106 Macworld • August 2019HELP DESK
macOS prompts you when you try to delete
items using Option plus Finder > Empty Trashanother browser, it’s time to contact the site for
technical support help.Delete a file that macOS says is in use
Sometimes macOS tries to help you by not letting
you carry out actions that would break the system
or software you’re using. There are extra levels of
warnings available that you might choose to turn
off or bypass.
When you have files in the Trash, select
Finder > Empty Trash prompts you as to whether
you really meant to empty the trash. You click
Empty Trash to proceed. Holding down Alt when
selecting Finder > Empty Trash bypasses the
warning. (You can also press Command-Alt-Shift-
Delete to bypass it.)
But if macOS thinks a file is in use by an
application or the system, even that bypass doesn’t
help. When you empty the trash, your Mac will show
a warning dialog that reads, “The operation can’t
be completed because the item ‘name’ is in use.”
Three buttons appear: Skip, Stop, and Continue.