[xubuntu-users] WTF: workspace switcher stopped working

[Kevin O'Gorman]

On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 2:30 AM, Kevin O'Gorman <kogorman at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've installed xubuntu-desktop on my natty system, and have been
> checking it out for a month or so. But I did a reboot today and things
> are not right.
>
> My workspace switcher shows only one workspace, even though the
> settings show 8.  Deleting the switcher from the panel and starting a
> new one did not change this.
>
> My application windows have no manager decorations: maximize,
> minimize, or goAway.  I can resize the windows by dragging the lower
> right corner, but cannot move them.  And just now resizing Firefox
> seems to have made it crash.
>
> I see no difference between an xfce session and an xubuntu session.
> I'm not sure what difference there should be, since I was just using
> the xubuntu sessions up to this.
>
> Going back to an Ubuntu session has none of these problems.
>
> What did I do wrong?  What can I do to fix it?
>
> --
> Kevin O'Gorman, PhD

I can add: in all cases when I log in, my desktop shows all the
folders in my home directory.  It never did that before.  I just had 3
icons: filesystem, trash and one other.

Now here's a confession:
1) I've been cleaning up my home directory.  But not fooling with dotfiles.
2) I created a new user, and none of the above is true for that user.

Item 2 suggests a quick fix, but I'd still like to know what I did wrong.
-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD