Q: I'm running Mac OS X, and when I try to empty trash, I get a message telling me I don't have sufficient privileges. What should I do?

Answer

Error messages referencing "insufficient privileges" while emptying the trash occur (1) when trying to delete certain programs that install with root privileges (such as Virex 7) and (2) as a result of disk errors or bugs in programs.

You can empty the trash by following these steps:

1. Open the Terminal in the Utilities folder.
2. Type cd .Trash
3. Type pwd (without quotes) to make sure you are in your .Trash directory.
   Result: You should get a response like "/Users/username/.Trash".
4. After you have verified you are in your Trash directory, type "sudo rm -r *" (without quotes).
   Result: You will be prompted for a password.
5. Type in the password for your user account. If that does not work, use the password Mac OS X was originally set up with.
   This command will delete everything in the directory, so it is essential that you do this in the correct folder. Once the data has been erased, it cannot be recovered.
6. You may now quit the terminal.

If you empty the trash, you should no longer receive the insufficient privileges error message.