I am sure this is a simple question but I am new to Mac. I just got my new Macbook a few days ago. I got a 13" Macbook and when I restart all of my installed programs disappear. My downloaded files are still there but I have to reinstall firefox and open office whenever I shut down. I searched for this issue on yahoo answers and everyone was just saying to never shut the computer down, but I dont see why apple would release a product that you could never shut down and it is not possible to never shut down because restart is required when installing new programs. I am sure there is a simple solution to this. I look forward to any help you guys can provide me and I look forward to being a part of these forums.