[X Newbies] My iBook seems out of control

[Gretchen Hayman]

On Thursday, Apr 10, 2003, at 03:10 US/Central, Clive Read wrote:

> Are these two problems so difficult, that no one is able to help?

Hi Clive,

Not necessarily.  Sometimes folks may not have the time to reply as 
quickly as one may want; or they may have simply missed the original 
post.  :)

> My iBook with Mac OS X seems out of control.

Which iBook and, more importantly, what version (release) of Mac OS X 
are you on?   Providing more detailed information initially is helpful 
for folks.

> Almost all the files on my Desktop have 'disappeared' (are not 
> visible), though they are there if I look through 'find'. How can I 
> get them back?

> In 'mail', it used to be ME who chose which messages I read, but - 
> suddenly - the messages are opened as soon as they become the next in 
> line. It defeats the process I had of leaving all messages marked as 
> 'unread' until I had time to read them.

First off, none of the filenames start with . do they?  Have you added 
any software or hardware between the time it worked to the time it 
didn't?  (i.e. applied any system updates or such?)  Have you changed 
display resolution (or played a game) that might shift the icons off 
the viewable screen area?

I'd first suggest checking (and repairing, if needed) your disk 
permissions with Disk Utility.

A useful tip for troubleshooting the source of the problems is to login 
as another user and see if the problems happen with that user.  If they 
do not, then it may just be a preference issue associated with your 
account.  In step 2 of this kbase article, it is explained how to 
remove damaged preference files (.plist): 
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25398>

If problems still happen when logged in under another account, then it 
may be a system issue that might require more attention.

Here is a helpful getting started with troubleshooting article from 
Apple's kbase:
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25392>

Hope this helps.
Gretchen