iMovie 6 & iDVD: The Missing Manual

General iMovie Troubleshooting

Let’s start general, shall we?

Weird Inconsistent Problems

When a program’s preferences file becomes scrambled, all kinds of peculiar behavior can result. Buttons and functions don’t work. Visual anomalies appear. Things just don’t work right.

If iMovie starts having a bad hair day, suspect its preferences file. Quit the program, open your Home → Library → Preferences folder, and throw away the file called com.apple.iMovie.plist.

The next time you run iMovie, it will automatically build a new preferences file. This file will have the original factory settings (for the options in, for example, the Preferences dialog box), but at least it will be healthy and whole.

Note

The same advice applies to iDVD. If the program begins flaking out on you, unexpectedly quitting or otherwise acting odd, open your Home → Library → Preferences folder, and throw away the file called com.apple.iDVD.plist.

Keeping Your Hard Disk Happy

Remember the old expression, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy”? Well, if your hard disk isn’t happy, iMovie won’t be happy, either.

Here’s a short list of maintenance suggestions. A little attention every week or so may help keep minor hard drive problems from becoming major problems.

• After installing or updating any software, use Disk Utility to Repair Permissions. (Disk Utility is in your Applications → Utilities folder. Click the First Aid tab, click your hard drive, and then click Repair Permissions.)

• Mac OS X runs three behind-the-scenes ...