ExXB, thanks for the response.
The gmail address is our Apple ID. It has been so for several years without activating Facetime and iMessage. These are apps we have never tried to use. The mystery is what changed a few weeks ago to activate these two apps without any known action from us?
We regularly run Disk Utility. I ran it again on our iMac after reading your response. The HD checked out fine, as it always does. Permissions repair provided the following:
Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD” Permissions differ on “Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/Safari.help/Contents/Resources/index.html”; should be lrwxr-xr-x ; they are -rwxr-xr-x .Repaired “Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/Safari.help/Contents/Resources/index.html”Warning: SUID file “System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent” has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions repair complete
Permissions repair on our Macbook Air which also runs on 10.9.5 gave this:
Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD” Permissions differ on “System/Library/CoreServices/Feedback Assistant.app”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .Repaired “System/Library/CoreServices/Feedback Assistant.app”Warning: SUID file “System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent” has been modified and will not be repaired.Permissions differ on “Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/Safari.help/Contents/Resources/index.html”; should be lrwxr-xr-x ; they are -rwxr-xr-x .Repaired “Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/Safari.help/Contents/Resources/index.html”Group differs on “Library/Printers/InstalledPrinters.plist”; should be 80; group is 0.Permissions differ on “Library/Printers/InstalledPrinters.plist”; should be -rw-rw-rw- ; they are -rw-r--r-- .Repaired “Library/Printers/InstalledPrinters.plist”
Permissions repair complete
Sometimes the additional repairs shown for the MB Air also happen with the iMac. As before, the generic icons still occasionally show for items saved on the iMac's Desktop. The occasional generic icons issue has not appeared on the MB Air.
The What’s New notes with the recent upgrade to Firefox 48.0 advise:
“Starting with the Firefox version 49 release, so long to support for 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8. Now we can focus on where most Mac users are: 10.9. Don't forget to upgrade!”
Apple must agree there are many Mavericks users as it fully supports them. On 18 July I installed Security Update 2016-004 Version 10.9.5, Safari 9.1.2 and iTunes 12.4.2 on both the iMac and the MB Air.
We have been satisfied with Mavericks. It has worked fine for 2.5 years on the MB Air. It was also good on the iMac until I made the regrettable change to Yosemite. After changing back - a major task - Mavericks worked fine for a year until a few weeks ago when this strange event happened. This has not happened again but we wonder why it did and if there is any significance to it and the occasional appearance of generic icons for documents saved on the iMac's Desktop.