Is it possible to delete/lose the Preferences icon on the dock?

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Mine's gone... and I can't find it!!!! It doesn't show up in finder folder either. Boy do I feel dumb... 3 decades of using computers and I feel like an idiot.

As an aside... I belong to a forum and I got to the URL last night and tried to login. Got the welcome, and then when I tried to open my private messages folder I was sent back to the login page, but then I couldn't login again. I even waited a few minutes. Does apple use cookies to store a login/password combo?
 
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can you launch system preferences from the apple logo still? If you can you didn't delete it, you can find it in your utilities folder and drag it back to the dock if you would prefer to keep it there.
 
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you can find it in your utilities folder and drag it back to the dock if you would prefer to keep it there.
Actually, it's in the System/library/coreservices

As an aside.. Does apple use cookies to store a login/password combo?
All browsers use cookies to store your info. It could have become corrupt if you couldn't log in. (or erased)
 
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My brother deleted it off the dock and he couldn't find it anywhere else. He had created a new user and then accidentally deleted it from that users dock. It wasn't available to that user. I googled the problem and it came up in a few other places. He called apple support and they suggested he delete the user and start over. Of course this was his first hour with his new mac.
 
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If you're looking for System Preferences, that can be found in /Applications. Simply go there, and drag the app onto the Dock.

If you're looking for a way to restore the Dock completely to the way it was when you first booted the Mac, do the following:

- go to ~/Library/Preferences (the ~ means your user's home folder)
- delete the file named com.apple.dock.plist
- open the Terminal. You can find it in /Applications/Utilities
- type "killall Dock" without the quotes and press enter

That should restart your Dock with the factory settings and icons.
 

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