Applications Disappear

I guess the first question is, what backups do you have?

CLACIL wrote:

And the answer is none -.- ..ok ..but the thing is, what's causing this problem? and is it something common that Mac's do this , cause it's a really frustrating thing..!😐

Never seen your problem before. Did you trash any folders recently? Move any programs?

Do you mean the apps are gone from the "Applications" folder on Macintosh HDD ?? Never seen that before.

First thing to do is check whether the applications still exist in the Applications folder. From the way you describe the situation, they are just disappearing from your Dock, a problem we should be able to fix.

If they are still in your Apps folder, then we will need to delete the Dock.plist file and then reload them onto the Dock. I'll tell you how to do that after you confirm whether the Apps are still in your Applications folder or not.

If the Apps are also missing from your Applications folder, open the Trash can from the Dock by clicking on it. If your Apps are in there, drag them back into the Applications folder.

And the answer is none -.- ..ok ..but the thing is, what's causing this problem?

No, that's not the thing. The thing is, you should shut down the computer immediately and not turn it on again until you have an external hard drive and are ready to back up.

CLACIL wrote:

And the answer is none -.- ..ok ..but the thing is, what's causing this problem? and is it something common that Mac's do this , cause it's a really frustrating thing..!😐

Why would you assume an operating system just starts randomly deleting files off of your computer? There is no logical basis for that assumption.

What it sounds like has nothing to do with it being a Mac or OS X. It sounds like it has everything to do with your hard drive dying a slow death. If you keep using it without backing it up and then trying to recover the lost information, you will likely lose all of your data also.

Hmm, I'm not convince they're gone...unless you (or someone unbeknownst to you) put them in the Trash and then clicked on 'empty trash', they are there somewhere. Perhaps they somehow got moved when you were doing something else or they were made 'invisible' (hidden) by some thing. We can only guess, but lets make sure we've had a thorough look first:

1. First of all, can I assume your computer does not have 'Parental Controls' enabled? In order to check go to this location

 > System Preferences > Users & Groups.

Click on your account name in the left column and look to see whether 'Parental Controls' is enabled or not. If it is, then it maybe that whoever has control of your computer has accidentally disable your access to these apps.

2. If it is not, then open a Finder window, and look for the little house icon in the left. Click on it. Navigate to 'Applicatons (Home > Applications). Have a look in there.

3. No joy? Go back to Finder, and click on your Hard Disk icon, and navigate to Applicatoins ([Hard Disk name] > Applications).

4. No joy? Download, install and run the free tool EasyFind. Spotlight and Finder don't actually poke there noses in everwhere they should, but EasyFind does. If and only if EasyFind returns nothing can you be sure the app is really not on your disk. Here's how to set it up:

When you start the program, in the left column, choose 'files and folders', 'phrase', 'ignore case', and 'invisible files and folders'. Type in the name of any application that you know you had before, and see what comes up.

Message was edited by: softwater — link for EasyFind added

clacil, Linc and Barney are correct: almost postive that your disk is dying. Shut down the mac immediately. Start it from an external bootable disk or CDrom, BACKUP your personal files, and after that use the Disk Utility on the external disk to repair your internal disk. Make backups often, an external disk is very cheap.

Having re-read the opening post and noted the point about the question mark, I'm also inclined to agree with the others.