How do you delete trash bin items on a mac?

Question

my mac is running a little slow and i think its because my trash bin is really full and i keep clicking delete on certain items and nothing happens. Could someone help me out?

Answer 1

Several ways to do it:

1) Right-click (or control-click) on the trash icon. Select "Empty Trash" from the menu.

2) Same as above, but click and hold.

3) While Finder is active, click on "Finder" in the menu bar (top) and select "Empty Trash..."

4) While Finder is active, hold down Command, Shift, and hit the Delete key.

Answer 2

Your trash bin is just a folder on your Mac. Just like your Movies folder, or your Documents folder. It is an invisible folder which is why you can't find it, but is just a folder. Over filling it will not cause your system to bog down. (If your trash bin gets to full, just empty it by the way, Finder -> Empty Trash).

If your hard drive as a WHOLE however is to full, this can bog down your system somewhat. If you have a very slow CPU, or very minimal ram in your system then these can cause problems.

To determine how full your hard drive is select it on your desktop and go File -> Get Info (or get there by pressing Apple-i on your keyboard. Look for the value under Available. The system should run fine up to within a few gigabytes of being full. However, it is recommended that you never fill a drive more than 80% full. If this is your problem, a bigger hard drive, or an external hard drive to store your extra files on should help speed things up.

If your problem is caused by RAM however, then you'll need to increase capacity. To see how much ram is in use launch the Activity Monitor (Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor) and click on system memory. If your combined Free + Inactive is less than 50MB then you need more RAM. Your local Apple Store is the best place to go to get information on how to upgrade your RAM, as this can become a very difficult process in iMac's and Laptops.