Re: OS 9.2.2 Finder makes unwanted icon files without resources


Cliff Huylebroeck wrote:
Erik Richard Sorensen wrote:
Then only remove 'Finder' and 'System' prefs and rebuild desktop and zap the PRAM.

I have 2 startup disks (9 volumes).
I deleted "Finder Preferences" and "System Preferences" on the second
startup disk.
I restarted from that disk.
I zapped the PRAM until I heared the chime 4 times.
I rebuilt the desktop.
Then it worked normal in a folder on the startup disk where previously it
created the icon files.
But in other folders and other volumes the icon files return.

Then I checked it on a beige G3.
This has a different install CD, thus also a different Finder and System.
The icon files returned here too.
All of them had a 'colm' resource with ID 256 and length 176.

In July I deleted more than 4000 icon files.
A few hundred had icon resources.
Most of them had no icon resources.
They probably had a 'colm' resource.
Some had a data fork.
They were probably preferences or registration data of sharewares.
Some had no forks (zero length).
They were probably crashed.

Thus I think that it's not a malfunction caused by crashed software.
I think that it's a normal feature of OS 9.
If you open a Finder window with list view, then you can change the width
and order of the columns by dragging.
Then it creates an icon file with a 'colm' resource.

Normally OS 9.x icons don't have any resource fork - only a data fork of a few bytes so they can be recognized by the Finder & System....

Folders (and files) in OS 9.x only get both resource and data forks, if they are created and inserted by a special icon applkication. Files though will get the standard icons from the corresponding application that created the file.

If you open a Finder window with list view, and you create a new folder,
then it's a clone of its superfolder.
For some reason, this new folder is seen as custom.
Thus it creates an icon file with a 'colm' resource.

New folders created by Finder are not a clone of anything, but just a result of the Finder command "create new folder" when you hit COM+N - exactly the same way as you create a new file in an application. It's simply a standard command structure in Finder (and in an application).

I suspect that many people experience the same problem.
You can verify this.
Search with Sherlock 2 for items whose kind is folder, has a custom icon.
Search with Sherlock 2 for items whose file type is 'icon', creator is
'MACS', is invisible.
If it doesn't return the same number of results, then you have the same
problem.

If there's no way to stop the Finder of making these icon files, then I
search a way to have them automatically deleted.

I have never seen such constant things like you describe it in neither System 7.x, 8.x or OS 9.x.

If you have 'Conflict Catcher 8.1' or newer you can rebuild each desktop on each volume at a time. This will probably solve the problems.

Also if you have Norton Utilities ver. 6.x or Norton Systemworks 2.x or 3.x, you should run first DiskDoctor and then Speeddisk. This will with no doubt solve the problems. /IF/ NDD and SD don't help the only cure without a total reformatting of the disks with zeroing all data is to use DiskWarrior 2.1. You can use DW 3.0 if you have the orig. DiskWarrior 3 CD, since that one also includes the ver. 2.1 application.

NOTE!!! DONOT use Norton Utilities on *ANY* OS X disk/partition
NOTE2!!! DONOT use Norton Systemworks - any version on *ANY* OS X higher than OS X 10.3.9.

My guess after reading this is that you've got socalled 'shadow files' which can occour from time to time on OS 8.x/9.x - especially if there are much disk activity such as creating, saving, moving, deleting and re-moving, re-installing etc.etc..

This will cause some destruction in some part of the file system's B-tree nodes in the root of the disk/volume. This is in the B-tree leaves 1-23 which all contain general system information on how to store, arrange and also create files/folders in Finder and System.

Normally these errors can be recovered using either Norton DiskDoctor - or better DiskWarrior 2.1 and you won't need to re-initialize the disks.

Cheers, Erik Richard

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Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-manNOSP@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
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