Friday, October 10th, 2008

Amnesia?

posted by lizzie    « 6 Comments »    tied to Uncategorized   

I don’t know how it happened. Last night our computer (we have a MacBook) was having trouble shutting down. I had to force quit a few applications and when I woke up this morning I realized that I had closed the laptop before it had completely turned off. Instead of going to sleep like it should have, it seemed to still be on (fan going and power light on). I opened it, turned it off, turned it on again, and realized that it had pretty much forgotten me. My account still exists, but everything has been set back to default status. The dock, wallpaper, screen saver, Mail, hot corners, etc. Micah’s account is intact. I can set everything up the way I want it, no problem. It’ll just take a little bit of time. But it means that I lost the folders in my mailbox (most of which were related to various stories I’ve been working on and still hope to pitch) as well as my bookmarks. The bookmarks aren’t really a big deal, but the mailbox thing sort of is. The main thing is, how did this happen and what can we do about it?

Comments

  1. Anonymous says:
    October 10, 2008 at 8:35 pm

    simply, make sure it is finished shutting down before you close it. i know that sounds obvious, and perhaps sarcastic–although i don’t mean it to be. the reason i say it is, as our computers have more applications and programs running on them, there is more “stuff” for the computer to end. shutting down is a process, not an immediate happening. while the computer is shutting down, it is also saving your settings. but when you close the notebook, you’re telling the computer to go into hibernation. so the computer gets a new task (to hibernate) while it’s still shutting down. so the first task of ending the programs and saving your settings was interrupted.

    other common causes for strange mac or pc behavior is if you’re downloading from online because they open every door imaginable to spyware, which installs itself on your computer. try performing a task management request and look at the applications that are running. if there are any on there that look suspicious, that don’t belong to particular user-based or manufacturer-based programs, then google that application’s name to see if it is spyware. even some of the most excellent anti-virus software cannot detect or delete spyware because they are not common viruses and act a quite differently as well.

    if you use anything like limewire or purchase itunes from sites other than apple’s, you’re inviting spyware into your computer. downloading online is hazardous to your computer’s health. you wouldn’t open your front door at 2am to a total stranger, so why would you download material from someone you don’t know?

  2. lizzie says:
    October 11, 2008 at 1:14 am

    Thanks for the comment, Mr. Anonymous.

    I guess the real question is, Is there a way for me to recover my other mailboxes in Mail?

  3. Anonymous says:
    October 11, 2008 at 1:38 am

    if your mac mail account didn’t ask you if you wanted to delete your mail folders, chances are the account is still recoverable. try to perform a system folder or system preference search. you should be able to locate and restore your user settings and therefore your email settings as well. it’s possible that everything is sitting nicely in a trash bin somewhere, so don’t delete anything or else you may accidentally delete everything!

  4. Natalie, Cameron and Samuel says:
    October 11, 2008 at 1:04 pm

    I’m glad it might be recoverable – good luck!!

  5. lizzie says:
    October 11, 2008 at 9:47 pm

    Thank you Mr. Anonymous. Micah was able to restore all of my settings and retrieve my old mailboxes. All is well.

  6. micah says:
    October 12, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    It was rather odd. For some reason the operating system moved her whole Library folder to a folder called ">" within her user account. So, when she restarted the computer couldn't find the info it needed and therefore created a new Library folder to use. She still had the folder, but it was almost empty. Luckily, I was able to find the ">" folder and move everything back into the Library. Now it works great.

    Thanks again for your help, especially Mr. Anonymous.

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