Need Help Desperately!! Trash won't empty!

Hi
I've had this problem for over a month now and I've just sat here for about an hour trying to fix it.
I've got a .html file in the trash and I just can't get rid of it. It's called: Tiếng Việt.html (which in itself looks suspicious to me).
Anyway, when you try to find info on the file, it just says "fetching" and never actually tells you anything. I've also tried opening it in Safari for info and Dreamweaver but get error messages.
I've tried emptying the trash normally and secure empty trash, but nothing.
Then, as a last resort I went to Terminal. Now normally I don't like to use terminal because I once deleted all the files off my desktop by using it!! Lucky I didn't make a bigger mistake though.
I know I typed the command properly this time though, because I got a message saying "command completed" or something along those lines. But no, it was still there.
So, I did it as follows and this was the result I got:
Last login: Sun Sep 10 10:39:25 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
You have new mail.
[Macintosh:~] caroline% sudo -s
Password:
[Macintosh:~] root# rm -R /Users/caroline/.Trash/untitled\ folder/
rm: /Users/caroline/.Trash/untitled folder//Legal.localized/Tiếng Việt.html: No such file or directory
rm: /Users/caroline/.Trash/untitled folder//Legal.localized: Directory not empty
rm: /Users/caroline/.Trash/untitled folder/: Directory not empty
[Macintosh:~] root# exit
exit
[Macintosh:~] caroline%
What's confusing me is that it says "no such file or directory" and then "Directory not empty".
I've tried changing it's permission with 3rd party program's and am often given another error message!
I'm worried it's spyware (if it actually exists for a mac!) or something equally sinister. Is it worth doing a virus check?
I've even resored disk permissions...anything else I should try?

Hi
I'm worried it's spywareNo, this is a known problem with certain special characters in filenames. I won't go into tedious detail, since it seems Apple may have fixed it.
Someone else with this problem manage to cure it by running Repair Disk from the Install disk and then using Secure Empty Trash. I don't know that the "Secure" made any difference, it is the disk repair that counts. If it doesn't work after trying Disk Utility, run fsck instead:
Mac OS X: About Using Disk Utility and fsck for File System Maintenance
Let us know if this helps!

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