OS X is a user-based operating system where each user that access the system has a separate account that holds preferences and other settings for the user account to run, and also allows the system to implement security by using permissions to restrict filesystem access. While by default you might think of a user account as a human user, many background services like Web servers or database servers, run under special user accounts. These might be called “www,” “http,” or similar, and you can see some of these if you open Activity Monitor. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Finder
How to overcome a “file can’t be deleted” error in OS X
When managing files and folders in the Finder, you will undoubtedly need to trash a few here and there; however, when you drag files to the trash you may run into an error where OS X refuses to move them and claims “The item can’t be moved to the Trash because it can’t be deleted,” which is a pretty vague description of the problem at hand, and essentially offers no useful solution. Continue reading
Quick fixes for icons missing from your desktop
The desktop on your Mac serves multiple purposes, as both a representation of the Desktop folder contents in your home directory, and as a location to access computer resources, such as hard drives and mounted network shares. These make the desktop a convenient place to store temporary work, and organize commonly-accessed files; however, there may be times when items you know should be on the desktop are missing. Continue reading
How to use Smart Folders on your Mac
If you haven’t yet used Smart Folders in OS X, then you may be missing out on a critical time-saving feature of the OS X Finder. Smart Folders are essentially canned searches, where you can save custom search queries and quickly restore them. They are relatively simple concept, so the real question of how to use smart folders really boils down to: How do you search your Mac? Continue reading
Fix your Mac showing generic icons for files
Identifying files by their icon is perhaps more important than being able to locate the programs you use, since for the most part you will likely be browsing your files when using the Finder on your Mac. However, there are some instances where the icons for your files will just appear as generic white documents, leaving you unable to distinguish them and less likely to identify them. This may happen for a number of reasons, including using incompatible third-party cleaner tools for your Mac, or problems with restoring from backups. If you are finding yourself in this situation, then there are several things you can do to restore your icons. Continue reading
Fix the OS X Finder not displaying the contents of specific folders
While rare, you might experience a problem in OS X where the Finder will not display the contents of specific folders. When this happens, you can usually browse other folders and open files and applications, but when you try to load the affected folders, the Finder will just sit with an empty window and display a revolving indicator at the lower-right corner (note that this is no the notorious spinning color wheel that commonly indicates hangs and other problems in OS X). Continue reading
How to batch-rename and manage multiple files in OS X
When organizing files and folders in the Finder, you will often need to manage multiple files at once. Not only might you select groups of them to move around, but also need to create new folders containing them, tag them, lock them, and even rename them. While for the most part the approaches for managing individual files scales up to multiple files, there are some relatively hidden features of OS X that can make managing multiple files a bit easier. Continue reading
How to quickly deselect files and folders in OS X
Selecting items in OS X is easy––you click an item you want, and it highlights. You can also expand your selection by holding the Shift or Command keys when clicking additional items, or you can press Command-A to select all items. However, at times deselecting items may be a bit more of a challenge. When in list-view modes, for instance, you might find no matter where you can click in the window, OS X will either maintain the current selection or switch to another selected file. Continue reading
Three ways to open the current Finder window in the OS X Terminal
OS X includes a service where you can open the OS X Terminal at a selected folder, but this is not always the optimal approach. For one, it requires you select a subfolder to act on, which will have the Terminal open it instead of the current Finder window, requiring you to then “cd ..” to get to the folder you want. This also requires there be a folder to select in order for this to work in the first place. Alternatively, there are three additional approaches you can use which may be quicker and easier approaches. Continue reading
Fix OS X crashing when a particular folder is opened
Does OS X sometimes crash when you open a particular folder? While such occurrences are fairly rare, there may be instances where the Finder runs run into problems when handling a specific folder, and then either hang and display the spinning color wheel, or have the Finder crash and re-launch. If such problems are happening, then after ensuring you have a full and restorable backup of your system up to date, there are a couple of fixes you can try. Continue reading