AAM: Double Trouble

You know, it’s situations like the one I’m about to present to you that really give anti-Apple personnel the chance to call the fruity technology giant a bunch of liars, because unfortunately, Macs don’t always “just work.”

Okay, compared to most other operating systems, OS X is still pretty rugged, but just this once one user had been let down by a little mischief from his younger brother, as is always the case, and a typical system error that simply required a restart.

Sputnikmp noticed upon getting back to his machine that he had double the amount of entries in the Apple Menu. Two Log Outs, Shut Downs, and Restarts were present and it seemed that none of them would do the function they were designed for. Fortunately a problem like this is easily sorted out with a simple “shut-down and restart.”

The other issue he faced was an accidentally enabled disability feature which fixed black boxes around items in the Finder menu. At the time, Sputnikmp was unsure of what this was, but after I advised him to check the “Universal Access” in “System Preferences” he soon found out that VoiceOver had been turned on. VoiceOver basically highlights any item you select in Finder and verbally reads out the name to you via the freaky system voice that comes with OS X.

Lastly, Sputnikmp wanted to know how to add and remove accounts from the system, something which I have gone more in depth with in my answer below.

Thanks for all your questions this week and keep them coming in, especially if you want them featured on Ask Apple Matters next week.

Question of the Week

Double Trouble

By: Sputnikmp

Hi there.
I am a amateur iMac user…trying to shift from Windows.

I think i have a problem. Actually, yesterday my younger bro managed to do something he doesn’t remember, but now in the Apple drop down menu in the Finder I see two “Restart,” “Shut down,” and “Log out (user name)” which were previously absent.
And there is this weird “Black Box” which keeps lingering on the screen over previously selected options in drop down menus, even after the page has been closed. It also shows on the Desktop. See the pics attached.

I am working on:

Mac OS X 10.4.9
Machine Name: Mac
Machine Model: iMac5,2
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 1.83 GHz
Number Of Processors:1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 2 MB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: IM52.0090.B03

Also i wanna delete a few “Accounts” on my iMac.

Plz help me restore it back to the older settings.
It’s not even a fortnight and my iMac is in trouble.
Thanking in advance.

Answer of the Week

By: Aaron Wright

Right, first things first: the accounts.

Go to Apple (logo, top left of screen), move your cursor down to System Preferences, and then wait for the screen to load. Once there, select Accounts, which is under the System section. You’ll then be presented with a list of accounts active on your computer.

In order to remove some of the accounts you have active on the system, you’ll need to unlock the padlock (bottom left of window) by clicking on it and then entering your administrator username and password. Once this is done you’re free to add and remove accounts. Do so by using the + and - buttons that are available, with + adding accounts and - removing them (obviously).

With regards to the multiple “Restart,” “Shutdown,” and “Log-out” entries in the Apple menu, I really don’t know what to suggest other than shutting your system down completely and then restarting it. Have you tried this already?

With a bit of luck, restarting should also sort out the random black box (as seen in the image you uploaded). Although, it does look like it’s an accessibility option that has been enabled (VoiceOver).

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