Mac keeps forgeting its settings (and other things)

[runninmac]

I just got a new MacBook yesterday. Everythings great about it but there a few software quirks that are starting to piss me off.

1. Mail will not hide. (It just will not, nothing else to describe)
2. Safari has been quiting on me more often than on my iBook
3. ALL my settings keep on getting forgoten 1.) Always when I restart my computer and 2.) Sometimes after long sleeps. By this I mean my iTunes is empty (but in the folder), Safari forgets its homepage, I have to competly restart mail, photobooth pics are gone and other things as well.

Im not sure if this has anything to do with it but I changed the name of my home directory thing in finder from my email address (because somehow i accently set it to that) to my acutal name. Is there anyway to easily and permently change that?

Any suggestions would be great!

 

[jelloshotsrule]

hmm.. those seem like some weird issues... i assume you've tried the usual (repair permissions, etc).. would it be a huge hassle at this point to reinstall the OS?

 

[bokdol]

it may be a permissions issue. but since you just got it what i would do is a compleate format and reinstall form our disk that came with the mac book. once you do that do a software update. the update should take care of any bugs. (maybe try the software update now before reformating)

good luck sorry to hear about the faults.

 

[runninmac]

Thanks! I think im going to back it up and do a clean install. If I do that should I still do a repair permissions as well? I don't think I would, but Im no genius at this.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Im not sure if this has anything to do with it but I changed the name of my home directory thing in finder from my email address (because somehow i accently set it to that) to my acutal name. Is there anyway to easily and permently change that?

Suggestion -- don't be changing the names of files and folders in the OS, including the User ones that OSX creates for you. Haven't thought it all the way through, but renaming the user folder has almost certainly made it so that OSX cannot find the correct files and is creating a new blank user folder for you.

 

[WildCowboy]

Oh yeah...changing your home folder user name is one of the best ways to bork your system.

Here's Apple's dissertation on how to do it correctly, though they strongly advise you not to. I don't know if there's any good way to recover from doing it incorrectly though, aside from creating a new user account and migrating everything into it.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Thanks! I think im going to back it up and do a clean install. If I do that should I still do a repair permissions as well? I don't think I would, but Im no genius at this.

No, don't! Didn't anyone notice that he said he'd changed the name of his home directory in the Finder? Change it back, or create a new, fresh user. It's virtually certain that this is the cause of your problems.

 

[runninmac]

Ok thanks I wont be doing that anymore!

I feel like such a noob

 

[Sun Baked]

Oh yeah...changing your home folder user name is one of the best ways to bork your system.

Only to be followed by throwing away/renaming some of the aliases in the root folder.

Flashing question mark is always fun.

 

[bokdol]

woops nope missed it. so you changed the homedirectory name. yeah that there, is a nono.

if you cant fix it. reinstall, but you should be able to make a new admin account with a seperate name and delete the old one. i myself would reformat the thing and start all new.

 

[runninmac]

Okay I can tell I already did some damage that I don't feel like trying to fix so im backing everything up to my iPod. So after I install Tiger again whats the best way to put the files back on my Mac. I think I did it the hard way last time.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

Okay I can tell I already did some damage that I don't feel like trying to fix so im backing everything up to my iPod. So after I install Tiger again whats the best way to put the files back on my Mac. I think I did it the hard way last time.

that's sort of why i suggested starting fresh.. since it's new enough, i'd go that route rather than potentially having something not fixed by changing the name back...

good point though, IJ, as that'd generally fix the problems i'd imagine.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I'd sure try the low-impact solution first (either changing the name back or creating a new user) and seeing if that works before starting completely over. Start quick and easy, and escalate only when necessary -- this is the best method for trouble-shooting anything!