Ghost document

Question

Level 1

4 points

Ghost document

This ghost document titled Icon? When I delete it, it returns. When I delete it in Safe Mode, it returns. What is it? Have I been hacked? How do I get rid of it?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Oct 7, 2022 4:14 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 7, 2022 4:55 AM in response to laural8

laural8 wrote:

This ghost document titled Icon? When I delete it, it returns. When I delete it in Safe Mode, it returns. What is it? Have I been hacked? How do I get rid of it?

Is there an external drive involved...?

Command i opens the information pane, maybe there is a clue there(?)

Get file, folder, and disk information on Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Oct 7, 2022 3:50 PM in response to laural8

laural8 wrote:

I had checked that before and it led me to the location of the document in "Mac (2)". I actually found about 122 copies of the document and I deleted them. When I did that, the color of the folders on the desktop all changed from the dark blue I had set them on to the default light blue. That made me very nervous so I returned the ghost documents back to the file/drive I found them in. It did not turn the folder color back to dark blue tho. And I wasn't able to change the folders back manually. I had to create new folders.

Anyway--it indicates on Info that it is a

Kind: Document

Size: 3MG

Location: It seems to be located in Macintosh HD. Dropbox.Mac2.Desktop (I have not indicated User file for privacy reasons here)

And the only other indication is it can be opened with TextEdit app.

And as I've said it can't be deleted. Have I been hacked?

Sounds like a dropbox file—

if you have a third party software related issue,I would query their support

if in doubt— search the developers website or contact: Support/Help/FAQ/Known issues/compatibility/Updates/uninstall

Contact Dropbox support

Contact a third-party vendor - Apple Support

Hacked...(?) No.

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Answer 3

laural8 Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 8, 2022 5:41 AM in response to Barney-15E

I cleared the dropbox cache folder--did nothing. I went to the folder where it says it is located and deleted it there--nothing.

This is a shot from the corner of my desktop and a shot of the info re the file:

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Answer 4

laural8 Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 7, 2022 9:14 AM in response to leroydouglas

I had checked that before and it led me to the location of the document in "Mac (2)". I actually found about 122 copies of the document and I deleted them. When I did that, the color of the folders on the desktop all changed from the dark blue I had set them on to the default light blue. That made me very nervous so I returned the ghost documents back to the file/drive I found them in. It did not turn the folder color back to dark blue tho. And I wasn't able to change the folders back manually. I had to create new folders.

Anyway--it indicates on Info that it is a

Kind: Document

Size: 3MG

Location: It seems to be located in Macintosh HD. Dropbox.Mac2.Desktop (I have not indicated User file for privacy reasons here)

And the only other indication is it can be opened with TextEdit app.

And as I've said it can't be deleted. Have I been hacked?

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Answer 5

laural8 Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 16, 2022 4:35 AM in response to Barney-15E

Ok--nothings really helped but I noticed an odd process. I was inside a folder to open up a document. That folder was a dark blue color (I know, what has this got to do with anything but stick with me here)--that short file 'Icon?" was in this document as well. I deleted it and when I did the color of the folder changed to the default light blue color. So I hit Command-Z, the file returned and the color of the folder went back to dark blue.

Huh?? What does this mean about what this file is and where is it hidden?

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