Greetings GanBustein and Artie. Thank you (and everyone else) for all your help and great suggestions. This is the first chance I've had to get back to town and to an internet hot spot.
Reasoned that a restore from Time Machine may not fix the Finder problem, because it might restore a corrupt .plist or other file. So I decided to re-install the OS from the system disc, as suggested.
That worked beautifully for fixing Finder, but as you can imagine, due to software update incompatibilities, the iLife programs stopped working (Pages, Numbers, Keynote). I understand the problem and am working the solution, as I write: the OS is now 10.6 (Snow Leopard, as you know), but the iLife apps, drivers, etc. are all 10.6.8. That is not too painful. Compared with my experience with Windows boxes, Mac has been a snap and a joy.
Your further efforts are not wasted. Because of them I've gleaned so much and understand so much better the Mac's internals and Terminal's importance and advantages. Thank you again.
Thank you, too, for you kind compliments. I appreciate them.
Regarding the catalog problem: I verified the disc just prior to contacting FTM the first time - no problems. Will Verify again after Software Update. I use MacKeeper for antivirus and system maintenance, but I've noticed my machine still runs a little slower than it did a year or two years ago. Can you suggest anything which may speed up the boot process? Also, usually shut-down is fast, but occasionally, especially after installing a program or any update requiring me to enter the admin password, shut-down is slow.
Now I know where to turn for the best Mac help available on line. I am grateful for FTM as a whole.
Artie, I did not understand this line: "...so I'll bow to ganbustein's not having called you out." Called out for what? I'm probably misinterpreting this. Perhaps, I missed a post. I looked, but did not find anything to help me understand.
All the best to you all,
JCLover
