush". Both worked great!

Now another silly observation. You see any Window under OS X whenever you resize it or move it, the OS saves it. For example, what if I accidentally moved the System Preferences window then I wanted it back to the center of the screen. The default position. How will I be able to do that? Surprisingly, I received the same solution. Delete the "/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration". It's the same thing. After restarting it, nothing happened. I said, well I actually found a solution that always work. That is to delete the "plist" file(s). I just went to "~/Library/Preferences" and deleted "com.apple.systempreferences.plist". Without restarting the computer, I relaunched System Preferences. As usual, it worked! Apple Chat Support kept on telling me not to mess with the "plist" files because something bad will happen, or something will be corrupted etc.

Moving forward, they told me that the reason why I am experiencing weird issues like missing icons and the stuff that I told them about is because my Home folder's permission needs to be refreshed. So, I went to my Macintosh HD drive, navigated to Users, right-clicked my name and selected Get info. Then under Sharing and Permissions, I clicked on the lock to unlock it, clicked on the gear icon and selected "Apply to enclosed items". I was advised to restart my computer. After a while, nothing happened.

I have no idea why we didn't do this http://www.macissues.com/2014/04/11/how-to-fix-home-folder-permissions-in-os-x/

They strongly suggested to do a fresh and clean installation of OS X Mavericks. So I guess that's what I'll be doing then. Although, I'm having issues backing up my files. I have a lot of applications. I asked Apple Chat Support if it is possible to export a list of installed apps so that I wouldn't be forgetting the applications that are installed before I reformat my computer. So, they gave me a fool-proof solution. Just go to the System Report app. Great! I only saw applications by Apple. They said it is not possible for third-party apps. I was thinking of taking a screenshot of the Launchpad. Each pages of it. I don't know. Any other solutions?

What do you guys think?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
I think the first issue should be ignored.
Jun 13, 2014 10:24PM PDT

If that's a cosmetic issue, that is you claim you are connected but the visual icon is wrong, then why fix that at all? I'm encountering folk that are fixing machines that work fine.
Bob

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Confused.
Jun 14, 2014 11:13AM PDT

What do you mean by this? "If that's a cosmetic issue, that is you claim you are connected but the visual icon is wrong, then why fix that at all? I'm encountering folk that are fixing machines that work fine.
Bob"

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Think of the light switch in many homes.
Jun 15, 2014 1:28AM PDT

For fun I installed a switch upside down. On was off and off was on. It worked fine but some called it broken. The confused folk may not be able to comprehend functionality with cosmetics.
Bob

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Answer
Get rid of Clean My Mac!
Jun 14, 2014 12:46AM PDT

That's step number one.

I gather you were a Windows user before last April based on your need to have extra apps to "clean" your computer.
They are really not necessary in OS X and can cause more harm than good.

Deleting preferences (plist) sometimes works wonders and usually does not do any harm as a new plist is created as soon as you launch the app.

Repairing permissions is usually done in Disk Utility but remember that this does not do anything for your Home folder.

Try deleting the Finder Desktop preferences, com.apple.desktop.plist or even the Finders; com.apple.finder.plist

For the Open with.... dialog, try reseting Launch Services in Terminal.

<span id="INSERTION_MARKER">/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchSe rvices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user ; killall Dock
<span>

<span>Note that LaunchServices is split. Before pasting this into Terminal, correct this by pasting into TextEdit joining it up and copying it again.

Also note that ONYX, latest version, can rebuild launch services without you having to mess with Terminal.

For the gatekeeper problem, see here: https://discussions.apple.com/message/20829394#20829394
<span>

As for the backup. Get yourself a large capacity external hard drive and use Time Machine to save everything. It runs automatically and you can restore easily.

That's all I have for now. The important thing is to get rid of Clean My Mac and go from there.

P
<span id="INSERTION_MARKER"> <span>

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Here is my long reply.
Jun 14, 2014 11:12AM PDT

I never used CleanMyMac to clean my computer. I only use it for uninstalling apps. The "uninstall" function of CleanMyMac is exactly like AppDelete or AppCleaner. I just like it's interface Happy

When I talked to the Apple Chat Support, I have mentioned that I already tried Verifiying and Repairing the HDs in my computer as well as Verifying and Repairing the Disk Permissions but still nothing happened. Apple Chat Support suggested the Home Directory thing so I just followed them only to find out, the right thing to do is to go into Recovery mode and just simply launch resetpassword then just Repair the home directory from there.

Another thing, what does this "/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchSe rvices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user ; killall Dock" do?

What's ONYX?

For backing up, I just want to have a complete control over my files. I don't want to backup everything. For backing up the apps, I just want a list of the apps that are installed inside my computer so that I can easily install them after reinstalling Mavericks.

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here is my short reply
Jun 15, 2014 12:07AM PDT

1. Sorts out your Open with ......dialog problem

2. Onyx, a utility for Mac OS X

P