Email

[lizharbin]

QUOTE

The reason you can't use the keyboard shortcut is because the "frozen" app has first dibs on any keyboard input.

When Mail first started freezing up, I could use command+option+Esc to force it to quit. As the "damage" (for lack of a better word) progressed I had to resort to another way of closing Mail.  BTW, I believe this is the only keyboard shortcut I know.

QUOTE

next step is to change one of those other user accounts to an "Administrator"! I suspect they are not set up that way right now.

When I set up the other user accounts I set them up as "Administrators". When I get this all sorted out I will probably want to change that to only the one I primarily use. I am already using the new user account I set up in order to see if the Mail app is good, which it is.

QUOTE

part of the screen not used by the "frozen" app

That's kinda what I thought was happening. I feel like I'm getting a bit of an education here. If I could only get a grip on some essential lingo.  

[lizharbin]

QUOTE

you said you downloaded the 10.7.5 update but did you apply it?

In applying the updater, do you mean clicking the yellow box and following the instructions ending with "restart"?

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I can't find where you said you ran the updater.

The download engine is the only evidence I can find of the download after restarting.    If I am to do anything else to "run" the updater, evidently, it hasn't downloaded properly.

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

...following the instructions ending with "restart"?

That sounds like an OS updater, for sure; most other types of installations don't usually ask you to Restart. Now, for the grand Prize... Did you follow that instruction and Restart? (tick... tick... tick... tick... )

Under the Apple menu, select the "About this Mac" item. That should bring up a small window showing various bits of information. One item should be "Version: 10.7...". What is the number following the "7"?

[lizharbin]

QUOTE

Did you follow that instruction and Restart?

Yes, I did restart.  

I believe I'm beginning to get the picture why I was getting the message "…Update Combined can't be installed on this disk. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update". (So that there is no confusion, the update did go through the download process after a few tries.) This is a "10.7.5" updater and my numbers have been "10.7.5" for some amount of time.   I remember doing something and the number changing from "10.7.4". I probably downloaded the update as soon as it became available.  

 

[Xairbusdriver]

I see that you have "10.7.5" in your profile. If you already had 10.7.5, I'd be surprised if the "Updater" would have run.

QUOTE("xABD")

Under the Apple menu, select the "About this Mac" item. That should bring up a small window showing various bits of information. One item should be "Version: 10.7...". What is the number following the "7"?

Is that number a "4" or a "5"?

[lizharbin]

QUOTE

Is that number a "4" or a "5"?

The number is "5".

[krissel]

Just to clear up a point, updaters come in two forms:

• the simple updater which will take one to the next level (say 10.7.4 to 10.7.5)
• the combo updater which can be applied to any version of the major OS (10.7-10.7.5) and can be run even if you already have 10.7.5 on your Mac. This is the one that you must have finally applied since the simple updater would tell you no because it already is on your Mac.

Here is the link for the 10.7.5 combo which I assume you used.

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1582?locale=en_US

Anyway, just keep working with the new account and when you are completely comfortable with knowing nothing is missing, then feel free to delete the old one.

[lizharbin]

QUOTE(krissel @ Jun 12 2015, 01:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just to clear up a point, updaters come in two forms:

• the simple updater which will take one to the next level (say 10.7.4 to 10.7.5)
• the combo updater which can be applied to any version of the major OS (10.7-10.7.5) and can be run even if you already have 10.7.5 on your Mac. This is the one that you must have finally applied since the simple updater would tell you no because it already is on your Mac.

Here is the link for the 10.7.5 combo which I assume you used.

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1582?locale=en_US

Anyway, just keep working with the new account and when you are completely comfortable with knowing nothing is missing, then feel free to delete the old one.

I appreciate all this info. It's good to know. I'm positive I downloaded the combo updater. I found evidence of the simple updater; didn't note the date of it.

  One thing I should ask: since the old user account is set up as a "Shared" account, am I right that anything not backed up will be deleted along with the old one?

[krissel]

Not sure exactly what you define as a "shared account".  

There are two simple ways to share files with other accounts. One is to put things in the Public Folder that is under the particular user account's name. There is a Drop Box in that folder which can be seen when others open that user's folder.

In the image below you can see the user kris (who is not logged in) has a Public Folder which is not locked like the others and items in the Drop Box within would be accessible to any other user. If I had important files in that Drop Box (and no where else), then deleted the user kris, that data would be gone. Same would be true of user krissel.

At the bottom of the image you will see the Shared Folder. Anything put there is available to everyone who uses the Mac. If you have files in there and delete a user, all the files in the Shared Folder will remain. It is autonomous to the others.
Hope this helps.


[attachment=3150:users_open.png]

[Xairbusdriver]

Please do not confuse the "Drop Box" in a "Public" folder with "Dropbox" (no space between the two words!) in any user's account. "Drop Box" is where someone can put things for other users to share. "Dropbox" is a trademark for an on-line file storage/sharing system. Same letters, completely different entities; just as the "Shared" folder is completely different than the "Public" folder where things can be 'shared'.

Deleting a User, deletes only her "Public" folder and its contents. There is only one "Shared" folder on the computer. no matter how many Users there might be.

I agree, too many shared words!