Emptying Trash

I am having issues with my computer all over the place.

I have Sophos Anti-virus, and ran a scan last week to see if I had any infected files. I found one, a spyware trojan in my backups on my external hard drive. So I tried to clean it up through Sophos and it wouldn't let me. I had to clean it up manually.

I found the folder the file was in and deleted it. I ran another scan, and the trojan was in another file. This happened many times, me hunting down the folder, deleting it, running another scan and finding it again. So I decided to just delete all the files that came after the date of the first folder that was infected (I deleted all the backups from 030812 to present). Most of the files deleted but now there are 6 in the trash that will not delete, even using the secure trash option.

Does anyone know how I can get rid of these files? I can't even put them back on my external hard drive (where all my backups are) because "files can't be modified."

It's really driving me insane. I just want to empty my trash!

Hi and welcome to M-F

First and foremost, i would uninstall the AV you have on your Mac.
What are these files that wont disappear from the trash ? Are they the so called virus files ?? Or are they files that are needed for the OS ? You need to be careful on what you are trashing because if you do trash a specific system file, you could render your Mac U/S and need to do a re-install of the OS.
I believe Sophos has been playing tricks on you. But uninstall it and then Repair Permissions via Disk Utility.
Open DU Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility
Make sure the First Aid tab is checked.
Click on yourHD in the left column and then click on Repair Permissions.
Log out and back in once done.
Don't worry about all the errors in the Log so when all done use spotlight to search for these so called Virus/thingy and report back.
Just a little info to read. Aprt from the scare lately that could get in via Java, where Apple has already done a update for it, there is no Virus for Mac in the wild.

Official antivirus, malware, and firewall FAQ

Cheers

The folders that wouldn't disappear are back up files from my external hard drive where Time Machine is set up. They are from 6 different days last month. I dont think they are necessary for my computer unless I needed to load those days on Time Machine.

I did uninstall Sophos though, it seemed to be more trouble than it worth.

Thank you for the tips! I was able to clear out the trash can. I appreciate all your help!

So I just logged back in, and the folders are in the trash again. I tried repairing my disk again, but nothing changed. I can't move the folders out of the trash to put in another folder, they only copy themselves so then I have more of the folders that won't leave. I can't delete the files in the folders because they are 'owned by system.'

Is there another way to get rid of them? According to the 'get info' they take up 5.2 MB, which isn't a concern, but I hate to know that I have something stuck in there that I can't get out. And now it's really bothering me. Is there maybe a way I can restore them and get them out of there? Even if I try putting them back into the external hard drive they don't move; only copy. Because I keep messing with them I might have completely mucked it up

When you're scanning you're HD with sophos you have several options .
Which option do you use ?
1) log only
2) delete threat
3) clean up threat .
But if you decide to delete it be sure they are Not system files .

Second option install EsayFind from the App store
If you find the file with Easyfind it has the option Destroy and Delete again be sure what you are doing .
EasyFind has also the option to show the hidden files if you mark that option as on