After Authorized Service Provider I went back in time and lost everything!

[Znufkin]

Yesterday my screen started showing weird horizontal lines, so I took it to an Apple ASP for a quick look.

First I created a new Admin account to protect my existing admin account. The guy would be using this one throughout his diagnostic.

The guy opened the back of the notebook, tweaked the cable connecting the screen and the logicboard, and turned the notebook back on.

After that he said he would perform a quick analysis/diagnostic that all ASPs do upon starting a service. The diagnostic showed that my battery needs to be serviced, everything else was fine.

His conclusion was that the screen needs to be changed as the cable cannot be changed without the screen. I got the notebook back, and he recommended I buy a new used computer, as servicing both the battery and the screen would cost at least 700-800USD in itself.

-> So fine, I take the computer back home, and turn it on. I log into my own personal admin account, not the one I had created for the guy.

Result:

* My notebook has jumped back in time: applications and files are missing; settings are odd; and worst of all......

* my Safari no longer opens: it says

Safari cannot be opened because of a problem.
Check with the developer to make sure Safari works with this version of Mac OS X. You may need to reinstall the application. Be sure to install any available updates for the application and Mac OS X.

Background:

Last fall I had the same issue: I had upgraded my Snow Leopard to Lion in 2011, and later to Mountain Lion last fall 2012. After doing so, my Safari no longer opened, saying the same as above. Without Safari I could not update anything, as to use App Store one needs Safari as a background software.

So I needed to do a clean install of my Lion and my Mountain Lion, and I did so while partitioning my harddrives to two partitions.

Now:

I seem to be back in time, re-experiencing what happened last fall. Meanwhile I have lost everything I had on before taking the notebook to the service: I lost my Safari, its settings and open browsers, but I also lost a whole bunch of other features, apps, etc.

I tried returning to a restore point in my Time Machine - no difference. The issue with Safari persists.

I don't want to do another clean install, it took a lot of effort and would require me to invest in a new external harddrive of 2TB. If there is a way to restore Safari without a clean install, I would prefer it.

Please help! Much appreciated.

Znufkin

 

[benwiggy]

I don't want to do another clean install, it took a lot of effort and would require me to invest in a new external harddrive of 2TB. If there is a way to restore Safari without a clean install, I would prefer it.

You don't have to do a CLEAN install. A default installation of the OS will install the OS in place, leaving your user data and settings intact. (But you have a backup, in case something goes wrong.)
You could just restore the entire disk to before you took it to the shop from your TM backup.

Note that applications aren't normally user-specific, so you should have the same apps available whatever user account you're using.

First I created a new Admin account to protect my existing admin account. The guy would be using this one throughout his diagnostic.

If he has physical access to your hard drive, then he can look at all your files anyway, unless you're using FileVault to encrypt the disk. Creating a new account offers no "protection".

 

[Bear]

...
If he has physical access to your hard drive, then he can look at all your files anyway, unless you're using FileVault to encrypt the disk. Creating a new account offers no "protection".

Actually having an admin account on the system lets him look at everything FileVault or not. FileVault only keeps out people without a valid password.

...
I tried returning to a restore point in my Time Machine - no difference. The issue with Safari persists.
...

How did you "return to a restore point"? The only method that would be guaranteed to work is erase your system disk and do a full Time Machine restore from the last backup before you brought your machine in.