[X Newbies] Disappearing files

[Randy B. Singer]

TheMacintoshLady said:

>What is the equivalent of rebuilding the desktop on X?


There is no exact equivalent in OS X.  In fact, what you have happening 
is supposed to not be possible because OS X automatically handles it.  
Nevertheless, as you have found out, it some rare cases it does indeed 
sometimes happen.

The first thing to try is Dragster.  Usually that will fix it.  Dragster 
is free and you can download it from:

http://www.ifthensoft.com

If Dragster doesn't work, you will have to delete some files manually. 

Files to delete:
com.apple.LaunchServices.LocalCache.csstore
and 2 files with the name
com.apple.LaunchServices.UserCache.csstore 

locations:
Library/Caches/com.apple.LaunchServices.LocalCache.csstore
~home/library/caches/com.apple.LaunchServices.UserCache.csstore
private/var/root/library/caches/com.apple.LaunchServices.UserCache.csstore

You can make files and folders that are invisible visible under OS X with 
the free utility application InVisibles
http://www.mac4ever.de/invisibles/ 

That should do it, but I would also purchase and run Disk Warrior.

Randy B. Singer
Co-Author of: The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

How To Deal With Common Macintosh OS X Jaguar Problems
http://www.macattorney.com/tutorial.html