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Old 09-17-2006, 08:44 PM   #1
osxpounder
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Question Are these weird Preferences folders safe to delete?

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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Old 09-17-2006, 09:04 PM   #2
DeltaMac
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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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Old 09-18-2006, 12:02 AM   #3
ThreeBKK
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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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Old 09-18-2006, 03:16 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThreeBKK
Try to enable/show invisible folders and files, then open the folders and see if there is anything inside.

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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Old 09-18-2006, 03:20 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DeltaMac
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.

Thanks for trying to take a look; sorry about that protection. Just got my first domain and didn't realize that was set... I think I fixed it, but just in case, I attached the JPG to this post.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	strange_prefs.jpg
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ID:	1448  

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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Old 09-18-2006, 04:54 AM   #6
bramley
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Quote:
Originally Posted by osxpounder
1. if anyone had seen this before

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 ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by osxpounder
2. are they safe to delete

Probably best to identify the culprit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by osxpounder
3. are they a sign of something I should watch out for [security probs, corrupt disk, whatever]

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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Old 09-18-2006, 06:42 AM   #7
ThreeBKK
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Looks like the folder names are in another language, but not displaying correctly. Just an observation.
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Old 09-18-2006, 03:03 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bramley
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.

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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Old 09-18-2006, 03:29 PM   #9
bramley
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Quote:
Originally Posted by osxpounder
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?

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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Old 09-18-2006, 03:44 PM   #10
osxpounder
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bramley
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.

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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