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Urgent Help Needed: I Accidentally Deleted System Preferences
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Shanghai
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I dragged the icon from the Get Info window onto the desktop, but I thought it was just an alias so I deleted it, then emptied the trash. It did not ask for a confirmation, and I don't think it was secure delete. But once the trash was emptied (almost instantly), the Get Info window disappeared, and I realized my terrible mistake.
Help... I'm relatively new to Mac OS X as well.
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Shanghai
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Oh Bajeebus, nevermind. I found an old thread about someone making the same foolish mistake I did, but in Panther. I downloaded Pacifist and copied System Preferences.app from my Tiger install DVD back into my Applications drive...
Oh dear God.
Why would Apple even make these essential system files deletable? They make it so you can't close Finder, but they allow you to delete essential system files and potentially cripple your computer? That's just dumb.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: MacNN database error. Please refresh your browser.
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If you had a backup in place, you could have copied the prefs from there.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
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Originally Posted by cleanup
Why would Apple even make these essential system files deletable?
They aren't for normal users. Only administrators have permission to delete the default apps. Unfortunately, it's kind of a necessary evil that the first user created is an administrator…
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Chuck
___
"Instead of either 'multi-talented' or 'multitalented' use 'bisexual'."
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: The Sar Chasm
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That's an interesting point, though. The Dock and the Finder are stashed away in /System/Library/CoreServices/DontLookHere/NothingToSeeHere/StayOutOfThisFolder/.WeMeanIt/
but System Prefs are just there in Apps.
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When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
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Senior User
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Midwest
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Los Angeles
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Originally Posted by chris v
That's an interesting point, though. The Dock and the Finder are stashed away in /System/Library/CoreServices/DontLookHere/NothingToSeeHere/StayOutOfThisFolder/.WeMeanIt/
but System Prefs are just there in Apps.
That's because the Finder and Dock are on permanent autolaunch. If System Preferences were always open, it would also be with the Finder and Dock. But interestingly, System Preferences is read only by default for my admin, at least here on my G5.
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"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: The Sar Chasm
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Originally Posted by suthercd
What's a Realisit?
C-
Good question. You're apparently the first person to ever read my sig. Including me.
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When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
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Originally Posted by Big Mac
System Preferences is read only by default for my admin, at least here on my G5.
But the /Applications folder is read-only for normal users, and it's the permissions of the enclosing folder that determine whether something may be deleted.
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Chuck
___
"Instead of either 'multi-talented' or 'multitalented' use 'bisexual'."
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Shanghai
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Originally Posted by Randman
If you had a backup in place, you could have copied the prefs from there.
Absolutely. I really should buy a 160 GB FireWire hard drive, and clone my hard drive every week or so, but it seems like such a hassle. Isn't a full backup really taxing on both the internal and external hard drives?
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2001
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Originally Posted by cleanup
Absolutely. I really should buy a 160 GB FireWire hard drive, and clone my hard drive every week or so, but it seems like such a hassle. Isn't a full backup really taxing on both the internal and external hard drives?
Nah. Once you've got it set up to clone automatically, you've never got to think about it again, and it should only take 20-30 minutes, max.
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When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
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