Strange Finder behaviour

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Level 1

4 points

Strange Finder behaviour

OS 10.15.7 Catalina - IMac 27” - 2020 40GB Ram

Recently, I am having some strange Finder behaviour on my Mac.

If I click the “go” menu in the top bar and select various folders e.g. Applications, Downloads, Documents etc The menu bar turns grey and nothing happens.

If I click on Downloads in my Dock and click “open in finder” nothing happens.

I suspect that something is amiss in my finder prefs, but I can’t access my user library to check.

I have run a virus scan but nothing is picked up.

I have noticed that the fan seems to be running more than usual.

I did manage to delete finder.plist by following instructions online, but that doesn’t seem to have made any difference.

Any ideas please.

iMac (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Jun 1, 2023 8:53 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

BDAqua

Level 10

245,189 points

Jun 1, 2023 10:41 AM in response to Mjd69_

Start with this...

Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at startup), does the problem occur in Safe Mode? Could take 10 minutes or more.

Safe mode attempts to repair Disks & clears lots of caches & loads safe Drivers, & prevents loading of 3rd party extensions, so if Safe Mode works try again in regular boot.

Do a Get info on your Home folder, unlock the lock in the Get Info panel. Make sure it says you have Read & Write privileges.

Using the tiny gear icon, use the drop down to "Apply to enclosed items...

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

245,189 points

Jun 1, 2023 1:26 PM in response to Mjd69_

Great news my friend. :)

It could be software, if you want to dele further...

We need to see what all is running & machine specs, a report from this will not display any personal info...

EtreCheck is a FREE simple little diagnostic tool to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac. It will not display any personal info.

https://www.etrecheck.com/

Pastebin is a good place to paste the whole report if you capture the URL while there…

Workable but harder for me to work with...the Note tool on the bottom of this editor's toolbar, as shown in the image, to copy and paste the output from EtreCheck. In a Reply before you click post, look for this to add longer texts...

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Answer 3

Mjd69_ Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 1, 2023 12:26 PM in response to BDAqua

That worked thanks. I rebooted in safe mode. Opened my user library prefs and noticed that finder.plist had rebuilt itself with todays date. Rebooted into normal user, and everything seems OK for now.

I was wondering if 3rd party software was causing the issue. My wife started to work from home and she has to use Citrix Workspace which boots up as a startup app. It does occasionally cause a glitch or 2.

Thanks again.

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Strange Finder behaviour

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