File that won't permanently delete

[r88my]

Hi guys, wondering if someone can help me with this one

I have this strange file (see attached pic) that sits in my trash and never deletes along with all the the other things when emptying the trash. I can't quick look it or open it. When I try to drag it over to my desktop, it disappears. However when I look in my now supposedly empty trash can, its there again. When the file is in the trash, the trash full icon appears which is very annoying even though there is nothing in the trash. This file is not one of my files, I dont visit any dodgey websites and appeared really after a clean install of leopard. I have tried verifying and repairing disk permissions but it hasn't made a difference. I have secured emptied the trash also.

Im on a macbook pro core duo, 2g ram, 250gb hd running leopard with all latest patches installed (10.5.2).

Thanks

 

[r88my]

Sorry here is the screenshot

EDIT Having issues uploading the screenshot, I'll try and get it on asap

EDIT Screenshot now posted. see below

 

[bsheridan]

have you tried restarting, when I get files like this they are usually gone after a restart.

Also the file may be associated with something running in the background, or may be associated with an app that opens upon start up.
Open activity monitor an see if its in the processes list. Quit it if it is. If you are sure you do not need it, deleting shouldn't be a problem.

 

[tersono]

Try 'secure empty trash' from the Finder menu. That will often nuke persistent files.

 

[r88my]

have you tried restarting, when I get files like this they are usually gone after a restart.

Also the file may be associated with something running in the background, or may be associated with an app that opens upon start up.
Open activity monitor an see if its in the processes list. Quit it if it is. If you are sure you do not need it, deleting shouldn't be a problem.

Restart doesn't help. The file has been there for a number of weeks, during which time my mac has been turned off/restarted many times.

Try 'secure empty trash' from the Finder menu. That will often nuke persistent files.

Tried that, no joy.

Here is a screen shot. As you can see it has a weird file name and doesn't show in activity monitor

 

[bsheridan]

Can you post the location of the file from 'Get info'?

 

[merl1n]

Restart doesn't help. The file has been there for a number of weeks, during which time my mac has been turned off/restarted many times.



Tried that, no joy.

Here is a screen shot. As you can see it has a weird file name and doesn't show in activity monitor

Use the terminal application: /Applications/Utilities/Terminal

Example:
Macintosh:~ hmg$ cd .Trash (change directory to .Trash)
Macintosh:.Trash hmg$ ls -al (list all files in this directory)
total 0
drwx------ 3 hmg hmg 102 Apr 15 11:24 .
drwxr-xr-x+ 41 hmg hmg 1394 Apr 15 08:17 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 hmg hmg 68 Apr 15 11:24 untitled folder

If the file is in there (it may be in the System Trash instead) then issue the command:

Macintosh:.Trash hmg$ sudo rm -rf * (delete all files in this directory)
It will ask you for your administrator password before executing the command.

That will force remove all files in the Trashcan.

 

[r88my]

Can you post the location of the file from 'Get info'?

If I click on get info the file disappears from the trash. Reopen trash and the file is there again. I cant drag it onto the desktop without it disappearing then reappearing in trash again.

Use the terminal application: /Applications/Utilities/Terminal

Example:
Macintosh:~ hmg$ cd .Trash (change directory to .Trash)
Macintosh:.Trash hmg$ ls -al (list all files in this directory)
total 0
drwx------ 3 hmg hmg 102 Apr 15 11:24 .
drwxr-xr-x+ 41 hmg hmg 1394 Apr 15 08:17 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 hmg hmg 68 Apr 15 11:24 untitled folder

If the file is in there (it may be in the System Trash instead) then issue the command:

Macintosh:.Trash hmg$ sudo rm -rf * (delete all files in this directory)
It will ask you for your administrator password before executing the command.

That will force remove all files in the Trashcan.

I'm probably not doing this right as I keep getting "command not found". Can you explain how to these in a more simple way as I never use terminal, its all gobbledygoop to me Thanks

 

[merl1n]

If I click on get info the file disappears from the trash. Reopen trash and the file is there again. I cant drag it onto the desktop without it disappearing then reappearing in trash again.



I'm probably not doing this right as I keep getting "command not found". Can you explain how to these in a more simple way as I never use terminal, its all gobbledygoop to me Thanks

In the Terminal Application window type the following commands exactly (no spaces, no upper case, etc. and your line prompt will be different than mine):

cd .Trash (hit a return)
sudo rm -rf * (hit a return)
It will prompt you for your administrator password. Type it in and hit a return.

If this doesn't empty your trash, copy the output from the terminal window and paste it into a reply on this thread so I can see what you are doing.

 

[r88my]

In the Terminal Application window type the following commands exactly (no spaces, no upper case, etc. and your line prompt will be different than mine):

cd .Trash (hit a return)
sudo rm -rf * (hit a return)
It will prompt you for your administrator password. Type it in and hit a return.

If this doesn't empty your trash, copy the output from the terminal window and paste it into a reply on this thread so I can see what you are doing.

I followed your instructions and it definitely emptied the trash after I put in my password. However, when i clicked on the trash icon the file appeared again. It is as though the file reappears when I click on the trash icon after emptying the trash. Thanks for your help

 

[Hydramus]

I also have this problem, but i have 2 files that have ranndom gibberish for names. I can get rid of them by force but they eventually come back. I've attached a screenshot of the trash.

 

[merl1n]

I followed your instructions and it definitely emptied the trash after I put in my password. However, when i clicked on the trash icon the file appeared again. It is as though the file reappears when I click on the trash icon after emptying the trash. Thanks for your help

OK, now you have me going!

Repeat the same steps using Terminal, but don't click on the trash can again.

Now shutdown the Mac.

Next boot into "Safe Mode" (as soon as your power on, hold down the shift key and keep holding until you see the spinning gear on the grey screen, then you can let go of the key). Safe boot will take a bit of time so be patient as it is doing a multitude of actions (clearing caches, running file system checks/repairs etc). This could take 5 - 10 minutes but you will eventually get a login screen with "safe boot enabled" in red.

Login and see if that *^&%^^%#* file is still in the trash can.

If it is gone, reboot normally and check again. If it reappears in your trash after normal boot, then some startup process (one of your login items) is creating it as the process may be running in the background.

If it is, see if you can get a screen shot of it from your account settings in System Prefs.

 

[r88my]

OK, now you have me going!

Repeat the same steps using Terminal, but don't click on the trash can again.

Now shutdown the Mac.

Next boot into "Safe Mode" (as soon as your power on, hold down the shift key and keep holding until you see the spinning gear on the grey screen, then you can let go of the key). Safe boot will take a bit of time so be patient as it is doing a multitude of actions (clearing caches, running file system checks/repairs etc). This could take 5 - 10 minutes but you will eventually get a login screen with "safe boot enabled" in red.

Login and see if that *^&%^^%#* file is still in the trash can.

If it is gone, reboot normally and check again. If it reappears in your trash after normal boot, then some startup process (one of your login items) is creating it as the process may be running in the background.

If it is, see if you can get a screen shot of it from your account settings in System Prefs.

Did as you said with terminal, booted into safe mode, file still there! Restarted normally, I only have one item in my login items and that is "itunes helper". Do you mean a screenshot of login items or activity monitor? I'm tempted to just reinstall the OS!

 

[Dimwhit]

At the risk of being ridiculed...have you tried a virus scan? Here's a free one that's supposed to be good:

http://www.clamxav.com/

You never know...

 

[merl1n]

Did as you said with terminal, booted into safe mode, file still there! Restarted normally, I only have one item in my login items and that is "itunes helper". Do you mean a screenshot of login items or activity monitor? I'm tempted to just reinstall the OS!

If that item is in the trash after booting "safe mode", then it has nothing to do with your account login items as those are disabled during safe boot.

Do you have any third party peripherals attached or have you installed any software that has kernel extensions like a special vpn service software?

If you have attached 3rd party peripherals (disk, usb devices, etc) I would disconnect them and try the safe boot method again after again deleting that file from the Trash. If it still shows up again, then do an Archive and Install to install fresh OS software or just blow everything away and do a complete fresh install (note that you will have to install your apps again as well as network settings). If you have personal documents, save them to a flash drive or CD.

 

[r88my]

If that item is in the trash after booting "safe mode", then it has nothing to do with your account login items as those are disabled during safe boot.

Do you have any third party peripherals attached or have you installed any software that has kernel extensions like a special vpn service software?

If you have attached 3rd party peripherals (disk, usb devices, etc) I would disconnect them and try the safe boot method again after again deleting that file from the Trash. If it still shows up again, then do an Archive and Install to install fresh OS software or just blow everything away and do a complete fresh install (note that you will have to install your apps again as well as network settings). If you have personal documents, save them to a flash drive or CD.

I dont have any software like that as far as I know. I have an apple wired keyboard, logitech mouse, ipod and WD hard drive but they are not always attached to the MBP. Anyway i'll try what you suggested but it looks like i'll be doing a clean install anyway. Thanks for all your help, I still picked up a few things that I didn't know about, much appreciated