Taking out the trash~

[andybuildz]

I'm trying to clean out my photo images. I bought a new/refurbished 27" Mac 2.8 Quad desktop and I plugged my cell phone into it to recharge it and I accidentally let it suck up all the photos from my cell phone which were a LOT! I deleted a lot of them but there's a lot that won't empty from my trash bin. The message I get is "The operation can’t be completed because the item “ ####” is in use." (I inserted ### just for this post).
I do know there's some photos being used in Picasa Photo albums but theres dozens I have no clue where they're being used. I don't see them in my iPhoto anywhere or Photo Booth..etc etc or my regular Picasa App. A lot of the photos that are in my Picasa Photo albums aren't photos I resized or turned clockwise.counter clockwise and such...and would like to delete those...but can't find them anywhere and this Mac is only a month old.
Is there any way to find out where I can find the photos and stop them out of being "used" as the message I keep getting from my trash bin keeps saying?
Thanks mucho
andy

 

[GoDuke1]

I'm a total noob myself, but I would click on the Apple icon, and force quit all apps that are running and then try to empty the trash again. Perhaps it's still running in preview or something similar.

 

[John T]

You've really answered your own question! As you are being advised, another application is using some of the files in the Trash. As GoDuke1 suggested, close all running Apps.

Personally, I find the easiest way to do this is to go to Apple > Log Out "User Name". This will close all running Apps. When you log on again you should be able to empty the Trash.

 

[andybuildz]

You've really answered your own question! As you are being advised, another application is using some of the files in the Trash. As GoDuke1 suggested, close all running Apps.

Personally, I find the easiest way to do this is to go to Apple > Log Out "User Name". This will close all running Apps. When you log on again you should be able to empty the Trash.

Thanks Duke and John...
Coincidently thats what I did. I logged out and when I logged back in the a.m I was able to delete those items.

It was mostly all Sarah Palin's fault...LOL...I'm not kidding...I had a really funny photo of her in my photo album and I could not get rid of her. I wasn't even using it and couldn't find it in any of my applications...but that one friggin Palin photo held the whole thing up. I always knew she was trouble...LOL
Thanks mates