Avoid creation of those pesky ._ and .ds_store files

Nov 30, '05 06:17:00AM

Contributed by: hoffel

At work my (PC-challenged) colleagues always "love" when I browse the network with my Mac, leaving a breadcrumb trail of resource fork files and .ds_store files behind me. To me they are invisible, to them -- not so much.

They thus commanded me to remove them, which is not exactly something I'd consider fun. I know, you can turn off the generation of the latter in the Terminal, but that doesn't help with the resource forks, and it doesn't work for USB sticks. (Ever had a 128px thumbnail developed to 13x18cm? I have. Let me tell you, it doesn't look pretty.)

Enter the donationware System Preferences pane BlueHarvest. It allows you to turn the generation of those files off, either by volume/folder, or by file type. (It does a few other tricks, too.) I haven't had the chance to test it extensively yet, but so far, it has been working as advertised.

If ._ and .ds_store files have made office a lonely place for you, you might as well give the app a try and maybe, just maybe, your colleagues will start talking to you again!

[robg adds: This is a popular subject around here ... but this is the first I've heard of an app that can work on multiple types of files and volumes, so I thought it worth posting...]

Comments (19)


Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20051121091532444