adobefindermacos
I've used Activity Monitor to close every process with the Creative Cloud icon.
I've deleted the Creative Cloud Files directory itself, and deleted it from the trash.
I've gone to the "Extensions" preference pane and turned off "Core Sync."
I've quit Finder and restarted it.
And yet the "Creative Cloud Files" icon still shows up in my Finder sidebar, even though the original can't be found.
How can I eliminate this zombie icon once and for all?
The Finder Sidebar is defined in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist. It may be stored in binary. If you have a property list editor, this won't matter; if you don't, you'll want to convert it to XML first:
plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
Then, open it in a text editor. There's probably an entry like so in there:
<dict>
<key>Icon</key>
<data>…</data>
<key>CustomItemProperties</key>
<dict>
<key>com.apple.LSSharedFileList.TemplateSystemSelector</key>
<integer>1935819892</integer>
</dict>
<key>Name</key>
<string>Desktop</string>
<key>Alias</key>
<data>…</data>
</dict>
</plist>
(Note the key Name with string value Desktop.)
Delete that whole <dict> node, and save.
You will have to recreate your searches since the option to hide the extension is not present if "Show all extensions" is enabled.
Disable "Show all extensions" in Finder preferences (which you have done) Create a new Search in Finder Check the box "Hide Extension" in the resulting dialog
See the original author's explanation here for more information
Best Answer
This is how you show / hide certain icons of the Finder Sidebar:
Try a right-click on the folder, then 'Remove from Sidebar'.
1) Go to 'Finder', then open 'Preferences' from the menu bar
2) Navigate to the 'Sidebar' tab
3) Uncheck the appropriate icon(s) as required. Then close.
I believe that apps like CCleaner can clean up these "ghost" directories too. However, based on your question, these steps should do the job. Let me know how you get on.