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Every time I log in to one specific account on my mac the hard drive icon, usually in the top right, has moved to the top left and is partly off of the screen. Even when I drag it back to the right it has moved on the next start up. Any ideas how to fix this?

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Do you use an external screen? – Michiel Apr 1 '12 at 13:12

2 Answers

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It looks like your hidden .DS_Store file in your Desktop is corrupted, which will cause this issue for sure.

You can restore this by using Terminal.

  1. Open Terminal.app
  2. Type cd Desktop
  3. Type ls -aF
  4. Now, if you see a list of all your Desktop items, you're in the right place. And make sure you check whether or not the .DS_Store file is there
  5. Now, type rm -i .DS_Store
  6. When you're prompted hit 'y'
  7. Log out and in again

Mac OS X should have rebuild this file and your icons should be ok. Let me know if you have any issues with the steps, I'm glad to help you.

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This is the answer rm: .DS_Store: No such file or directory and I am stuck now. I have been trying many suggestions none worked sofa. Could someone advise me please? My icons are still moving on their own keel. Thanks, Lance – user22968 May 18 '12 at 9:59
up vote 1 down vote

I have installed Onyx ( http://www.titanium.free.fr/ ) which has an option to delete the .DS_Store files in the Maintenance menu.

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