Desktop.(null) files in User Folder

[Graig]

Today I noticed two files, Desktop-1.(null) and Desktop-2.(null) in my User Folder. Both were created on Aug 24 2012. Perhaps I changed my Desktop wallpaper, but I never noticed these before. Anyone else see this?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Today I noticed two files, Desktop-1.(null) and Desktop-2.(null) in my User Folder. Both were created on Aug 24 2012. Perhaps I changed my Desktop wallpaper, but I never noticed these before. Anyone else see this?

No, but here are some troubleshooting suggestions:

• Did you install any software on August 24?
• If no, did you use any software you installed on that day that you either are using for the first time, have not used in 2 months or more, or invoked a feature you hadn't yet used?
• If no to both of those, have you checked your disk lately for file system errors?

 

[Graig]

No but I installed Mountain Lion Update 10.8.1 the day before. These files appeared though at 3:52 pm on the 24th. Would you think it safe to delete these 2 files?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

No but I installed Mountain Lion Update 10.8.1 the day before. These files appeared though at 3:52 pm on the 24th. Would you think it safe to delete these 2 files?

Before deleting those files, do this just to be certain you're not breaking something by doing so:

• Use Disk Utility's "Verify Disk" feature to check for file system errors. If any are found, you'll need to boot from the Recovery drive to fix them.
• Repeat until no errors are found, or the only errors left are ones Disk Utility reports that it cannot fix.

 

[Charles Butcher]

Today I noticed two files, Desktop-1.(null) and Desktop-2.(null) in my User Folder

Thanks for recording this. When it happened to me I was puzzled enough to do a web search.

My own Desktop-1.(null) turned out to be a PDF that I had previously tried to download, and which for some reason had disappeared. The Desktop is my standard download location; I don't know if this is significant.

I opened the file in TextWrangler and found that the first characters were "%PDF", so I renamed it to "Desktop-1.(null).pdf". Opening in Preview confirmed that this was the missing file.

This was some days after I had upgraded to 10.8.1. Since I've never seen this behaviour before, it seems as if it might well be a consequence of the upgrade.

So I deleted the file…

 

[Graig]

Thanks for recording this. When it happened to me I was puzzled enough to do a web search.

My own Desktop-1.(null) turned out to be a PDF that I had previously tried to download, and which for some reason had disappeared. The Desktop is my standard download location; I don't know if this is significant.

I opened the file in TextWrangler and found that the first characters were "%PDF", so I renamed it to "Desktop-1.(null).pdf". Opening in Preview confirmed that this was the missing file.

This was some days after I had upgraded to 10.8.1. Since I've never seen this behaviour before, it seems as if it might well be a consequence of the upgrade.

So I deleted the file…

Thank you so much, this is indeed exactly as you describe. I will delete then now and again many thanaks.