[smileLP]

ok, long time mac (desktop) user; i'm pretty good w/most stuff by now, except "advanced," i guess

so.... i turn on the mac one morning (el capitan 10.11.6) and i see all my desktop icons along the perimeter of my screen as i normally have them. only this time, they have been moved aside a little and in their place is a similar row of somewhat older icons, that were on my desktop maybe a year ago

they are ungraspable/unmovable, you can't contact them w/the mouse/cursor; they sit there like phantoms, displacing the row that should be there, butnow is slightly off to the side; this occurs on all 4 edges of m;y screen

so my neat rows aroundthe perimeter are now a jumble of 2 rows each, and some that aren't neatly aligned, but loose

possible clue: the nt before this happened, my mac was a little glitchy; the cursor would disappear a little, then come back. i didn't think much of it at the time, but a clue?

i have an older mac that's been given updated software, it's a mac pro from 2009, 2.66 quad core

needless to say, i can't work like this. i even reinstalled el capitan but it didn't change things. is my HD irreperably damaged? i ran the preferences disc fixer but no change

help??

thanks

ok, the photo below is a screen capture, the vertical column far left shouldn't be there and are "ghost" icons, cant' be touched, moved, etc. they displaced the vertical column that was there, shoving it over to the right of it, as you can see. as i mentioned, this happened all over my desktop. these "ghost" images are what USED to be on the desktop; some i tossed half a yr ago, but they're back! and displacing the current needed ones! thanks...

[i don't see where to upload an image; just "URL" which i don't know how to do. s orry]

[P]

You need to upload your image somewhere else and then link it from there.

[smileLP]

i am not sure what your reply means (doesn't sound like it fits my problem), but thanks for the input
—O.P.

[andi*pandi]

if you want us to see a screenshot of your problem, you need to upload it somewhere else. The forum does not support image uploads. get yourself an account at flickr.com, imageshack, etc, upload the image, and then use the URL here.

is it possible someone in your household is punking you with a desktop image of rearranged icons?

[smileLP]

ha, only me in my household

the picture of what's going on isn't that crucial

just be aware of older, "phantom" icons on my desktop from a year ago, un-select'able, and shoving over my current icons

thanks

[reader50]

Sounds like your icon file for the Desktop has become corrupted. Suggest you trash the hidden file ~/Desktop/.DS_Store and log out, log back in.

Unfortunately, the Finder today continues to hide .DS_Store files even when set to show all files. You'll have to use Terminal.

mv Desktop/.DS_Store .Trash/.DS_Store

Enter the above in a fresh Terminal window, then press Return. Log out, log back in. Your desktop should show only valid icons, but they'll be in default order. Use your screen shot (or memory) to put them all back where they should be.

[smileLP]

PROBLEM SOLVED - - nominate me for dope of the year

i had accidentally loaded a screen capture of my desktop,w /the correct desktop pic, but the icons also

i used this screen capture as my desktop photo, so naturally it came w/icons i couldn't move

dope of the year!

[andi*pandi]

you punked yourself! :highfive:

[smileLP]

sad but true! ; )