Desktop Icons winking in and out after Mavericks install

Question

Level 1

0 points

Desktop Icons winking in and out after Mavericks install

I just updated to Mavericks, and the most annoying thing is happening - every few seconds, ALL of the icons and folders on my desktop disappear, and then reappear again. The most irritating part about this is if I'm working within a folder that lives on the desktop, this winking forces the folder to close. This happens when working in external drives as well.

So one second, I'm organizing items in a folder, the next. BAM, GONE. Folder closes, all icons disappear from the desktop, and a moment later all icons reappear, but folder is still closed. Can anyone help me?

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Nov 4, 2013 4:33 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Nov 4, 2013 6:14 PM in response to Barbarellaf

Yes somebody please solve this. I am having the same problems. HELP!

Reply

Answer 2

Nov 4, 2013 6:41 PM in response to winston789

Found Google Drive was causing this on my computer just today. I turned off Google drive and my icons are fine now.

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 4, 2013 7:03 PM in response to Barbarellaf

Same problem, this is driving me crazy. I hope they fix it soon.

Reply

Answer 4

Barbarellaf Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 4, 2013 7:13 PM in response to forestfaith

Thank you! Had found that in another thread moments before. I turned off Google Drive, and deleted the Google Drive folder in my Finder window, and the problem went away. But that doesn't bode well for those who use Google Drive regularly. Hope a fix is created soon. For now, just happy to have uninterrupted access to my folders. 🙂

Reply

Answer 5

Nov 4, 2013 8:03 PM in response to Barbarellaf

Same thing started happening on my late-2007 iMac. Every icon on the desktop would blink off and then on again every 30 seconds or so. Following the above advice, I quit the Google Drive application, and the problem went away.

Reply

Answer 6

Roy 77

Level 1

0 points

Nov 4, 2013 9:18 PM in response to Barbarellaf

Same thing happens here, and I still need G drive on my mac, what should I do?

Reply

Answer 7

Julien S

Level 1

10 points

Nov 5, 2013 2:00 AM in response to Barbarellaf

Please, this is happening to me too

Reply

Answer 8

ndkgamer

Level 1

0 points

Nov 5, 2013 2:38 AM in response to Barbarellaf

Please help, this is driving me out of my mind. I've shut off Google Drive and we'll see if it helps. Either way, Google Drive wasn't a problem before Mavericks.

Reply

Answer 9

Jaze02

Level 1

0 points

Nov 5, 2013 4:02 AM in response to forestfaith

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the Google Drive tip! I just started experiencing this problem today and it was driving me nuts! Switching off G-Drive seems to have fixed the problem but, it is definitely annoying and very un-applish'.

Thankfully I also use a 3rd party service for my G-Drive which is still working fine. If anyone needs/wants desktop access (with local copies of files) I can highly recommend it. https://www.insynchq.com/

Reply

Answer 10

dhlizard

Level 1

0 points

Nov 5, 2013 4:40 AM in response to Barbarellaf

My iMac (Mavericks installed on release day) developed 3 distinct issues overnight:

Desktop icons winking on & off

Typing in the Google search box in Safari collapses/resizes/blurs the Safari browser window.

These two issues required the removal of Google apps running on the iMac (like Google Drive - disabled it and changing the Safari seach engine away from Google)

Seems Google may be having some systemwide issues this morning ??

Another issue which developed overnight -

The green time machine icon issue (rebooting didn't fix it for me, nor did cycling the on/off switch, nor ejecting & unplugging the drive. I actually had to switch to a backup Passport drive to remedy this (icon return to green). I'm wondering if somehow these apparent Google issues didn't affect/corrupt the Time Machine backup process ?

Reply

Answer 11

James300

Level 1

0 points

Nov 5, 2013 5:20 AM in response to Barbarellaf

Here is what action I took to fix this issue without disabling/shutting down Google Drive:

Click Google Drive Icon -> Select Preferences... -> Uncheck "Show file sync status icon and right check menu" under Misc.

This should stop the crashing of finder (ie blinking of desktop icons).

Good luck!

Reply

Answer 12

Nov 5, 2013 6:07 AM in response to Barbarellaf

Me too! Fix it Apple!

Reply

Answer 13

dhlizard

Level 1

0 points

Nov 5, 2013 6:10 AM in response to James300

Disabling the file Sync status does not fix the issue for me !

I have to keep Google Drive uninstalled from iMac. 😠

Reply

Answer 14

Nov 5, 2013 7:00 AM in response to Barbarellaf

My google drive was having a problem uploading a pixelmator file since last night. I tried to sync it, then the winking started. I took all pixelmator files off google drive and now no more problems. Google drive is working fine now.

Reply

Answer 15

Nov 5, 2013 11:00 AM in response to Barbarellaf

Its weird, mine just started this today. Was working fine until I rebooted today, then started blinking and closing my folders. I tried the Google Drive setting change, but need to wait and see.

Reply