Problem installing programs

Question

Problem installing programs

Hi. I recently bought a MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard 10.6.1, and I am having trouble installing programs.

I have downloaded two programs, Adobe Flash Player 10.0.32.18, and Paintbrush 2.0.1, both from the Apple website. The download of the programs appears to work, and in both cases icons appear on the main screen. In the case of Adobe Flash Player, I double clicked the icon and went through the installation procedures, and at the end of this the window told me that the installation was successful. However, it is as if this installation never happened, as nothing was different to before I double clicked the icon to install in the first place. Double clicking the icon again just repeated the installation process again. Installation did nothing. In the case of Paintbrush, a window told me to drag the icon into my applications folder and follow the on screen procedures. Dragging Paintbrush into my applications folder did nothing apart from putting a "blank sheet of paper" icon labelled Paintbrush in the applications folder. Double clicking this icon just opened up the window telling me to drag the icon into the applications folder again. Again, installation simply did not happen.

My computer simply does not seem to want to install downloaded programs. No error messages appear or anything, you just follow the instructions and keep going round in circles. Telephoning AppleCare was of no use, and they were unable to diagnose or solve my problem. Can anybody help me?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Oct 19, 2009 7:14 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 19, 2009 7:24 AM in response to stevesteve1987

Try the following:

Go to ~/Library/preferences/ByHost/ and delete all com.apple.HIToolbox files.
Restart your Mac.
Go to your user account preference pane.
Unlock the lock
Type your password.
Lock the lock.
Try installing whatever you are having the problem with again.

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Answer 2

Oct 19, 2009 7:41 AM in response to donv_the_ghost

I tried doing this, deleting the files and following the steps you mention, but sadly I am still having the same problem.

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Answer 3

etresoft

Level 8

46,092 points

Oct 19, 2009 7:51 AM in response to stevesteve1987

Adobe Flash is a plug in. To verify that it is installed, go to a page that uses Flash, like this test page from Adobe.

For Paintbrush, it sounds like you have copied the installer disk image instead. Remove what copied into /Applications. If the disk image is still on your desktop, double click it. If it isn't on your desktop, open a Finder window and look for it over on the left hand sidebar. You should get a window that has the Paintbrush icon and an Applications icon. Drag the Paintbrush icon into the Applications icon.

Then, in the Finder, go into your Applications folder. Verify that Paintbrush is there and the Kind column says Application.

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Answer 4

Oct 19, 2009 8:14 AM in response to etresoft

I tried what you said with Paintbrush. Double clicking the icon on the desktop only opens up a window that tells me to drag the icon to my applications folder. I also tried the other method, opening up Finder, and dragging the Paintbrush icon on the left hand side column into Applications, and the Paintbrush icon disappeared, but nothing appeared in Applications. Still going round in circles.

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Answer 5

etresoft

Level 8

46,092 points

Oct 19, 2009 8:46 AM in response to stevesteve1987

stevesteve1987 wrote:
I tried what you said with Paintbrush. Double clicking the icon on the desktop only opens up a window that tells me to drag the icon to my applications folder. I also tried the other method,

There is no other method. That window isn't "telling" you to do something, it is giving you everything you need. The icon in that window is the application. That "Applications" icon in that window is your Applications folder. In that window, when you drag the Paintbrush icon into the Applications icon, you are installing the application.

opening up Finder, and dragging the Paintbrush icon on the left hand side column into Applications, and the Paintbrush icon disappeared, but nothing appeared in Applications. Still going round in circles.

That left hand side column is special. If you click on icons there, it will take the right hand side of that window to that location. You cannot drag things into the left hand column. Dragging things out of the left hand column will perform an action, but probably not what you want.

You have to be 100% precise on this. If you don't have the file extensions displayed, that is impossible. There are two or more "Paintbrush icons" on your system, depending on how many copies you've made. The actual application icon looks like a little paintbrush. The disk image icon looks like a little hard disk.

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Answer 6

Oct 19, 2009 8:54 AM in response to etresoft

Thank you etresoft. I did not realise that I actually had to drag the Paintbrush icon within the window that opened into the Applications folder within the window that opened. I was previously attempting to drag the icon on the desktop into the applications folder. Once I did that, I went to my applications folder, clicked on Paintbrush, and after some sort of authorisation, it worked. So now it works. Many thanks, problem solved.

Now just a case of getting Adobe Flash Player to work

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Answer 7

etresoft

Level 8

46,092 points

Oct 19, 2009 9:07 AM in response to stevesteve1987

Very good! Apple is actually recommending that developers use an actual installer program instead of this kind of "drag-n-drop" installation. You will be seeing less and less of it in the future.

I think Snow Leopard includes a slightly out-of-date Flash player. To test Flash Player, you have to go to a web site in your web browser. Here is a link to Adobe's Flash test site: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/welcome/

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