Mac users - have you downloaded OS X Yosemite? How's it working for you?

[IBrakeforPastry]

You know how sometimes something looks different, but you can't tell what? That's it.
The favorites bar and the other bars, basically everything up top - they're hard to distinguish. Nothing stands out. No bold lines, everything the same color and intensity. And the mail is completely different. It's set up like the iPad, with the received mail in a column on the left, rather than listed at the top, with just the subjects line showing. I found some settings in the "view" tab that allow for some changes.

I'm not using the Apple mouse, so it's the same left and right click functions for me.

I'm getting used to the scroll, but just in case, how do I turn it off? Something under Systems Preferences? (okay - found it. Took about 5 seconds )

[OakLeaf]

Huh. So, I haven't migrated my mailboxes yet, that's the last thing, but in the interim I'm getting all my mail on the iPad so hopefully it won't be too big of an adjustment. As far as the rest ... maybe it's just your wallpaper? It all looks identical to 10.6 to me. Or were you on an even earlier version? I don't even remember what 10.4 looked like, pretty sure I skipped 10.5 ...

[IBrakeforPastry]

I don't know what older version I had. I think it was a leopard.

I know! The favorites bar: The graphics made each "favorite" look like an individual little button. Now it's just text, no graphics. Nothing to really separate them. I'm sorry - it's just really hard for me to explain.

And you know how websites have little icons that show up on the left side of the address bar/box? That's missing, too. It's all just black, grey and white.

[OakLeaf]

I don't know what older version I had. I think it was a leopard.

I know! The favorites bar: The graphics made each "favorite" look like an individual little button. Now it's just text, no graphics. Nothing to really separate them. I'm sorry - it's just really hard for me to explain.

And you know how websites have little icons that show up on the left side of the address bar/box? That's missing, too. It's all just black, grey and white.

I wonder if you haven't yet installed, or created a path to, the apps in your Dock. Do you see a big question mark icon, and then if you hover your cursor over it you get the text name of the app that's supposed to be there? Click on it and it will either find the path automatically, or ask you to show the path, and then you should have the icon. The icons are on by default. If that isn't it, there's something else weird going on - I looked to see whether the icons could be switched on or off, and I don't see that option in System Preferences.

If you haven't updated your OS since Leopard, many of your apps are probably incompatible with Yosemite. You'll need to either update them too, or if you have a favorite game like I do that hasn't been updated, keep your old box around to play it ...

Same with the website icons. Once you visit those, they will fill in. You just don't have them cached in your new browser yet.


Oh, and I just found that User Libraries are hidden by default in Yosemite. If you need access to any of yours, it's super easy to turn them back to visible (no messing around with the Terminal or anything scary like that [I'm not trying to be condescending, I'm terrified of Terminal myself ]). I just did it and immediately forgot the exact steps, but if you can't find it on a quick search I'll look it up again.

[IBrakeforPastry]

It's really driving me nuts, and I'm very disappointed.
I clicked on the big question mark. Nothing happened.
The website icons haven't returned, they're just generic.
There is often a delayed reaction when I click on something. Not that it's slow to respond, it just doesn't indicate that it's doing anything. The cursor doesn't change from the arrow to Mickey's glove, the virtual button doesn't look selected, and then the beachball shows up.

Thank you for your information. I'm not afraid of Terminal. I don't know what it is

[OakLeaf]

Which app(s) have the question mark(s) in the Dock? Are you sure you have the latest version of each of those apps installed ... and that you had the latest version BEFORE the OS upgrade?

Can you launch the apps by clicking on them directly in your Applications folder? If that's the case, then the simplest thing will be to drag the old placeholder question mark out of the Dock and drag the current, working one in. You can either drag it directly from the Applications folder (it won't move the actual path to the app, just create a path from the Dock), or else when the app is running, click and hold its icon in the Dock until a pop-up menu comes up above it (again, something that as far as I can tell you have to physically click the button), then from the Options submenu, check "Keep in Dock." Then you can drag the icon to wherever you want it in the Dock.

If you can't launch the apps from their icons in your Applications folder, if you restored from a backup, it's possible that you excluded your apps from the backup protocol when you set it up, so you will have to download and re-install fresh copies. That's really best practice anyway.

What browser are you using?

[IBrakeforPastry]

The question mark is standing all by itself. When I hover the cursor over it, a bubble shows above it saying "install OS X Yosemite". Does that mean it's not completely installed? Nothing happens when I click on the question mark. If I right click, I get the option of removing it from the dock. I think I'll do that. Just make it disappear.

I'm using Safari.

[OakLeaf]

Ah ... The way I understand it, once the installer has run, it deletes itself from the hard drive. Sounds like the cleanup routine didn't finish somehow. Yeah, I would just delete that if it were me. If you still have the disk image on your hard drive, copy that to an external drive just in case you need it in the future. But if you don't, there's no reason to save the icon.

But I thought you were saying the icons for the other apps were also appearing as question marks?

[IBrakeforPastry]

But I thought you were saying the icons for the other apps were also appearing as question marks?

No, the apps are fine. There was a question mark over iPhoto, but that went away after a re-start (after the update).
My two biggest problems now are the cursor and the freezing. It seems to work fine on this message board, but on another one that I've been visiting often, it freezes, or doesn't download the page completely.
Oak, I really appreciate your help, but I don't want you to waste your time on my problems. If you do think of something, though, I'll be here. Thanks!

[OakLeaf]

You're not wasting my time, you're giving me incentive to work harder on figuring it out for myself!

Okay, I finally imported my mailboxes, and here's what I was able to do.

Supposedly you should be able to drag the message pane closed (using the sizing bar in the top bar), but I wasn't able to do that. It would only go so narrow and then stopped. But when I switched to Classic layout (Mail>Preferences>Viewing), which has the message pane on the bottom rather than on the right, I was able to drag it completely closed (which now IIRC is the same thing I had to do when I originally set it up in Snow Leopard, it's just been so long I'd forgotten). Then once it's completely closed, it stays closed even if I switch the view back to modern layout (or whatever they call it if I un-check Classic).

With all Apple's vaunted security, it's kinda dumb to not only let it open messages by default, but make it so convoluted to turn that off ...

[zoom-zoom]

Well, dammit...I spoke too soon. I've run hard into the wi-fi connectivity issues that have plagued a lot of people with Yosemite upgrades, if reading around is any measure. I've always had Airport problems, even when my computer was brand new 5ish years ago. For years I wired directly to the modem, but now that's 2 rooms away (our downstairs is one big room, so no walls between computer and router and I have no issues with my phone connecting to our wi-fi from anywhere in the house). Now things are positively horrid. I can forget streaming Spotify or watching any streaming video. Pages can take a minute or more to load, my connection randomly drops completely. Ugh!!! There are no less than 10 possible solutions being presented, but I have no idea where to even start. I may just go the PRAM route. Or toss my damned machine out the window next to me!

[Dubz]

@zoom-zoom: I feel your pain. Computer issues suck. Especially when Macs are normally very reliable. I hate PCs now. I could never go back to them since going Mac.

After my Yosemite upgrade, when logging onto my MacBook Pro (mid 2012 version) it takes much longer for the password box to appear. Sometimes it won't allow me to enter my password for a few seconds. Before, it was like lightening. It's a little thing, but very annoying.

I've also got Microsoft Office 2011 installed and have had some lagging issues with that as well since I upgraded. Don't know if it's related, but I presume it is. I'm up-to-date with all my software downloads and patches.

[zoom-zoom]

@zoom-zoom: I feel your pain. Computer issues suck. Especially when Macs are normally very reliable. I hate PCs now. I could never go back to them since going Mac.

I still wouldn't go PC, either...not after I HAD to take a programming class in college that used PCs...and the room had to be evacuated when one started on fire!!

I think I found the fix to my issue. I tried a few other things before trying this (fix #2)...so far it seems to have completely cured my issue.

[Dubz]

@zoom-zoom

That's brilliant! Did it just suddenly burst into flames? I hope it didn't cause too much damage. Good thing you got your Mac sorted.

My funny PC story in college involves being in the middle of a a very boring class while the tutor was in full flow discussing something quite serious. Suddenly, we heard the voice of the Drill Instructor from Full Metal Jacket screaming abuse at us. Naturally, we were all a bit taken aback. There was an awkward silence while everyone looked around the room going WTF? But we couldn't stop laughing when we realised that some of the guys had programmed the PC to make this happen. Perfect timing! Just thinking about it makes me laugh even now.

[zoom-zoom]

@zoom-zoom

That's brilliant! Did it just suddenly burst into flames? I hope it didn't cause too much damage. Good thing you got your Mac sorted.

My funny PC story in college involves being in the middle of a a very boring class while the tutor was in full flow discussing something quite serious. Suddenly, we heard the voice of the Drill Instructor from Full Metal Jacket screaming abuse at us. Naturally, we were all a bit taken aback. There was an awkward silence while everyone looked around the room going WTF? But we couldn't stop laughing when we realised that some of the guys had programmed the PC to make this happen. Perfect timing! Just thinking about it makes me laugh even now.

That is awesome! I used to have an app called "Cat in the Dock" that had a funny cartoon cat that would make random noises and spout lines from movies. He would do Darth Vader and crack me up.

IIRC that computer started smoking before the flames. We were making our way out of the room by the time the flames started. Class was cancelled for the rest of the day.