desktop help viewer

B

bob leonard

Registered
When I hit the help button on my G4 powermac 733 10.3.9, the help viewer displays for about two seconds, then quits. Under recent items in the apple menu, I was able to open the help viewer. But this viewer immediately activates my web browser. Can I use the help viewer to access the help menus on my computer, or is no help available from my computer without the online activation? I have searched the faqs here, but no luck.

Thanks!

Bob
 
Look in your User/Library/Preferences folder for any Help plist files like 'com.apple.helpviewer.plist' and trash and restart then try Help.
 
Thanks, Bob for your quick reply. I deleted the following preferences:

SoftwareUpdateCheck.plist
com.stuffit.Engine.plist
com.apple.WebFoundation.plist
com.apple.Terminal.plist
com.apple.SWUpdateEngine.plist
com.apple.speech.recognition.feedback.prefs.plist
com.apple.speech.recognition.AppleSpeechRecognition.prefs.plist
com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist
com.apple.security.plist
com.apple.MenuBarClock.plist
com.apple.java.util.prefs.plist
com.apple.iTunesHelper.plist
com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist
com.apple.iPod.plist
com.apple.internetpref.plist
com.apple.iMovie.plist
com.apple.iCal.sources.plist
com.apple.iCal.plist
com.apple.iCal.alarmsCache.plist
com.apple.iApps.plist
com.apple.helpviewer.plist
com.apple.helpui.plist
com.apple.help.plist
com.apple.FolderActions.plist
com.apple.FolderActionsSetup.plist
com.apple.CharPaletteServer.plist
com.apple.BezelServices.plist

I realize not all of these are com.apple.helpviewer related, but preferences are preferences. They should restore upon restart. The viewer now stays open for about 4 seconds instead of 1 second, but still will not fill in. There are more com.apple.plist files. Should I trash those as well?

There are two other users on my computer, but they never use my computer anymore. Do I have to delete the plist prefs in the other users files as well?

Bob
 
No, no need to delte plists from the other users.

Go to the User/Library/Caches folder.

trash everything in the 'com.apple.helpui' folder and restart and try.
 
Bob: These are all the files in user/library/caches:

com.apple.preferencepanes.cache
com.apple.helpui
iMovie Help
AppleScript Help
Sherlock Help
13
12
07
00
06
05
Mail Help
TextEdit Help
09
04
10
QuickTime Player Help
Preview Help
11
AirPort Help
TOCCache.plist
03
02
Mac Help
01
15
08
14

If I am understanding you correctly, you want me to trash all these files as well?
 
Yes, but you can just move out of the cache folder and into a new folder on your desktop for now if you're worried about doing this.
 
The help viewer is now working and active on my desktop. Thanks very much. You mentioned that If I was concerned about trashing all those files, I don't know why I would be concerned. I've trashed preferences before with no consequences, but never files. I have had two problems in the four years I have had this mac: A corrupted "Welcome/Bienvue" program that was supposed to come up just once, after you install the os for the first time, and a corrupted email, both which froze my machine. But I am not worrying about losing anything in there if you can tell me what those files are. What are they?

Thanks again,

Bob
 
Those are Preference files. OS X (and OS 9) uses Preference files to save the little changes that you save to it. Sometimes these preference files can get change for the worse by other applications (bad software writing) or just a simple mistake during the writing of the file. In a Apple throwing out you User's Preferences files is a simple/old application trouble shooting step.
 
Cache files are temporary receptacles for data that help OS X and its applications work faster.
 
So I can just trash them and empty the trash bin? Or should I keep the cache files on my desktop for a while, keep the .plist files in the trash for a while, just to see if I need any of them for some unspecified reason? Reason tells me that I could reinsert these cache files one by one, to see which one(s) may be a problem. I also run Apple's Logic Audio 4.8 in 9.2.2 When I first began to use Logic, I had some extension conflicts that I had to weed out one by one. This sounds like a similar process, but I wonder if it's worth it.

Bob
 
The Cache files I would just trash.

The plist files I would put back with the exception of the Help related files.
 
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