Trying to Tidy my Desktop...

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
... But I can't delete this F king .sit file (movie trailer). When I try it says it is being used by another task. But its not. Is there anyway to "Force Delete". Any ideas?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    overhopeoverhope Posts: 1,123member
    If you're not afraid of playing in the Terminal, try this:



    1: Open Terminal

    2: type cd ~ and hit return (don't forget the space)

    3: type sudo rm Desktop/[name of the offending file] and hit return

    4: type an administrator password at the prompt, hit return

    5: you're done! Unless you get a similar message, in which case more sophisticated/dangerous methods will be required
  • Reply 2 of 10
    Uh Uh. Didn't work. Terminal said there was nothing on the Desktop of that file name. But I used the file name given in the Get Info of the Desktop alias.



    Any more ideas?



    Anywhere I can look up free info on Terminal?
  • Reply 3 of 10
    try typing Deskop/ then the first few characters of the name, and hitting tab. Terminal will then fill in the name for you.



    The most common reasons for it not working would be that the name contains a space, and therefor it needs quoting or escaping:-



    eg of quoting: sudo rm "~/Desktop/Some File With Spaces"



    eg of escaping: sudo rm ~/Desktop/Some\\ File\\ With\\ Spaces



    Also remember that the terminal is case sensitive.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    jwri004jwri004 Posts: 626member
    If you can't be shagged with backslashes etc, just rename the file "a" or something of the like. Makes it a lot quicker.
  • Reply 5 of 10
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jwri004

    If you can't be shagged with backslashes etc, just rename the file "a" or something of the like. Makes it a lot quicker.



    Good point. Well made.



    Working...
  • Reply 6 of 10
    AARRRGH! Renamed the file "a". Terminal still says "There is no such file or directory".



    Bum.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    try typing

    ls

    in the Desktop directory, to see what terminal DOES see.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    Easier:



    Open Terminal.

    Type "sudo rm " and don't press return yet. Note there is a trailing space.

    Drag the file to the Terminal.

    Press return.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Brad

    Easier:



    Open Terminal.

    Type "sudo rm " and don't press return yet. Note there is a trailing space.

    Drag the file to the Terminal.

    Press return.




    Yeah, no need to type. I LOVE how i can drag files into terminal and it puts in the full path
  • Reply 10 of 10
    Yay!



    Dragging worked. You guys r good. This Terminal stuff seems pretty useful (if scary. I've never been one to poke around with computers - whether in the OS or in the guts of the machine).



    Found these sites to help me learn.



    OSXFAQ



    OJBs



    Anyone know any with step-by-step stuff for beginners?
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