If something isn't working or if things just seem "odd" with your Mac, don't fret... and don't go grabbing your OS discs to do a reinstall, either. Reinstalling the OS is almost never warranted and really shouldn't be needed.
If something seems awry your Mac or with one of your apps, chances are one of these following items will help you.
1) Reboot the Computer. - Simple, I know... but it will fix so many "issues" without the need for any other steps to be taken.
This should be done before any other step is attempted.
2) Run Software Update - Again, very simple, I know... but many times simply updating your software with the latest patches will again fix so many "issues" without the need for any other steps to be taken.
3) Clean Your Caches - There are several tools that will do this for you, Onyx, MainMenu, Quicksilver...etc. Even if you don't have one of those you can still do it manually. Just delete everything in the folders Library/Caches and in Users/*Your User Name*/Library/Caches. When finished reboot.
4) Delete the .plist file - If it is a particular program that is giving you problems delete its preferences (.plist) in 'Your User Name'/Library/Preferences
5) Uninstall then reinstall the offending application - If it is a particular program that is giving you problems and deleting the .plist file didn't help, then uninstall and reinstall the application.
Important -- If your application came with an uninstaller then use that to uninstall it first. Do NOT just move it to the Trash and do NOT use a third-party app to uninstall it. Use the provided uninstaller and then reinstall the application.
6) Repair Disk Permissions - Go to Applications|Utilities|Disk Utility and select repair disk permissions on your OS X drive
7) Run Disk Repair - Boot from your restore/install disc and run a Volume/Disk repair on your startup disk.
8) Resetting the PRAM: When booting, hold down Command-Option-P-R and wait for the triple startup chimes.
9) File System Check - When booting up your computer hold down the Apple Key & the S key and it will boot into single user mode. When the text is done loading on the screen type in
/sbin/fsck -f and hit enter.
When that is done if it fixed things then do the check again to make sure it is cleared
When finished with that type in
exit and it will start the computer in normal mode
10) Reset Nonvolatile Firmware - When booting, hold down Command-Option-O-F and wait for the command prompt. Type "
reset-nvram" and hit enter.
11) Search the Forums - At the top of the forum you will find the 'Search' feature. Type in your keyword and have at it.
You can also use the 'Advanced Search' to narrow your search by sub-forum, thread prefix, date, etc.
You can narrow things down even more by showing your results as individual posts or full threads.
12) Search the Apple Support Knowledge Base - If none of the above have helped, point your browser to -
Apple - Support
Once there, you will be able to perform a search and should be able to locate a remedy for your issue.
If anyone feels they have something to add, let me know by sending me a PM and I can update this.
