Mac OS 9: Brief Delay When Desktop First Appears

At system startup time, when the desktop first appears, the Finder appears to "freeze" for a brief period. For example, you cannot open a menu from the menu bar.

Solution

There are two reasons this may occur: if an alias of the hard disk is put into the Apple Menu items, or if a file server volume is opening at startup time.

Alias of Hard Disk in Apple Menu Items

If an alias of the hard disk is placed in the Apple Menu Items folder, the Finder must index the hard disk and build the menu for every item it finds. This can take a long time depending on the number of items and directory structure of the hard disk.

To prevent the delay at startup time, remove the hard disk alias.

File Server Opens at Startup Time

The brief delay may occur while the computer is attempting to connect to the file server volume(s) that you have chosen to automatically open at system startup time. Turning off this feature eliminates the brief delay.

If the server volume is available on the network, follow this procedure to no longer have it opened automatically at system startup time:

1. Connect to the network.

2. Open the Chooser.

3. Click the AppleShare icon to select it.

4. Log on to the AppleShare file server containing the volume(s) you no longer wish to open at system startup time.

5. Click the appropriate checkbox to deselect the volume(s) you no longer wish to open at system startup time (see Figure 1).

6. Click OK.

7. Close the Chooser.

Figure 1 The checked volume will open automatically at system startup time

If the server volume is not available on the network, follow this procedure to no longer have it opened automatically at system startup time:

1. Open your computer's startup disk.

2. Open the System Folder.

3. Open the Servers folder.

4. Locate the alias(es) of the file server volume(s) you no longer wish to open at system startup time.

5. Drag the alias(es) to the Trash.