# Fucking computer! Fuck you, you fucking fuck! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 10, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108 "2005-01-10T22:10:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/1 "2005-01-10T22:10:52Z")
What the fuck are you doing you stupid machine? Why o why did you dump the Library folder onto the desktop, wiping out the preferences for _every single program I own?_ How come when I move them back to where they’re supposed to go, and get rid of the old files, do you still not recognize anything? Even if I logout and login? Even if I restart? You lost **all** my bookmarks in Safari! You fail to recognize that I own Excel and the whole damn Office set! You wiped out every listing in iCal and AddressBook! I’m afraid to open my Mail program because I’m afraid every message in there is gone too! Holy shit! I can’t even get to my _Palm Pilot memos!_ What the frigging hell is a ‘shared library error’ anyway! What the fuck? You’re a Mac! You’re stable! Macs don’t pull this kind of shit! Dumbass machine! If you were a person, I’d throw you out the window! AUGH! ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/2 "2005-01-10T22:25:21Z")
What happened exactly? I’m far from an expert, but I am a Mac user and am willing to help out if I can. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/3 "2005-01-10T22:44:38Z")
[This am Bizarro **rjung**] What is this shared Library error and misplaced Library folder of which you speak? [/This am Bizarro **rjung**] 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/4 "2005-01-10T22:54:35Z")
You know, if you had a Mac, you wouldn’t have these kinds of prob… oh. We can try to help. What are your stats? (Type of Mac, version of OS X, etc.) What were you doing before this happened? ---
**Author:** ![badmana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/5 "2005-01-10T23:15:40Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > You’re a Mac! There’s your problem right there! JK! Seriously, a single directory that’s not protected out the yahoo can destroy every associated program on a Mac? Did you check the file attribute? I’m not a Mac man but I know Mac and Unix are cousins, did the folder have a system attribute that got changed to allow the copy? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/6 "2005-01-10T23:42:43Z")
I’m just trying to imagine what **Barbarian** did to even get something _close_ to that mess – the closest I can even begin to imagine is a drunken night of passionately wanton dragging-and-dropping… ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/7 "2005-01-11T00:39:25Z")
So far as I can tell, last night the missus goes to hit the ‘eject’ button on the CD/DVD drive, and it’s not working (happens rarely), so she restarts (usually I just sleep the machine and wake it up). Presto, the Library folder has suddenly moved to the desktop (say what? That folder _is_ protected up the wazoo!), and everything’s reset. I shuttle everything in the Library folder back to where it’s supposed to be (~/home/Library), but the only effect is that the keyboard settings and background image are restored. The only possible thing I can think of is that I updated my Norton AntiVirus definitions a couple days ago. Grrr. Arrgh. ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/8 "2005-01-11T01:07:27Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > I shuttle everything in the Library folder back to where it’s supposed to be (~/home/Library) Are you sure you put the Library folder back in the right spot? ~ is short for your home folder, in and of itself. If your username is barbarian, for example, then the ~ represents /Users/barbarian, and the path to your Library folder should be ~/Library or /Users/barbarian/Library. ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/9 "2005-01-11T01:13:38Z")
Addendum: Have you tried repairing permissions using Disk Utility? ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/10 "2005-01-11T13:05:13Z")
For some weird reason, I can’t repair permissions whether I run disk utility from my HD or a startup CD… ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/11 "2005-01-11T14:19:58Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > What the fuck? You’re a Mac! You’re stable! Macs don’t pull this kind of shit! Are you _sure_ it’s a Mac? Because I could dig up about a thousand threads here that claim that Macs don’t do anything like this… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/12 "2005-01-11T14:21:26Z")
My guess is that the filesystem on your hard disk is corrupted. If so, it will only get worse. If you can’t even run disk repair, it’s time to backup the disk, reformat it, reinstall the operating system, and restore your files from backups. Just letting it go risks loss of all of the files on the disk. It’s a good idea to run disk repair every few months, to catch and fix little problems before they become big problems. Norton AV may also cause problems for your system. Some people have reported glitches and flakiness that they later traced to that software. ---
**Author:** ![Jerry\_Springer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@Jerry\_Springer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerry_Springer)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/13 "2005-01-11T14:39:32Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > What the fuck are you doing you stupid machine? Why o why did you dump the Library folder onto the desktop, wiping out the preferences for every single program I own? You think _you’ve_ got problems? My computer just called me a dickbum! Also, this can of Coke I just bought made me piss myself. I’m considering taking it back. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/14 "2005-01-11T16:33:22Z")
Ummm, I don’t suppose you’ve been doing backups, by any chance? This is OS X, not the old easy world of MacOS 9. MacOS X doesn’t go bad on you very often, but when it does it’s nowhere near as easy to fix as MacOS 9 was. When you get this sorted out, you’re going to implement a genuine and reliable backup strategy…_right_? OK, now…Is it possible that it’s the _other_ Library folder instead? You have one at the root level of your hard drive and another one in your Users/YourUserName directory. If the root-level version of Library ended up in your Users/YourName/Desktop folder (i.e., on your Desktop), that doesn’t sound good at all — you may be able to fix it by moving it back while logged in as root (if you have root enabled) or using “sudo cp -R” from the Terminal, but something frightening is going on for it to have migrated there in the first place. If, on the other hand, it’s your own local-user Library, having it end up on your Desktop is a simple matter of accidentally dragging the folder “Library” on top of (and therefore into) the folder “Desktop” if you happened to have your own Users/YourUserName folder open and in front of you. Try this: create a new username from scratch and make sure you can log in as that user, just in case; set logon preference to let you choose who to log in as, and then log back in as your regular user name; rename the replacement Library folder, if there is one, to something like “Library OOPS”, drag the Desktop version into Users/YourUserName, and reboot. Log in as your regular user name with your fingers crossed. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/15 "2005-01-11T17:47:42Z")
MacOs 9? Hell I went straight to 10.1 from 8.6 (currrently using 10.2.8) Okay, I fixed everything by bringing files to their correct places. Why’d they have to go and name two separate directories Library anyway? Why not RootLibrary and UserLibrary, or something like that. grumble grumble. Still can’t run Disk Verify or Disk Repair or Repair Permissions on the HD-- those options are greyed out… ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/16 "2005-01-12T04:53:51Z")
Log in as root and fix all permissions from there. Should not have any greyed-out options there (shouldn’t have them anyhow, but if permissions are screwed up perhaps you can’t fix them because you don’t have permission to fix the messed-up permissions because your permissions are fucked up, can you say “vicious cycle”?) If you’ve never enabled/logged in as root: open Terminal and type “sudo passwd root” and you’ll be prompted to enter, then confirm, a password for the root account. This enables the account. Log out then back in with username "root and the password you just chose. (for security’s sake pick a ridiculously complicated one, write it down on paper and store it somewhere extrasafe). As root user, run the fix permissions thing. Then log out and back in as your regular self. _ **AHunter3** still boots MacOS 8.1 sometimes for old time’s sake but has Panther conned into running on the same WallStreet computer_ ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/17 "2005-01-12T05:00:23Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > (for security’s sake pick a ridiculously complicated one, write it down on paper and store it somewhere extrasafe). This can’t be emphasized enough. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/18 "2005-01-12T07:33:45Z")
Oh, I’ve logged in as root, and keep my password somewhere very safe: on the bulletin board above my desk. Of course, I abbreviate my notes, so even if you stare at it you probably won’t be able to interpret it. That, and if you can waltz into my apartment and wander off with my eMac, you deserve to get access to everything on my computer just for lifting the weight 😉 ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/19 "2005-01-12T08:11:24Z")
If you are still having big disk-check issues, an option is to start in single user mode (I think hold down Apple-S or S while restarting). This will bring up a Unix screen with instructions for running fsck, which is basically the same as the Disk Repair utility. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108/20 "2005-01-12T21:30:43Z")
fsck? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-computer-fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck/284108.md?page=2)