Rebuilding the Mac OS X Desktop Database

Occasionally, you may see problems with the LaunchServices database on your OS X Mac. The symptoms may include your operating system trying to open MacVector files within a different application, such as ScriptEditor, or it may display an error message such as "MacVector cannot be launched because it may be damaged or incomplete".

If you're a long-time Mac user, you may have previously encountered this type of problem on OS 9 and fixed it by rebuilding the "desktop database" by holding down the <command> + <option> keys while rebooting and waiting for the "Are you sure you want to rebuild the Desktop file" dialog to appear. The equivalent approach on OSX involves rebuilding the Launch Services registry using the command line application "lsregister". You do this by opening a Terminal window and typing or pasting in the following command:

/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Frameworks/ LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

Then restart your mac and try launching MacVector. A thread that discusses the lsregister command is available here:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031215144430486

If rebuilding the global Launch Services database using the lsregister command doesn't help, then the next step is to delete the "com.apple.LaunchServices.plist" file located in your Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/ folder. Then restart your mac and try launching MacVector. This approach should force the Launch Services database for your specific user account to be rebuilt.

For tutorials and other downloads, please go to Downloads page.

To communicate with a live human body knowledgable in all technical aspects of MacVector and Assembler, please call or email:

support@macvector.com

(919) 303-7450

(866) 338-0222

support@macvector.com

+44 (0) 1223 410 552

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