a bunch of weird Finder problems -- please help

[Brian Wolven]

Gregg Dinse wrote:
> On Jan 23, 2008, at 9:17 PM, Arno Hautala wrote:
> 
>> On 2008/01/23, at 21:11, Gregg Dinse wrote:
>>
>>> 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

Cmd-n, Cmd-n, Cmd-n

>>> 4. there were 2 "untitled" new folders in my home directory

Cmd-up, Cmd-n

>>> 5. the Finder was in Cover Flow view instead of Column view

Cmd-4 (? - don't have Lepoard yet, just guessing...)

>>> 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.
>>
>> Just one question...
>> Do you have a cat?
>>
>> Seriously though, given all those items this really sounds like 
>> someone was on your computer.
> 
> Well, that was my first thought.  My wife is the only one with physical 
> access to my computer and my first reaction was to ask her if she was 
> messing with my computer.  She said no.  She said that she was working 
> on her computer (in the same room) and noticed my screen saver go off at 
> some point.  She said my desktop looked different, but that she did not 
> touch anything.
> 
> We have 3 cats, but the cats are locked out of that part of the house.  
> I know you are joking, but even if a cat got into the room, most (if not 
> all) of these things could not be done by even the smartest and most 
> agile of cats.

Well, items 3-5 could easily have been feline generated. The rest are a 
bit more difficult. iPoltergeist?