I was trying to figure out why emptying my trash in Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) was taking far longer than it used to take in 10.5. As it turns out, the “Empty Trash securely” option is on by default in 10.6.
Solution, if you don’t really care to securely delete your files: left-click on your desktop or a folder, go to the top left corner and click the “Finder” drop-down, then select Preferences. Deselect “Empty Trash securely.” OR, just click your desktop, hit ctrl+, and deselect “Empty Trash securely.”
