Troubleshooting Applications in Mac OS X
Because Mac OS X applications use the entire operating system, troubleshooting an application that doesn't work correctly can potentially be a complex task. However, there are some simple steps you can take to fix application-level problems.If you can't open a document, the first step is to isolate the cause of the problem:
- Try opening a different document within the application.
- Try logging in as a different user. If the problem disappears, the problem could be improper preference settings or application support files in the other user account. If the problem still occurs, the application or its support files could be corrupted.
If you are unable to open a Mac OS X application, a file used by the application might have been deleted or corrupted. Try the following to fix the problem:
- Try removing the application's files from the Application Support folders in /Library and ~/Library. Instead of deleting these files during troubleshooting, first move them to an alternate location to see if this fixes the problem. If this does not help, you can then move the files back to their original location and continue with other troubleshooting steps.
- Try deleting and reinstalling the application to restore the application files that have been corrupted or deleted.
Force Quitting Applications
Process Management" earlier in this lesson.
Force Quitting an Application
If an application becomes unresponsive, you can use the Force Quit Applications window or the Dock's contextual menu to force the application to quit.
Using Safe Launch
Applications in Mac OS X usually store user-modifiable settings in prefer -ences files that end in ".plist" (an abbreviation for "property list"). These files are usually stored in /Library/Preferences and ~/Library/Preferences, although some applications have their own preferences folders in these locations. The filename for most preferences files will be something similar to com.manufacturer's name.application name .plist.Over time, preferences files are read and written repeatedly, and can become corrupt. When you have a problem that's specific to one application, it's often because a preferences file is corrupt.New in Mac OS X 10.4 is the Safe Launch feature. If an application crashes, a dialog may appear giving you the option of reopening the application. Because the application preferences might have been corrupted by the crash, or could have been the cause of the crash, on the next launch you will have the option of opening that application using a new, blank preferences file. This returns many or all settings to their defaults, so your application may behave differently when it's opened with the new preferences file. Mac OS X saves the old preferences by appending .saved to the file name, so you can always restore your old preferences manually if need be.[View full size image]
