finder corrupt? - Strange characters in menu

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Level 2

155 points

finder corrupt? - Strange characters in menu

I restarted my computer because it felt bogged down. Upon re-start I can no longer open Word, Excel etc...I have 2004 copies. I can re-install or upgrade. But the real strange thing is that my finder how shows items like this in the menu:

Under File L1,

Edit Menu - ME13, ME6, ME1 (all with shortcuts like AppleZ)

Other menus have the same pecularities...

Then on the Dock if I right click on the finder it says: N80, N81, N82, N83, N84

Is my Finder corrupted? How do I get rid of this? It doesn't seem to effect anything else but is worrisome. Thanks.

iMac 2.6GHZ Intel, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Sep 30, 2011 12:25 PM

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Answer 1

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Sep 30, 2011 12:53 PM in response to mudpize

Do you see this if you log into another account?

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Answer 2

mudpize Author

Level 2

155 points

Sep 30, 2011 1:07 PM in response to mudpize

No. Just logged into another account and was also able to launch Word etc...Any ideas what to do next? Thanks!

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Answer 3

mudpize Author

Level 2

155 points

Sep 30, 2011 1:57 PM in response to mudpize

Also, if I look under the finder Computer, everything for the device sections say SD5, SD7. SD8. These crazy numbers are everywhere.

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Answer 4

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Sep 30, 2011 2:05 PM in response to mudpize

No. Just logged into another account and was also able to launch Word etc...Any ideas what to do next? Thanks!

So it is working in other accounts, just not yours. The finder is ok and the problem is just local to your account. It may be a bad plist. There's com.apple.finder.plist in your Preferences directory. You could try removing it but I'm not sure it will fix the problem or not.

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Answer 5

mudpize Author

Level 2

155 points

Sep 30, 2011 2:26 PM in response to X423424X

I trashed that file and nothing changed. Here is something on another forum that is just like my issue though no one replied with an answer. I also ran through Disc Utility and fixed all permissions.

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85009

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Answer 6

mudpize Author

Level 2

155 points

Sep 30, 2011 6:49 PM in response to mudpize

I am enclosing some screenshots. I still don't have an answer for this. I have run Mac's Disk Utility and Cocktail. All showed corrupt files and noted them as repaired. Still can't open Word, Excel etc.. on my admin user. I think somehow it stems from there. Any ideas? Please check out the screenshots.

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Answer 7

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Sep 30, 2011 7:05 PM in response to mudpize

And this only happens with your specific account and no others?

Please post you accounts login items and the contents of the the folder ~/Library/LaunchAgents (LaunchAgents directory in your Library directory).

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Answer 8

mudpize Author

Level 2

155 points

Sep 30, 2011 7:28 PM in response to X423424X

Yes, this only happens in this one account which is the admin and main account. None of the others. Here is a screenshot of my LaunchAgents.

Screenshots of Login Items

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Answer 9

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Sep 30, 2011 7:30 PM in response to mudpize

Please boot in safe mode, log in as yourself, and test. Same problem?

After testing, reboot as usual (not in safe mode.)

Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode

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Answer 10

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Sep 30, 2011 7:38 PM in response to Linc Davis

I assume you are asking him to do this only to get some caches cleared. We already know he has the problem only with his own account.

Could work. But it's strange it looks like it affects only his menus and nothing else.

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Answer 11

mudpize Author

Level 2

155 points

Sep 30, 2011 7:55 PM in response to X423424X

I ran through Safe Mode and the issue still exists. It is effecting the menus. Also, I cannot boot Microsoft Office 2004 at all. It won't reopen and says it quit unexpectedly and shows me the details. When I click Reopen, it won't launch, just keeps popping up the screen again.

Yes, both these things only occur with one user. I think the menu items and this must be related.

Here's a

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Answer 12

mudpize Author

Level 2

155 points

Sep 30, 2011 7:55 PM in response to mudpize

Here's a partial screenshot from Word.

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Answer 13

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Sep 30, 2011 8:07 PM in response to mudpize

I ran through Safe Mode and the issue still exists.

Just to be clear, I hope you meant that you booted in safe mode and then rebooted normally before the problem reappeared. Or do you see the bad menus even when booted in safe mode? If so that would immedtely eliminate any possible startup items from the stuff I asked you to list earlier (wasn't sure there are anything suspecious there anyhow which is why I didn't followup on that).

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Answer 14

mudpize Author

Level 2

155 points

Sep 30, 2011 8:09 PM in response to X423424X

I saw the bad menus even in safe mode. Then rebooted normally and they were still there.

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Answer 15

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Sep 30, 2011 8:27 PM in response to mudpize

Ok, so now I would suspect a plist or cache (one that isn't cleared by safe mode).

Try the caches first. Probably the safest way to do this is to use an app like Onyx. Download the version appropriate to your system. Then use it's Cleaning tab to select various caches to clear (say stuff from User and Fonts).

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