I just downloaded a student version of Maya 2016 yesterday. When I opend it this morning and tried to open preferences from Maya >Preferences (on mac) I got an error

// Error: A permanent scriptJob cannot be killed.

I went to window > preferences and this opened the window. However, the save and cancel buttons don't work anymore.

I also noticed that the focus seems to be stuck on a certain menu item. for example, when I go back to windows > preferencs, it's stil highlighted.

The preferences are still being changed. Its just a bit irritating. any ideas of how i can fix this?

complete uninstall, delete any left over files. Reinstall.

I deleted everything and downloaded a fresh copy yesterday It does the same thing. Now I'm not sure the settings are being saved.

I use windows, so I had to Google this. See if it works: /Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/2015/prefs

Here is the link: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/Maya/files/PC-Save-preferences-htm.html

I had the same problem with a older Maya, it isn't unique. There should be other solutions on the internet.