Can't remove apps from dock

OSX 10.7.1: There appear three question marks in my dock, apparently belonging to apps that I have removed a long time ago.

I can remove these dock items using the context menu ("remove from dock"). But if I then log out and in again, they are present as before at their old places in the dock.

Possibly related: If I specify "Don't ask before emptying waste box" in the finder settings then this setting is forgotten, too, on log out/in.

Perhaps a matter of erroneous permissions?? But repairing permissions using the hard disk utility didn't help.

Are there .plist files for finder and dock that I could inspect? On Mac OS Lion I couldn't find them. May be their names have been changed (if they still exist at all).

Dock icons: Open Terminal, type: killall dock

In Lion, the Library folder is hidden. Hold down the Option key and click on the Go menu, select Library.

toMACsh said:

Dock icons: Open Terminal, type: killall dock

In Lion, the Library folder is hidden. Hold down the Option key and click on the Go menu, select Library.

Click to expand...

Many thanks for your response.

Do you mean "killall Dock" (with capital D)? That didn't have any effect, the question mark items remained.

Unfortunately I do not really understand the purpose of your second suggestion: On my Lion system the /Library and /Sytem/Library folders are visible anyway, and I can use the "Invisibility Toggler.app" to see my personal Library folder in Finder, too. But I can't find any .plist files for Finder and Dock there. Can you perhaps tell me their complete path names?

Many thanks again,

wandro.

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
Each one has a .lockfile too whatever that does...

Do try holding down the Option Key and click on Go and Library. Then Navigate to the Preferences folder.

For your Dock plist look for com.apple.dock.plist

For your Finder look for com.apple.finder.plist

You might have to remove the com.apple.dock.plist lockfile below.

You must be looking in the wrong folder. Try the Go with Option held down and Library.

wandro said:

Many thanks for your response.

Do you mean "killall Dock" (with capital D)? That didn't have any effect, the question mark items remained.

I can use the "Invisibility Toggler.app" to see my personal Library folder in Finder, too. But I can't find any .plist files for Finder and Dock there. Can you perhaps tell me their complete path names?

Click to expand...

That's the one, then Preferences, as noted above.

The references I found do not capitalize "dock".

Sorry, I have indeed missed to look at the right place: I have used "Alfred.app" to find those .plist files and didn't expect that Alfred doesn't look into hidden directories.

I have then copied the two .plist files to my desktop and removed them at their original place. Then I have copied them back tho my personal Library directory. Surprisingly that has solved the problem: Changed finder and dock settings do now survive log out and in again. Explanation???

Many thanks again to all who have replied!

wandro said:

I have then copied the two .plist files to my desktop and removed them at their original place. Then I have copied them back tho my personal Library directory. Surprisingly that has solved the problem: Changed finder and dock settings do now survive log out and in again. Explanation???

Click to expand...

I'm with you on step one, but step two does not fit with the explanation you're seeking: The plist file(s) was(were) corrupt. The way to fix that is to replace them. In this case, replace means substitute a new one for the old one. The old one, having been proven to be corrupt, is then thrown out.

You re-placed it, meaning that you put it in another place. Then you put it back in its original place. It's now working, so if you've described what you did correctly, the plist file was not corrupt. Thus, the improvement was magical.