06-21-2009, 08:52 AM

Hi,
Ive got a random file in the trash of my iMac, and I cant delete it. When I go to delete, it prompts for the "are you sure you wanna delete" prompt, and then empties all trash apart from this file.

It's file name is a series of the letters "NUL" in tiny print, in a vertical pattern. It says the file size is ZERO and was modified on 01/01/1904... Which I thought was odd.
I have done some research and found that the letters are the Unicode characters for NULL (But this means nothing to me )

When I "GET INFO" it flashes up for an unreadable quarter of a second then deletes itself from the trash-can so I can't find it.... next time I click on the trash icon, it is back in there.

I have xp dual booted (as I need it for the IT course I"m studying) and have found and deleted viruses on that hunk of junk partition. Could it possibly have anything to do with that...

I have followed the first three steps from this tutorial

OSXFAQ - Technical News and Support for Mac OS X

But unfortunately the final step is a bit beyond me.

The file is an Alias and I have tried to search spotlight for NUL but alas it cant find anything.

I was wondering if anybody might know:

1. What the file is
2. How to delete it
3. How to find the original file it is and Alias of

Any help would be so helpful, thanks heaps
Krispy

Here are some pics I have taken

06-21-2009, 09:56 AM

I had this problem too. As I recall it had to do with running virtualization software. I can't tell you exactly how I got rid of it but here's my story,...

I had Parallels and was displeased that they wanted a full price for an upgrade from 2.x to 3.x so I switched to Fusion. I only used the programs to open the Boot Camp partitions on my HD. I don't recall at what time I noticed the random file in the trash but I believe it was resolved when I removed the Parallels drivers from starting up with OS X. Once Parallels was removed from the /Library and /System/Library I rebooted and the file was gone. There was also and issue of OS X not rebooting gracefully and I also think this was due to have Fusion and Parallels on the same computer. Once Parallels was removed the system restarted and shutdown normally.

Hope that helps.

06-24-2009, 02:12 AM

Thanks MacsWork,

I dont have Parrallels but i using BootChamp to switch between partitions, ill check the setting and maybe that might work haha thanks =P

06-24-2009, 11:40 PM

Deleted BootChamp and other relevant files and it did nothing =(

Keep searching for answers I suppose hehe