My desktop looks as if someone drew it

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I installed a program from oDesk [a freelance work from home site] this morning and now my desktop looks like someone drew it. Here is a screen shot. :Oops: Anyone else have this happen to them?

I am running a MacBook with Tiger 10.4.11.

Thank you so much.

Anne
 
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Okay. I changed my display preferences to 256 colors and it's easier to see and read, but still not quite right. When I look in my library I have no color in the color folder nor in the color picker folder. Does this mean anything?
 
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It's hard to tell from the screen shot, but your resolution may have been changed. It looks low to me. Your best resolution depends on your Mac, check and change if necessary. If your color picker is all black, move the slider up.

PS: Do you really want and use all those toolbars??? :)
 
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It's odd because I changed my resolution to 256 and now that's how I see the image I uploaded, which is not at all what it looked like. I have the options 256, thousands, & millions, but 256 is the only one that is clear enough to not drive me nuts. I have way too many toolbars, thanks for the reminder. :) I have no colors in my color picker. I'm not sure how to restore this. I'm going to try to log out and in as another user and see what happens.

Thanks.
 

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I don't really see the problem in your screen shot.

I do agree with VegasGeorge about the toolbars. Be aware that many of those toolbars track your web browser activities and "phone home", so to speak. So, your privacy is dubious at best.
 
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I took a few pictures with my camera since my screen shot isn't showing the actual issue. This is tied to my user name only. I logged in under another user name and can change my preferences to thousands or millions and it looks fine. I can only opt for 256 under my name if I want to be able to see the screen in any usable format.

Image 1
Image 2

1.What I have tried is deleting my preferences for desktop, display, system, color picker. Then restarted.
2.I have cleared my cache.
3.I have pulled the cache for desktop and system from another user that works fine.

I cut back on the toolbars, too. Thanks.
 

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In the first pic, I see a wavy distortion that is 'U' shaped. I assume that's what you mean.

It almost looks like some kind of electro-magnetic interference. But those kinds of issues don't really happen on LCD screens. Was there any excess pressure applied to the back of the LCD panel recently? Any kids putting fingers on the screen?

Can you do a screen shot with the color depth and resolution set properly? I want to see the problem at its worst.
 
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The wavy lines are from my camera. Notice how pale the screen is. It looks like someone pencil drew the images to me.

Image 3
Image 4

I appreciate your taking the time to look at this.

Anne
 

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That just looks like the color depth is set wrong. Set it to 24 or 32-bit color. 256 just isn't enough of a palette to render the screen properly.

I would show you a screen shot of how it should be set, but apparently 10.6 (Snow Leopard) doesn't even allow you to change the color depth setting.
 
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That's kind of my problem. The only options I have are 256, Thousands, Millions. If I choose anything but 256 then I get the screen shots shown in the images 1-4 above. This is only when I'm logged in as myself. If i log in as another user, then it's fine. I'm just not sure which settings are screwed up or if I can even fix this without restoring [I really don't want to do that]. {sigh}
 

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Images 1-4 look like 256 colors to me. It should be set to Millions. Can you do that and post one more screen shot? Or are any of the existing images verified to be set as millions?
 
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Sadly, those shots were set to Millions. The 256 looks like a very grainy and dull version of its former glory.
 

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OK, sorry for being dense. I guess I didn't have a clear picture of what was going on.

I would imagine that you've rebooted the machine. Have you tried doing a PRAM reset? This is done by pressing and holding Command + Option + P + R immediately after turning the machine on. Continue holding until you hear the system chime ("BONG!") three times. Then release.
 
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It's hard to diagnosis an issue when you can't physically see it. I tried the PRAM reset, nothing changed. It's frustrating because I can log on as my daughter and everything is bright and wonderful. I have no idea what setting was affected by that program, but as soon as it opened my screen turned to that bright white mess and I haven't been able to fix it. I did the Command+S thing too with no luck. I need to dig out my restore disk and see if that can repair the issue without a system restore.

I do appreciate your help.
 

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How about this?

Create a new user account for yourself. Go out to the old user account using Finder and copy all of the needed data from it. Then delete the old user account.

If it's user specific, that will likely be the best way to correct it.
 
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I see what's wrong; you simply changed the contrast of your screen. Open System Preferences, then click the Universal Access pane. Drag the Enhance Contrast slider the whole way to the left, and you'll be back to normal. You must have accidentally used the keyboard shortcuts listed there.

You can disable those shortcuts in the Keyboard Shortcuts preferences.
 
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Thank you so much for all your time.

It's fixed. I'm not really sure how, but I went back into Utilities and Disk Repair and this time hit the main HD [not sure why I didn't in the first place] and clicked on Verify Permissions. I walked away and decided to try hooking my Mac up to the TV and see how it fared, but the repair was done and my screen was normal in all its glorious Millions of Colors. :)

That was a bit scary as I've never had those kinds of issues with my Mac before [had it 2 1/2 years]. Now I know how to fix that particular issue and where to find great help. Thank you so very much!

Anne
 

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Wow. Well, you've certainly earned your gold star for the day. Glad to hear you've got it working.
 
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It's odd because I changed my resolution to 256

I think you're confusing color rendition with screen resolution. Go to /System Preferences/Displays/Display Tab and notice your resolution setting. Click on detect displays and see what you get.
 
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I see what's wrong; you simply changed the contrast of your screen. Open System Preferences, then click the Universal Access pane. Drag the Enhance Contrast slider the whole way to the left, and you'll be back to normal. You must have accidentally used the keyboard shortcuts listed there.

You can disable those shortcuts in the Keyboard Shortcuts preferences.

OMG! I went to check this out and then my screen went all crap again. But I moved it back to the left and I Feel So Stupid Right Now. Okay, I need to take a course on Macs stat!

Thanks. O:)
 

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