strange behaviour in preferences folder

[3mors]

i just noticed that if i open a plist file from ~/Library/Preferences folder with a text editor such as Smultron or vi on terminal, i can see only garbage like this:

bplist00ßf

!#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrntuvz{}nn„
†‡ˆœžŸ¡¢*¥¦§n©n«¬*®¯°±nn´µœ &nnn * + , -n°* 6
9¿¥ :®* j k*n n on° q r s t*n w x ynn
| }*n €nn „n † ‡n_NSWindow Frame Downloads_WebKitFixedFont_,AppleNavServicesutFile:1903456364osition_NSFontPanelAttributes_BuiltInBookmarksVersionString_+NSWindow Frame kInquisitorPreferencesWindow_WebKitMinimumFixedFontSize_Saft Open In Tab_NSNavLastRootDirectory_NSWindow Frame Preferences_!NSWindow Frame BrowserWindowFrame_NSNavSidebarSnapPosition_(WebKitRespectStandardStyleKeyEquivalents_ShortcutsPreference_(AppleNavServicesutFile:1903456364:Size_RecentSearchStrings_!NSNavPanelExpandedSizeForOpenMode[OpenWindows_1NSTableView Columns

it happens both on my imac g5 and my macbook pro.
i don't know why, but anyway the plist files are read correctly by their programs (the prefs are ok)

i have another strange problem:
sometimes in ~/Library/Preferences folder (only on macbook) i find empty folders named like this: "&#8800;@&#8211;e&#770;i®ø&#711;&#64257;&#8224;&#8224;}O&#768;|e&#770;ky&#776;e&#768;¿o&#776;(ø&#711;&#64258;"
for example, now i can see 11 of this folders
i don't know what application creates them, is there a way to find it?

thanks for your help

 

[3mors]

ok, i've found the solution for my first question: they are binary plist files
i have to convert them in order to read as xml...