You're Your Own Trash Collector, Bub

ByMike Moffit

The trash feature of any operating system is quite vital. Sure, we all take for granted the fact that we can delete files as quickly as we create them, but what if you couldn’t move a file to the trash or worse empty the trash successfully?

Well, I’m happy to inform you that there are ways to resolve this issue, one that if it goes unresolved, can create a space limitation on your hard drive. Think of it this way, simply because you put trash in a garbage can doesn’t mean the trash collector is going to come each week. Here are a few tips/tricks that can resolve your trash can issue. In the case of owning a computer, you are essentially the trash collector that’s responsible for emptying your trash. This might seem like common sense but you’d be surprised how many people operate on a “out of sight, out of mind” mentality when it comes to file organization.

Hopefully the following tips and tricks help provide you a resolution:

In Mac OS X, each user account has a separate, invisible Trash folder that is in the home folder. When you view contents of the Trash, you see only items you placed there and not the Trash folder of any other accounts. If other writable volumes are present, you may also have individual Trash folders on these volumes.

How to delete a file:

1. Drag an item’s icon to the Trash (in the Dock), or select the item and press Command-Delete.
2. Choose Empty Trash from the Finder menu.

Note: If you’re trying to delete a file that wasn’t completely downloaded or copied, check out this document.


Tip: In Mac OS X v10.3 or later, you can securely delete items by choosing Secure Empty Trash from the Finder menu.



If you change your mind about deleting the item before you choose Empty Trash:

1. Click the Trash icon in the dock.
2. Drag the item out of the Trash.
 

If you can’t empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash:

For example, this message might appear when you try to empty the Trash: “The operation could not be completed because the item ‘(item name)’ is locked.”

First, try holding the Option key as you choose Empty Trash from the Finder menu.


If that fails, check for these conditions:

Is the file locked? If files are locked, unlock them before deleting or delete using the tips in the “Deleting locked files” section below. Also, see this article.

Do you have correct permissions to modify the file?

 Every file and folder in Mac OS X has some permission settings to help define what you or other users can do with the file or folder, for example whether you may modify it or not. If see an alert box with a message that says you do not have “sufficient” privilege or permission, see the tips in the “Emptying the Trash” section of this article. 

Does the file or volume have special characters? Usually, Mac OS X can delete files whose names contain special characters, but sometimes you might need to follow this advice.


1. Note the name of the volume which the files are being deleted from. If you are not sure of the item’s location, you can verify that by selecting it then choosing Show Info from the File menu. If the name of the volume contains any special ASCII characters, such as a bullet or trademark character, temporarily rename the volume so that it does not contain these characters. 



Example: If you cannot delete files from a volume named “·Dox”, rename the volume to “Dox”. After the Trash is empty, restore the volume’s original name as desired.
 

2. Examine the name of the files or folders you cannot delete. They should not contain a solidus (“slash”, “/”) character or any other special ASCII character such as a trademark, quotation mark, or copyright symbol. If the file does, remove the special character or slash from its name, then delete it.



Example: If you cannot delete a file named “Things/stuff·”, rename the file to just “t”, then delete it.

Remember to always delete your trash as the files/data that can accumulate in there are still taking up space on your hard drive.

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    This is the Achilles heel of the TOR network: one bad apple can spoil the entire recipe. However, there are many good apples trying to make a great dish. Many volunteers that manage network nodes are doing it correctly and maintaining the network so that average users can take advantage of TOR’s designed purpose. TOR is constantly the target of agencies and corporations. If it can be cracked there are organizations out there that want to know that it can be done and how to do it.

    TOR isn’t just a tool to hide your identity when browsing the normal internet. It is also the host of many websites that are not indexed by major search engines, i.e. Google or Bing. These sites are privately maintained and in many cases contain illegal content. A few years ago during the rampage of Anonymous, the nefarious hacker group, many sites hosting illegal content on the TOR network were attacked and taken down for periods of time. TOR isn’t the only “Deep Web” network that hosts non-indexed websites and in fact, the statistic is that around 90% of the internet is actually contained in these “Deep Web” networks. These networks aren’t all that easy to get to and can open you up for attack if you are not careful.

    I myself haven’t done more than learn how to connect to these networks, and just the three most known networks at that. I’m still researching how to protect myself and how to know if I am in fact coming under attack. Knowing is half the battle, and knowing when someone is trying to connect to your machine is crucial in protecting yourself. Once they are in, usually there is nothing they can’t do to harm everything on it. A lot of this still makes me nervous whenever I attempt to connect because my specialization is primarily hardware and I don’t have all the proper knowledge to protect myself. I hear either on the news or read online about hackers getting all this information and account passwords to all the most commonly used services and I wonder how it’s done. What do I need to know to better protect myself? How are malicious cyber-geniuses able to get into my system and through what vulnerabilities? While on this quest of knowledge seeking I have learned quite a bit about the different types of attacks, but not how they are executed. If the interest is there I will continue this line of research. Or if there is enough interest in another area that people want to know about, please let me know.

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    Some argued that these instances of violence were only added to these games to make them seem realistic. But how realistic is a game where a driver mows down a sidewalk of people only to escape by painting his car a different color or for that matter a fantasy RPG pitting sorcerers and knights against skeletons and dragons? In an excellent analysis of the situation, Adi Robertson in “*an article on The Verge,*”:http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/28/6078517/stop-ruining-my-escapist-fantasies-sarkeesian-haters states: “Games with realistic stories are still built on unrealistic mechanics and stylized environments…Realism is as much about what you leave out as what you put in, and an unfortunate number of games pare down the feminine experience to nothing except sex, childbirth, and vulnerability.”

    I love the world of technology, and it has allowed me to play some pretty epic games, including some of the ones on Sarkeesian’s list. But I also live in a world where women are people, not props to cheaply develop a protagonist’s character. The more we remove these misogynistic depictions from the media we consume, the less they pervade our real lives.

    Please keep reading for less ranting about important topics and more tips, reviews, and stories about the technology that you use. Today we’ll talk about managing your digital garbage, check out the next operating system from Apple, and further explore TOR networks and internet privacy.

    _Mike D_
    “miked@smalldog.com”:mailto:miked@smalldog.com

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