Ever try to empty the Trash and get a message like this?
Of course you have. Then you click "Empty Trash" (or hit Enter on the keyboard), and then you might get this message too:
(I say "might" because if you're on Mac OS X 10.6 AND you have some locked items in the Trash you will, and if you're using 10.5 or lower you won't.)
Most likely you will click "Remove All Items" and then-- finally-- the trash empties. Yay.
Skip all of this trouble by holding down the Option key when you choose "Empty Trash" from the Finder's "Finder" menu. Then it's a one-stepper. No messages, just a satisfying whooshy-crumpling sound.
Note: when you don't hold the Option key, the Finder's Finder menu looks like this:
Hold the Option key and it looks like this:
A little different, and as it turns out it makes a difference.
You noticed of course that without the Option key, the menu says "Empty Trash…" but with the Option key the ellipsis is gone. The menu now reads simply "Empty Trash" (no dots). Those three little dots in the menus actually mean something, namely that you are going to get a dialog box when you choose that item. Dialog boxes almost always have a "Cancel" button in them, and that gives you a chance to bail out without doing anything. This goes for every menu item with three little dots-- every menu item in every menu in every program. Watch for it and see. Three dots equals "dialog box coming up." Really.
And that's 8.
