Blinking menu bar, icons on desktop and Finder windows.

This happened after I restarted the computer for installing software updates. The only thing that didn't blink was the dock. When I open an application, it blinks as well, but a little slower, so that gives me time to click around. Even shutting down/restarting is a problem, since the menu bar blinks so quickly that I couldn't click on it. I had to hold down the power button to shut down.

I tried creating a new account and logged in. Everything remains normal in the new account.
I went into Library>Preferences, deleted the file called "com.apple.finder.plist" and restarted. It didn't work.

Is there anything else I can do? I really don't want to reformat my mac and lose all the applications installed.

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Feb 17, 2009 10:54 AM

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5 replies

Feb 17, 2009 11:11 AM in response to drummer-gal

Have you installed any third-party utilities and/or menubar utilities, contextual menu items, preference panes, etc. These most typically are the cause of such a problem. Also corrupted cache files may cause problems. Use a utility such as TinkerTool System to clear all system, user, and font caches then immediately reboot. You should not need to erase your drive to fix the problem, but the problem is definitely caused by something you either installed that is incompatible or something corrupted in your Home folder such as a preference file.

Feb 18, 2009 9:47 AM in response to Kappy

Hi Kappy.
These are the software updates I installed:

QuickTime v7.6
Migration and DVD/CD Sharing Update v1.1
Safari v3.2.1
iTunes v8.0.2
Java for Mac OS X 10.4, Release 8 v1.0
Security Update 2009-001 (Intel) v1.0


Anyway, how well can I trust TinkerTool System? And how is running TinkerTool different from reinstalling the operating system to fix the problem?

Thanks.

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Blinking menu bar, icons on desktop and Finder windows.

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