Removing iWeb from Rubbish Bin

[kathmat]

Thanks - absolutely have used finder and re searching the hidden Library folder... to get to the library folder I normally go to Finder>Go>Go to folder>Library, and whrere all the plist files are, but it's not there either. It is a conundrum for sure. Ta for all the help.

 

[pine man]

I can't really think of anything else, short of a Safe Boot when you are good and ready.

 

[Slydude]

Have you searched both Library folders? There is one at the main (root) level of your hard drive and inside your user folder. There may be files in both locations. Both folders probably contain Application Support and Preferences subfolders that need to be checked.

 

[pm-r]

but it's not there either. It is a conundrum for sure. Ta for all the help.

I don't know what you are using to find things, but have you tried using Find Any File.app that I suggested back in my post #12 to find the offending files???

It also has various delete options including root preferences options.

Find Any File

apps.tempel.org

- Patrick
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[kathmat]

I just did, and it found a plethora of files, but none that stood out to me. The iweb you see highlighted is the one in the rubbish bin. There is one .plist file there, but not sure if any others of these apply. There was a long list of "view controller strings" files, and another long list of .png files.

 

[pine man]

The iweb results that start with a lowercase (i) can be deleted such as iweb.png etc. but do not delete any of the others that are combined with other letters like MailUIWebBundle etc. The word iweb must be preceded by either an underscore (_) or a dot (.) and followed by a dot (.)

 

[kathmat]

Will try this - thank you and I will report back.

 

[pm-r]

I just did, and it found a plethora of files, but none that stood out to me. The iweb you see highlighted is the one in the rubbish bin. There is one .plist file there, but not sure if any others of these apply.

If you press and hold the option key when doing a search using Find Any File.app, it will put you into Root permissions access after entering your macOS user password.

The iWeb application icon and it's .plist file are the ones you want to select and delete, and you should be able to delete them by doing right- click and choosing delete immediately. But maybe do each one separately.

For all files listed and in the found list, the full path of each selected file will be shown in the bottom of the window in case you wanted to check what each one belongs to. Many of what you see there actually belong to other applications and are not directly associated with iWeb.

Good luck. And make sure you have a current backup just in case...


- Patrick
=======

 

[kathmat]

Not one to give up easily, so I shall keep on fighting with this until I achieve success. Thank you all so much.

 

[kathmat]

Maybe I should just call it a day...

 

[MacInWin]

@kathmat, the challenge is that what you might need to delete may or may not be (probably is not) named iWeb at all. It could have ANY name, including a mumbo-jumbo of letters and numbers. Trying to get rid of it by searching for iWeb is going to leave you nowhere but frustrated. You are going to have to boot into Safe Mode to get whatever is loaded out of the system so you can delete the app. You said previously you do not want to do that because of a project that you want to keep open, so I don't think you can get rid of iWeb until that project is done and you can do the Safe Boot. So, stop working at it, finish the project, then boot Safe Mode and delete iWeb again. You can also get either TrashIt or AppCleaner at that time to get rid of all the associated bits and pieces that iWeb may have spread about.

 

[pm-r]

You are going to have to boot into Safe Mode to get whatever is loaded out of the system so you can delete the app.

Just for what it's worth, I see you from the attachment kathmat posted, what the Finder is calling "iWeb.app" is now nothing but an empty container "containing Zero bytes", and it's also apparently in the Trash of the icloud account. So it's not even actually on their Mac or taking up space there, nor doing anything other than being annoying to exist.

I won't attempt to suggest how one would empty it from one's icloud account "Trash" as I haven't really got a clue nor do I use icloud for anyting or care for how it works or doesn't. But I would suggest that the "iWeb.app" filename involved definitely exists with the name the Finder has provided for it.

But maybe one of these hits would work to delete that empty file from the icloud account trash. Once trashed I would think it would disappear from any syncing etc and from showing on ones Mac:

how to delete file from icloud trash - Google Search

www.google.com

- Patrick
=======

 

[kathmat]

Unbelieveable what a problem this has become, and were I not just a wee bit OC, I could just ignore it in the rubbish bin, but every time I look at it, it's like an itch that I cannot scratch. Very grateful though for all the help and advice I have received here.

 

[hughvane]

This may appear as a 'cracked record' but have you tried a maintenance utility such as OnyX?
Titanium Software | Operating system utilities for Mac - OnyX (scroll down for the earlier versions)
It can cure a lot of nagging problems with the OS.

 

[pm-r]

This may appear as a 'cracked record' but have you tried a maintenance utility such as OnyX?

Good suggestion Hugh.

I was also wondering if one couldn't create a new normal file with exactly the same name as the one in the Trash and see if it would replace the non-deletable when moving it to the trash, and then just trash the normal new file???

Either one would be worth a try. Either one may just work.


- Patrick
=======

 

[MacInWin]

I was also wondering if one couldn't create a new normal file with exactly the same name as the one in the Trash and see if it would replace the non-deletable when moving it to the trash, and then just trash the normal new file???

The challenge is that the "real" name of any file includes the full path to it, so one would have to create this new file in exactly the same folder where the original was. And if you do that, and the original is still there, it will offer to create a duplicate, which won't be the same file anymore.

And the problem is that something as part of the app is still running, so it cannot be deleted. Until she finishes her project and can do a Safe Boot, there isn't a fix for the situation.

 

[kathmat]

This may appear as a 'cracked record' but have you tried a maintenance utility such as OnyX?
Titanium Software | Operating system utilities for Mac - OnyX (scroll down for the earlier versions)
It can cure a lot of nagging problems with the OS.

Downloaded the app - ran it - (my parents taught me that ladies don't use bad language so I am using great restraint right now) the little @£$!£$!!*! is still in the rubbish bin!! AUUUGH!! I give up!!! I will just have to learn to live with it.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Downloaded the app - ran it - (my parents taught me that ladies don't use bad language so I am using great restraint right now) the little @£$!£$!!*! is still in the rubbish bin!! AUUUGH!! I give up!!! I will just have to learn to live with it.

Did you ever try TrashIt!, as I suggested all the way back in post #13?

 

[pm-r]

Did you ever try TrashIt!, as I suggested all the way back in post #13?

It certainly has some good reviews from users with success and I cannot think of any reason to not try using it.

Everyone has a recent backup don't they, just in case???

Download Trash It! for Mac | MacUpdate

Download the latest version of Trash It! for Mac for free. Read 166 user reviews and compare with similar apps on MacUpdate.

www.macupdate.com

And the price is sure good:

Trash It! for Mac, Get rid of those files you cannot delete by other means.

Trashit is a tiny application that can help you get rid of those files you cannot delete by other means.

macdownload.informer.com

- Patrick
=======

 

[MacInWin]

Folks, in post #19 she said:

I will try the safe boot when I can, but my work is in Photoshop and if I save a file in order to close PS and safeboot, I will lose the history states on that file and sometimes I just can't do that. Something Adobe has yet progressed to - saving the history states. So as soon as this latest project is over and all files saved where I don't need the history states I will try the safe boot.

From that situation, she can't do much to get rid of the iWeb unless she can identify and kill whatever process is running and preventing the emptying of the Trash. And she doesn't want to reboot until she finishes her PS project to preserve the history states. So, she's basically stuck where she is until she gets the project finished and is willing to reboot the machine in Safe Mode so that the culprit that is running won't get loaded.

For @kathmat, you are going to have to get over the OCD about the Trash until you can do a Safe Boot. There is nothing to do at this point until you can do that.