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I bought a Macbook Pro in 2012, it came with OS X Lion. (came with NO disc, etc)
1 Month ago I downloaded the update "Mountain Lion". About 2 weeks ago I removed some of the OS X Mountain Lion System files (Twitter, Facebook, etc)

After I deleted some of the system files, if I quit Notes, Contacts and other apps they freeze. I have also noticed other issues with the Mac. I have restarted, cleaned, repaired permissions, made a new account, etc but no good.

Am I able to somehow reset/repair everything, like doing a reinstall of Mountain Lion, without losing my files, apps, etc? I have no problem with the settings being set to default (I would like that).

For example, with Windows you can do a reinstall but all the files and apps are kept in a Windows.old file, and with Windows 8 you can do a config/system settings reset but all your files will be kept.

Time Machine has been disabled since I got this Mac.

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You can do an Archive & Install which will reinstall OS X but keep your files.
Don't forget to make a backup before you reinstall in case something goes wrong.

  1. Boot with ⌘R to enter the Recovery HD.
  2. Choose Reinstall OS X.
  3. Follow the instructions.
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    Do not do this if your disk is encrypted and you do not have your disk password, because the user accounts will be hidden and it will not be possible to log in afterwards (but, you might be able to backup from recovery console by mounting your encrypted disk... with the password of the now hidden admin accounts)
    – Luxspes
    Commented Oct 1, 2017 at 4:43

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