G4 desktop processes are out of control

So I am not a genius that's for sure...and because of this I really need some help! I was trying to clean off my iBook so I could give it to my grandmother and I highlighted 1300 pictures and proceeded to drag them to the trashcan...guess where they fell! The desktop! I couldn't get it to stop duplicating the photos so now my desktop is so overrun with background processes that I can't even begin to delete a single picture.
I've tried hitting control A to highlight everything and drag it to the TRASHCAN, but its too flooded to even do that. I called the genius bar and that's all they could tell me. At this point it takes about 4 minutes to even show that I have clicked on an icon. Grrrr....
Any suggestions?

The only suggestion I have...is don't highlight & drag 1300 photos at one time next time! ;D

Actually what you could do...since your plan was to "clean off" the computer anyway...is just restart the computer, boot from your Mac OS install CD, and reinstall the OS...wiping the hard drive in the process.

- Nick