deleted some items in open ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist

Do you have Time Machine enabled?

BTW, if you want to make changes to plist files, instead of editing the plist, better to use defaults. (see: man defaults)

i.e., to speed up the cursor:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 0

and for the repeat rate:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat -int 4

Doesn;t vim make a backup of the file while editing? Next time make sure you make a copy so you can always go back to what it was before editing and think twice before doing stuff like this. Most of what you read will either have no effect or have a negative effect on the system.

As for your current situation, fortunately you didn;t mess up anything to vital. As long as the structure of the file is still OK the worst you'll encounter is that you account will behave as it did when it was first made. Some settings might be lost depending on what you blew away.

good luck

>Doesn't vim make a backup of the file while editing?

No. At least no by default, which is how vi (it's ancestor) would behave.

That's not nice. Seems you should have to opt out.

Another reason to stay with Emacs 😎

One other thing if you are going to edit plist files you should look at TextWrangler as good free programming editor.

I don;t know how vim displays the plsit file but TextWrangler displays the actual XML structure making it a lot easier to see what you are editing.

bjackfly wrote:

No I am not sure what time machine is. I wasn't able to get back the file but was able to update the items using the commands you mentioned.

Time Machine is the Mac Backup App.

OMG.

There are no gods in the Church of Emacs only saints.

nano is also a viable option to edit:

nano ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist

#make changes

^O ( control + O) to write out

M-B (esc + B) to create automatic backup

^X to exit nano