help! firefox update screwed up computer!

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Perishingflames

Registered
Just a little bit ago, my father updated firefox to 2.0.0.7 so then I logged into my user and noticed something was wrong: the desktop icons weren't showing up. So I preceded to right click on the desktop and opened the desktop view settings or whatever its called. I noticed they were all unchecked so I started checking them, though the desktop still appeared without the icons. It wouldn't let me check the third one and the computer preceded to freeze. I did the command option esc thing and I relaunched the finder and it closed down the window. So I tried opening it back up.but the computer wouldn't respond to the right click. So I clicked the apple in the top left but that wouldn't respond either. Btw at first when I clicked where the icons should have been, the icon that had been clicked showed up. So I had to pull the plug and rebooted the computer then I restarted but now even the click on invisible icon thing isn't even working. Also the computer is lagging like crazy and won't let me log off so I had to push the off button on back of computer. Right now I am typing from a blackberry and I have no clue how to stop this and am too afriad of messing the computer up more by logging in.

So the question is, what should I do? I am frantic in a huge dillema, someone please help!


-aaron
 
Okay I have an update: It appears the main cause for all this is finder. Finder well, has SHUT DOWN. When you click it, nothing opens up, and when finder is active, you cannot log out (using apple-log out) or even the keyboard shortcut. And the whole apple menu with sys prefs, etc doesn't work when finder is active either. I bet this finder broken problem is also what is causing the desktop icons to dissapear... Also, oddly enough my brother's user works fine, with the updated Firefox *because Firefox was installed on the admin user so it does it for all users* I have yet to check on my dad's user, but I have a sneaky suspicion that it won't work, so what should I do if finder is broken in there... How will I uninstall Firefox without using finder?

Someone please help.
 
Well if the Finder has quit click (and hold) on the Finder icon in the Dock and a Restart (or Start) should pop up. Once you can the finder started mosey to ~/Library/Preferences and delete the file com.apple.finder.plist . Then log out and log back in. This should help.
 
Installing Firefox on account A should not kill B's Finder plist so I wouldn't attribute it to Firefox' installation. AFAIK Firefox does not use an installer, it's merely copied to the Applications folder, so permissions shouldn't be a problem either.
 
I deleted finder's preferences as you said and now finder seems to always work. I also uninstalled firefox from the admin user, and that seemed to help also, but now I am stuck on this desktop problem: the items aren't showing up! Oddly enough, when I click on where one should be, it appears, but then of course it resets itself when I log off and log back in. In finder, I can see all the files are still there on the desktop, but why aren't they showing up?

4z9k0wg.png
 
Just click the finder icon in your dock and the finder will restart.

Turn off your comp. Restart in Safe Boot mode (hold command + s till you see black screen with white text. Type fsck -f then type reboot when that process is complete).

Your computer should restart and work normally. I'd also recommend repairing permissions after restart: Apps/utilities/disk utility/repair permissions.
 
Yes, the finder problem had been fixed from me uninstalling firefox, but the invisible desktop icons problem is still here. Hope you don't mind me asking, but what will restarting in safe boot mode do? Will it clear any data or files?
 
It's safe to use, just enter the fsck -f command and reboot afterwards and nothing else. You can do damage only if you enter the right command to wipe your hard drive or something. :)

Have you clicked on the finder icon in your dock to make the finder start up agan? It's the blue smiley face and is the first item in your doc. If you can't see your hard drive or any other icon this is the reason. YOu have to restart your finder.
 
Well, I have rebooted finder at least 10 times, and even deleted finder's prefs file, and I guess that sorta helped finder always work but i'm still having the invisible desktop problem. I guess I shall try this safe boot thing.
 
If you can click on your desktop, do that, then go to Finder/Preferences and see if you can check to show desktop icons.
 
Two things:
1) It says: "1. If you do not develop software, verbose and single-user modes are only needed when troubleshooting the computer for a startup issue." and obviously, I am not having that problem.
2) It doesnt say anything about -fsck on that documentation... what does that do?
 
Perishingflames said:
Two things:
1) It says: "1. If you do not develop software, verbose and single-user modes are only needed when troubleshooting the computer for a startup issue." and obviously, I am not having that problem.
2) It doesnt say anything about -fsck on that documentation... what does that do?
Click to expand...

Oh ye of little faith... I've used Single User mode to repair from crashes that I normally wouldn't be able to recover from. Trust me. It works. You are having a startup/system issue.

fsck means a 'file system check':
http://macs.about.com/od/osx/a/running_fsck.htm

Have you tried clicking the finder icon in the dock yet to restart the finder?
 
Sorry for the multiple posts, it didn't seem to work before when I clicked posted it.

Okay, so I did the thing two times, and it came up with some checks then "This Macintosh HD appears to be OK." or something of the sort, and then rebooted it, and the desktop icons still are not showing up.


So, have any other ideas?
 
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