Thank you for responding. I'm sorry the issue was unclear. I have an iMac and OS 10.7.4 allows several different desk tops to be utilised, one visible at a time. I also have an 'apple magic mouse' which allows me to slide one desk top left or right and move to another. Really neat and for applications lets me run them on different desk tops if I want. However the problem I have is odd and not really connected to this. Examples would be, if I wish more info on a file I select the file right click and select get info, or if I wanted to open my main drive (icon on desk top) I again select right click and select open, however I don't get anything displayed on any of the desk tops available. However as I slide the current desk top to left or right, as soon as it begins to move all that I have tried to open the disc directory or the info on the file appear but only during the transition. As the current desk top movies away and the new one in I loose the additional inf I've called up. Can't freeze the extra material and can't access it during the transition? I'm sure it's something I' ve set up (or failed to set up), but not sure where to start. Any suggestions.