Mysterious file in trash containing null chars

in my trash appears a mysterious file. ive made some screenshots of it:
http://home.arcor.de/matthiascando/images/finderError1.png
http://home.arcor.de/matthiascando/images/finderError2.png
it resists any attempts to empty the trash. when i click on it, it disappers only to show up some seconds later again.
i did a rm -rf ~/.Trash - no result. with ls -al ~/.Trash/ it doesnt appear in the terminal.
i tried to create a new account but after a while (a day or so) the file is there again.
has anybody an idea what to do or some experience?

Do you happen to have "show hidden files" enabled? I once had the same problem- a file continually appeared on my desktop and right after deleting it, it would reappear. I then remembered that I had used Onyx to show me hidden files during the installation of some software, and I had never hid them again. That may be one of those hidden files.

Similar Messages

Mysterious File in Trash after emptied.

After I empty my trash there is a mysterious file that appears. I try to move it and it disappears, I try to Copy and paste and it asks for my password then disappears. Two separate file names show up at different times. L2QQU6rVMLLrm6 and ntDu9OqOifdnlP .
Also, after I add one item to trash and empty (secure or regular) it shows its emptying 6 items.
hmmm. this is a new issue and Im freaked. am I being hacked?

element619 wrote:
Thanks, But I dont have bootcamp installed...no windows. I restarted and it doesnt seem to be happening at the moment. do you think someone could have been on my computer?
no, I do not think that. do you have any external drives attached? those files might be from an external and you need to empy trash with that drive attached to get rid of them. also start disk utility and verify your hard drive. if it reports any damage, reboot from the leopard install DVD, start disk utility from the Utilities menu and repair the drive.

Mystery File in Trash and Locked Disks

Hi all,
Have some weirdness going on with my system. First, I have a mystery file appearing in my trash that can not be identified. It appeared about the same time as I started having problems with three of my external drives that I can not access anymore.
The file is named ␀␀␀÷␀␀.÷␀ . It says that it is an alias as type. If you try to get info, it disappears. It will not trash or secure trash. It can not be removed from the Trash folder.
At the same time I have had three external drives start malfunctioning. The files first became unaccessible, could not be copies or delete. The drives would not allow new files to be added. The drive will not unmount and indicates that the drive is engage with an application. Then, the file completely vanish from view. The disk show zero items, but the disk size still indicates the files are still on the drive.
I've use DiskWarrior and DriveGenius to try and repair one of the drives with no success. Even booting from the CD/DVD disk, the drives will not unmount.
I hope this is not some kind of virus or trojan horse.
Let me know if there is something I can do.
Thanks

Take a look at this topic: NUL file in Trash won't go away.
You'll almost certainly find this file is in the Trash on a Windows volume, and you'll need to use Windows to get rid of it.

Mystery file in trash at startup

Hi!
I have this mysterious file in the trash every time I turned the iMac. It has been going on for a while now and I can't get rid of it. Even secure empty trash did not work. When I click on get info, instead of giving me information about the file like all other files do, this one blinks and then disappears and the trash gets emptied. This is the filename ␀␀␀õ␀␀.␀␀ I hope you can read the filename. I even copied the file to pages and made it bigger but this is how it came out when pasting. Under the kind column it says alias. I cannot find this file anywhere in the computer. I have also ran disk utility. Does anyone know what kind of file this is and how to get it rid of it permanently. Thanks.

You might try starting up from your Mac OS X installation disc; at the first Installer screen, go up to the menu bar. Under Utilities, select to run Disk Utility. In the sidebar, select the internal drive; select the drive, not the volume indented under the drive. Go to the +First Aid+ tab and run +Repair Disk+. If there is some minor data corruption causing this problem, +Repair Disk+ may fix it.
If you decide to start using another user account, I would probably use the Shared folder (in the Users folder). Turn ON +fast user switching+ so that I can easily go back and forth between accounts. Then move the files and folders I wanted to move from the old account to the Shared folder. Then switch to the new account and move those files and folders to the equivalent locations in the new account home folder. Do this one user home folder sub-folder at a time.
Note: Dragging files and folders to and from the Shared folder is a move, not a copy. That is, the files will appear at the new location and disappear from the previous location.
If you use Time Machine, you can probably use Migration Assistant while logged in to the new account and migrate from the Time Machine archive. I've never done that myself, but migrating from Time Machine is one of the options.

Mystery file in trash

Hello,
A few days ago, after i emptied the trash, I noticed it still had "paper" in it. When I clicked on it, on the bottom it said there was "1 item" but I didn't see any files in the trash. It's not a pressing matter, but I would just like to know how to delete it.

Do you know if the file is on your HD or an external one?
Have done search of discussions, have a look & see if helps.
http://discussions.apple.com/search.jspa?threadID=&q=deletefile+fromtrash&objID=&dateRange=last90days&userID=&numResults=15&rankBy=10001

Strange Null file in Trash that wont delete.

I have a strange file in my Trash that I can't delete. It has a name of "␀␀␀␀␀␀␀.␀␀␀". It appears as if all the characters are Null.
These are the actions I have taken:
1. Using Tech Tool Pro, performed file system check. Now problems found.
2. Using Terminal, changed directory to .Trash, performed ls -A and no files were found.
3. Attempted a delete (rm) of all files in trash. No luck. File remains.
4. When I select file and do a Get Info, the file disappears and the Trash Icon shows empty, but opening the trash again brings this strange file back.
5. Tried renaming the file but the rename fails with an error -43.
6. I booted from another disk and rand Disk utility which found and corrected incorrect file count problem. Still the file persists, and the verify of the disk now returns no errors.
7. Ran verify disk permissions. No problems found.
I believe the file first appeared after installing Leopard 10.5.3 update, but I'm not sure if this is related.
Any help would be appreciated.
Jeff Cameron

Thank you! That was it.
Although my Windows Partition is FAT32 instead of NTFS, after booting XP, I found a null file in C:\.Trashes\501\. I could not delete it there either. My next step was to run CHKDSK C: /F, which converted the 501 folder into a file, which I could delete.
Booting back into OSX, the null file was now gone.
Thanks again for your help.
Jeff

Returning files in trash file to original location

Trash contains a huge number of files. They have not been deleted
through the TRash Delete function.
I want to know how I can return these files to their original location
without moving each file by a manual approach. Does OSX preserve the original location when the file is put in the Trash bin?
thank you
Bil

Welcome to Apple Discussions Bil.
Does OSX preserve the original location when the file is put in the Trash bin?
No, only so for the most recently trashed file can you undo that move.
One of the small(?) annoyances of people used to Windows is the absence of the the Restore function in Mac's Trash, as they expect it to be like window's Recycle bin.
Unfortunately it is not a recycle bin but a trash can, so you cannot automatically undelete a trashed file (apart from the most recent one).
There is one suggestion to create a special folder to put your doubtful files in before your decide to trash them, though that still does not give you the ability to return them automatically to whence from.
You had better get them out of the trash if you want them, lest you lose them, but regrettable you'll have to replace them back manually - or reinstall the application might be easier if that is applicable.
Sorry there is no solution to your problem.
Message was edited by: roam

Odd recovered files in trash

Not sure if I should post this here or in the MBP forum...
On bootup a couple of days ago, I found another "recovered files" folder in the trash on my MBP; I usually look at the contents and simply empty the trash, but when I checked it this time, it had a strange sub folder "tempfolder aaa" which contains the following:
DPLib, IMLLib, MacromediaRuntime Lib, ProjLib (all shared libraries) and a folder "xtras" with:
Animated GIF Asset, Buddy API OSX Xtra, Font Asset PPC, Font Xtra PPC, TextAsset PPC, and TextXtra PPC (all Final Cut Express plugin files, version 9.0 Director MX).
I've since done a search on all of these, but can't find anything. The one thing they all seem to have in common is the "version 9.0 Director MX". I do have FCE installed, but have not used it at all. The only thing I did at the time these files apparently went into the trash was to uninstall my Epson printer because I purchased a new one. I uninstalled the same printer on my iMac and did not get any of these strange files in the trash.
I'm hesitant to empty the trash because they are all libraries and some are FCE plugins. The MBP seems to be working fine, but I haven't had a need to really use any application in the last few days.
Any helpful suggestions are much appreciated!

Hi Barbara,
This from the Apple Help Viewer.
*If Trash contains “Recovered Files”*
One or more Recovered Files folders may appear in your Trash after restarting your computer.
The recovered files are temporary files used by Mac OS X applications. Usually temporary files are deleted by an application when it no longer needs them. If an application quits unexpectedly, the temporary files may not be deleted by the application. When you restart your computer, Mac OS X moves these temporary files to the Trash.
You can retrieve useful files by dragging them out of the Trash. In most cases, however, the temporary files are not important and it is safe to empty your Trash. Check with the manufacturer of the application if you are not sure.
Carolyn

Wsusscn2.cab file does not contain information of the Bulletins released in November.

MS released 16 new bulletins this November on Patch Tuesday.
However all our attempts to acquire any of the new patches failed.
Our initial investigation shows that information for these bulletins has not been added to wsusscn2.cab . we are completely dependent on this file for all the bulletin information and at this moment it appears that this cab file
has not been updated with the latest information. Extraction of the cab file shows that the last updated date if the internal files is 27th/28thOctober.
There is a package.xml file in the cab and that file would normally contain URL’s for the new patches.
I noticed the year and the month url’s only up until the last month. There are no entries for the month of November. Hence the patch acquisition cannot find information related
to the new bulletins

Hello,
The TechNet Wiki Forum is a place for the TechNet Wiki Community to engage, question, organize, debate, help, influence and foster the TechNet Wiki content, platform and Community.
Please note that this forum exists to discuss TechNet Wiki as a technology/application.
As it's off-topic here, I am moving the question to the
Where is the forum for... forum.
Karl
When you see answers and helpful posts, please click Vote As Helpful, Propose As Answer, and/or Mark As Answer.
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Null in Composite Primary Key and "Primary keys must not contain null"

Hello all.
I'm a newbie concerning to JPA/EJB3, but I was wondering if toplinks doesn't support composite primary keys with null in some field (something perfectly right in any RDBMS).
I used JDeveloper (I'm using Oracle 10g database and JDeveloper 10.1.3.2.) wizards to generate JPA classes and I checked out generated files (with annotations), so they should be right (by the way, other O-R mappings for my model are working right, but this one).
I'm getting the next error:
Exception Description: The primary key read from the row [DatabaseRecord(
     TSUBGRUPOSLDI.CD_GRUP => 01
     TSUBGRUPOSLDI.CD_SUBGRUP => null
     TSUBGRUPOSLDI.CG_POBL => 058
     TSUBGRUPOSLDI.CG_PROV => 28
     TSUBGRUPOSLDI.DSCR => Sanidad)] during the execution of the query was detected to be null. Primary keys must not contain null.
Compound primary key is (CD_GRUP, CD_SUBGRUP). No foreign keys, no joins (only a NamedQuery: "select o from ..."). It's the simplest case!
I checked out that everything runs ok if there's no "null" value in CD_SUBGRUP.
After some research (this and other forums) I'm beginning to believe that it's not supported, but not sure.
Am I doing sth wrong? If not, what is the reason to not support this? Will it be supported in the future?
Thanks in advance.

Null is a special value and in many databases is not comparable to another null value (hence the isNull operator) and may pose problems when used to uniquely identify an Entity. TopLink does not support null values within a composite PK. As the nullable column is most likely not designated as a PK within your database table (many databases do not allow this) I recommend updating the Entity PKs to match that of the database.
--Gordon

After OS X reboot - temp file in Trash

Please bear with me if this has been asked before concerning Dreamweaver CS4 (I saw an older post relevant to Dreamweaver CS3, but there was no real resolution).
Situation:
I purchased, downloaded and installed Dreamweaver CS4 onto my Mac Pro (early 2008) desktop running OS X (10.5.8). The installation, registration and loading of Dreamweaver was successful and proceeded as expected. I then rebooted my machine and noticed that the Trash was not empty as it had been prior to reboot. I checked the trash and found a 'Recovered Files' folder containing a file named '_xx41a7.TMP' inside. I placed this file on the Desktop and double-clicked it which resulted in Dreamweaver loading to a blank document workspace.
Note - it is my understanding that OS X moves temp files that were not deleted when a program either crashes or does not quit properly.
Attempted procedures:
In order to troubleshoot my thought that Dreamweaver was the program in question, I performed a clean install of OS X (including updating it to 10.5.8 and installing all updates via Software Update). I then installed just Dreamweaver > launched and then quit Dreamweaver > rebooted. This resulted in the same named file being placed in the Trash about 2 seconds after reaching the Desktop.
I tried a third test where I restored to the most recent Time Machine backup prior to performing the original Dreamweaver install and then installed Dreamweaver along with the additional software options during the install process in case a component was needed for the temp file to be handled correctly. Unfortunately, the result was the same with the '_xx41a7.TMP' file being placed in the Trash after reboot.
System Specs:
Mac Pro desktop (early 2008)
OS X (10.5.8) with all updates
Current installed software:
Photoshop CS4
Illustrator CS4
Bridge CS4
Exchange CS4
Office 2008 (Home and Student)
iLife '09
iWork '09
Aperture 2
Painter X.1
SketchBook Pro
TechTool Deluxe (AppleCare provided)
Stuff It Expander 2009
World Book 2009
I was hoping that there is a setting in preferences or elsewhere that can be set to prevent the constant need to delete this file each time I boot the machine if Dreamweaver has been loaded (this does not happen if Dreamweaver is not loaded prior to reboot).
Note - I am new to Dreamweaver, but old to Photoshop and Illustrator.
Thanks in advance for any help offered.

Randy,
Thanks for the reply and I apologize for not responding sooner.
I did in fact close down all programs before shutdown or reboot (have been for quite a few years now). I also performed a search for said file using the basic searchlight function in OS X, but I have not gone to the trouble of running a terminal command to show all files in finder and I suspect this particular file is normally hidden.
I also looked under 'Preferences/Preview in Browser' and saw that the 'Use temporary files..' was already deselected by default. I tried enabling the option by placing a check mark and then relaunching Dreamweaver and then closing the program, but after reboot the same result with the temp file in Trash. I then tried disabling the option and relaunching Dreamweaver and then closing, but again after reboot the same.
Of note: I have upon three occasions had an empty 'Entourage' folder in the 'Trash/Recovered Files' folder as well. These were times when I had launched Entourage prior to launching Dreamweaver and then closing both before rebooting. Entourage never displayed this behaviour prior to installing Dreamweaver CS4. Not sure what to make of it.
I have yet to hear back from Adobe Support where I placed a case three days ago via the Adobe Support page.
Obviously not a huge deal, but it would seem that this particular piece of software either has a bug or has uncovered a bug in OS X or Office 2008. I tend to lean towards it being Dreamweaver as all my other software never displayed this type of behavior from the first day each was originally installed (all about as old as the original release dates and all patched with the latest updates available).
Does anyone have an idea what function the '_xx41a7.TMP' file serves? It is always the same name, so I am thinking it serves a specific purpose for Dreamweaver.
One other item that may or may not be relevant. I ran a test where I left the temp file in the trash and rebooted and then relaunched Dreamweaver, which resulted in Dreamweaver taking at least 30 seconds to fully load (the application frame loaded in the usual 1 - 2 seconds, but the content of all toolbars, panels and welcome screen took the 30 seconds or more to load). I ran the test a second time and the time improved slightly, but still around 25 seconds total.
After the above testing, I deleted the files (Recovered Files & Recovered Files #1 - both of which had a copy of the same '_xx41a7.TMP' file). This returned the launch time to the usual 5 -7 seconds to load program including welcome screen content.
BTW - I mistakenly listed 'Exchange CS4' in the software list in opening post, which should be 'Extension Manager CS4' (just for accuracy).

Sound Buzz when transferring file from Trash to desktop

I get the occasional Sound Buzz when transferring file from Trash to desktop
Its a Short "grounding" buzz similar to slowly plugging an electric guitar when the amp is on, but its loud !
I am just using the internal sound,

Brett - thanks for that input, but as stated in my original post this happens whether I do the copy within Finder, or from inside Bridge.
Your note did inspire me to try one thing though: I UN-checked my Bridge preference to export caches to folders when possible, then I went to the folder I was trying to move (on the NAS) and did Tools > Cache > Purge Cache. I found that if the folder contained only files and no other folders, then I could move the folder to my desktop. However, if the folder in question had nested folders, then I still run into the same conflict.
Question: since this conflict does not happen when moving a folder from one computer to another computer (but only from the NAS to a computer), I'm not sure how your logic holds when you say "Bridge is trying to cache the files you are moving and creates a ".BridgeCacheT" file before the remote version is copied"
To answer your other question, we use AFP or at least is says "afp://server.local" when we connect. My apologies for not being an expert on this. The icon of the NAS on the desktop looks like the icons for the other computers.
Thanks, I'm still trying to solve this. It's really become a major problem for us as we now have to drag files individually (rather than by folder) when we want to do something with them. -- Jim

Suddenly I can't move files to trash, whe I try to drag them to it there is a cirle with a diagonal line across. HELP!

Suddenly I can't move files to trash, whe I try to drag them to it there is a cirle with a diagonal line across. HELP!

Back up all data. Don't continue unless you're sure you can restore from a backup, even if you're unable to log in.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership and access-control lists to the default. If you've set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it.
Step 1
If you have more than one user account, and the one in question is not an administrator account, then temporarily promote it to administrator status in the Users & Groups preference pane. To do that, unlock the preference pane using the credentials of an administrator, check the box marked Allow user to administer this computer, then reboot. You can demote the problem account back to standard status when this step has been completed.
Triple-click the following line on this page to select it. Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):
{ sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd ~ $TMPDIR.. ; sudo chown -R $UID:staff ~ $_ ; sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~ $_ ; chmod -R -N ~ $_ ; } 2> /dev/null
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear, then quit Terminal.
Step 2 (optional)
Take this step only if you have trouble with Step 1 or if it doesn't solve the problem.
Boot into Recovery. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select
Utilities ▹ Terminal
from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open.
In the Terminal window, type this:
res
Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:
resetpassword
Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.
Select your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select
 ▹ Restart
from the menu bar.

Strange file in Trash that just won't go away.

Since installing Snow Leopard, I have a strange file in the Trash that I can't get rid of. It appears to be a zero KB "Alias" file with "unknown" permissions. At first glance it looks as if it's called \\\Õ\\.Õ\ but the diagonal lines are actually the word "Nul" made up of a superscript 'N', a normal 'u' and a subscript 'l'- all in very small font size.
I can't drag it out of the Trash to see what it does. It's info window holds no clues, apart from the "unknown permissions" thing.
I have tried repairing permissions and have since upgraded to 10.6.1 and repaired them again.
Any suggestions on what this file is - and on how to lose it would be gratefully received.

Bob Bridges1 wrote:
Since installing Snow Leopard, I have a strange file in the Trash that I can't get rid of. It appears to be a zero KB "Alias" file with "unknown" permissions. At first glance it looks as if it's called \\\Õ\\.Õ\ but the diagonal lines are actually the word "Nul" made up of a superscript 'N', a normal 'u' and a subscript 'l'- all in very small font size.
I can't drag it out of the Trash to see what it does. It's info window holds no clues, apart from the "unknown permissions" thing.
Are you willing to use Terminal to try to eliminate that file? If so, launch Terminal, then type the commands below.
WARNING: In general, the "rm" command can be very dangerous. That's why the commands below (1) show what's there to be deleted and (2) ask for confirmation for each file to be deleted.
cd ~/.Trash
ls -a
file *
The "ls" command should show you three things: a single period, a double period, and your mystery file. The "file" command should show you the mystery file and an explanation of what type of file it is. If you're feeling nervous, you might want to mention here the reported type. If all is well so far, type this command
rm -i *
You should be prompted for deleting that file. If you like what you see, press the "y" key, then press the <return> key. If you see anything that makes you nervous, either (1) type control-c or (2) press the "n" key, then press the <return> key.
If the system refused to delete that file, then (if you're feeling brave), type this command:
sudo rm -i *
That command will prompt you for your administrative password, then prompt you to delete your mystery file. The same responses apply.

NUL file in Trash won't go away

I have a mysterious file in my Trash, that reappears everytime when I open it, and when the trash is emptied it stays there. When I want to see its info, it disappears. Its file type is alias and all letters of its filename are the word NUL written diagonally.
How can I permanently get rid of this file?

Thanks for the suggestion. Here's the information from Terminal.
Last login: Tue Dec 18 11:49:46 on ttys000
S01060016360c0be1:~ jamesmark$ ls -aOlR .Trash
total 0
drwx------ 2 jamesmark jamesmark - 68 18 Dec 10:52 .
drwxr-xr-x+ 19 jamesmark jamesmark - 646 18 Dec 10:52 ..
S01060016360c0be1:~ jamesmark$ ls -aOlR /Volumes/*/.Trashes
/Volumes/Macintosh HD/.Trashes:
ls: .Trashes: Permission denied
/Volumes/WINDOWS/.Trashes:
total 128
drwxrwxrwx@ 1 jamesmark jamesmark hidden 16384 13 Dec 09:35 .
drwxrwxrwx 1 jamesmark jamesmark - 16384 18 Dec 10:52 ..
-rwxrwxrwx 1 jamesmark jamesmark hidden 4096 13 Dec 09:35 ._501
drwxrwxrwx 1 jamesmark jamesmark - 16384 31 Dec 1969 501
/Volumes/WINDOWS/.Trashes/501:
ls: \004␀␀␀õ\001␀␀.õ\001␀: File name too long
S01060016360c0be1:~ jamesmark$
It appears the file in the trash is a file from the Windows side of my computer! (**** windows!!!) I suspected this, but still don't know how to remove this file. Suggestions?
J

Mysterious file in trash containing null chars

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