So, i just downloaded whatever updates a few days ago, and now i am having trouble opening any of the programs that updated, like itunes and skype and firefox. i still had an old version of firefox on my hard drive, so i was able to open up through that and re-instal firefox, but i still cant get skype and itunes to open. plys, when i try ot open my ‘ap zapper’ program to delete these two so i can re-install, now ap zap wont open.

any mac users know what i’m talking about? do i need to dump everything and re-install? what happened? how can i avoid losing all my music in the process?

willc?

Back your shit up to an external drive and reformat your system.  It’s good to start fresh when things start seeming like they are getting bad.  That’s what I’d do, if I were unable to figure it out relatively quickly.  But then, I’m paranoid that way and I already have automatic backups running to an external HD and to an encrypted online backup location.

yeah, i’m getting ready to do a big back-up.

ever had this happen?

If i click on a program, it pretends to open for a quick second, and then closes again.

ps.—i’ve never done a whole system backup.

how do i go about it?

I’ve seen that happen, and usually a reboot fixes it.

I would just back up the files you want to keep. Drag and drop them to the backup hard drive. No need to back up the OS or apps, as you will be reinstalling them all.

Don’t forget about things like exporting your bookmarks from your web browser, and exporting your mail if you use a client-side mail app as opposed to an online one.

thanks willc. i appreciate it. one more (at least) basic question. How do i export my bookmarks?

If you are using Firefox, go to Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import and Backup > Backup

It will generate a backup file which you can then use the same procedure to Import them with after you reinstall everything.

If you don’t use Firefox, there are similar features in all the other major browsers.

yeah, thats what i got when i googled it. problem is, from what i can tell, it dont work that way. I open the “Bookmarks tab, and the “Organize Bookmarks” and it opens some box. i dont get the “> Import and Backup > Backup” you refer to.

thanks for your patience. Sometimes i wonder why my firefox browser doesnt work the way all the suggestion/help on the internet says it will

It may be slightly different if you have an older version of Firefox. Try looking in the File menu, or some of the other menus. Exporting bookmarks is definitely there somewhere.

It really isn’t there.

But no worries. Thanks for your help. I’ll update after i’ve dumped everything and re-booted, or whatever.

Eat Peaches.

Update:

Wiped the hardrive and re-installed a new OS.

Been about a week and seems to be working better than before.

oh dogdamnit,

i spoke too soon.

so, i just uploaded a new OS for the mac, and now i cant upload ANY photos or video through firefox or safari using photobucket, flickr, or youtube. it worked yesterday. what happened?

Also, searching various forums, it would appear this is a common problem others have encountered, but i have yet to find a SINGLE solution to this problem.

Basically, everything works right until the final click to upload, where i click it and it just returns me to the upload page as if nothing happened.

Do i have some function turned off?

Look under Files -> System -> Settings -> Tweaks -> Boarding -> and make sure the Board Harder box is checked.

F.T.W.

The Imposter - 15 October 2009 10:12 PM

Look under Files -> System -> Settings -> Tweaks -> Boarding -> and make sure the Board Harder box is checked.

/smacks forehead

also, i had to re-install flash.

The Imposter - 15 October 2009 10:12 PM

Look under Files -> System -> Settings -> Tweaks -> Boarding -> and make sure the Board Harder box is checked.

This. This post is genius. I need screen gabs of the Board Harder dialog box.