Weird hidden folder and file on desktop as old as the computer, what for? I noticed a mysterious hidden folder on my desktop containing one hidden file. The folder's name starts with .E05268AB3AE5F72AF... and the file name starts with DF2CEE62032EFA2196B0B673...

The folder was created on July 19th 2014 and its file on October 22nd 2014

My mac is a "MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)" and I got it sometime in October 2014. So, my guess is that the folder is put on the computer when it's manufactured and the file created on the first boot.

But that's just a wild guess and doesn't explain their utility.

Do you have those on your desktop?

Do you know why they're there?

Opening the file with text edit I get this:

/MG›ÿ“.¥%Pü;Pó¸û-øa]J´âË…≠RÑ€ïÆÀ\ˇ_ÔÅJ•W›Ã†õ‘m
õ'Õ∂Ø≠{a3oP)%&lt;U
6?ó≥$há ÄdY
¯8º◊
9ü”‘–pJÈt∞“≤L »óPØ}˝)YÄeÅôà(zk‹&amp;&gt;O◊&gt;∂:


and then a little bit more of that, probably binary not meant for humans.


As requested, the output of ls -al is the following 

Feldev-MBP:.E05268AB3AE5F72AF1E451 feldev$ ls -al
total 8
drwxrwxrwx@  3 feldev  staff   96 19 Jul  2014 .
drwx------+ 19 feldev  staff  608  3 Sep 21:07 ..
-rw-rw-rw-@  1 feldev  staff  242 22 Oct  2014 DF2CEE62032EFA2196B0B67336814E


and the output of file .E05268AB3AE5F72AF.../DF2CEE62032EFA2196B0B673... is data
They are for deleting. They don’t ship with the os and aren’t worth worrying about since they are machine generated and you’d need to use the command line or a hex editor to examine the binary file for clues. 

If you’re super worried, set up Time Machine to back them up, then delete them. 

Your home folder wasn’t created until after you received your Mac and chose your short name, so it came from a program or transfer you made soon after this mac was customized for you.