SweetMacTips

That’s an indication that it can’t find the System folder. It could be hardware (failing hard drive) or software (wonky OS). You can do an Archive and Install of your OS to rule-out the software. If that still doesn’t work, you may be looking at a failing hard drive.

Something Apple changed from the 10.5 to 10.6 installation is the removal of the “Erase and Install” option, which I think was kind of dumb. Sometimes you just want to nuke and pave. It requires an extra few steps now (though not hard):

1. BACK IT ALL UP. (K, you were warned)
2. Boot from the 10.6 install disc
3. After picking your install language, from the Utilities menu (I assume you picked English) pick Disk Utility
4. In Disk Utility, select your hard drive over on the left.
5. Click on the Erase tab.
6. Ensure the format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and click Erase. Confirm.
7. Quit Disk Utility and go about your installation
8. Restore your info after the install is done.

Any time you do a fresh install and have backed up information to restore, I always recommend only restoring your data. Reinstall your applications and re-set your preferences. This ensures the cleanest possible start.

Good luck!

10.5.8 is the last update on OS 10.5. Security updates are still released for it however. You’ll need to upgrade to 10.6 to get the latest and greatest. 26 quid. (Looks like that’s before your new wonderful 20% VAT.)

You’re on the right track with Activity Monitor! At the top, select the pull down to view all processes (it’s set to view only your own by default) and then sort the columns by CPU so that the most CPU usage is at the top. This will tell you what’s hogging the CPU.

Though sometimes, it’s not a CPU hog that’s causing your fans to go batty. Sometimes it’s an unresponsive program so also look for things listed in red. They’ll usually say “(Not Responding)” next to the name. Force quit those. 

Worst comes to worst, give it a reboot.

That is quite the odd one you’ve got there. One thing I’d try is killing the .DS_Store file for the Desktop. Now, this is a hidden file so you’re going to need to do it from the Terminal and run:

rm ~/Desktop/.DS_Store

My gut feeling though says that’s not the problem. Welcome to the world of wonky preference file troubleshooting! These can be a bit hard to track down so here’s my general working order:

1. Move the entire home folder/Library/Preferences folder somewhere else (like your desktop) and see if the problem still exists. If not, we know for sure it’s a preference file problem.
2. Move the entire folder back and overwrite any files (those were just created and you want your real ones - except for the bad one of course)
3. Now, go back into your home folder/Library/Preferences folder and start moving chunks of .plist files over to somewhere else (maybe a folder on your desktop to keep things organized) and try again. Still exists? Move that chunk back (overwrite any newly created files) and try another chunk.
4. When you find a chunk of files that solved the problem when you moved them out, move back into home folder/Library/Preferences only a few files at a time so you can easily keep track of which ones got moved and eventually you’ll narrow down which one was causing a problem. Sometimes it’s one you’d never have thought of.

This process can be a pain. But, with some experience, it gets easier. Two key things to remember:

• What we’re doing is moving our preference files from the place the OS expects them to a place where we can get them back easily. With the preference file not where the OS is expecting it, the OS creates a brandy-new, minty fresh one.
• When moving out chunks of files, I usually do it alphabetically. That way it’s easier to remember where you left off when you put a chunk of files back where they belong.

Good luck!

You’d be in violation of the license agreement that stipulates that you can only use it on one machine.  Purchase the OS.

4 years for an OS is a pretty long stretch. I wouldn’t say that you need a computer, but you may need a fresh installation of the OS. After 4 years, there’s a good deal of cruft in there that a fresh install will get rid of. If you’re also looking at the rainbow cursor a lot, you may want to consider more RAM as that’s likely one thing hanging it up.