.heu and .swz files: What are they--should I delete them?

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Turgee Author

Level 1

8 points

.heu and .swz files: What are they--should I delete them?

I'm not sure what these are or what I should (or should not) do with them--please advise😕.

F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.swz

F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.heu

F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.heu where: /

1C04C61346A1FA3139A37D860ED92632AA13DECF.heu where:/Users/me/Documents/TRASH ITEMS6:29:2011

1C04C61346A1FA3139A37D860ED92632AA13DECF.swz where:/Users/me/Documents/TRASH ITEMS6:29:2011

1C04C61346A1FA3139A37D860ED92632AA13DECF.swz where: /

These show in "macintosh HD"

file://localhost/1C04C61346A1FA3139A37D860ED92632AA13DECF.heu

file://localhost/1C04C61346A1FA3139A37D860ED92632AA13DECF.swz

file://localhost/F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.heu

file://localhost/F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.swz

Intel iMac late 2006 3G RAM, Mac OS X (10.6.8), n/a

Posted on Feb 20, 2012 1:57 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Feb 20, 2012 2:17 AM in response to Turgee

They certainly aren't OSX system files so you can probably trash them.

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Answer 2

Turgee Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 20, 2012 2:22 AM in response to X423424X

I'm still just not sure what these are...

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Answer 3

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Feb 20, 2012 2:36 AM in response to Turgee

A little google searching on ".swz extension" and ".heu extension" implies they are associated with adobe flash. Possibly cache and temporary files.

Were are you seeing these? What did you do to get those listings in your first post? Files listed as "file://localhost/..." is not the standard notation and I really don't understand the context of the first group in that listing.

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Answer 4

Turgee Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 20, 2012 2:45 AM in response to X423424X

When I click on macintosh HD in Finder I get these 4:

file://localhost/1C04C61346A1FA3139A37D860ED92632AA13DECF.heu

file://localhost/1C04C61346A1FA3139A37D860ED92632AA13DECF.swz

file://localhost/F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.heu

file://localhost/F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.swz

The rest of the were found when I searched finder for .swz

file://localhost/F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.swz

file://localhost/Users/ME/Documents/TRASH%20ITEMS6:29:2011/F7536EF0D78A77B889EEB E98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.swz

file://localhost/Users/ME/Documents/TRASH%20ITEMS6:29:2011/1C04C61346A1FA3139A37 D860ED92632AA13DECF.swz

file://localhost/1C04C61346A1FA3139A37D860ED92632AA13DECF.swz

and then .heu

file://localhost/Users/me/Documents/TRASH%20ITEMS6:29:2011/F7536EF0D78A77B889EEB E98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.heu

file://localhost/F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.heu

file://localhost/Users/me/Documents/TRASH%20ITEMS6:29:2011/1C04C61346A1FA3139A37 D860ED92632AA13DECF.heu

I hope this is of some help...thanks.

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Answer 5

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Feb 20, 2012 2:58 AM in response to Turgee

When I click on macintosh HD in Finder I get these 4:

file://localhost/1C04C61346A1FA3139A37D860ED92632AA13DECF.heu

file://localhost/1C04C61346A1FA3139A37D860ED92632AA13DECF.swz

file://localhost/F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.heu

file://localhost/F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.swz

And that's what I don't understand. Unless you rename it I believe "macintosh HD" is the root of your boot volume. You should be seeing things like Applications, Library, etc. as icons or as a list of names. And those names won't look like "file://localhost/...". While I realize it's the url notation for a file on your machine (localhost) I don't understand why you are seeing that. At the very least filenames in the finder can never have a visible ':' in them.

At any rate we're going down a rat hole. Just get rid of them.

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Answer 6

Turgee Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 20, 2012 3:49 AM in response to X423424X

I see your point; when I click on macintosh HD in finder I do see

User Guides And Information

Address Book

Dashboard

iCal

Internet

Mail

Photo Booth

Safari

System Preferences

TextEdit

BurnFolder

Applications

Desktop

Developer

Library

System

Users

and then these guys are hanging around; I couldn't upload a screenshot...

1C04C61346A1FA3139A37D860ED92632AA13DECF.heu

file://localhost/1C04C61346A1FA3139A37D860ED92632AA13DECF.swz

file://localhost/F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.heu

file://localhost/F7536EF0D78A77B889EEBE98BF96BA5321A1FDE0.swz

I just want to make sure that I'm not deleting something important, and whether these files are potentially malicious/harmful.

Thanks-

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Answer 7

Apr 21, 2013 6:42 PM in response to Turgee

I just got a new Mac Mini and I used the Migration Assistant to merge everything in from my Time Machine disk. Afterwards, I noticed there are a bunch of these files scattered all over the place.

The .heu files all seem to be 151 bytes long, while the .swz files vary in size.

I'm wondering if I can just delete them all without harming anything.

EDIT: I went ahead and deleted some, and each time I'm presented with a password dialog. These are apparently admin-type files that cannot be deleted without an admin login.

EDIT2: on second thought, when I set up the new machine, I used the same name and username as the other one. When I tried to run the Migration Assistant, it refused to merge the older files owned by this user into the new machine because for whatever reason it must think you are no longer yourself -- the new machine means you're someone else!

So I went into the new machine and changed my name and username. Then the MA moved all of my previous files and settings from the old machine's Time Machine backup to the new machine. Then I deleted the new / renamed user on the new machine and continued to use the name I've been using forever -- the "old me" as it were.

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