[MariaMarchita]

I know this is long but please please read it--I'm desperate!!

I have a very odd situation with my new mac mini. Today, I tried to empty the trash, and the little box popped up saying "preparing to delete...(number) of items" and the number kept going and going and going! It got up to 250,000 before I cancelled it. I opened up the trash and there were only a few things, I started doing command-i to check the size of each...I got to a folder named Microsoft Office, which I had downloaded but found I didn't need because it was pre installed. I did command-i and it said "calculating size" forever-it never gave me a size! I opened the folder and it had the normal Microsoft Office files, but it also contained a folder named Microsoft Office--like a folder of itself, inside itself. (does that make sense?) I clicked the little triange next to that folder to open it, and since I was viewing the contents as list, the contents dropped down. Then that folder had ANOTHER folder in it named the same thing, and they just all started opening in rapid succession! It would open and drop down, the folder in there would open and drop down, repeat ad infinitum! I closed the top folder to stop the crazy folder-opening madness and tried to empty the trash again. It wouldn't empty. First it counted 250,000 items to be deleted again, then after I (thought I) emptied the trash, I checked and there were still 3 items in there. That bloody Microsoft Office folder, along with a hotline (P2P) client I'd downloaded and it's accompanying folder. I checked the size of the latter 2 items, using command-i, both of them calculated fine and they only took up an appropriately small amount of space. I did command-i with the demonic Microsoft Office folder and got the same perpetual "calculating size" message.

I figured maybe I needed to let all the folders open and maybe there was something that responsible for all this craziness "at the bottom". So I opened the first folder and they all started dropping down-opening one right after each other again. It got to 29,000 folders before the computer stopped responding. I did option-command-esc to force quit, the dialog box popped up and I force quit all my open applications because none were responding. Then I force quit the finder and hit the button to relaunch. Nothing happened. I tried clicking on everything, doing option-command-esc, nothing worked. I pressed the power button on the back of the computer and held it down to shut it down, but instead it attempted to restart. It got to a plain screen of just my desktop wallpaper and then stopped and wouldn't finish starting up.

Then I began to cry. I broke my brand new computer!!

I held down the power button again to shut down, which it did. Then I pressed the button and started it back up, it started up, but slowly. I don't know what to do about this horrible folder that's trying to eat my computer!! I talked to my husband, and he said that the day we got the new machine, after hooking up our external hard drive to move files from our last computer, he had a similar thing happen to a different folder--it had a "folder of itself" inside of it, and when he opened that all the subsequent folders starting opening one right after another. He said he remembered that some of the items in the folder, in their names they had "weird looking characters" replacing a few letters. I (nervously) opened the horrible Microsoft Office folder in my trash, and yep, some of the items in there, too, occasionally had a letter replaced by a weird character. I tried deleting all the weird characters, but I figured what's the point because the exact same items are in the "folder of itself", inside the main folder...and we all know what happens when I open that duplicate folder--a folder storm--and then my computer freezes.

How do I get rid of this evil folder?? Is it a virus? (Do Macs even get viruses?? I heard once that they don't...) I tried "secure empty trash"--nope, still there. I downloaded some program called Cocktail, which has a "force empty trash" feature, which I did--nope, still there. I tried moving it out of the trash, but anywhere I move it, it just makes and places a copy of itself. It says it's not locked, but I even tried the Shift-Option key combination while emptying the Trash, which is supposed to delete locked files--that didn't work either.

I don't know what to do
I've only had this computer 5 days and I already broke it

If anyone has any idea as to what is happening, please please give me your advice!! Thanks everyone in advance ^_^

~~Maria

[Randman]

You could try a restart and see if you can empty the trash.

But if you trashed any system folders, you are better off reinstalling the OS. Hopefully, you had a backup.

[Will C]

Hi Maria,
I suspect there is a problem with the filing system, so first thing to try is it to boot up from the install CD (or DVD) which came with the machine, and repair the drive.
Put the CD in the drive, then select Restart and hold down the 'C' key as it starts up. It will then boot from the CD (or DVD) - it can take a few minutes and may seem slow - this is normal.
The insaller will start to run, ignore this and select 'Disk Utility' from the Installer menu.
In Disk Utility - click once on your HD - shown the left hand column - then click on 'Repair Disk' in the bottom right. It will go whirring away and can take several minutes. The scrolling text tells you what it is doing and can be useful if you liek that kind of thing.
At then end of the process there should be some green text saying it has repaired anything which was bad and it is OK. If it has a red text at the end, you can try Repair Disk again.

When you are satisfied that the reapirs have been done, it is a good idea to 'Repair permissions' as well. When this has completed, you can select restart from the Apple menu and it should boot up off the HD again. Hopefully, you should be able to now empty the Trash.

Let us know how you get on.

EDIT: Randman's reply is valid as well

[MariaMarchita]

Thank you so much!! That was a great reply--I appreciate you taking the time to post to me

Originally Posted by Will C

it can take a few minutes and may seem slow - this is normal.

It will go whirring away and can take several minutes. The scrolling text tells you what it is doing and can be useful if you liek that kind of thing.

You would not believe how reassuring and helpful statements like these can be to someone who doesn't know anything about computers. I am the type of person that will sit there thinking "is that normal?" "is it supposed to sound like that??" and, if nothing is happening on the screen or there's no dialog box or transfer monitor, etc, I always think "is it still working?? Has the computer frozen?!?" I often wonder how many times I have force-quit applications that were doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing, just because I didn't know! So *thank you* for taking the time to be detailed!

Seriously, you 'computer guys' wouldn't know, (because you're so smart about this kind of thing so I'm sure it's second nature to you!) just how valuable a clear explanation is to a 'computer bimbo' like me LOL It is very calming when someone who knows says "yes, it can be fixed, no, you did not break your brand new Mac"

I will let you know what happens tomorrow when I do this. G'night and thanks again ^_^

~~Maria

[ghporter]

The first rule of computers is that it is incredibly hard to actually "break" anything from the keyboard and mouse. At worst, you may need to reinstall your operating system (which isn't as big a hassle as you might think). Of course you CAN accidentally delete crucial personal data files-that letter to mom, your vacation itinerary, etc., so definitely back up all of your personal stuff regularly. But as noted above, if you mess up the system files, it is fairly easy to fix.

One more thing; messing around with what does and doesn't work may not be the nicest way to learn about your computer, but it is certainly effective!

Ain't no "computer bimbos" here. Just people asking and answering questions. And there are no dumb questions, either, so fear not!