Why would Macbook randomly delete applications?

May 13, 2009 5:04 PM

Macbook randomly deleting Applications. Is it haunted?

A friend has a macbook that one morning was running hot (latest OS). The fan was going full blast despite the macbook not being open. She opened it and it froze. She restarted it and it restarted about 3 times before finishing.

Long story short, random applications have vanished. No iPhoto, no iTunes, no iChat, no Preview. System preferences won't open. Safari, iCal, Address Book still all there. She gave it to me to check out. But I don't know all that much.

It seems to be running now, minus the applications. Data (pictures, music, etc. is still there). I ran diagnostics and checked the HD with the installation disk. Everything came out ok.

I thought of a virus, but she doesn't download anything sketchy.

I'm guessing I'll just reinstall the OS now, but I wish I knew what caused everything to happen, and if I'm wasting my time. Any thoughts on what could have happened? Could the hard drive be slowly going?

Thanks for any help.

posted by gtr to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

I've never heard of this problem but according to this page, Microsoft Office could be to blame. Apparently something goes wrong in the upgrade process & it randomly deletes applications.
posted by scalefree at 6:03 PM on May 13, 2009

The first thing to do is to make sure you have a backup of the system right now if you don't already.
If you don't have a backup, DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE. Really.

Are you sure the applications are really gone, or are they just missing from the Dock. It could be that the settings / preferences files for the Dock got corrupted by being shut down weirdly.

Navigate to the applications folder(s) to see if they are still there.

"I ran diagnostics and checked the HD with the installation disk."
Does that mean you ran the Disk Utility. You might want to "Repair permissions" also.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 6:06 PM on May 13, 2009

You might also want to create a new user and log in as that user and see if that user can see the applications that seem to be missing.
posted by nightwood at 6:25 PM on May 13, 2009

Response by poster: I've never heard of this problem but according to this page, Microsoft Office could be to blame.

Nope, no office. Thanks though.

If you don't have a backup, DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE. Really.

Yeah, did that.

Are you sure the applications are really gone, or are they just missing from the Dock.

Yep, they're gone. In the applications folder you can see the spaces where they use to be. They're not there. Also did a search for the heck of it and found nothing.

Does that mean you ran the Disk Utility. You might want to "Repair permissions" also.

Yep, did that also.

You might also want to create a new user and log in as that user and see if that user can see the applications that seem to be missing.

I would but I can't. System preferences are gone. And if I go to the folder where each lives it's not there either. And the guest account is gone also.

I know, it all sounds crazy. I guess I'll end up just reinstalling and hoping for the best, but I wish I knew what happened.

Thanks for the help/suggestions though (everyone)
posted by gtr at 6:50 PM on May 13, 2009

In the applications folder you can see the spaces where they use to be

What?
posted by ook at 7:03 PM on May 13, 2009

Response by poster: In the applications folder you can see the spaces where they use to be

In other words, she had finder to show the files as big icons, and you can see spaces where the missing applications use to be.

But you can also set the applications folder to show as a list, and those applications are definitely gone.
posted by gtr at 7:17 PM on May 13, 2009

No iPhoto, no iTunes, no iChat, no Preview. System preferences won't open.

Hm. Those are all Apple applications, which are often updated during system updates.

Maybe she crashed or restarted DURING an OS update?
posted by rokusan at 10:02 PM on May 13, 2009

Hmm, OSX 10.5.7 just came out albeit very recently - a pretty significant OS update. Not sure if that coincided with when this happened.
posted by liquoredonlife at 12:37 AM on May 14, 2009

What does the macbook show if you open terminal, change directories to /Applications and issue the command "du -h -d 1" ? That shows disk usage by directory, one level deep. Are there application directories there with the names still present but the sizes suspiciously small (ie: really missing applications)?

sample output of part of /Applications from a 10.5.6 macbook:

56M ./Address Book.app
60M ./Adium.app
24M ./AppleScript
1.4M ./Arcade Typing Tutor.app
29M ./Automator.app
13M ./Calculator.app
5.3M ./Chess.app
3.0M ./Chicken of the VNC.app
184K ./Dashboard.app
10M ./Dictionary.app
6.1M ./Disk Inventory X.app
43M ./DVD Player.app
452K ./Expose.app
46M ./Firefox.app
18M ./Font Book.app
376K ./Front Row.app
176M ./GarageBand.app
113M ./Google Earth.app
47M ./Hewlett-Packard
94M ./iCal.app
115M ./iChat.app
129M ./iDVD.app
15M ./Image Capture.app
115M ./iMovie.app
posted by thewalrus at 5:35 AM on May 14, 2009

Response by poster: Hm. Those are all Apple applications, which are often updated during system updates.

There were one or two that weren't Apple applications. Sorry I didn't mention that.

Maybe she crashed or restarted DURING an OS update

Nope.

Hmm, OSX 10.5.7 just came out albeit very recently

Nope, hadn't upgraded.

What does the macbook show if you open terminal...

Aww, dammit. I decided I wasn't going to find the problem, so I reinstalled the OS. I do know that when you clicked the preference panes it opened a blank terminal.

Thanks for everyone's ideas. I guess I'll never know what happened, but her reformatted mac seems to have no problems, whatever it was. Thanks again.
posted by gtr at 2:03 PM on May 15, 2009