Deleting a user account

I am deleting a user account that wasn't used but to troubleshoot a different problem (nothing to do with hardware/software) ... when I deleted that account I by mistake said to securely erase the home folder. It's been 3 days now and I still can't shut the system preferences, restart the computer, or shut down the computer. Anyone with recommendations as to what to do. I really didn't need to securely erase the home folder at all ... ugh.