Q: Finder's desktop icon on the sidebar is displaying incorrectly.

Temporarily remove com.apple.finder.plist and test.

Close all windows and quit all applications.

Hold the option key down and click the "Go" menu in the Finder menubar.

Select "Library" from the dropdown, then "Preferences" folder.

Look for this file.

com.apple.finder.plist

Right click on it and select " Move To Trash" from the contextual menu.

Restart the computer.

If this doesn’t help:

Right click the Trash icon in the Dock and choose "Open".

Right click on the com.apple.finder.plist and choose “Put Back”.

santixag wrote:

 

OK... this is a bit annoying but for some reason. The desktop icon on sidebar has been switched to that of a generic folder.

 

 

Already checked and unchecked on preference pane, restarted, endless time, emptied every cache with CleanMyMac. and even checked if the icon existed on the hard drive in /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/ and  IT is there.... the icon even shows ok, on the Go menu.

 

Its only in my user session on the mac, its works ok for other users on the same machine..

 

any ideas?

Please uninstall CleanMyMac.  Apple computers do not need any program that claims it will clean, organize, optimize, refresh, or otherwise perform some other kind of maintenance on the hard drive.  Macs do a great job of taking care of themselves, and installing programs like that actually damages them, not helps.  If more people did a search of these forums for programs like CleanMyMac and MacKeeper and MacCleaner and Memory Cleaner and TuneMyMac, they wouldn't install them in the first place.

When you click on that item in the sidebar, does it take you to YOUR desktop or does it take you to a folder named "Desktop"?

Things to try…

1. Start in Safe Mode then back to Normal Mode.

OS X El Capitan: Start up in safe mode

2. Rebuild the Spotlight Index.

Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes - Apple Support

Welcome. Sorry they didn't work. It seems there is something amiss with just one user. I suppose you could try reinstalling but short of a clean install I'm not sure that will work.

SIMBL by itself doesn't do anything. It's used by some packages that have various functions. I don't even know if SIMBL is compatible with OSX 10.11.

santixag wrote:

 

... emptied every cache with CleanMyMac.

Programs such as that are just scams, and using it is what probably caused the corruption you describe. It's very likely much more corruption than that has already occurred.

Uninstall "CleanMyMac" according to the instructions below, followed by reinstalling OS X. That may restore operating the system components that are now missing or may have become corrupted as a result of having used "cleaning" garbage. To merely reinstall OS X follow Apple's instructions here: How to reinstall OS X on your Mac - Apple Support. Just beware that reinstalling OS X will not reverse all the damage such "cleaning" apps are capable of inflicting.

To remove CleanMyMac 3 itself, use its Uninstaller module, followed by these additional steps:

• Remove the file ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Scheduler.plist

  • To navigate to that file, copy and paste the following line into the Finder's Go menu > Go To Folder...

~/Library/LaunchAgents/

• Locate the following file and drag it to the Trash:

com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Scheduler.plist

• Then, open  (Apple menu) > System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items.
• Select the item CleanMyMac3 Menu
• Click the [—] (minus) button.
• Restart your Mac.

Beware that reinstalling OS X alone will have no effect on either removing CleanMyMac or reversing the damage it is capable of inflicting upon a system. To recover from the effects of having used it to modify OS X, the additional software you require and the essential files you need, follow the applicable recovery procedure below:

• If you have a backup that you created prior to using CleanMyMac, now is the time to use it. For Time Machine, boot OS X Recovery, and at the Mac OS X Utilities screen, choose Restore from Time Machine Backup. Choose a date preceding the installation of CleanMyMac.
• If you do not have a backup that predates the use of CleanMyMac, create one now. To do that read Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac.
  • The recovery procedure will require that you erase the Mac using OS X Recovery, and then create a new User Account whose contents will be empty. You will then be able to use Setup Assistant to migrate your essential documents including photos, music, work products and other essential files.
  • To erase and install OS X read How to reinstall OS X on your Mac.
    • Follow the instructions in that document under Erase your drive and install OS X.
    • Then, follow the procedure in Move your content to a new Mac.
    • When asked how you want to transfer your information, select Transfer from a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk.
    • Under Select the Information to Transfer, select only your previous User account and do not select "Applications", "Computer and Network Settings" or "Other files and folders". De-select those choices.
  • Subsequent to using Setup Assistant, you will need to reinstall the essential software you may require, once again remembering to install software only from their original sources, and omitting all non-essential software.
  • "Non-essential software" is a broad category that includes but is not limited to third party "cleaning", "maintenance", and "anti-virus" products.

Excerpted from Effective defenses against malware and other threats:

• Never install any product that claims to "clean up", "speed up", "optimize", "boost" or "accelerate" your Mac; to "wash" it, "tune" it, or to make it "shiny". Those claims are absurd.
  • Such products are very aggressively marketed. They are all scams.
  • They generally operate on the flawed premise that a Mac accumulates "junk" that needs to be routinely "cleaned out" for optimum performance.
  • Trial versions of those programs are successful because they provide the instant gratification of greater free disk space.
  • That increased space is the result of irreversible destruction of files, programs, or operating system components normally protected from inadvertent alteration or deletion. The eventual result will be unreliable operation, poor performance and random crashes that may not become evident for months or even years after their use, when updates to programs or OS X are eventually released.
  • Memory "cleaners" that circumvent OS X's memory management algorithms work by purging inactive memory contents to mass storage, which can only result in degraded performance and accelerated hardware failure.