CMD-W on entire system opens WMP. Virus/error?

M

meToo

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Using CMD-W on my laptop system now launches Windows Media Player (ack!), in ALL apps and all windows. It's a PB G4 400 that had OSX 10.3 when the problem started.

Things I've tried:
using terminal to read defaults for all domains to look for an altered shortcut. Can't find one.
Adding a shortcut via the Keyboard & Mouse prefs. I've tried adding a shortcut for all apps and for finder, but to no avail.
Upgrading my system to Tiger, even though it's just too big to run on this machine (Takes too much disk space)/

But still the CMD-W problem is there and can't find anything on the web about it.

This could be a virus, but Norton didn't find anything. And if a virus re-wrote something in my system, where do I look to find the pfile to fix?

Any hints would be appreciated.

Also, if there are any hints to cut down disk space Tiger uses, it could be helpful now that I've had to upgrade on this machine.

THANKS!!
 
Definitely not a virus, otherwise it would have been all over the tech news sites as the first virus in the wild to affect Mac users en masse. It surely sounds like some setting got fubared.

BTW, have you applied the firmware for your PowerBook? You need it in order to be able to run OS X properly.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117

This firmware will need to be installed through OS 9. It will NOT work in Classic Mode.
 
Haven't the foggiest why you are getting that WMP launch, but have you tried trashing the player before creating your new keyboard shortcut? You can always reinstall it again later. Also, Keyboard Shortcuts is notorious for disappearing added applications, so a WMP shortcut might have been created there but remain hidden. Re-adding a WMP shortcut to the application list would have the effect of deleting any previous, invisible ones. As to creating a slimmer Tiger, you could have done a Custom install of only the Essentials, which would have taken up less than 3 GB. Perhaps you could try a custom Archive and [re]Install, if you have enough room left on your HD.
 
About preserving disk space: you can probably trash all the languages that you do not speak, by using the custom install option in the os x installer. I don't know if this will acctualy delete the languages on a re-install, but it's worth a try. You can probably also delete unnessisary applications or applications that are too processor intensive to run, like Chess.
 
Hey thanks for all the advice. I spent some time trashing everything I don't need, including language installations and apps. So I really appreciated the advice--I now have enough free disk space to use the laptop.

But the COMMAND-W problem still exists. If I can't figure out something soon, I'll have to do a clean install on the drive, which will take tons of time to reinstall and reconfigure apps, etc. . .

I wish Apple made it easier to get this sort of info from their support website.
 
This is a REALLY strange problem. I did a clean install of my system, and CMD-W still doesn't work, although at least it doesn't launch WMV player. I thought maybe my keypad was going bad, but I've tried 2 external keyboards and it doesn't work on any of them, so must be a software issue, but I don't know where to begin looking. ANyone have a clue how to further the troubleshooting?
 
It's a longshot, but try resetting your p-ram. (cmd+shift+p+r at startup chime, hold until you hear a second chime)
 
Hey posters, thanks for your help. Unfortunately, resetting p-ram didn't help and I have no other users on the system, although I would think doing a clean install of the system from scratch would have rewritten everything. Fortunately I only have to use this system about another 3 months and then back to my new G5 desktop. THANKS!!
 
I think someome is playing a practical joke on you. Check System Settings, the "Keyboard and Mouse" panel has a tab called "Shortcuts" where you can define your own keyboard shortcuts. I bet someone has set Command+W to launch Windows Media Player there...

Now, time to figure out which one of your friends is Mac-savvy enough to play that trick on you, and plot your revenge...

:-)
 
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