Download file
About a month ago, a friend who had just purchased his first Mac emailed me and asked why his Dock DownLoad file disappeared. I had no idea why. He still hasn't been able to reestablish it.
Yesterday, I downloaded something and my Dock DownLoad file vanished. I have tried rebooting, using (useless) Help, Spotlight, Search, and several other things. NO JOY. NO DownLoad file.
1. Does anyone know where to find DownLoad or how to bring it back?
I have experienced several idiosyncrasies with Snow Leopard, but when I call Apple support, they are very nice, but haven't a clue as to why it's happening.
2. Another problem is that the Highlight gets anchored on something in Mail, Word, and some other Apps. When I click somewhere else, the whole area between the "anchor" and what I click on is lit up. Apple doesn't know what causes it. I have to go through multiple machinations to shake it loose. I don't know what it is that causes it or specifically how to "shake it loose". Neither does Apple.
3. When typing in Word or an editor, there are times when the type changes to UpperCase and won;t let go.
Another problem is that, at times, when I click on a file, it fills the screen. Apple is aware of this problem and is trying to find an answer. Nothing, to date.
Apple support can't tell me why the MacMail Inbox spinner disappeared or how to get it back.
There are times when I can't access the hidden Dock. After rebooting and trying other things, the Dock finally shows up but any additions that I have put on the Dock are no longer there.
When I put a DVD in the slot, for the first few seconds, it grinds but does smooth out.
I thought that SL was supposed to get rid of the "foibles". "What happened on the way to the Forum"?
Is anyone finding other SL idiosyncrasies? What are they?
If anyone can help with items 1., 2, and/or 3. I'd be grateful.
BTW, Apple says that items 2 and 3 MAY be caused by the wireless Magic Mouse and/or the wireless keyboard; however, when I use alternates, it still happens.
Yesterday, I downloaded something and my Dock DownLoad file vanished. I have tried rebooting, using (useless) Help, Spotlight, Search, and several other things. NO JOY. NO DownLoad file.
1. Does anyone know where to find DownLoad or how to bring it back?
I have experienced several idiosyncrasies with Snow Leopard, but when I call Apple support, they are very nice, but haven't a clue as to why it's happening.
2. Another problem is that the Highlight gets anchored on something in Mail, Word, and some other Apps. When I click somewhere else, the whole area between the "anchor" and what I click on is lit up. Apple doesn't know what causes it. I have to go through multiple machinations to shake it loose. I don't know what it is that causes it or specifically how to "shake it loose". Neither does Apple.
3. When typing in Word or an editor, there are times when the type changes to UpperCase and won;t let go.
Another problem is that, at times, when I click on a file, it fills the screen. Apple is aware of this problem and is trying to find an answer. Nothing, to date.
Apple support can't tell me why the MacMail Inbox spinner disappeared or how to get it back.
There are times when I can't access the hidden Dock. After rebooting and trying other things, the Dock finally shows up but any additions that I have put on the Dock are no longer there.
When I put a DVD in the slot, for the first few seconds, it grinds but does smooth out.
I thought that SL was supposed to get rid of the "foibles". "What happened on the way to the Forum"?
Is anyone finding other SL idiosyncrasies? What are they?
If anyone can help with items 1., 2, and/or 3. I'd be grateful.
BTW, Apple says that items 2 and 3 MAY be caused by the wireless Magic Mouse and/or the wireless keyboard; however, when I use alternates, it still happens.
Comments
1. Does anyone know where to find DownLoad or how to bring it back?
The download item is a folder in your home folder. You can drag it out the Dock like any stack and it will disappear. If you find the downloads folder in /Users/<name>/, you can drag it back beside the trash icon.
2. Another problem is that the Highlight gets anchored on something in Mail, Word, and some other Apps. When I click somewhere else, the whole area between the "anchor" and what I click on is lit up.
Perhaps something is up with the keyboard or maybe you accidentally have a sleeve or something pressing the shift key when clicking. If you use the mouse on a glass table surface, it might be messing up the mouse tracking.
3. When typing in Word or an editor, there are times when the type changes to UpperCase and won;t let go.
Sounds like a formatting thing - you can set the text formatting to uppercase like you can for bold or italics. If you select the text and then change it back to normal text, what you type after it should remain as normal.
Another problem is that, at times, when I click on a file, it fills the screen. Apple is aware of this problem and is trying to find an answer. Nothing, to date.
Do you mean when you open it or is the document showing up like quicklook in fullscreen mode (black surrounding it with the document in the middle) when you click it?
Apple support can't tell me why the MacMail Inbox spinner disappeared or how to get it back.
Have you perhaps resized the column on the left? It might be hiding the spinning cursors.
There are times when I can't access the hidden Dock. After rebooting and trying other things, the Dock finally shows up but any additions that I have put on the Dock are no longer there.
The additions shouldn't disappear but if the Dock gets stuck, you can use the Apple menu > Dock > Turn Hiding Off and it should appear and then you can set it back to auto-hide again.
When I put a DVD in the slot, for the first few seconds, it grinds but does smooth out.
That's normal, Apple's drives are really noisy. DVD drives have lenses on mechanical tracks and they reset themselves to the center of the disc when you put it in (like a record player needle jumps to the middle of the record).
---End Quote---
The download item is a folder in your home folder. You can drag it out the Dock like any stack and it will disappear. If you find the downloads folder in /Users/<name>/, you can drag it back beside the trash icon.
That's the answer. Thanx.
---Quote (Originally by sequitur)---
2. Another problem is that the Highlight gets anchored on something in Mail, Word, and some other Apps. When I click somewhere else, the whole area between the "anchor" and what I click on is lit up.
---End Quote---
Perhaps something is up with the keyboard or maybe you accidentally have a sleeve or something pressing the shift key when clicking. If you use the mouse on a glass table surface, it might be messing up the mouse tracking.
No. None of the above. It just happens automatically. If that were the case, it wouldn't be so difficult to shake it loose. I'm not using a glass table, just a dark wood (formica) desktop. It is shiny, but it doesn't cause a problem with cursor tracking. The only problem that I know about is that the mouse devours batteries. They last three weeks instead of three months as Support suggested. Support says that's an indication of a faulty mouse.
---Quote (Originally by sequitur)---
3. When typing in Word or an editor, there are times when the type changes to UpperCase and won;t let go.
---End Quote---
Sounds like a formatting thing - you can set the text formatting to uppercase like you can for bold or italics. If you select the text and then change it back to normal text, what you type after it should remain as normal.
No text formatting. This happens as I'm typing and continues until I hit the shift key and a letter several times and then it lets go. It goes back to lower case after several tries.
---Quote (Originally by sequitur)---
Another problem is that, at times, when I click on a file, it fills the screen. Apple is aware of this problem and is trying to find an answer. Nothing, to date.
---End Quote---
Do you mean when you open it or is the document showing up like quicklook in fullscreen mode (black surrounding it with the document in the middle) when you click it?
This doesn't happen too often, but it is when I click on any file on the desktop or online. Apple support says they've had many complaints about this but haven't resolved it yet.
---Quote (Originally by sequitur)---
Apple support can't tell me why the MacMail Inbox spinner disappeared or how to get it back.
---End Quote---
Have you perhaps resized the column on the left? It might be hiding the spinning cursors.
Resizing doesn't bring it back no matter how wide the column is. Mail Activity (under the mailboxes) doesn't show that Mail is hunting for emails. It only shows actual incoming or outgoing mail. When I first started using this new iMac, the spinner was there and I knew that it was operating. Now I don't know if it is working or not. If the sound is on, I hear the ping a few seconds after I press "Get Mail". but I don't know when to stop waiting if the sound is off. Under Window "Activity" I can see if it's searching, but that's a nuisance to have to deal with.
---Quote (Originally by sequitur)---
There are times when I can't access the hidden Dock. After rebooting and trying other things, the Dock finally shows up but any additions that I have put on the Dock are no longer there.
---End Quote---
The additions shouldn't disappear but if the Dock gets stuck, you can use the Apple menu > Dock > Turn Hiding Off and it should appear and then you can set it back to auto-hide again.
That happened as I was talking to Apple Support. I was told to reboot and that worked, but only the original Dock icons came back up. Yes, turning Hiding Off works, but it doesn't let me set it back to auto-hide again and then give me access to the dock. Rebooting was the only answer Support was able to offer.
---Quote (Originally by sequitur)---
When I put a DVD in the slot, for the first few seconds, it grinds but does smooth out.
---End Quote---
That's normal, Apple's drives are really noisy. DVD drives have lenses on mechanical tracks and they reset themselves to the center of the disc when you put it in (like a record player needle jumps to the middle of the record).
I believe you're right; however, Support didn't espouse that. He said it shouldn't make that noise.
I think you're right and he wasn't.
Support insisted that the change to Caps and the highlight anchor were caused by a faulty mouse and keyboard. He even gave me case numbers and told me to have them exchanged at an Apple store. I DON"T believe that it is the keyboard automatically turning on the shift nor do I thing it's the mouse. As I mentioned, I've tried my old keyboard and a USB Logitech mouse and it still happens with them.
I may be wrong, but there have been so many little idiosyncrasies, that I think it's the OS that came with this iMac or it's the iMac itself. However, I've been wrong before. Once. On a Thursday.
Thanks, Marvin, for your response.
***************
The download item is a folder in your home folder. You can drag it out the Dock like any stack and it will disappear. If you find the downloads folder in /Users/<name>/, you can drag it back beside the trash icon.
The problem with the Downloads folder in the Dock that itś next to the Trash can and with only one item in the Downloads folder the Download Folder takes the icon of the item in the Downloads Folder.
So what one tends to do is grabs the icon in the Dock and drags it to the Trash, thinking itś the item, when actually itś the entire folder.
Quite stupid of Apple, thought they would solve this in Snow Leopard, but itś been a problem in Leopard too.
Guess the UI designers are too busy with the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch OS to fix these issues.
If that were the case, it wouldn't be so difficult to shake it loose. I'm not using a glass table, just a dark wood (formica) desktop. It is shiny, but it doesn't cause a problem with cursor tracking. The only problem that I know about is that the mouse devours batteries. They last three weeks instead of three months as Support suggested. Support says that's an indication of a faulty mouse.
No text formatting. This happens as I'm typing and continues until I hit the shift key and a letter several times and then it lets go. It goes back to lower case after several tries.
I thought perhaps you'd typed command-alt-c to switch cases or something for the second issue but a wireless keyboard with a dodgy shift key would cause both the above problems. If the shift key is sticking on at random then it would do both. Also, using another keyboard wouldn't stop the issue unless you turned the bluetooth one off as it would still be paired to the machine.
Resizing doesn't bring it back no matter how wide the column is. Mail Activity (under the mailboxes) doesn't show that Mail is hunting for emails. It only shows actual incoming or outgoing mail. When I first started using this new iMac, the spinner was there and I knew that it was operating.
I just checked, mine doesn't show the spinning icon either in 10.5 on IMAP accounts but it does for POP accounts.
Yes, turning Hiding Off works, but it doesn't let me set it back to auto-hide again and then give me access to the dock. Rebooting was the only answer Support was able to offer.
If you turn hiding off and get to the Finder, you can navigate to the Activity Monitor and quit the Dock from there. It will automatically relaunch itself. That should save a reboot.
When I put a DVD in the slot, for the first few seconds, it grinds but does smooth out.
It depends on what noise. In this video, the first noise is normal, the grinding is not:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71pPaiwCGoI
The first noise is the grabber that pulls the disc into place but there can be a noise if the lens resets too.
Originally Posted by sequitur
If that were the case, it wouldn't be so difficult to shake it loose. I'm not using a glass table, just a dark wood (formica) desktop. It is shiny, but it doesn't cause a problem with cursor tracking. The only problem that I know about is that the mouse devours batteries. They last three weeks instead of three months as Support suggested. Support says that's an indication of a faulty mouse.
No text formatting. This happens as I'm typing and continues until I hit the shift key and a letter several times and then it lets go. It goes back to lower case after several tries.
I thought perhaps you'd typed command-alt-c to switch cases or something for the second issue but a wireless keyboard with a dodgy shift key would cause both the above problems. If the shift key is sticking on at random then it would do both. Also, using another keyboard wouldn't stop the issue unless you turned the bluetooth one off as it would still be paired to the machine.
No. I haven't used command-alt-C. However, a slap to my forehead. I hadn't thought about the previous keyboard still being paired to the machine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sequitur
Resizing doesn't bring it back no matter how wide the column is. Mail Activity (under the mailboxes) doesn't show that Mail is hunting for emails. It only shows actual incoming or outgoing mail. When I first started using this new iMac, the spinner was there and I knew that it was operating.
I just checked, mine doesn't show the spinning icon either in 10.5 on IMAP accounts but it does for POP accounts.
I'm using POP accounts. I used IMAP on my old computer, but it doubled all incoming emails and I was too lazy to try to figure out why. I haven't used IMAP on this computer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sequitur
Yes, turning Hiding Off works, but it doesn't let me set it back to auto-hide again and then give me access to the dock. Rebooting was the only answer Support was able to offer.
If you turn hiding off and get to the Finder, you can navigate to the Activity Monitor and quit the Dock from there. It will automatically relaunch itself. That should save a reboot.
Sounds like a plan. I'll try that next time it happens.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sequitur
When I put a DVD in the slot, for the first few seconds, it grinds but does smooth out.
It depends on what noise. In this video, the first noise is normal, the grinding is not:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71pPaiwCGoI
The first noise is the grabber that pulls the disc into place but there can be a noise if the lens resets too.
The noise is a bit louder and lasts a little longer, but I can live with it now that I now that some noise can be expected. This is the first slot loading DVD that I've used and I didn't know what to expect.
Thanks Marvin, you have eased my mind - more so than Apple support.