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Help: Total mac noob (Folder and application issues)

B

bbvip

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 24, 2013
8
0
(I posted in the MBP section by accident, so if anyone can delete that..:p)

Hi, I just got a MBP last week, after switching from using windows all my life :p I really like the whole MBP interface and everything is so fast :) I have a question though- in my shared folders in my HD, i have a few 'ghost files' (.localized, .DS_Store, SC Info) if I can put it that way, that I cannot delete, and I have no idea what they are. One in particular, a .DS_Store constantly shows up on my desktop, and no matter how many times i try to trash it, it always reappears? Also, my microsoft office installer thing keeps opening when I go to HD? Its driving me nuts ):

wci.png


Also, another question I have is how can I access my HD from finder? The only way I can do it now so far is open it through a shortcut on my desktop?

Thank you so much!
 
sonicrobby

sonicrobby

macrumors 68020
Apr 24, 2013
2,482
526
New Orleans
Those are necessary files I believe, but normally they are hidden. You can hide all those ghost-like files by throwing this into terminal:

Code: 
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

Then type in the following to restart finder (its like restarting windows explorer on windows)

Code: 
killall Finder

To unhide them again, just change FALSE to TRUE. Remember to restart finder for the changes to take effect.

http://osxdaily.com/2009/02/25/show-hidden-files-in-os-x/
 
B

bbvip

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 24, 2013
8
0
sonicrobby said:
Those are necessary files I believe, but normally they are hidden. You can hide all those ghost-like files by throwing this into terminal:

Code: 
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

Then type in the following to restart finder (its like restarting windows explorer on windows)

Code: 
killall Finder

To unhide them again, just change FALSE to TRUE. Remember to restart finder for the changes to take effect.

http://osxdaily.com/2009/02/25/show-hidden-files-in-os-x/
Click to expand...

Thanks for replying, what is a terminal?
 
Shrink

Shrink

macrumors G3
Feb 26, 2011
8,929
1,727
New England, USA
bbvip said:
Thanks for replying, what is a terminal?
Click to expand...

If you don't know what Terminal is, I would not mess about there.

There is very little you can do to hurt your machine...but Terminal, if you don't have some idea of what you are doing, can turn it into a very expensive doorstop.

I know most of the folks here are much more knowledgable than I am and are comfortable using Terminal. But if you don't know what you are doing you can mess stuff up good and proper.
 
B

bbvip

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 24, 2013
8
0
Shrink said:
If you don't know what Terminal is, I would not mess about there.

There is very little you can do to hurt your machine...but Terminal, if you don't have some idea of what you are doing, can turn it into a very expensive doorstop.

I know most of the folks here are much more knowledgable than I am and are comfortable using Terminal. But if you don't know what you are doing you can mess stuff up good and proper.
Click to expand...

sonicrobby said:
Do you know what "cmd" is in windows? Its the mac equivalent of that
Click to expand...

ahaha thanks for the advice.. I don't even know what a cmd is. guess i'll just leave it as it is then though its really annoying D: thanks so much guys!
 
sonicrobby

sonicrobby

macrumors 68020
Apr 24, 2013
2,482
526
New Orleans
bbvip said:
ahaha thanks for the advice.. I don't even know what a cmd is. guess i'll just leave it as it is then though its really annoying D: thanks so much guys!
Click to expand...

Well its easy to do, just copy and past the codes, and do nothing more. You can find terminal here on launchpad, click the "others" folder on the first page. the icon looks like this (sorry its so big)

Terminalicon2.png
 
McGiord

McGiord

macrumors 601
Oct 5, 2003
4,558
290
Dark Castle
Get into the Finder view settings and there you can enable disable if the mounted disks are shown or not as icons on the desktop and the sidebar of the Finder Windows.
One great quick way of opening files and apps is using Spotlight: the search field on the top right corner with the magnifying glass, you can quickly get there by typing there, or pressing the option and space keys, and then typing the keywords of what you want to search/open.
Also there you can do quick math calculations, just type in the numbers like 2+2 and it will give you the result...
Enjoy your Mac.
The Terminal can be open from Spotlight also just type terminal....but as mentioned before Sony mess with it if you are not use to command prompts like DOS in Windows, actually is UNIX.
 
B

bbvip

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 24, 2013
8
0
sonicrobby said:
Well its easy to do, just copy and past the codes, and do nothing more. You can find terminal here on launchpad, click the "others" folder on the first page. the icon looks like this (sorry its so big)

Image
Click to expand...

McGiord said:
Get into the Finder view settings and there you can enable disable if the mounted disks are shown or not as icons on the desktop and the sidebar of the Finder Windows.
One great quick way of opening files and apps is using Spotlight: the search field on the top right corner with the magnifying glass, you can quickly get there by typing there, or pressing the option and space keys, and then typing the keywords of what you want to search/open.
Also there you can do quick math calculations, just type in the numbers like 2+2 and it will give you the result...
Enjoy your Mac.
The Terminal can be open from Spotlight also just type terminal....but as mentioned before Sony mess with it if you are not use to command prompts like DOS in Windows, actually is UNIX.
Click to expand...

OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PICTURE!! i think i did it :D I'm so happy now! I don't even know why they showed the ghost files in the first place. Thanks guys! <3
 
B

bbvip

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 24, 2013
8
0
D:

OH NO. ANOTHER PROBLEM.

why do i have so many ghost files now? they are all coming out of nowhere! The strange thing is that the ghost files only show when i attempt to open a folder on the internet, like when I'm uploading pictures.

Thanks guys for your help!
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,127
15,589
California
bbvip said:
OH NO. ANOTHER PROBLEM.

why do i have so many ghost files now? they are all coming out of nowhere! The strange thing is that the ghost files only show when i attempt to open a folder on the internet, like when I'm uploading pictures.

Thanks guys for your help!
Click to expand...

Are you referring to the .localized and the .DS_Store files?

If so, that is normal. Mac OS X folders and volumes all have those files.

The .localized file tells the OS what language to display the folder name in. For example if your system set to English (remember when you picked that during initial setup) the Library folder will say Library... but if you change the system language to say Chinese it would make the Library folder (and other folders) appear in Chinese like in the screen below. That setting is stored in the .localized file.

Z841Bam.png


.DS_Store will be in every folder. When you are in the Finder and you tell it to set a particular folder in say icon view and sorted by date, that setting (per folder) is saved in the .DS_Store file.

Ordinarily in OS X these files are hidden so you would never see them. Where you often see them, as McGiord mentioned, is if your format an external disk or USB key to the Windows FAT format the files will show up.

In OS X any file/folder with a dot in front of it will be hidden.

If it is just those two files you are seeing, you are fine. :)
 
B

benwiggy

macrumors 68020
Jun 15, 2012
2,381
193
bbvip said:
OH NO. ANOTHER PROBLEM.

why do i have so many ghost files now? they are all coming out of nowhere! The strange thing is that the ghost files only show when i attempt to open a folder on the internet, like when I'm uploading pictures.

Thanks guys for your help!
Click to expand...
If hidden files are showing in file dialogs (open/save), press <command><shift><period> to toggle them off or on.
 
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