I've tried to fix this by addressing .parentlock issue through console and also by removing preference files, but in doing so the latter, lose vital info. I don't have much experience with Terminal. I put all files back in their original places until I know what I'm doing. I've also read we can turn on invisible files and look for the parentlock file that's evidently the culprit. No luck finding that, however. It sounds like there are different options to fix this problem. I'm looking for the safest! Can you help point me in the right direction we don't lose our bookmarks, passwords, etc.? Thanks in advance! The machine is a macbook pro running os 7.6. It's not the machine I'm contacting you through. Vince