"ShapeShifter won't theme Finder"
"ShapeShifter preferences reset"
"ShapeShifter not applying to Finder"
Frustrating as it can be, this problem for many can be a forehead slap once fixed, and fits perfectly into the Bum Scoop Rescue objective of answering the often asked and rarely answered questions.
So you've just updated something somewhere in OS X and ShapeShifter no longer themes Finder and/or other Apple applications.
If you've started searching you've probably already gone through all kinds of file dumps, though we will go over those steps later, if this simple first step doesn't fix everything.
1. Are you up to date?
Always, always make sure you've started with the simple things first. Make sure that both ShapeShifter and Application Enhancer are up to date. Go ahead and just use google to get to Unsanity's download pages and grab the latest installers for each of these and run them. Restart your computer, and most likely everything will be fine. The problem on this machine occurred after a Quicktime update, and it was found that 2.0.3 of Application Enhancer was installed, and the latest version available was 2.5. Needless to say there was a large gap in fixes that were the key to fixing this problem.
2. Not so easy? Don't worry.
If updating didn't fix the problem, or you were up to date, not to worry, it should still be a simple fix. Bring up the ShapeShifter preference pane and hit restore defaults under the "Apply" tab. This restores the aqua theme, quit system preferences once this is done. Go ahead and open a new finder window or hit CMD-F and start searching for anything containing "shapeshifter" in the name. What we're looking for are any files that end in ".plist". These are preference files and must be deleted to bring ShapeShifter back to it's starting state.
NOTE: This will unregister your copy of ShapeShifter, so make sure you have your password, activation code, and name handy to re-register it once this is done.
Now search for "finder," again looking for a file that ends in ".plist". It should be located in /Users/[YOURUSER]/Library/Preferences, once you find it, delete it. Now restart the computer and see what's what.
3. No luck?
Once you've double checked that all of your Unsanity installations are up to date, and have deleted the preference files, you still have applications that refuse to be themed you're going to have some deeper OS X troubles going on. It also can't hurt to check that you're running the latest version of OS X itself, though that shouldn't usually affect things.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Mac OS X Expose failure
All of a sudden you cannot use Command-Tab to switch applications, expose keys and hot corners are doing nothing, and the dock is acting incorrectly. It's frustrating, and almost feels like your keyboard has been crippled, and multitasking comes to a screeching halt. But the fix is easy and this should not remain a permanent problem.
Multiple Monitors? Screensaver?
Depending on your answer to two questions will determine the cause and correction to your problem. Do you have more than one monitor? Did you recently wake your computer from its screensaver?
If yes then you may have also noticed when you try to Command-Tab or use expose commands your computer makes the error sound. For an as of yet undiagnosed problem OS X still thinks the screensaver is active. If you try to start the screensaver now it will fail, and furthermore opening the screensaver system preferences may or may not crash System Preferences itself. So what do you do?
Solution:
Put the computer to sleep, that's it. Once you're sure it's fully asleep (indicated by the power light going in and out, wake it again and all should be well.
Dock is unsafe for landing
If the above does not apply or the fix didn't work, you may be having trouble with your Dock (that handy bar that holds your active applications and favorite shortcuts). This too should be a quick fix, first try relaunching the Finder application. Hit Command-Option-Escape, select Finder and click Relaunch. Try your expose, Command-Tab, and Dock functions.
Leopard OS X 10.5
Still no luck? Then open up your downloads folder (Macintosh HD/Users/YOURNAME/Downloads) and check for any corrupt files, especially JPEGs. This is also an undiagnosed symptom, most likely it has to do with the 10.5 Dock displaying folder contents. So it tries to show the corrupted file on the folder stack on the Dock, and this brings the Dock and Finder to a halt.
If all else fails
If the above solutions still don't solve your problem, it's time to reboot, and most of you should know this. When it comes to little nagging things that don't destroy your work, it's best to just save everything you're doing and restart. This avoids the possibility of something worse occurring, and brings everything back up to speed and makes your operating system happy.
An ear to the ground
There may be other causes for this problem, it seems to show up in different ways in different versions of OS X. Some forum threads to keep an eye on if you didn't find a solution here or are curious are below.
macosxhints forums
macosxhints forums
macrumors forums
macrumors forums
macworld forums
apple discussions
Multiple Monitors? Screensaver?
Depending on your answer to two questions will determine the cause and correction to your problem. Do you have more than one monitor? Did you recently wake your computer from its screensaver?
If yes then you may have also noticed when you try to Command-Tab or use expose commands your computer makes the error sound. For an as of yet undiagnosed problem OS X still thinks the screensaver is active. If you try to start the screensaver now it will fail, and furthermore opening the screensaver system preferences may or may not crash System Preferences itself. So what do you do?
Solution:
Put the computer to sleep, that's it. Once you're sure it's fully asleep (indicated by the power light going in and out, wake it again and all should be well.
Dock is unsafe for landing
If the above does not apply or the fix didn't work, you may be having trouble with your Dock (that handy bar that holds your active applications and favorite shortcuts). This too should be a quick fix, first try relaunching the Finder application. Hit Command-Option-Escape, select Finder and click Relaunch. Try your expose, Command-Tab, and Dock functions.
Leopard OS X 10.5
Still no luck? Then open up your downloads folder (Macintosh HD/Users/YOURNAME/Downloads) and check for any corrupt files, especially JPEGs. This is also an undiagnosed symptom, most likely it has to do with the 10.5 Dock displaying folder contents. So it tries to show the corrupted file on the folder stack on the Dock, and this brings the Dock and Finder to a halt.
If all else fails
If the above solutions still don't solve your problem, it's time to reboot, and most of you should know this. When it comes to little nagging things that don't destroy your work, it's best to just save everything you're doing and restart. This avoids the possibility of something worse occurring, and brings everything back up to speed and makes your operating system happy.
An ear to the ground
There may be other causes for this problem, it seems to show up in different ways in different versions of OS X. Some forum threads to keep an eye on if you didn't find a solution here or are curious are below.
macosxhints forums
macosxhints forums
macrumors forums
macrumors forums
macworld forums
apple discussions
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