Application Icons Change?

[boloman]

I'm running OS X panther on a G5. Every few days some of my application icons in folders will either change or appear garbled. For instance a quicken icon might appear as a illustrator icon, or a jpeg might appear garbled or show up as some other application. Everything returns to normal after a reboot and the actual files don't seem to be affected, I can still open them even if they don't appear correctly.

[dmetzcher]

Have you tried repairing permissions via Disk Utility?

I know I've seen that others have posted about this same thing before (I'm about 99% positive that I've have seen this question before). Do a search on this forum for this problem...something like "icons changed" or "icons changing" for more specifics on what might be causing it. Hopefully, someone else will post more information other than my "repair permissions" suggestion.

[boloman]

I just did the repair, problem only comes and goes so no way to tell yet.
Thanks

[shifte]

do a verify DISK

[bobw]

This usually indicates a corrupted Launch Services database.

In associating documents with applications, Finder employs Launch Services. Launch Services employs several files to associate documents with applications and vice versa. When these files become corrupted, this can result in problems including:

- The wrong applications being launched when double-clicking a file.

- Multiple copies of a single application appearing in the Open With menu for a given document.

- Incorrect icons appearing on files, folders, or other objects.

The following steps will remove all of the files used by Launch Services. Be sure to read these instructions entirely, including the Notes, before proceeding.

1. Quit all running applications.

2. Trash the following two files in the Computer > Macintosh HD > Library > Caches folder:

- com.apple.LaunchServices-0140.csstore

- com.apple.LaunchServices-014xxx.csstore

where xxx is the uid number for the affected account in the NetInfo database. Type your Admin password when prompted to authenticate the deletion of the first file. See Notes [1] and [2].

3. Trash the com.apple.LaunchServices.plist file in your Home > Library > Preferences folder. See Note [3].

4. Restart your Mac.

5. Log in to your account.

6. Empty the Trash.

Do not empty the Trash until after you have restarted your Mac.

Notes:

[1] Step 2 will result in you being prompted to approve the launch of the application associated with a document the first time you double-click a document. These alerts are a result of the security feature in Mac OS X. The list of applications which you have previously approved are saved in the caches deleted in step 2.

[2] The first user account defined on your Mac is generally uid 501, the second uid 502, and so forth. For example, the second file ID for the first account would be
com.apple.LaunchServices-014501.csstore
You can find the uid number for any account as follows:
1. Launch NetInfo Manager, which is in the Computer > Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities folder.

2. Select users in the middle column of the NetInfo Manager window.

3. Select the desired user account in the right column of NetInfo Manager.

4. The data for the selected user, including uid, is displayed in the lower pane of the NetInfo Manager window.
[3] Step 3 will reset to default values all associations you have created between specific file types and applications. For example, if you set PDFs to open in Adobe Acrobat instead of Preview, they would now open in Preview again until the association of PDFs with Acrobat is reset. You may want to skip step 3 to see if the other steps resolve the problem. However, if skipping step 3 does not resolve the problem, running steps 1-6 again, including step 3, should resolve the problem.

Note that some of the information above is from the "Applications" chapter of the book, Troubleshooting Mac® OS X, Tiger Edition.

Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

http://72.14.203.104/mac?q=cache:Ktc...s&ct=clnk&cd=6

[Rhisiart]

I had the same problem in the past.

Repairing permission was not the solution. However DiscWarrior was.