Finder / Trash questions

[acg]

Hi everyone,

It's been a very long time since I have been here, but I have ran into a couple of issues with my mac, and I remember that this is the place to get answers, so...

1. When I choose to save something on the desktop (either a file through Save As... or a dowloaded item through right clicking on it for example) it doesn't show. It's there though, because when I press com-F to do a search and key in its name, not only it finds it on the desktop but it appears on the desktop itself then.

2. Sometimes, I choose empty trash from the dock (tried secure empty from Finder too) and even though I hear the emptying noise, the trash remains full. Then I open it and when I click on the item it disappears and the trash can is finally empty.

What is going on? Are these things related maybe? I am running 10.4.8 on a MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo). Any ideas please? These are no big deal really, but they annoy me.

[Xairbusdriver]

Welcome back! Don't be such a stranger!

May I ask how long it's been since your last Startup? I sometimes have unusual behavior from the Finder ( and the things you mentioned are really a function of that program ) and a simple Re-Launch of Finder gets things back in order. You can use many third-party apps to Re-Launch Finder, but I usually use the "Force Quit" item in the Apple menu. You don't even need to quit any running programs to do this. Logging OUT/IN will do this and many other things, of course, but it's probably Finder that is simply getting confused. It's the fastest thing to check, anyway.

My only other suggestion would be to do a Permissions Repair in Disk Utility ( or any other utility that can do that ).

[Texas Mac Man]

Look at these links.

How To Fix Stubborn Trash and Why it Won't Delete
http://www.osxfaq.com/Tutorials/LearningCe.../Trash/index.ws

Solving Trash Problems
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

[acg]

Relaunched Finder... problem solved. Now feeling like a dork. (I've only been using a Mac since 1985 though, and it IS a steep learning curve...)

[Xairbusdriver]

Well, back in 85, you couldn't actually quit/restart the Finder, whatever it was called back then! And it's often overlooked today. In OS X, the Finder is simply another program, mostly. And since X doesn't allow a program to crash the system, it's much easier to quit and restart things to fix problems in a particular app. Finder is a little different, in that it is the way we interact with the OS, so, when it is 'quit' the OS automatically starts it up again for us. It's just part of the K.I.S.S method—check the simple/cheapest things first; cables, unplug unneeded devices, quit a program, start up as another user...anything before re-installing an OS!

[acg]

I think at some point back when the big thing was the transition from System 6 to System 7 there was something called the MultiFinder. I still have a Mac Plus from 1984 or 1985 running System 3 or 4 or something like that. I think I'll fire it up just for the heck of it, see what it does and check how the Finder was back then. btw, thanks for the solution and the welcome!

[Xairbusdriver]

I still have my 128K Mac, but I'm sure the little battery is long gone. Probably won't start with out that ( and the System floppy )!

[D76]

QUOTE(acg @ Jan 18 2007, 07:51 AM) [snapback]116377[/snapback]

I think at some point back when the big thing was the transition from System 6 to System 7 there was something called the MultiFinder.

Multifinder was the greatest thing since stretch socks. I remember running a workplace System 6 machine that lacked it. Then it was added, which caused a RAM problem.

This is Wikipedia's take on it.

[tacit]

Back in th old days, you could quit the Finder. In fact, the Finder always quit whenever you started a program. The Mac could only run one program at a time. The Finder was a program; when you launched another program, like WriteNow or whatever, the Finder quit and the new program started. At this point, you had no way to start another program. To start another program, you would quit the program you were running. That would bring back the Finder, which was designed to start automatically whenever another program stopped.

The exception was little mini-programs called Desk Accessories. A Desk Accessory was a tiny program that ran on top of the Finder; it lived inside the Finder's memory, and would run as though it were part of the Finder.

MultiFinder brought multitasking to the Mac. MultiFinder was a special Finder that would keep on running whenever you started another program. Because the Finder would keep on running, you could switch over to it and start another program going.

[Gregg]

I always wondered what the distinction was between an Accessory and an Application. Thanks for the lesson!

I've always had an Accessories folder and an Applications folder to separate cute little conveniences from the programs that do the "heavy lifting". A false disticntion perhaps, but it works for me.

So, technically speaking, are there no Accessories anymore?

[acg]

Boy, that was a trip down Memory lane... It seems like all this happened in another lifetime but it was less than 20 years ago.

Gregg, wouldn't dashboard widgets be sort of like accessories? btw, Windows Vista has "gadgets"... If there was ever a cheap knock-off of something this has got to be it!

[Gregg]

QUOTE(acg @ Jan 19 2007, 05:01 PM) [snapback]116481[/snapback]

Gregg, wouldn't dashboard widgets be sort of like accessories?

Possibly.... I wouldn't know. Check out my avatar: I'm still running OS9

Get it?