Section 8. Revert an Application to Factory Settings


8. Revert an Application to Factory Settings

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

1 Install an Application from Disc or Download


SEE ALSO

144 Move Your Data to a New Mac


There are times when an application simply stops working properlyevery time you launch it or try to execute some action, the application will crash , freeze, or otherwise misbehave. An operation that worked perfectly fine when you first installed the application might suddenly stop working for good, with no apparent reason. This might be the result of the computer not being shut down properly (as the result of a power outage or a laptop battery running down), or of physical corruption on the hard disk's surface.

It's possible for the entire system to crash; if this happens (a rare occurrence in Mac OS X), the mouse freezes and the screen becomes dimmed and overlaid with an instructional message saying that you must restart the computer using the power on/off button.

KEY TERM

Crash When an application quits unexpectedly (and typically puts up a dialog box explaining that it has done so), it is the result of something in the application happening in a way the programmer didn't intend, and from which the application cannot recover.


8. Revert an Application to Factory Settings


Because applications don't "decay" over time, and neither do they malfunction out of spite (although the evidence for this belief might seem overwhelming), there is often a simple explanation for such a malfunction: The application's configuration file has become corrupted, and must be replaced . The most common reason for this to happen is that the application itself contains flaws (or " bugs ") that prevent it from dealing properly with certain configuration options that you might set during perfectly normal operation, leaving the configuration in a corrupted state.

If you have a misbehaving application, the following procedure might help. Because every application is different, this procedure might not work, but the architecture of Mac OS X is such that if you follow this procedure, the application will effectively be returned to its pristine, just-installed state, and should work the same as it did when you first installed it.

TIP

The process of returning an application to its factory settings is typically known in Mac circles as "trashing the Preferences."


1.
Quit the Application

Make sure the application is not running, if it is capable of running at all. If the crash is related to a certain command that you use, but it otherwise runs properly, you will need to quit the application if it's running before you can restore it. Choose File, Quit or press . An application typically writes out its configuration to the Preferences folder at the time you quit; so you should quit the application before messing with the Preferences.

2.
Open the Preferences Folder

Click the Finder icon in the Dock to open a new Finder window; then navigate to your Library folder inside your Home folder. Inside the Library folder is a folder called Preferences ; open this folder.

3.
Find the Preferences File

Inside the Preferences folder is a list of documents, each one associated with an application installed on your computer. Every application keeps its Preferences in one of these files and writes changes to it as you change the settings of the application.

Some applications' Preferences are in the form of an XML " plist " file, with a filename in the form com. <company> . <application> .plist . Other preference files are named more clearly, such as QuickTime Preferences . Locate the file associated with the application you're trying to repair. (There might be more than one such file; there might even be a folder with several files inside it. If this is the case, just to be thorough, select all of the likely candidates whose name suggests that they belong to your application. Remember, you can always move these files back to their proper location, so don't be shy about moving more files than you need to.)

TIP

If you're not sure which Preference file is the one you want, try viewing the Preferences folder in List view and sorting the list on the Last Modified column. The most recently modified file probably corresponds to the application you most recently quit or that most recently crashed.

4.
Trash the Preferences

Drag the file (or files) from the Preferences folder onto the Desktop (if you want to experiment safely) or directly into the Trash . You can also select File, Move to Trash or open the contextual menu for the Preference file ( Control +click or right-click) and choose Move to Trash .

5.
Relaunch the Application

Start the application again, and try the operation that was previously misbehaving. If it works, great! You can move the old, faulty Preference file from the Desktop into the Trash and discard it if you want.

If the application is still misbehaving, you can move the Preference files back into your Preferences folder (after quitting the application) to ensure that when you do get the problem resolved, your old settings will be preserved.

NOTE

Because you have now reset your Preferences for this application, you will now need to examine the application's settings and adjust them to your liking again.




MAC OS X Tiger in a Snap
Mac OS X Tiger in a Snap
ISBN: 0672327066
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2001
Pages: 212
Authors: Brian Tiemann

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