Weird Trash Emptying Behavior, Need Help!

Question

I've read the apple support article for emptying trash, changing file permissions, etc.; I've also tried searching the apple discussions... So I hope someone can help me here!
I recently deleted Adobe CS2 from my applications. A lot of files were dragged to the trash, and now there are two folders in the trash that won't delete.
They are:
1. a folder called "Adobe Illustrator CS2", containing a folder named "Legal", containing a file named "Tiếng Việt.html" (the name's characters seem to be from a different character set).
2. a folder called "Adobe Photoshop CS2", also containing a folder named "Legal", also containing a file named "Tiếng Việt.html" (same as above).
Here are the issues:
1. When I try to empty trash, nothing happens, these files just don't delete.
2. When I try to secure empty trash, I get the message: "The operation cannot be completed because the item 'legal' is in use."
3. I have permission to read and write the files and folders. Just to be sure, I tried "apply to enclosed items" in "get info", I get this error message: "The operation cannot be completed because one or more required items cannot be found. (Error code -43). I can open the trash and look at the files. They are definitely there.
4. I read somewhere that because the names contain weird characters, they may not delete. When I try to rename the files, I get this error: "An unexpected error occurred (error code -43)."
5. I've tried "chflags -R nouchg " and "sudo chflags -R nouchg " in terminal, and I get errors saying the files do not exist (after I drag the folders into terminal.)
Help! What should I do to try and fix this? I have no idea what is going on!

Answer 1

The problem is the illegal characters in the file name. Try booting from your install disk, then go to the menu and select Disk Utility and run the First Aid-Repair Disk function. Restart, and you should be able to empty the Trash.
Francine
Francine
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