If you are using Mac OS X, you will need to rebuild the desktop only if you are using the Classic environment. It's not necessary to restart your computer or install any extra utilities to do the rebuild. Instead, follow these instructions:

From the Apple menu, select System Preferences... . In System Preferences, from the View menu, select Classic.

In the Classic system preference pane, click the Advanced tab.

Click the Rebuild Desktop button.
How to rebuild your desktop on a Mac OS computer other than OS X

To rebuild your Mac OS computer's desktop, start or restart the computer while pressing the Option and Cmd keys. Keep these keys depressed all the way through the booting process until the computer asks if you are sure you want to rebuild the desktop. Click Yes.

Note: If you have Mac OS 9 and are using Multiple Users, to rebuild the desktop, press the Option and Cmd keys immediately after you enter your password to log in.

What this does for your computer

Rebuilding your desktop refreshes the associations between programs and the files created by them, so that you can start a program by double-clicking files created by it. It also refreshes the assignments between files or applications and the icons associated with them. To put it another way, the Desktop file is a map of the contents of your hard drive; rebuilding the desktop redraws the map.

If some of your files show up with generic icons or you can't launch a program by clicking a file created by it, rebuilding your desktop can help.

Rebuilding your desktop can also repair some kinds of damage to your directory, which is the information that tells where files are located on the disk. If some of your files are not showing up on your desktop, rebuilding the desktop can sometimes fix this.

You should rebuild your desktop at least once a month to keep your system running smoothly.

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