I am new here, and a long time mac user with Tiger 10.4.10.

Imagine my end of year shock to find today that after a save to an external drive, when all is done and back in my usual Mac HD mode, that double-clicking on a folder, or file on the desktop does not open the folder nor "find" the app to use. I feel like the Tinperson in the Wizard of Oz-the heart of my system is gone! The good news is that when I go to finder I can open stuff manually and the stuff is all there.
Please tell me that this some incredibily simple thing that I have taken for granted all of my OZ like (I am into the happy metaphor, but inside I am freaking out) mac life! Thanks,

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It sounds like your document aliases are messed up, or outdated. If the original files open fine, try making new ones. Click on the original, hold down the command (apple) key + L. This will create an alias. Throw the alias back on the desktop, or where-ever you'd like. If this doesn't work, I recommend downloading MainMenu. If there is truly is an issue with your file handlers, this program has tons of maintenance jobs, in one easy to use package.

http://www.santasw.com/

Have you tried repairing permissions with Disk Utility? If that doesn't work, can you try working at the terminal? Open it up (it's located in Applications/Utilities), and run the following commands:

$ cd Desktop
$ ls -al

If everything looks good in there, try typing cd "a_folder_name" , replacing a_folder_name with the name of a folder on your desktop. If that fails, then there's something wrong with your filesystem.

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