Member Avatar for kenkneeb

Howdy All. First time poster so pls. excuse an missteps.

I've got a PowerMac Dual 1Gig (MDD) running 10.3.9 and when I Control + Click (same action as going to Finder menu, File, etc) on an item on my desktop (to Get Info, Move To Trash) it not only doesn't perform the task I'm trying to accomplish, temporarily (a couple of seconds) all the icons/folder, etc. on my desktop disappear, then, when the icons come back onto the desktop, the finder opens a new Home Finder window open automatically. I can still go to Finder, File and perform the Get Info/Move To Trash actions, but I've lost my ability to do it with just a simple mouse/keyboard combo action.

I've run Disc Util, Disk Warrior, Rebuilt The Desktop, tossed and emptied trash of all Finder Prefs (.plist) and I'm still left with the same problem. Oh Yeah, Apple Tech Support regurgitates the ARCHIVE AND INSTALL blandness.

ANYBODY???

All the best,

Ken

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jtlink

Dani AI

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The symptom described by — control‑click on the Desktop briefly makes icons vanish and then Finder returns with a new Home window — is consistent with Finder relaunching. Given that Disk Utility, DiskWarrior, rebuilding the Desktop and removing Finder .plist files were already tried, and that reports Archive & Reinstall resolved the issue on an identical machine, a few targeted diagnostics can usually find a less‑destructive fix first.

Booting in Safe Mode (hold Shift at startup) isolates third‑party additions; persistence in Safe Mode implies a system‑level problem, while disappearance of the symptom points to an extension or user item. Console (Applications/Utilities/Console.app) and the CrashReporter logs (~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter and /Library/Logs/CrashReporter) will show any Finder crash entries and timestamps that line up with the control‑click. On Panther, common culprits are contextual menu bundles and legacy InputManagers — check ~/Library/Contextual Menu Items, /Library/Contextual Menu Items, ~/Library/InputManagers and /Library/InputManagers for non‑Apple bundles. Login Items and any LaunchAgents/LaunchDaemons are also worth inspecting.

A safe isolation workflow: move all non‑Apple items from the Contextual Menu and InputManagers folders into a temporary folder on the Desktop, log out (or reboot) and test again; if the issue goes away, reintroduce items one at a time to find the offender. If Console shows repeated Finder crashes despite removing third‑party bundles, the problem is likely damaged system files — Archive & Install (as noted by ) or a clean reinstall will repair those, but backing up important data first is essential. ’s maintenance tool suggestions may help with housekeeping, but aggressive cleaners should be used with caution on older systems.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for yellow

First thing to do: Log in as another user to verify that the problem exists there as well.

Member Avatar for matt warren

also get a programme called "macjanitor".
it will let you run basic maintinance routenes.
also "mac sweeper" same kind of thin only more involved
cheers&aloha,
matt

Member Avatar for jtlink

Howdy All. First time poster so pls. excuse an missteps.

I've got a PowerMac Dual 1Gig (MDD) running 10.3.9 and when I Control + Click (same action as going to Finder menu, File, etc) on an item on my desktop (to Get Info, Move To Trash) it not only doesn't perform the task I'm trying to accomplish, temporarily (a couple of seconds) all the icons/folder, etc. on my desktop disappear, then, when the icons come back onto the desktop, the finder opens a new Home Finder window open automatically. I can still go to Finder, File and perform the Get Info/Move To Trash actions, but I've lost my ability to do it with just a simple mouse/keyboard combo action.

I've run Disc Util, Disk Warrior, Rebuilt The Desktop, tossed and emptied trash of all Finder Prefs (.plist) and I'm still left with the same problem. Oh Yeah, Apple Tech Support regurgitates the ARCHIVE AND INSTALL blandness.

ANYBODY???

All the best,

Ken

I have the same system and developed the same problem. Spent about 1/2 day trying the same fixes you did. Finally decided to "Archive and Reinstall" , About one hour later the problem was fixed and all the symptoms were gone. Good Luck!!! John

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