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Nebagakid · Jan 4, 2003, 10:49 AM

I am installing computers for the art teachers (which shows you first that they are having a student do it rather than one of the teachers, because I am the most knowledgable of Mac) and one thing about my school is that they have a giant Windows network which is connected to other similar and larger networks. After installing Jaguar, I find myself going to Connect to Server... and the Print Center and seing all these servers (Mac and PC) and printers. Granted, they all have non descriptive names, so I have no way to find out where to get anything (such as the teachers' windows shares). I think it is pretty cool how Mac OS X is able to find all those items, and is compatable with the Windows world (even if the windows world has an incredibly confusing naming structure!)

Mediaman_12 · Jan 4, 2003, 11:09 AM

Just remember that you are leaving a trail of ._ files everywhere you go on the Windows network. Although these files are invisible in OSX they are there as plain as day to the Windows PC's, 2 files in every folder.

pat++ · Jan 4, 2003, 12:45 PM

Originally posted by Mediaman_12:
Just remember that you are leaving a trail of ._ files everywhere you go on the Windows network. Although these files are invisible in OSX they are there as plain as day to the Windows PC's, 2 files in every folder.

This really sucks.... This bug has been reported thousands of times, and it's still not fixed. Apple seems to just think we are too dumb to see those files when they are hidden

Developer · Jan 4, 2003, 01:03 PM

Originally posted by pat++:
This bug has been reported thousands of times, and it's still not fixed.

It's not a bug. These files are intentionally placed there. Just ignore them.

pat++ · Jan 4, 2003, 01:36 PM

Originally posted by Developer:
It's not a bug. These files are intentionally placed there. Just ignore them.

It *IS* a bug. When browsing windows shares, system administrators do not want all their folders to be polluted with hidden mac specific files. This make no sens. The finder should NEVER put hidden dot files on remote disks. This is true for NFS, SMB, etc...

Developer · Jan 4, 2003, 01:42 PM

Yes, this is a bug.

pat++ · Jan 4, 2003, 01:46 PM

Originally posted by Developer:
Yes, this is a bug.

Am I really persuasive ? or did you change your mind ?

Preciousss · Jan 4, 2003, 02:46 PM

Originally posted by Mediaman_12:
Just remember that you are leaving a trail of ._ files everywhere you go on the Windows network. Although these files are invisible in OSX they are there as plain as day to the Windows PC's, 2 files in every folder.

OK, now I know I'm not crazy. Thanks for bringing this up--in the past week I've hooked up to my Win2K domain server at work and seen those files whenever I copy something from my SuperBook over.

What are they? And will deleting them harm the files they are connected to at all? I don't want my coworkers having to look at a lot of clutter because of my Mac :-(

Vanquish · Jan 4, 2003, 03:01 PM

I don't know what they are exactly, but you can trash them.

Developer · Jan 4, 2003, 03:11 PM

Originally posted by Preciousss:
What are they?

The .DS_Store file stores the Finder view settings. Deleting that doesn't affect the files.

The ._Filename file is the resource fork of the file Filename. Deleting the resource fork of a data file usually doesn't destroy the file (except for example text styles in SimpleText documents and I think Nisus Writer documents). You will lose things like the custom icon, preview thumbnail, window position, text selection etc. though. Deleting the resource fork of a Classic Mac application destroys it (also applies to some Carbon apps).

Mediaman_12 · Jan 4, 2003, 03:13 PM

Originally posted by Preciousss:
OK, now I know I'm not crazy. Thanks for bringing this up--in the past week I've hooked up to my Win2K domain server at work and seen those files whenever I copy something from my SuperBook over.

What are they? And will deleting them harm the files they are connected to at all? I don't want my coworkers having to look at a lot of clutter because of my Mac :-(

One contains the position of the icons and what the view preference is of that folder i.e. is it in list, icon or 'browse' view. and the other contains the permissions info for the folder.
These exist in every folder on your local HD too but you never notice them because they are invisible.
Deleting them isn't a problem as they weren't there when you first visited the folder.
The OS should be able to tell the difference between a network connection using AFP and one using Samba (or whatever Windows uses) and NOT put these files on the PC networked disks, or delete the files when the Disk is disconnected.

sushiism · Jan 4, 2003, 03:44 PM

its not a bug you gimps �_�

Sophie · Jan 4, 2003, 04:35 PM

Originally posted by sushiism:
its not a bug you gimps �_�

"This behavior is by design."

blizzard · Jan 4, 2003, 04:57 PM

Windows computers browsing my computer on our home network leave little files all over the place too...I consider it just desserts that mine leaves those things behind on Windows machines.

Mr Scruff · Jan 4, 2003, 09:03 PM

Originally posted by blizzard:
Windows computers browsing my computer on our home network leave little files all over the place too...I consider it just desserts that mine leaves those things behind on Windows machines.

Tis true... Windows creates thumb.db files (thumbnail caches) in each folder with images that it moves through. This file is hidden from windows users, but it shows for everyone else.

Although I admit I haven't tested whether it does it on remote volumes as well...

wataru · Jan 4, 2003, 09:12 PM

I'm pretty sure .DS_store etc. files don't get made if you use column view. Hurrah for column view.

Eug · Jan 4, 2003, 09:21 PM

Originally posted by Mr Scruff:
Tis true... Windows creates thumb.db files (thumbnail caches) in each folder with images that it moves through. This file is hidden from windows users, but it shows for everyone else.

Although I admit I haven't tested whether it does it on remote volumes as well...

You can turn this feature off in Windows.

You can't do the same in X AFAIK.

Catfish_Man · Jan 4, 2003, 11:21 PM

It seems like it ought to be possible to make a script of some sort that deletes .DS_Store files in any remote directory you open. I'm just not sure how to do it yet.

mrtew · Jan 5, 2003, 01:10 AM

You wouldn't be able to delete these files manually would you, because to delete them you'd have to be in the folder and thus another one would be created wouldn't it?

And what happens when another Mac comes along and goes to a folder with one of these files? Does it overwrite the file, or does it add another one, or does it just add to the file? I think Apple should try to be more compatible with Windows networks by not leaving this crap around. Couldn't it just write all this info in ONE file on the Apple computer rather than leaving it in each folder?

canuck · Jan 5, 2003, 03:42 AM

How about changing the .DS_store file names to thumb.db (or whatever Windows uses) when using samba, etc? Just the names/extension (which ever part(s) Windows uses) so as to make them invisible (or at least not obvious mac pollution). So the info could be kept (for the remote mac user) AND it would be invisible to the pc users.

I'm not sure exactly how this would work if the thumb.db file already existed, could there be multiple ones e.g. thumb1.db, thumb2.db, etc in a folder?

Membranophonist · Jan 5, 2003, 04:17 AM

To the [global] section of your OS X smb.conf file (/private/etc/smb.conf), add the following:

hide dot files = yes

Done.

Note that if the Windows machine is set to display hidden files, they will still show up. Also, be sure to follow the formatting that already exists in the smb.conf file.