A few days ago, my computer stopped letting me delete files. When I try to put files in the trash, it says it can't and gives me an error -51. What does this mean? Has anyone else had this problem?
That might be a permission problem. Have you tried rebooting your system? If yes, have you tried repairing permissions? If no, open an app called 'Disk Utility' (should be in the 'Utilities' folder in the 'Applications' folder). When it's open, click the 'First Aid' tab, and click 'Verify disk permissions'. Let it run (does take half an hour or even more). If you still can't delete files, you might want to try booting of OS X on cd-rom (hold down 'c' while starting up while cd-rom is inserted). When you reach the installer, go under 'installer' menu and pick 'disk utility' and choose repair disk. If that doesn't work, you should ask again.
Oh, the most important question: what are you trying to delete? It is possible that you are trying to delete a file that the system won't let you delete, and that that file is hijacking the trash, so check that out too: what is in your trash?
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