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#1 |
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Major Leaguer
Join Date: May 2002
Location: atl, ga, usa
Posts: 356
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While looking through my ~/Library/Preferences folder, I noticed many [over 300] folders with very strange names, each of which seemed to be emtpy. I have put them in my Trash, but not emptied Trash yet. I was wondering:
1. if anyone had seen this before 2. are they safe to delete 3. are they a sign of something I should watch out for [security probs, corrupt disk, whatever] Here's a link to a small JPG screen capture of some of the folders. It's a representative sample: http://mooncaine.net/Imagery/strange_prefs.jpg Thanks, --moonie |
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#2 |
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League Commissioner
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 8,527
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I'm sure an odd empty preference folder would be safe to delete.
I'd like to look at your sample, but the site appears to be protected, and doesn't give permission for others to view it. Maybe you could simply paste the .jpg directly into your post. |
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#3 |
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MVP
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Bangkok
Posts: 1,626
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Try to enable/show invisible folders and files, then open the folders and see if there is anything inside.
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#4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Major Leaguer
Join Date: May 2002
Location: atl, ga, usa
Posts: 356
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How does one enable/show nvisible folders and files? Could I just skip that and look at them in Terminal? I guess typing those folder names might be impossible in Terminal .... |
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#5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Major Leaguer
Join Date: May 2002
Location: atl, ga, usa
Posts: 356
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Thanks for trying to take a look; sorry about that protection. Last edited by osxpounder; 09-18-2006 at 03:45 AM. Reason: Think I fixed a prob with a URL I referred to [image] |
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#6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MVP
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Cumbria, UK
Posts: 2,461
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Here's a thread reporting a similar experience that was traced to a Epson TWAIN driver installed with Photoshop. Each time Photoshop launched a preferences folder was created. Different folder names though ...
Probably best to identify the culprit.
It is probably some application/plugin you've installed that is creating them. Check the dates on the folders - does the oldest one correlate with when you installed something? Also try launching apps and seeing if a new folder is created by one of them. |
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#7 |
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MVP
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Bangkok
Posts: 1,626
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Looks like the folder names are in another language, but not displaying correctly. Just an observation.
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#8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Major Leaguer
Join Date: May 2002
Location: atl, ga, usa
Posts: 356
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You think maybe it'd be worth attaching a folder action that watches for new folders [assuming that's possible], so I could get a notification only when a new folder is created in ~/Library/Preferences? |
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#9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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MVP
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Cumbria, UK
Posts: 2,461
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Sounds good - you can just use the 'default script' - that is '/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/add - new item alert.scpt' You can also type 'cd ' into a Terminal window but before pressing enter, drag one of the folders into the Terminal window and you should get the right path appear. That would enable you to search for invisible files. Last edited by bramley; 09-18-2006 at 03:32 PM. |
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#10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Major Leaguer
Join Date: May 2002
Location: atl, ga, usa
Posts: 356
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Done and done! Thanks for the Terminal tip. Over the next few days I'll poke all the programs I used recently and see what pops up. |
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