Q: Why can't I drag any thing out of my download folder?

Peteb1,

I don’t know. Are you able to drag things into your download folder? Are you able to delete things from your download folder?

Peteb1,

try selecting the Desktop in the Favorites section of the Finder sidebar, and press ⌘i to Get Info on it. When the Desktop Info window appears, is the Locked checkbox checked in the General section? What information is shown in the Sharing & Permissions section?

Back up all data.

Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

xattr -c De*

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.

Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear below what you entered. You can then quit Terminal. Test.

If the same thing keeps happening, relaunch the Finder.

Peteb1,

if a Terminal window is popping up, try giving these commands in Terminal, one per line, and press the Return key after each line:

id

ls -ld ~

ls -l ~

Please include in your reply the output from these commands.