Hundreds of app preferences are hidden away in ~/Library/Preferences and elsewhere. What do they contain, how do they work, and how can they crash an app before it’s even running fully?
cfprefsd
First we repaired disk permissions, until SIP made that impossible. Then we reset user permissions until Apple withdrew that advice. Next we ran repairHomePermissions in Recovery. Should you still use that?
Repairing permissions has a long history in Mac OS X. The permissions concerned have changed over the years, and it’s no longer what it once was.
Why changing a property list in Preferences may not change that setting, and how you may not be able to throw the file away.
launchd, LaunchServices, RunningBoard, TCC, CFPrefsd, and other macOS services that manage and control your apps.
Before you try editing or trashing that preference file, ask whether macOS in the form of cfprefsd isn’t going to undo your work.
They’re XML, structured into dictionaries and arrays containing key-value pairs. Preference plists are managed, and need special treatment.
UserDefaults and cfprefsd manage the preference system, an amorphous database spread across hundreds of files which can only be controlled in Terminal. It’s time for a change.
Something wrong with the Finder or an app, and you want to trash its preferences? Don’t: macOS will defeat you. Here’s how to do that so it works.
When nothing seems able to get that preference setting right, don’t abandon hope – follow this instead.
The Eclectic Light Company 