Howdy all. I'm having a problem with my System Preferences. Any time I try to update or remove an existing panel, System Preferences locks up with the spinning beach ball and I have to force-quit it. I'm able to manage it all by adding/removing panels directly from the /Library folder, so this amounts to merely a relatively minor inconvenience, but I'm still stumped on a solution. This happens with any admin account on the computer, and repairing permissions doesn't help. Any ideas? Running 10.6.2. I only have this problem on my desktop Mac, not my laptop.

The first thing I would try is going to your home folder > Library > Perferences and move com.apple.systempreferences.plist to the desktop and then either logout and log back in to your account or rebooting.

Thanks for the suggestion. I forgot to mention I had tried it already, but repeated it for kicks and unfortunately that didn't work.

Have you tried running Repair Disk with Disk Utility? In case you don't know how, read Mac OS X - Using Disk Utility to Repair a Disk. Better yet, use Disk Warrior, TechTool Pro or Drive Genius if you have one of them.

I just tried your suggestion to try repairing the volume using Drive Genius 2 from a backup volume and that didn't do the trick.

I think I finally more or less have this sorted out. I have my Applications folder categorized so I don't have everything cluttering up the one folder. In particular, System Preferences is in a subfolder called Utilities. I just decided to try moving it back out of Utilities into /Applications and the problem promptly resolved. This has never been an issue in the past, and I'm a bit befuddled as to why it is now. I have noticed that Snow Leopard seems to be a bit fussier than prior versions in relocating OS X's included apps to other locations. Anywho… appreciate the suggestions. I'll double-check my permissions on those subfolders to be sure that isn't the problem.

Thanks for the update. It’s true that certain apps, particularly (but not exclusively) Apple’s, require to be at the top level of the Applications (or Utilities) folder to work properly or at all. Sometimes the only issue is an inability to see or install updates when the app is tucked away elsewhere (MS Office comes to mind). This limitation caused quite some comments by users transitioning from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X, and you show that it can still be an issue.

Never move Apple apps from their original installed locations. As you see it can cause issues and often can prevent them from being updated properly as new versions are released.

My rule of thumb, well, what I think is correct:

• If the application is installed with an installer, then for sure do not move it from where it is resident.
• If the application is merely a Drag & Drop, then it may be installed/dropped anywhere (well, within reason). But if you go this route, subsequent updaters may not be able to find it. But even this may be a mute point, as most drag & drop app updaters are replaced/updated in toto.

Conclusion: Follow Kevin's advice.

If only everyone would follow that rule.

....oh and btw, it's moot, not mute.

Most immutably so.

I put apps in my home folder in ~/Applications whenever possible, but I often have to move them temporarily to /Applications for updates.

I don't like installers that only let you select what volume to install to, and don't let you pick the folder...