start one app, all other apps "hide"

C

chrstphr

Registered
Whenever I start an application, all the other applications hide.

Whenever I switch to one of the other open apps, it unhides, but then any app that had been visible immediately hides.

I have my Home on a separate partition, and just tonight reinstalled the system and then told NetInfo where my old Home was. So everything is pretty much back to where it was before the reinstall -- except for this one quirky behavior.

If you have an idea, I'll listen to anything.
 
You know, it may have been that very thing, because now the trouble is gone and the most likely thing that I can think of is, while banging away at the keyboard while reinstalling apps, the option key came unstuck.

I had thought maybe there was a preference setting somewhere, or a preference file that should be trashed, and that is why I posted here.

Thanks, AppMan, I think you nailed it, and with a very quick response too.
 
I take all that back.

I decided to run Drive 10 on my newly installed system. When I tried to boot back into 10, there was no recognizable system folder on 10's partition, the only system that would show up when I held the option key down during bootup was the 9 partition. So I did an Archive Install. That was ok, things went fast, and I was busy trying to get my settings back into order.

Again, only one app will show at a time. To be in Safari now to type this means that my Finder, and all other open apps, are dimmed in the Dock. If I click on the Finder icon now, I'll see the Desktop and no Safari ....

I've given the Option keys a couple of "thumps" to see if they will become unstuck, but they are not stuck.

More ideas appreciated.
 
Open up Keycaps, and see if it reports any stuck keys. If so, try unplugging the keyboard and launching something.

I know I've seen an application that provides the behavior you described, but if you've done a clean install, and never installed said application in the first place, then it's probably not the culprit.

By the way, what kind of mouse are you using? Is it some multibutton monstrosity that emulates option-clicks?
 
Thanks, davidbrit2.

I deleted several preference files from my Home library. I suspect either the finder, system or launchservices (?) pref file was involved with the trouble, because I trashed those (plus some others to apps that are no longer in my "fresh" install) and the problem is now gone again. That doesn't rule out the possiblity that my monstosity of a logitech multibutton scrollwheel mouse isn't the culprit though ;-). If it comes back, first thing I'll do is check the option keys in Keycaps, and also unplug the logitech and put my Apple Pro Mouse back on .

Thanks.
 
Duh!!! I feel really dopey now. Apparently when I reinstalled Transparent Dock, I had checked the Single Application Mode option without realizing it or what it would do. Then after the re-reinstall, putting the transparentdock.pref back in caused the problem to return.
 
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