macbook asked to restart and now changed most of the settings

C

calvin11

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help please!

I am a recent switcher and have been using my macbook without problems until recently.

my Mail program froze and I had to force quit the program. i few minutes later a dialogue appeared on my screen telling me i had to restart my computer.

After the restart, i opened the mail program and I had to re-enter my mail settings and i found out that it didn't have any of my old emails anymore. I tried the search function and the old emails are still in my computer and i can open them, but can't put them back in the mail program.

It seems that the software placed all my old folders under a subfolder and created new folders for document, photo, music, etc. all my old files were placed in a subfolder i found in the applications folder. all the applications are still in my computer but i have to re-enter all my previous settings.

It seems that my computer has created a new user or something to that effect since i can still find my old files but they are no longer in their previous locations (i.e. photos in iphoto have to be re-imported)

would you have any idea how to restore my old settings and to put my old files in their previous places?
 
Eeesh. Do you actually see more than one user? I.e., if you go to the /Users/ directory, or look in System Preferences / Accounts?

When you search for the old email messages, where are they? Show us the directory where you find them.
 
I only saw one user. My USER folder went inside the applications folder. I went to the local apple store and the tech guy just dragged moved my folders to replace the ones existing in the home folder.

(Did I say I was a recent switcher?- i do apologize if this was a silly non-crisis)
 
he just said that it usually happens when the computer shuts down unexpectedly. ( from my research, i think my computer had a kernel panic and gave me that gray screen telling me to shut down).

He also said that in case it should happen again what i should do i to create another user and allow the new user to act as an administrator. once that happens i can drag the old files to the replaced User or the New one I created.
 
How often do you maintenance your Mac Calvin11? Since you are a switcher, how often do you repair permissions? A nice free utility app called Onyx has many useful scripts to keep your Mac running smooth.
 
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