07-06-2011, 06:09 PM

Okay, I've tried googling this and not quite finding the answers I'm looking for.
It seems that one of my user accounts (my wifes) is broken/malfunctioning.
Here's a list of problems that keeps occuring:
1: She keeps getting the same ical notifications every time she boots into her accounts or when a new calendar alarm goes off. Right now when this happens she has about 50 or so alarms that open up. It started with only a few.
2. She can't save her firefox tabs. Not only that, every time she opens Firefox it opens up old tabs (the same ones over and over and over) from months ago that she no longer needs or wants anymore.
3. She can't change her desktop wallpaper.
First, what might be the problem? Second, is there a way we can fix this without deleting the account? Third, if I delete the account, and save her ical settings, address book, etc, is it possible that this problem will happen again because of it?
Thank you so much for your help.
-Kevin

07-06-2011, 06:35 PM

if it helps, I'm running a Macbook OS 10.5.8.

07-06-2011, 10:01 PM

It sounds like her account is corrupt. Backup her data first (photos, music, documents, etc.) to a folder that you create for that purpose in your account. After you're sure all her data is backed up, delete the account and create a new one for her.

Once she says the new account is working OK, transfer the backed up data over to her account.

07-07-2011, 08:55 AM

Let me know if there's anything I might be forgetting from her acct:
Obviously her personal files and folders like those in:
Docs folder, Pics folder, (She doesn't have any in the music or movies folders)
Iphoto
Export (or do i "backup"?) Ical
Export address book
Bookmarks from Firefox

07-07-2011, 10:14 AM

Export from iCal and address book is probably best rather than copy. The bookmarks in Firefox are easier since they're contained in an HTML file under her profile. Actually for Firefox you can just copy her entire profile over to a folder somewhere in your account and then move it back later.

07-07-2011, 11:28 AM

where is that html file located? Can't find it.
Are there other files/folders in user/library that would be important to copy?

07-07-2011, 12:59 PM

At the moment I do not have Firefox loaded on this machine, but from memory, the html file should be in sub folder under her profile. The profile is usually a series of numbers and letters ending in a ".default" extension.

As for the user/library folder, there are many items located there - such as applications, preferences, and so on. The problem, however, is that if something in the library is causing the corruption, you don't want to copy it over.

What you might want to try first instead of deleting her profile... is create another account for her. Then copy everything from her old account to the new one. Let her log in with the new account and check it out. If everything is OK, then go ahead and delete the old one. If the corruption is still there, then you need to go back to the other method.

07-07-2011, 01:41 PM

I like that idea!

07-08-2011, 09:28 AM

what a nightmare! I added her account copied some of her files to the new account and then upon a restart, the computer wouldn't start. So, now I'm on a USB drive backup I made about a month or two ago and putting the need to have files from the hard drive that wont start onto the USB and then hopefully I'll make a clone of the USB drive back onto my computer hard drive to have everything in working order again.

07-08-2011, 10:45 AM

still on my comp booted from USB hd, trying to repair permissions on my internal hd. it says it will take 13 hours. oh my!!!!