Screensaver plist

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Level 4

2,796 points

Screensaver plist

I have a reoccurring problem that I was hoping someone with better knowledge of plist files could help me out with. The problem is that when I wake the computer from sleep or activte it after the screensaver has been activated the computer will automatically switch to a different desktop or full screen app then what was activated when the screensaver or sleep mode kicks in. I have discovered that deleting the com.apple.screensaver.plist in the user library fixes the issue, but after a couple days it comes back and I have to redo this process. Can anyone help me in narrowing down what could be causing the corruption of this plist file resulting in this problem?

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Apr 6, 2013 1:18 PM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

684,027 points

Apr 6, 2013 2:50 PM in response to cbs20

Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later.

Isolating an issue by using another user account

If the problem is still there, try booting into the Safe Mode. Shut down the computer and then power it back up. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.

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Answer 2

cbs20 Author

Level 4

2,796 points

Apr 6, 2013 2:57 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks for the response Eric. I have already tried the safe mode boot, so I will try your new admin acct test.

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Answer 3

cbs20 Author

Level 4

2,796 points

Jun 13, 2013 5:56 AM in response to cbs20

I know this post is old, but I have discovered what causes the corruption of this plist. When I boot to my Windows partition in Bootcamp and then come back to OS X, the plist becomes corrupt and causes this issue. I had originally thought the problem may have been caused by Bootchamp which is a third party app used to easily and quickly boot to th Bootcamp partition. I deleted Bootchamp and still have the plist becoming corrupt when booting to Windows.

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