07-22-2010, 10:19 PM

When I start my iMac (3.06 gHz, 4 G RAM, Intel, running 10.6.4) the system preferences pane appears on the desktop, though it doesn't appear in my start-up items list. This is a new phenomenon and I can't find any way to stop it happening. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

07-22-2010, 10:31 PM

What software have you installed lately or uninstalled? And do you remember when the first time was when the System Preference pane began to open on startup?

Also, you need to look here: MacIntosh HD/Library/LaunchAgents

and here: MacIntosh HD/Library/LaunchDaemons

and finally here: MacIntosh HD/Users/your user name/Library/LaunchAgents/

More than likely something that you installed (and possibly uninstalled) is kicking open the System Preference pane. I had the same thing happen to me until I figured it out. Turned out to be a program that I uninstalled, but not completely.

Regards.

07-23-2010, 09:06 AM

Hehhehheh.

I got this one, chscag.

Hi rumtytum, what happened is that you (or someone) accidentally selected "open at login" while system preferences was running.

To fix this, just right-click or control-click on the system preferences icon in the dock. Choose "options." Uncheck (by re-selecting) the option "Open at Login."

07-24-2010, 10:08 PM

Thanks very much for your suggestions. The control-click on system preferences in the dock doesn't do the trick. Whether the "Open at Login" option is ticked or not the preference pane appears at start-up. I've also looked in the library launch files as suggested and can find nothing to do with system preferences. It isn't any big deal. It's the work of a moment to make the pane disappear after start-up. I'll just put up with it. Thanks, though, for trying to help.

07-24-2010, 10:52 PM

Well, something is causing it to open. As a test, create another user and log onto your machine as the new user. Does the preference pane open as before?

Regards.

07-25-2010, 12:08 AM

I created a new user, logged in and the preference pane did not appear. When I logged in again as myself it popped up as usual. I don't know what this should tell me. Is there something it points to?

07-25-2010, 02:08 AM

Yrs. This suggests that there is something associated with your user account that is causing this to happen. I don't mean that you have done something wrong just that things have gotten a bit out of whack.

I wonder if this is the result of a corrupted preferences file? You might try the following:
1. Go to the folder for your user account and open Library/Preferences
3. Search for a file called com.apple.systempreferences
4. Drag that file to somewhere convenient like the Desktop. Log out of your user account and then log back into it.

If this fixes the problem then that file is likely corrupted. The finder has created a new one from scratch so no problem there other than maybe having to reset a few settings. If the problem is fixed you can delete the original file. If it is not fixed then you should be able to return the old preference file to its original location.

07-25-2010, 02:16 AM

Thanks for the suggestion, but I trashed the existing apple system preferences file, restarted, and the system preferences pane popped up again. So it's something else. How weird.

07-25-2010, 02:56 AM

I know you said System Preferences does not appear in your login items. What is there? It seems like something that is there is causing this problem. Try comparing the login items for your existing/bad account the login items for the new/good account. If any of them are different one of them is likely the culprit.

07-26-2010, 12:50 AM

The culprit is Growl. It's been present on my drive for a long time but has only just started behaving mischievously. For the moment I've deleted it from the startup list. Is there a less drastic solution to the problem?