Flaky Mavericks

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014

I keep finding more flaky apps and such since I “upgraded” (LOL) to Mavericks,  The following don't work as before with SL.

 

"Contacts' doesn't work like 'Address Book' did.  Clicking on a name in Address Book would insert it into Mail address line.  It doesn't in Contacts.

 

Entering a group name in Mail Address line used to insert all names in that group.  Now, it requires several steps to do that.

 

‘Drag and Drop’ works only intermittently.  Icons, pix, files, URL's, whatever.  If Finder is relaunched, D & D will work once or twice, but it’s a pain having to keep relaunching Finder, and  it doesn’t correct the problem permanently. 

 

Does anyone know a way to remedy this? Where can I go to find an answer?  Other users have reported the same problem in other forums, but their fixes haven’t worked on my iMac with Mavericks.

 

'Preview' works intermittently.  Preview 'Help' shows modifier buttons and such that don't appear on my copy of Mavericks Preview.  Preview ‘Help' doesn't help.

 

Is there an online manual or instructions for Mavericks' 'Preview' that actually addresses Mavericks' Preview?  The ones I've found don't address the “new” version of Preview  since "upgrading".  

 

I'm so frustrated with Mavericks that I'm about ready to go back to a PC. Snow Leopard worked fine. I've been kicking myself for "upgrading".  Upgrade? Bull crap!  In my estimation, Mavericks is many steps backwards, not an upgrade.  The original OS X 10.0, Cheetah, worked productively better than Mavericks.  Mavericks is free, but you get what you pay for.  It's probably a practical joke that Apple played on us. 

 

Every time OS is “upgraded”, Apple removes something that worked previously. Why can’t Apple add new stuff without deleting previous utility?  I have a long list of things that used to work but don’t anymore. I don’t need all the new ‘cutesy’ stuff. I just want to be able to be productive as before.

 

I can hardly wait to see what else doesn't work under Mavericks, so I can waste more time trying to find a fix. Fun. Fun. Fun.

 

If anyone knows how to correct the above problems, I’d be eternally grateful. 

 

Sorry about venting. I won't post anymore FUBAR's at this time. I’m done ranting and raving - for now

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sequitur View Post

     

    I keep finding more flaky apps and such since I “upgraded” (LOL) to Mavericks,  The following don't work as before with SL.

     

    "Contacts' doesn't work like 'Address Book' did.  Clicking on a name in Address Book would insert it into Mail address line.  It doesn't in Contacts.

     

    Entering a group name in Mail Address line used to insert all names in that group.  Now, it requires several steps to do that.

     

    ‘Drag and Drop’ works only intermittently.  Icons, pix, files, URL's, whatever.  If Finder is relaunched, D & D will work once or twice, but it’s a pain having to keep relaunching Finder, and  it doesn’t correct the problem permanently. 

     

    Does anyone know a way to remedy this? Where can I go to find an answer?  Other users have reported the same problem in other forums, but their fixes haven’t worked on my iMac with Mavericks.

     

    'Preview' works intermittently.  Preview 'Help' shows modifier buttons and such that don't appear on my copy of Mavericks Preview.  Preview ‘Help' doesn't help.

     

    Is there an online manual or instructions for Mavericks' 'Preview' that actually addresses Mavericks' Preview?  The ones I've found don't address the “new” version of Preview  since "upgrading".  

     

    I'm so frustrated with Mavericks that I'm about ready to go back to a PC. Snow Leopard worked fine. I've been kicking myself for "upgrading".  Upgrade? Bull crap!  In my estimation, Mavericks is many steps backwards, not an upgrade.  The original OS X 10.0, Cheetah, worked productively better than Mavericks.  Mavericks is free, but you get what you pay for.  It's probably a practical joke that Apple played on us. 

     

    Every time OS is “upgraded”, Apple removes something that worked previously. Why can’t Apple add new stuff without deleting previous utility?  I have a long list of things that used to work but don’t anymore. I don’t need all the new ‘cutesy’ stuff. I just want to be able to be productive as before.

     

    I can hardly wait to see what else doesn't work under Mavericks, so I can waste more time trying to find a fix. Fun. Fun. Fun.

     

    If anyone knows how to correct the above problems, I’d be eternally grateful. 

     

    Sorry about venting. I won't post anymore FUBAR's at this time. I’m done ranting and raving - for now


     

    I'm puzzled by the problems that some users are clearly suffering from.  I've switched to Mavericks via a clean install on one machine (MBP 5,1). It was completely seamless, with almost everything working faster and better, so I know that it can work, and many other users obviously have no problems either whether going via upgrade or clean install. Widespread fundamental issues would almost certainly have been discovered and fixed during beta and developer testing too. That suggests (at least to me) that some of these serious issues are due to incompatibilities with non-standard existing software.  Did you try a clean install, or have you tried booting in safe mode to see if the same issues persist?

  • Reply 2 of 17
    aaronjaaronj Posts: 1,595member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sequitur View Post

     

     

    'Preview' works intermittently.  Preview 'Help' shows modifier buttons and such that don't appear on my copy of Mavericks Preview.  Preview ‘Help' doesn't help.

     

    Is there an online manual or instructions for Mavericks' 'Preview' that actually addresses Mavericks' Preview?  The ones I've found don't address the “new” version of Preview  since "upgrading". 


     

    Can you explain what you mean by "works intermittently?"  What problems are you having?

  • Reply 3 of 17
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    Just as an example, I’ll open a .jpg and add text or something to it with Preview, and it may work. Then I’ll open another .jpg and try to make a change and it won’t work.  If I Force Quit Preview and re-open, it may or may not work on that second .jpg.

     

    I didn’t do a clean install, so maybe there is a conflict with something else as Muppetry suggested.  I will try a clean install later, but I’m not sure how to do that. As I’ve read about clean installs, I tried to download to a USB drive, but I wasn’t given that option.

     

    However, I can’t think of any software on my iMac that’s non-standard or didn’t operate just fine on SL, but since that’s a possibility, I will start eliminating some.

     

    Unfortunately, added apps (MS Office, etc.) are in Applications mixed in with Mavericks apps. I’ve been trying to find a list of apps that come with Mavericks.  I’ll separate all other apps and move them to another folder and weed out what I don’t use anymore.  I’ll do that after I do a clean install. So far, I haven’t found a list of Mavericks apps. 

     

    In the meantime, I’m using my MBP with SL to do what I need. 

     

    Thanks

  • Reply 4 of 17
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sequitur View Post

     

    Just as an example, I’ll open a .jpg and add text or something to it with Preview, and it may work. Then I’ll open another .jpg and try to make a change and it won’t work.  If I Force Quit Preview and re-open, it may or may not work on that second .jpg.

     

    I didn’t do a clean install, so maybe there is a conflict with something else as Muppetry suggested.  I will try a clean install later, but I’m not sure how to do that. As I’ve read about clean installs, I tried to download to a USB drive, but I wasn’t given that option.

     

    However, I can’t think of any software on my iMac that’s non-standard or didn’t operate just fine on SL, but since that’s a possibility, I will start eliminating some.

     

    Unfortunately, added apps (MS Office, etc.) are in Applications mixed in with Mavericks apps. I’ve been trying to find a list of apps that come with Mavericks.  I’ll separate all other apps and move them to another folder and weed out what I don’t use anymore.  I’ll do that after I do a clean install. So far, I haven’t found a list of Mavericks apps. 

     

    In the meantime, I’m using my MBP with SL to do what I need. 

     

    Thanks


     

    But did you try booting in safe mode?

  • Reply 5 of 17
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    Muppetry,

     

    Okay, I booted in safe mode.  What should I do now?  Everything looks the same  except no start up apps and windows shimmer/flicker when moved or I type like this.

     

    Do I have to reboot to get out of safe mode?

     

    But did you try booting in safe mode?


  • Reply 6 of 17
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member
    sequitur wrote: »
    But did you try booting in safe mode?

    Flickering doesn't sound good. Does Preview work? How about the other problems - are they still there? Safe mode disables all non-core system extensions, so should remove any conflicts. You will need to restart to exit safe mode.
  • Reply 7 of 17
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    Preview seems to work better. I was able to add text to several .jpg's without a problem.  

    Drag and drop is still flaky and works only intermittently - especially trying to D&D URL's doesn't always work.  

    Trying to email GIF's doesn't work as before. They turn into TIFF's now and won't animate.

    They also turn into TIFF's when I try to download them.  

    Track Pad seems to be working better.  

     

    All this is in safe mode.  I haven't tried exiting safe mode, but I will now.  I'm considering a clean install, but it will take forever to back up 'Users' - nearly 1T.

     

    I am still not sure which apps came with Mavericks and which I added.  Is there a way to tell?  Most I added will take a colored tag, but Mavericks apps won't (It seems), but I'm not sure of about a few others. In fact, there are a few that I know I added and they won't take tags either - Memory Cleaner, for one. MS Silverlight won't take a tag, but that's an added app, I think. There may be a few more that I'm not sure of - downloaders and players.

     

    I'll move the tagged ones to 'Applications Added' and start deleting ones I don't use anymore. However, there are those few that I'm not certain are Mavericks' or what.  With my luck, one of those is causing the problem. 

     

    Edit: Can't seem to 'Move'. They Copy and many become aliases. 

  • Reply 8 of 17
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sequitur View Post

     

    Preview seems to work better. I was able to add text to several .jpg's without a problem.  

    Drag and drop is still flaky and works only intermittently - especially trying to D&D URL's doesn't always work.  

    Trying to email GIF's doesn't work as before. They turn into TIFF's now and won't animate.

    They also turn into TIFF's when I try to download them.  

    Track Pad seems to be working better.  

     

    All this is in safe mode.  I haven't tried exiting safe mode, but I will now.  I'm considering a clean install, but it will take forever to back up 'Users' - nearly 1T.

     

    I am still not sure which apps came with Mavericks and which I added.  Is there a way to tell?  Most I added will take a colored tag, but Mavericks apps won't (It seems), but I'm not sure of about a few others. In fact, there are a few that I know I added and they won't take tags either - Memory Cleaner, for one. MS Silverlight won't take a tag, but that's an added app, I think. There may be a few more that I'm not sure of - downloaders and players.

     

    I'll move the tagged ones to 'Applications Added' and start deleting ones I don't use anymore. However, there are those few that I'm not certain are Mavericks' or what.  With my luck, one of those is causing the problem. 


     

    Applications, per se, won't be the problem, since when they are not running they don't affect anything (unless they installed stuff), so it doesn't matter whether they came with Mavericks. If they did install stuff then they likely just won't work after a clean install, and will prompt you to reinstall.

     

    It's other stuff like font managers, 3rd party control panels, menu bar additions, Java VMs etc..  I have no idea why drag and drop would not be working, although I don't know what you are dragging from and to.

     

    At this point I would definitely do a clean install.

  • Reply 9 of 17
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member
    Quote:
     Posted by muppetry View Post

     

    Applications, per se, won't be the problem, since when they are not running they don't affect anything (unless they installed stuff), so it doesn't matter whether they came with Mavericks. If they did install stuff then they likely just won't work after a clean install, and will prompt you to reinstall.

     

    It's other stuff like font managers, 3rd party control panels, menu bar additions, Java VMs etc..

     

          --  There are no font managers, 3rd party control panels, or Java VMs, but I do have menu bar additions:

               Better Touch Tool, Alfred, FlyGesture, and DropBox; however, they didn’t show up in Safe Mode and I still had the problems. 

               Back in standard mode, the same problems still exist.

     

     I have no idea why drag and drop would not be working, although I don't know what you are dragging from and to.

             

             -- Trying to D&D anything; for example: 

     

                URL’s from address windows to the desktop or DropBox or anywhere. 

                Files to anywhere.

               JPG’s, GIF’s, etc. to anywhere.  

               D&D will work a few times; then it will drag but not drop. The URL, file, GIF, or whatever will drag but not drop. It just snaps back to where it originated. If I reboot, D&D will work again, but only a few times. Then quits again.

     

             --  Exception to the above: am able to D&D URL’s to TextEdit, but nowhere else. Can also D&D GIF’s to TextEdit, but nowhere else; however, in TextEdit,  GIF’s won’t animate.

                 But, any legacy GIF will animate.

     

    At this point I would definitely do a clean install.

     

           -- I will definitely do that as soon as I back up Users and Added Applications (when I can figure out which ones were added. I don’t want to have to buy or   download them again).  I still don’t know all of the ones that came with Mavericks and which didn’t. At the risk of being repetitive, can anyone tell me how to find that information? Google, Bing, Yahoo, Alfred searches don’t bring up that info or I don’t know the exact phraseology to use. I get many hits, but not the one I want.

              Is there a “Simon Says” phrase that I need to say to get a specific answer? Boolean?  

     

              Many thanks for your efforts.

     

     

     


  • Reply 10 of 17
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    Thanks for all of your suggestions for ‘fixing’ Mavericks, but Muppetry is right. I need to do a clean install —- before I lose what little sanity I have left. I’ve wasted far too much time trying to fix too many problems. Better to start over from scratch.

     

    Before I do a clean install, I’ve been doing some ‘house cleaning’. I’m getting rid of stuff and trying to streamline document files, etc.  Not being able to Drag & Drop within the internal HDD makes the task much more difficult than it would normally be and is quite time consuming.

     

    However, I’ve found that It’s possible to D&D from the internal HDD to an external HDD. That makes this a bit easier, but I don’t want to move anything ‘tainted’ to the Ex-HDD, ergo, some house cleaning which may - or may not - lose whatever is screwing up Mavericks.

     

    I’d like to pick and choose what I move. SuperDuper, my current backup app does a “Users” backup or a  complete “All Files” backup, but I don’t know how to do ‘pick and choose’ with it or if it can be done.  My copy doesn’t seem to be able to.

     

    Moving stuff D&D piece-meal to an Ext-HDD is cumbersome and would require my constant attention.  I used to use Carbon Copy Cleaner to move selected files, etc., but my older CCC doesn’t work with Mavericks.  I was planning on buying the newer CCC, but wonder if there is a better app or method.  I think this thread has run its course, so I’m going to start a new thread and ask AI members if anyone knows of a better back up app than CCC.

     

    Thanks again.

  • Reply 11 of 17
    mysticmystic Posts: 514member

    I had some really weird things going on with mountain Lion just before my video card died. If a clean install does not work I would take it to an apple store and have the hardware checked.

  • Reply 12 of 17
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    Before doing the  clean install of Mavericks, I would like to download it onto a USB flash drive. 

     

     I read that the Mavericks file size is 5.3GB; my (blank) USB drive is 8GB (DiskUtility says it’s just under 8GB).  However, when I try to copy it onto the drive, I’m told Mavericks needs 1.26GB more space.

     

    What am I doing wrong?  Why does M require more than 9GB if it’s only 5.3GB? What can I do to make it fit? 

  • Reply 13 of 17
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

      I’ve checked out Apple Support Communities, Mac-forums, etc.  The drag and drop problem goes back at least to 2005.  Over the years, there have been many, many users’ complaints that they lost D&D after upgrading to new OS versions, not just Mavericks. 

     

     I’ve been trying the fixes, but the only one that worked so far was inserting a line in Terminal.  I would have included it, but I couldn’t find it again as there were so many complaints. Sorry.

     

    Other fixes included getting rid of Growl; clicking Name under Arrange; doing a clean install; letting Spotlight rebuild all indices; and so many more that I don’t remember.

     

    One user got a recent answer to a query that Apple is working on the problem.

  • Reply 14 of 17
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    Crap! Back to square one.  Drag and drop worked for about 17 hours but quit about 15 minutes ago.  Even If I could recall the change I made via terminal, I wouldn’t do it again as it required a restart. I'll keep looking for a fix that's more permanent - if it exists.

  • Reply 15 of 17
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    Sorry about beating this dead horse. I found another D&D fix that doesn't require a restart. While it's not specifically for Mavericks, It's working now (but for how long? )

     






     

    Take these steps if the cursor changes from an arrow to a white "prohibited" symbol when you try to move an icon on the Desktop.


       


    Sometimes the problem may be solved just by logging out or rebooting. Try that first, if you haven't already done it. Otherwise, continue.


       

    Select the icon of your home folder (a house) in the sidebar of a Finder window and open it. The Desktop folder is one of the subfolders. Select it and open the Info window. In the General section of the window, the Kind will be either Folder  or something else, such as Anything.

        


    If the Kind is Folder, uncheck the box marked Locked. Close the Info window and test.


        


    If the Kind is not Folder, make sure the Locked box is not checked and that you have Read & Write privileges in the  Sharing & Permissions section. Then close the Info window and do as follows.

     

    Back up all data.

    Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:


    xattr -d com.apple.FinderInfo Desktop
       

    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).

     

    Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

     

    ? Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

     

    ? In the Finder, select Go ? Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

     

    ? Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

     

    Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You should get a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”). Quit Terminal.


      




       


    If the problem is now resolved, and if you use iPhoto, continue.


      


    Quit iPhoto if it's running. Launch it while holding down the option key. It will prompt you to select a library. Choose the one you want to use (not the Desktop folder.)


  • Reply 16 of 17
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    Linc Davis’ fix worked for a while, then quit; however, D&D can be reestablished by repeating the procedure.  No restart necessary.  Not perfect but better than no D&D at all.

  • Reply 17 of 17
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    You’re probably sick of hearing about D&D problems as I am of having them. The fix is in - but not permanently.  Every so often I have to run the Terminal program, relaunch Finder, and then D&D works - for a while. The last time I just relaunched Finder and D&D worked, so I’m going to try that until that doesn’t work any more.  

     

    Apple, tear down this (D&D) wall~!!!

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