Weird folders in ~/library preferences eg ˘ùñÁ∆Ùøˇ' ñÙxÄñÁ-

Hey, I've been using someone else mac imac 8,1 osx 10.5.4 and finding it buggy i've reinstalled some software, deleting an on plist in the process. When i wentinto ~/library/preferences i noticed a bunch of weird empty folders (about 35) with strange names eg.'¡PñÁ∆Ùøˇ‘ ñÙxÄñÁ…, or )—†gXøˇœ∞è¿ƒ. when I drag these into terminal and do a ls -l@ it says no such file or directory. I have never seen anything like this - apparently windows has never run on this machine. Any ideas?
Also permissions for all folders at ~ level read drwx------+ - is the + normal for these folders?

tmx3 wrote:
Hey, I've been using someone else mac imac 8,1 osx 10.5.4 and finding it buggy i've reinstalled some software, deleting an on plist in the process. When i wentinto ~/library/preferences i noticed a bunch of weird empty folders (about 35) with strange names eg.'¡PñÁ∆Ùøˇ‘ ñÙxÄñÁ…, or )—†gXøˇœ∞è¿ƒ. when I drag these into terminal and do a ls -l@ it says no such file or directory. I have never seen anything like this - apparently windows has never run on this machine. Any ideas?
some buggy 3rd party software is known to do that. I've heard some Epson printer drivers can do this and some Adobe apps. harmless but annoying. you can safely trash those folders but they may come back.
Also permissions for all folders at ~ level read drwx------+ - is the + normal for these folders?
yes, that's quite normal. it means ACLs are present. there are "everyone deny delete" ACLs on all those folders. you can list them usong -e switch for ls.

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Welcome to  Discussions,
this is a known problem of the Epson TWAIN plugin: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070215095449325
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Hi All,
Since I got this iMac a few weeks ago I've been seeing several wierdly named folders appearing in my Users/Library/Preferences folder. It seems like the number of them grows each time I use the Mac. When I click on them nothing happens, that is they either don't open or there is nothing in them. I've checked in the Library/Preferences and System/Library/Preferences folders and there are none of these in either of them. Here are a few examples of the names:
{’ê◊8øˇ‘ê†~
{ﬁ0ê◊8øˇ‘ê†~
|0ê◊8øˇ‘ê†~
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New Discussions Use Agreement
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Weird folders in ~/library preferences eg ˘ùñÁ∆Ùøˇ' ñÙxÄñÁ-

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