Windows won't minimize

Strange ... assess what software you installed and think back as to when the symptom first occurred. Really, I'm on this site often and this is the first I've heard of this one.
Regards,

Hi Jessica.

I have heard of this problem happening to others, but I can't remember what the cause turned out to be. I'll go ask around.

In the meantime, the first thing that comes to mind is hacks (aka haxies) - any software that changes the way OS X works or looks. Have you installed anything like that?

Open the Displays pane of System Preferences and change the monitor's color depth; doing this will sometimes work around your issue.

(12772)

Hi again, Jessica.

Unfortunately, it turns out my memory is incorrect. I know of people who have had the same problem, but not who have a complete solution.

I would try two things just to make sure you have done what you can: (1) Niel's suggestion about changing the color depth to see if that clears anything up ( you could toggle it back and forth) and (2) uninstalling Synergy just to rule it out as a possible cause. The other applications you mention don't sound like likely culprits. (On the other hand, if you installed any system hacks in the past and they didn't get fully uninstalled, there's a possibility there as well.)

One of our other Level 4 forum members said he had this problem and it lasted some time and then cleared up mysteriously on its own, perhaps due to a system update, perhaps something else. While he had the issue, it was usually cleared up by quitting the program that was an issue at the moment or by restarting the Mac.

Sorry I can't offer much more advice. It seems to be one of those mysterious problems that people run across sometimes. :-\

The only other reference to this issue I've seen mentioned that it might have something to do with the nightly maintenance tasks not being run; you can do those manually by following the instructions in this article.

(12856)

In the Displays pane of System Preferences, change the monitor's bitdepth to Millions and see if the minimize button reactivates; if not, open the Script Editor in the /Applications/AppleScript/ folder and run the following:

tell application "Finder"
quit
end tell
delay 2
tell application "Finder"
run
end tell

The AppleScript can also be dragged into the Finder's toolbar if it is saved as an application to place the control in a convenient place.

(12883)

I don't know of a fix (except for relaunching Finder or rebooting), but I know the exact cause on mine. This happens after playing Quake 3 (full-screen OpenGL app). The exact same symptoms--minimize button grayed out, and windows won't minimize.