Fix ‘Trash Cannot Be Emptied’ Problems In OS X

Every once in a while, you’ll go to empty the trash on your Mac only to have it spit out a “Trash Cannot be Emptied because ______ is in use” error. Here’s how to fix that problem.

What’s especially annoying about this is that sometimes, you’ll get this error even though you know the item isn’t in use anymore — you’ve closed the file, quit the program, or otherwise taken it out of commission. Weblog Mac OS X Hints shows us a few ways to fix the problem:

• Go to Finder and select Finder » Secure Empty Trash.
• If this operation gets stuck, open the Activity Monitor utility and force quit the Locum process. Enter your admin password when requested.
• Go back to Finder and select Finder » Empty Trash.

If you’re a Terminal guru, you can always hit that sucker with some rm -rf action, but this is nice if you prefer to stay out of the command line trenches. Hit the link to read more.

Cannot Empty Trash Because Item is in Use [Mac OS X Hints]