Author Topic: This is new-- I have a "terminal" on my dashboard now?  (Read 1185 times)

Offline Sooz

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This is new-- I have a "terminal" on my dashboard now?
« on: August 02, 2021, 01:46:51 PM »
Hi, Everyone!

I woke up this morning with this on my dashboard. When I put my arrow on it, it indicates the word "terminal."  When I click on it, I get this about my last login and that I have mail.  I did not set this up.  BTW, I consolidated the two screenshots into one.

Thanks for any help!!!!   
Smiles,
Sooz
Desktop iMac, running OS X El Capitan 10.11.6, 16 GB installed, with Time Machine and SuperDuper! backup on two external hard drives...and I like to bake.

Offline Xairbusdriver

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Re: This is new-- I have a "terminal" on my dashboard now?
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2021, 02:20:44 PM »
Terminal is a program that can do almost anything you can think of completely without a graphic interface. Did you ever have an Apple ][? A regular Mac user has absolutely no need for Terminal. Using it can be risky because it rarely ever gives you a warning that what you are telling it to do may damage something. That small black box looks like what you might see on the Dock when Terminal is running. :Thinking:

Now, I'll look up this "Dashboard" thing and see if it has a way of removing stuff from it. I assume it is part of the Mac OS? :dntknw: Finder Help has no info on "Dashboard". How do you open/run it? Can you show me a screen shot of part of its window?

BTW, open your System Prefs, click the Keyboard prefs and hen the "Shortcuts" tab. You should see two boxes with lists of things. The left-hand box should have an item called "Screenshots". Click that and in the right-hand box you will see a list of key combinations for various types of screenshots.

[rant]For some unknown reason, Apple does not allow us to make this window larger, so in that right-hand box, some labels are too long to see completely. :wallbash: So, Apple designed a whole system to display compressed lines of text to allow you to read what you could have seen with a larger window :whoosh: :whistling: Just move your cursor over one of the 'clipped' lines and Apple's geniuses will display the complete line if a neat little elongated box. :coolio: :WOW: I'm sure you already knew that, of course, because we Mac users have always known that moving the cursor around randomly is the "natural, intuitive" way of finding what you have never been told about.[/rant] :eek: :Paranoid: :scram:



(Edited to fix code for font color)
« Last Edit: August 02, 2021, 08:48:28 PM by kimmer »
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline Sooz

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Re: This is new-- I have a "terminal" on my dashboard now?
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2021, 03:10:33 AM »
Hi, Jim and thank you for your quick reply!!!  I'm just now checking things on my computer.

I've NEVER even heard of this Terminal thing! It's never appeared on my dashboard before!  I have no idea where it came from or what it's doing here.  BUT WAIT!!!!! I typed "dashboard" but I think it's in my dock (along the bottom of my screen, next to the Firefox icon and the downloads folder and near the trash.   It's apparent I still don't know what the heck I'm doing!

Thanks for the clear directions, which I followed easily (but that doesn't mean I'm getting better at this technology stuff),and I'm attaching another screenshot of what I found after following these directions: (The left-hand box should have an item called "Screenshots". Click that and in the right-hand box you will see a list of key combinations for various types of screenshots)

How do I get rid of this Terminal thingy?

Smiles,
Sooz
Desktop iMac, running OS X El Capitan 10.11.6, 16 GB installed, with Time Machine and SuperDuper! backup on two external hard drives...and I like to bake.

Offline krissel

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Re: This is new-- I have a "terminal" on my dashboard now?
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2021, 06:01:37 AM »
Hi Sooz,If the terminal icon is showing up in your Dashboard screen, just click on the little negative symbol at the lower left of the opened screen. All items on the screen with have an "X" on a corner. Click on the X of the Terminal icon and it should disappear. (It will not remove the application from your computer, just it's incidence in the Dashboard.) Then click on the faded out negative sign to take away the other X's from the other items and hit the Escape key to exit the Dashboard.
If it's not the Dashboard and is in the Dock, that's different. Let us know.


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Offline krissel

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Re: This is new-- I have a "terminal" on my dashboard now?
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2021, 06:15:42 AM »
Enlarging your first image it looks like it is actually in your Dock and open. Just click on the icon and Quit the program. The icon should disappear. You may have opened the Utilities folder icon and accidentally launched Terminal.


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Offline Sooz

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Re: This is new-- I have a "terminal" on my dashboard now?
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2021, 01:52:22 PM »
Guess what showed up today in my dock?  An "omni outliner" icon thingy.

Thanks for all the help, Bill and krissel!!  :clap: :thumbup:  I clicked on each icon and then Quit them. The mystery remains about how did they get there b/c I sure didn't do it.  Maybe they were like "artifacts" that show up on an EKG--out of nowhere, just enough to worry ya sometimes.

Thanks again!!!!!
Smiles,
Sooz

P.S.  I LOVE the SCREENSHOTS!  Thank you so much!
« Last Edit: August 04, 2021, 01:48:44 AM by Sooz »
Desktop iMac, running OS X El Capitan 10.11.6, 16 GB installed, with Time Machine and SuperDuper! backup on two external hard drives...and I like to bake.

Offline Xairbusdriver

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Re: This is new-- I have a "terminal" on my dashboard now?
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2021, 07:23:47 PM »
Kriss indirectly answered my question about what the “Dashboard” is. The items in her screenshots look like what were called Widgets some years ago. I never used them then but vaguely remember that Widgets are still a thing. I suppose they run in the Dashboard? :dntknw:

As for taking things off the Dock, just control-click one and you’ll get a pop up menu including an item called “Remove from Dock”, no need to actually start/open the app. Of course, if the app has a dot under it, that means it is currently open and the ‘remove’ item may not be available. In that case, just press command-tab and you’ll see all the currently running apps. Each time you tap the tab key, while keeping the command key pressed, the next app will be selected. Eventually, Terminal will be selected. At that point, release the Tab key, keeping the command key down, and press the “Q” key. You just used the regular, normal key shortcut to Quit an app: command-Q!! All with just two fingers and never touching the mouse!! In essence, you have been using the same method used to operate Terminal: the keyboard only!!  :WOW: :thumbup:
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline Sooz

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Re: This is new-- I have a "terminal" on my dashboard now?
« Reply #7 on: August 04, 2021, 01:49:40 AM »
Jim, you crack me up!!!!!  :laughhard: :laughhard: :laughhard:
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Offline Dreambird

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Re: This is new-- I have a "terminal" on my dashboard now?
« Reply #8 on: August 06, 2021, 01:54:56 PM »
Cool... "I" never knew about the Command+Tab thing! Handy! Thanks Jim.

Agree you must have launched terminal by mistake, Sooz. I use the app now and then but with all due caution... there are websites that can be trusted to give the proper command and how to enter it in a highlighted box that have not let me down yet. But best to leave it alone if you don't feel comfortable with it, there should be no reason to "have to" resort to it if you don't want to!  :)
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Offline Sooz

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Re: This is new-- I have a "terminal" on my dashboard now?
« Reply #9 on: August 07, 2021, 02:55:35 AM »
Thanks for ringing in, Dreambird!
Desktop iMac, running OS X El Capitan 10.11.6, 16 GB installed, with Time Machine and SuperDuper! backup on two external hard drives...and I like to bake.

Offline Dreambird

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Re: This is new-- I have a "terminal" on my dashboard now?
« Reply #10 on: August 07, 2021, 03:48:25 AM »
My pleasure!  :)
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