How to Delete Desktop item 'used by OSX'?

Question

How to Delete Desktop item 'used by OSX'?

What happened: with iPhoto window open, I copied a photo; moved cursor to desktop,rt clicked on 'paste item'.
Instead of an image, I got an empty file which cannot be opened or moved to trash. Attempting to open,get: "This item is used by OSX and cannot be opened". Attempting to trash, get:"Some items are in use by another app....are you sure you want to move these items?" Click on 'Continue' button, nothing happens.
Please advise how to remove from desktop

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.2), time capsule attached

Posted on May 13, 2008 1:51 PM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

82,941 points

May 13, 2008 2:00 PM in response to HawaiianMacBook

Welcome to Apple Discussions!

The best way to delete an item is simply to restart the computer. Of course if anything launches at startup besides the Finder, that may still have that file in use. Do you have anything in Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Accounts -> select the account -> select Startup or Login items?

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Answer 2

May 13, 2008 7:05 PM in response to a brody

Aloha and thanks for the reply. The first thing I tried was a restart, no help. I tried several more approaches before composing the help query to which you responded. The only 'start up at login' is "system events", which I don't think would be a user of this mystery empty 'jpeg' file

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

82,941 points

May 13, 2008 8:27 PM in response to HawaiianMacBook

Aloha!

There is no reason why System Events should be in your Startup Items unless some program you are running requires it. The system as it is preconfigured from Apple does not.

Thus I suggest totally removing it and restarting. If some other program ceases to function, send a bug report to its developer.

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Answer 4

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

May 13, 2008 8:45 PM in response to HawaiianMacBook

to see what's using the item enter the following command in terminal

*sudo lsof path/to/file*

the easiest way to get path/to/file is to drag the file to the terminal window.
Just make sure there is a space between the path and lsof.
After you enter the command you'll be prompted for your admin password (which you won't see). that's normal.

If the command returns no output, it's safe to delete the file. To this end
run

*sudo rm -f path/to/file*

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Answer 5

May 14, 2008 8:47 AM in response to V.K.

The rest of this thread was removed by accident. Please see the continuation of the discussion Here

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