leopard and finder problems

Question

since1994 Author

Level 1

80 points

leopard and finder problems

anyone have fixes for these defects in finder and Leopard?

finder doesn't remember window views

items selected and dragged to folder do not stay where they are put.. they move a little

when you click on ok after a software update, it looks for new updates again right away

wierd new items get added to left sidebar of main hard drive browser window

items put in a folder put themselves outside the set width of the window when it's opened.

for any alias on desktop - always opens with tools and sidebar.. if you close the window and open it again it opens properly (after new startup, forgets window view AGAIN)

search/find window does not remember what size it was last set to.

search does not find preferences plist files..and a whole bunch of other system files.

for searches, is there any way to make the search default 'file names' instead of contents. i know what's in my documents. duh.

about half the time i do an option drag, the original file is moved, not copying it, to the new location.

half the time i do a command option drag to make an alias, the orginal is moved, not actually making an alias.

half my downloads don't go where i specify them to go.

i already HAD a folder called downloads. duh. ok... way back when i aready had a LIBRARY folder, too. duh.

when i insert a DVD there is no sound.. until i go to the sound preference pane and select either internal speakers or digital out... then GO BACK to Line out.

no window shade. leopard broke it.

Mac semi-Pro 8-core 2.8Ghz 500gb - G5, G4, G3, PowerBook G4, Canon HV20, Mac OS X (10.5.2), 320g, 250g, 160g SATA; 750g, 500g, 400g, 250g, 2 300g FW drives; 3 500g USB

Posted on Feb 23, 2008 4:50 PM

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Answer 1

petrock

Level 3

980 points

Feb 24, 2008 1:22 AM in response to since1994

since1994 wrote:
anyone have fixes for these defects in finder and Leopard?

Depends on if its a bug or a feature.

since1994 wrote:
finder doesn't remember window views

Define "window views". Do you mean Icon View, List View etc, or specific settings within Icon View, LIst View etc?

since1994 wrote:
items selected and dragged to folder do not stay where they are put.. they move a little

Doesn't happen for me. Items stay where I dropped them. Do you have "Snap to Grid" enabled on that folder?

since1994 wrote:
when you click on ok after a software update, it looks for new updates again right away

This is a feature. Often updates are hidden by other updates. in otherwords, you have to apply one update before you can apply another (i.e. you can't get the 10.5.1 security updates before you update to 10.5.1). This feature ensures users don't miss updates like this.

since1994 wrote:
wierd new items get added to left sidebar of main hard drive browser window

Define weird. What items are you talking about?

since1994 wrote:
items put in a folder put themselves outside the set width of the window when it's opened.

I don't have this peoblem. How are you putting the items in the folder? By drag/dropping it onto the closed folder, or dragging them into a window?

since1994 wrote:
for any alias on desktop - always opens with tools and sidebar.. if you close the window and open it again it opens properly (after new startup, forgets window view AGAIN)

This bug has been around for a while.

since1994 wrote:
search does not find preferences plist files..and a whole bunch of other system files.

This is a known bug/feature. You have to navigate to /System and set the search to be in /System in order to search inside /System. Or you could add the "System Files" criteria to the search.

since1994 wrote:
for searches, is there any way to make the search default 'file names' instead of contents. i know what's in my documents. duh.

Nope.

since1994 wrote:
about half the time i do an option drag, the original file is moved, not copying it, to the new location.

Haven't seen that. Does the cursor have the green + bubble next to it at the moment you drop the file?

since1994 wrote:
half the time i do a command option drag to make an alias, the orginal is moved, not actually making an alias.

Haven't seen that. Does the cursor have the curled arrow next to it at the moment you drop the file?

since1994 wrote:
half my downloads don't go where i specify them to go.

How are you downloading them? How are you telling them to go somewhere other then the 'Downloads' folder?

since1994 wrote:
when i insert a DVD there is no sound.. until i go to the sound preference pane and select either internal speakers or digital out... then GO BACK to Line out.

Haven't seen this problem either. What hardware are you running Leopard on?

since1994 wrote:
no window shade. leopard broke it.

Oh well...

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Answer 2

since1994 Author

Level 1

80 points

Feb 24, 2008 1:47 AM in response to petrock

i appreciate you taking the time to test these things and respond.

window views mean any window view. you've seen me ***** about it before. lol

whenever i drag items to an open folder and let go, i line them up with whatever is already in there.. when i let go they slide down and to the left a few milimeters usually. this started somewhere in tiger... amd continues in leopard.

when i'm copying files or making aliases, yes I do the the plus or alias arrow right up til the process is done. i would think it was me, but i watch carefully for those clues every time i do this.

the spilling over occurs when i drop things onto a folder icon... or alias. this also happened on my G5 with tiger. and also started somewhere in tiger i think.

wierd stuff in the sidebar - wierd is anything i didnt add there myself. downloaded items, or images i was working on, etc.

i prefer my downloads to go to the desktop. i unpack what needs it and toss or save from there. i just download widgets from the apple site and they all went to the downloads folder. the little programs i downloaded there went to my desktop.

here's one for you .. haven't seen this since i first set up this Mac pro.. this is a 3 week old mac pro 2.8

!http://www.allsolutions.net/grafx/bbedit.jpg!

there were NO open bbedit documents

Message was edited by: since1994

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Answer 3

petrock

Level 3

980 points

Feb 24, 2008 3:08 PM in response to since1994

since1994 wrote:
window views mean any window view. you've seen me ***** about it before. lol

I read/reply to alot posts. I can't remember all of them or who posted them. I hardly ever look at the name of the poster.

since1994 wrote:
whenever i drag items to an open folder and let go, i line them up with whatever is already in there.. when i let go they slide down and to the left a few milimeters usually. this started somewhere in tiger... amd continues in leopard.

No clue. I haven't seen this. Items drop where I drop them. Are you sure you don't have "Snap to grid" enabled on the folder you are dragging to? Open the folder and press Command-J. Check the "Arrange By" popup. Set it to "None" if its not already.

since1994 wrote:
when i'm copying files or making aliases, yes I do the the plus or alias arrow right up til the process is done. i would think it was me, but i watch carefully for those clues every time i do this.

No clue. This works fine for me. I would try swapping out your keyboard/mouse and see if the behavior changes.

since1994 wrote:
wierd stuff in the sidebar - wierd is anything i didnt add there myself. downloaded items, or images i was working on, etc.

Be a little more descriptive. Items in Places only show up there if you put them there (or they were there when you created the user).

since1994 wrote:
i prefer my downloads to go to the desktop. i unpack what needs it and toss or save from there. i just download widgets from the apple site and they all went to the downloads folder. the little programs i downloaded there went to my desktop.

Go into Safari->Preferences and change the "Save downloaded files to:" popup.

since1994 wrote:
here's one for you .. haven't seen this since i first set up this Mac pro.. this is a 3 week old mac pro 2.8

! http://www.allsolutions.net/grafx/bbedit.jpg !

Go into /Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor. Are there a bunch of BBEdit apps listed? If so, click on each one individually and press the "Inspect" button for each. What is the "parent process" listed in the window that appears?

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Answer 4

since1994 Author

Level 1

80 points

Feb 24, 2008 3:45 PM in response to petrock

Be a little more descriptive. Items in Places only show up there if you put them there (or they were there when you created the user).

that is NOT true. that's why I brought it up.

my complaint or problem IS that that is NOT what happens. somehow they just showed up there. dont know how to make it any clearer.

Go into Safari->Preferences and change the "Save downloaded files to:" popup.

one of the first things i do whenever i set up a new computer or hard drive. and i primarily use firefox, anyway. never had any problems before apple put the new 'downloads' folder in there.

i have NEVER in my life enabled snap to grid. and i do check these things. and it happens on my Powerbook as well. started in tiger somewhere.

thanks for the tip on the bbedit icons, i'll give it a shot when it happens again.

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Answer 5

petrock

Level 3

980 points

Feb 25, 2008 1:47 AM in response to since1994

since1994 wrote:
my complaint or problem IS that that is NOT what happens. somehow they just showed up there. dont know how to make it any clearer.

You could make it clearer by being more descriptive and defining what they is. Remember, we can't see what is on your screen.

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Answer 6

since1994 Author

Level 1

80 points

Feb 25, 2008 2:37 AM in response to petrock

wierd stuff in the sidebar - wierd is anything i didnt add there myself. downloaded items, or images i was working on, etc.

i said what they is... images and downloaded items.

doesnt matter any more i turned the stupid sidebar off everywhere.

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Answer 7

R C-R

Level 6

17,794 points

Feb 25, 2008 6:00 AM in response to petrock

petrock wrote:
Doesn't happen for me. Items stay where I dropped them. Do you have "Snap to Grid" enabled on that folder?

I see the same thing "since1994" does -- not always, but sometimes. It doesn't have anything to do with the snap setting or with different icon size settings when dragging between windows (which produces something similar in appearance but is understandable). Sometimes icons just refuse to stay where I drop them in an open window.

Whatever causes this seems related to the closed window drop behavior: sometimes an item dropped into a closed folder appears hundreds of pixels below or to the right of any other item in the folder when the window is next opened.

since1994 wrote:
wierd new items get added to left sidebar of main hard drive browser window

I suspect since1994 is talking about items advertised via Bonjour over wireless network connections.

since1994 wrote:
half my downloads don't go where i specify them to go.

Several apps allow you to specify a download location. For instance, in Safari you set this through the General tab of its preferences. Others, like Software Update, do not & always download to the "Downloads" folder.

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