a bunch of weird Finder problems -- please help

[Gregg Dinse]

Hi,

When I got home from work today, my PowerMac G5 (running 10.5.1) was  
in a very weird state.  Here is a list of some of the problems:

1. several windows were open that were not open earlier
2. some file icons on my desktop were re-arranged
3. there were 3 "untitled" new folders created on my desktop
4. there were 2 "untitled" new folders in my home directory
5. the Finder was in Cover Flow view instead of Column view
6. Toast was open, but it was not running earlier
7. my 9-GB Pictures folder was copied to my Music folder
8. a folder called Fonts, which had been in my home directory,
was moved to my Downloads folder
9. an icon of my computer was shown in the Device section
of the Sidebar, but it had not been there before

There was a panel open and asking for my Admin password to make  
changes in the Finder.  I clicked cancel since I had no idea what  
actions it was waiting to process.

These are only the problems that I have noticed so far.  I have no  
idea how many other (less obvious) things have changed since this  
morning.

The 3 things that I can think of that might possibly be relevant are:

A. I performed a software update last night.  I think it installed 3  
things, such as updates to iTunes and 2 other similar things.  That  
reminds me of another problem, though I noticed that last night right  
after the update.  In System Preferences, if I click on Software  
Update, I get the usual panel with 2 tabs at the top.  The first says  
Scheduled Check and the other says Installed Updates.  After updating  
last night, I clicked on Installed Updates and it was (and still is)  
empty.  Not any of the 3 updates from last night, or any previous  
updates (such as 10.5.1) are listed.  Is anyone else having this  
problem?

B. I run Time Machine.  It has been running for almost a month and I  
have not noticed any problems with it, though I pretty much just set  
it up and forgot about it.

C. My wife and I both use the same brand of cordless mouse, but I have  
been doing this for about 2 weeks and have not noticed any problems.   
I was worried at first that her mouse actions might affect my system,  
but that does not appear to be the case.

I have been doing Time Machine backups to another internal drive.  It  
looks like this stuff happened about 4-5 hours ago.  I guess I could  
use Time Machine to restore my computer to the state it was in this  
morning, but I hate to try this if it turns out that Time Machine is  
the cause of these problems.

Has anyone seen similar problems?  Does anyone have any helpful  
suggestions?  Thanks,

Gregg