Q: Blurry/pixelated icons at random in Finder windows

I installed Snow Leopard last year, and I started noticing the blurry or pixilated icons in the finder about 6 months after I installed it. Also I am missing new images that I create and save. they are missing in my finder in the file where I saved them, but if I do a search with the name of the image or document it says they are in the file, but when I go to look at the actual file they aren't there. So, the problem is two fold - blurry images and missing images and documents.

I will make an appointmentwith a mac genious to get to the bottom of this.

Not a real solution, but here is my personal workaround to prevent pixelated icons
(and apologies in case this is already common knowledge):

My diagnosis:

Icons seem to become pixelated the first time I open a directory that contains many high-res icons. At this moment, some buffer in MacOS/Finder overflows and as self-protection MacOS/Finder puts itself into a low-res mode until I reboot.

My workaround: I prevent MacOS from ever opening a folder with many high-res icons

(1) I break very large folders down into smaller folders

(2) When I hand-create icons by pasting them into the "get info" Command-I view, I scale the image to 512x512 pixels using Preview.app before pasting (if I paste without scaling, I get 1024x1024 icons and those fill up that buffer really quickly).

Success so far:

I switched to this strategy 6 months ago and have not had problems since--I used to have them all the time.

Let me know how this works for you and maybe someone has the time to determine the exact parameters, i.e., how many icons of what icon size MacOS can handle before that buffer overflows and MacOS goes into low-res mode.

Hope this helps.

Pat

I have had the blurry icon and "missing/invisible" icon problem in Finder on and off for several years now -- through Leopard, Snow Leopard, and now even a recent install of Lion.

My icons were made by various third-party apps over the years, as well as by recent post Lion downloads of new simple custom colored folders.  So, it's not exclsuive to third party icon makers nor one version of OSX.

My issue is mostly --but not entirely-- something that happens to icons in my external drives, including a timecaspule. I notice it happens more often after switching between user accounts.

Opening the Info window on an icon folder shows the icon perfectly btw even though Finder displays it incorrectly. There seems no consistency with the problem to identify its cause or solution. It fixes itself on reboot ...until the next time.

Very annoying. Yet another Apple fail.

Someone said to install Lion as a fix, but now I am hearing in the last post that the blurry icon and missing icon problem continues to happenin Lion. I don'tget why Apple is not addressing this problem and fixing it. Thre are quite a few ****** off people onhtis forum. Don't they care?

That problem has returned for me. Now Google Chrome is doing it. Furthermore, my fix of removing the icon from the dock and retriggering the app to create a fresh dock icon is not working. I'm on OS 10.6.8. Back to the drawing board. ****, I wish they'd fix this. Makes OSX feel very tacky.

Why do you suppose that Apple is doing nothing about this? Do you think that a virus created this problem?

It isn't a virus. It's an OS bug and is only a cosmetic problem. But it does make the OS feel cheap and should be fixed. Perception is reality.

I see it occasionally. The fix is to clear the Dock icon cache files. I use OnyX for that. Be sure to download the correct version.

Launch the app and enter your admin password. Click on the Cleaning heading, and then the User tab.

I happen to have them all checked here, but for this issue, only "Dock Icons" needs to be checked. Click Execute. OnyX should prompt you to restart.

Guys i finaly found the solution my self !!

it may take you a while to do it cause you need to do it manualy for every single blury icon by it self.

You need to do the following steps:

1- open Applications folder by finder.

2- you need to check which application icon is blur in your launchpad, because you wont see it blury in applications folder.

3- right click on the icon you want to fix then Get Info or click on the icon then Cmd+i

4- you will see the original icon in the left upper side of the get info window.

5- drag and drop any JPG or PNG picture you have on this icon in the left upper side.

6- it will ask you for your account password, put it and press enter.

7- the original icon will change even the the one in launchpad.

8- now click on the same icon in the left upper side then press delete on your keyboard.

9- again it will ask you for your account password, type it and press enter.

10- voala the icon is returned to its original shiny sharp state.

Do you really need steps 1 through 7?

I  had hesited at trying, but then I did.  I see why you need those steps: You can't just delete the initial icon.

Yep exactly .. anyway glad i could help

Thank you Kurt and Abdul!

This will not fix blurred custiom folder icons.

This will not fix blurred custom folder icons.

Correct. It's a fix for the Dock and the related Command+Tab icons.

I've never seen blurred custom folder icons. But then, the only place I've ever used any custom icons is on the desktop for mounted drives so they don't all look the same.

Could the issue there be that these are old icons built at 16x16 or 32x32 pixels? If so, there's nothing the OS can do about that. Soft and jaggy is what you're always going to get when scaling an image larger than its original size.