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User profile for user: AustinRemus
AustinRemus Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Cannot Delete APPS_OTHER File from MacBook

I have a 2020 M1 MacBook Air and I have a file that I cannot seem to delete. I tried to see if I could use Aim Lab on my Mac, and then upon realizing that it didn't really work I deleted it. Well, even though I deleted Aim Lab and Steam, it left this 9 GB file named "Aim Lab" with its "kind" being "APP_OTHER" and stating that it has never been opened. When I try to right-click and delete it, "delete" is greyed out. When I try to hit the "delete" option at the bottom with the file selected, nothing happens. I cannot seem to drag and drop it anywhere, the file path that is shown at the bottom does not exist, and when I try to click on any link in the file path, nothing happens. All the other apps and files are able to be deleted using one of these ways, but not this file. Help, and thank you.

MacBook Air (2020 or later)

Posted on Mar 28, 2022 4:42 PM

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User profile for user: John Galt
John Galt
User level: Level 10
147,270 points

Posted on Mar 28, 2022 6:37 PM

the file path that is shown at the bottom does not exist, and when I try to click on any link in the file path, nothing happens.


I suspect the data used to populate that utility is inaccurate and "Aim Lab" simply doesn't exist. You can find out for yourself by navigating to ~/Library/Application Support/Steam, opening the steamapps folder (if it exists), then the common folder, and determining if the Finder reveals that file.


Start your Mac in "Safe Mode": How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support, and run Recommendations again. See if that file appears. Then, restart normally and repeat.


If you question the accuracy of Recommendations, you can use Terminal to verify for yourself the existence of large files:


sudo find / -type f -size +1G -exec ls -lh {} \; | awk '{ print $9 ": " $5 }'


It will return a list of files greater than 1 GB in size, which seems to be the value Recommendations is using. It will return many "operation not permitted" results for files that may not be inspected. That's normal.

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User profile for user: John Galt
John Galt
User level: Level 10
147,270 points

Mar 28, 2022 6:37 PM in response to AustinRemus

the file path that is shown at the bottom does not exist, and when I try to click on any link in the file path, nothing happens.


I suspect the data used to populate that utility is inaccurate and "Aim Lab" simply doesn't exist. You can find out for yourself by navigating to ~/Library/Application Support/Steam, opening the steamapps folder (if it exists), then the common folder, and determining if the Finder reveals that file.


Start your Mac in "Safe Mode": How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support, and run Recommendations again. See if that file appears. Then, restart normally and repeat.


If you question the accuracy of Recommendations, you can use Terminal to verify for yourself the existence of large files:


sudo find / -type f -size +1G -exec ls -lh {} \; | awk '{ print $9 ": " $5 }'


It will return a list of files greater than 1 GB in size, which seems to be the value Recommendations is using. It will return many "operation not permitted" results for files that may not be inspected. That's normal.

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Cannot Delete APPS_OTHER File from MacBook

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