icons in dock

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Davemi

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I have an iMac Power PC G4 700 MHz 256 MB SD Ram OS 10.2.8. I had trouble with my finder and so deleted the com.apple, finder. plist from the Preference file but now I have 3 other icons that I cannot drag to the waste basket: the log in window, the system UI server and the dock. Do I do the same with them? I sure love my Mac, but I think I got into trouble when I downloaded Dockless in September 2008.
 
Thanks for your reply. I had deleted Dockless but I again downloaded Dockless 1.2.1 and there was no uninstall directions so I just dragged it into the waste basket. there is one dockless item in the User preference folder; should I delete that?
 
Well, I did what you said: deleted com.heat.dockless.plist from the User preferences folder and restarted but the three icons are still there in the dock. Any ideas of what to do next? Thanks.
 
Those icons should not be in the dock in the first place.
Are they on the side towards teh trash can or with the applications side?
You could set the dock to hiding... (at least those icons won't be seen then).
 
They are on the applications side. They appeared when I removed com.apple.finder.plist from the Users preference folder and got my finder and mail back. Can I not do the same with them? They are in the Users preference folder; all of them: log in window, dock and system UI server, just as above com.apple.dock.plist, etc.
 
If they are on the applications side, are you sure they are linking to the plist files and not the applications or processes themselves?
 
All 3 have black triangles under them: 1. log in window with a double click appears in the menubar but has no reaction to any double clicks on the drop down menu items. 2. the dock too has no reaction to a double click and in grey says application not responding and not only does not open in the menu bar but the finder items in the menu bar disappear, but the clock remains. 3. the system UI server has no reaction to a double click and does not open in the menu bar, but like the dock, the finder items in the menu bar disappear when I double click on it.
 
Ok, let's try this. http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20010701191518268 (or http://www.macworld.com/article/55321/2007/02/hidemenubar.html)
On these applications themselves:

/System/Library/Core Applications/loginwindow
/System/Library/Core Applications/SystemUIServer
/System/Library/Core Applications/Dock

First make a backup of these plist files.

The lines that should be changed to in the plists are

<key>LSUIElement</key>
<string>1</string>

After changing them, log out and log back in.
 
Well, I don't know how to make a back up of the files; I don't even know where to find them. I read somewhere; I have lost the reference, but I thought it was in MacOSX the if you delete a preference file, the application it belongs to will create a new one with the default settings the next time that the application is run. This is the main reason deleting preference files is suggested on Mac OSX AND OS9 as a way to fix problems.
 
[Macintosh HD]/System/Library/Core Applications/loginwindow > right click, "show package contents", and in that window navigate to /Contents/Info.plist

[Macintosh HD]/System/Library/Core Applications/SystemUIServer > right click, "show package contents", and in that window navigate to /Contents/Info.plist

[Macintosh HD]/System/Library/Core Applications/Dock > right click, "show package contents", and in that window navigate to /Contents/Info.plist
 
Well, it's not easy that's for sure. When I right click, hold down the control key while clicking, Joanne's computer window comes up instructing me to either shut down or restart and the hard drive icon disappeared. I do not have a folder title Core Applications, only Core Services. Is that the same thing?
 
Also, I dragged both the dock icon and the log in window icon onto the desktop to try to copy them. Are they aliases? because I cannot put them back into the Core Services Window. It is when I double click on them that the HD icon disappears, another copy goes into the dock along with a security lock icon and I am instructed to restart or shut down.
 
Hi again; I clicked on the Security Agent icon and was able to quit it; it disappeared along with the second loginwindow icon beside it and the shut down window disappeared and the HD icon reappeared. And all through this, I could still use Firefox and Mail. The bottom line is that I cannot open up a Contents/Info.plist anywhere; sorry.
 
Core Services, yes that would be it. Sigh- it may be that they have reorganized some of the contents since 10.2 (I can't check on that OS at the moment as I only have 10.5 now). There should be some file inside the contents that has those strings either way maybe info.something else than plist, maybe strings. Try to open the small files in the contents to see if you locate it - it won't be any of the .nib files for sure. An individual file, strings or contents or info or something similar.
It may help to have developer tools installed.

If you can't locate that file and/or don't have an option to install developer tools, reinstalling the system may be the way to go, archive&install, and then not installing that application any more.
 
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