Ask TUAW: Emptying the trash, migration assistant, Safari bookmarks, Mac mini server and more

I used to be able to drag files to the trash and them empty them by clicking the trash icon > empty. Now whenever I drag ANYTHING to the trash icon, a dialog box pops up and says the file(s) will be deleted immediately. How do I get the trash to work like it's old, trash can like self and not a paper shredder?

Question:
On my Early 2008 MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard, I would like to set up an Automation for easily ripping DVDs. I would like to use Automator, or something similar, to rip my DVD collection by decrypting them in something like MacTheRipper and them encode them for use in Handbrake. Streamlining this process would be so much easier than my current process. Thanks!

similar to how i don't use a physical trash can as a filing system... i don't use the virtual trash can for that either. nor should anyone else.

just like the janitor can empty the can in my office at any time... it's best to just assume the same can happen to the OS trash can. the trash ISN'T FOR STORING THINGS IN.

if you have items in the trash that aren't important enough to trash... why the hell are they there to begin with?

QUESTION: I have a headless G4 Mac mini, which I use as a share server for my external hard drives, printers, and scanner on my WiFi home network. Since it's a G4, it is stuck at Leopard. I have two MBP's (a first-gen 2006 15-inch and a mid-2009 13-inch) which are both running Snow Leopard. One of the printers is a Canon iP4200, the other is a Canon MX310 All-in-One. I am able to print from the laptops to both printers without issues over the network. Prior to upgrading the laptops to Snow Leopard, I could scan documents with the laptops over the network using Image Capture. Now that I have upgraded to Snow Leopard, I can no longer see the shared device in Image Capture. I can still print to the printer part of the same device. The scanner works on the mini using Screen Sharing from a laptop (and then dragging the file to the laptop) but that's tedious. If I plug the printer/scanner directly into one of the laptops, I can scan directly over USB with Image Capture.

So my question is, why doesn't Image Capture in Snow Leopard see scanners that are shared over a network using Image Capture on a Leopard machine? Is this normal? I can't find any mention of it anywhere on the web (yes, Google, I know that Snow Leopard has updated scanner sharing, thanks), and I went to the Apple store and asked my question and was met with a shrug. Any thoughts?

So, what happens to a shared iTunes library when you break up? My ex-gf shared my iTunes so we could share apps, and she used my store account to buy songs that I will never listen to. How can I transfer those songs and the apps she bought to her?

I've read a couple of Magic Mouse reviews, but they all tend to review it as a mouse like any other, where the lack of thousands of buttons and hand-conforming shapes are huge negatives and take up 99% of the reviews. Are there any reviews which compare it to the Mighty Mouse, instead of pairing it up against high-end multi-button mice?

Here's my question:
I love using the Mail application on my Intel MacBook (10.6) with my Gmail account, but I am having some issues with this app and my iPhone. Whenever I open mail on my mac, it downloads all emails, and then when I go to my phone, all of the messages are transferred to the "all mail" folder. If there is any way to keep mail in the inbox of my phone? That would be great. All help is greatly appreciated!

What's the best way to recycle my old Mac?

QUESTION: I have a MBPro running 10.5.8 that's about a year old now (November I believe will be it's anniversary). I'm having this weird problem waking my MBPro. When I open the lid I hear the hard drive start, the keyboard lights up, the display even comes on, but all I see is a black screen. No prompt to put in my password. If I hit any keys I heard the "error" sound. At first I could close the lid, let it sleep again then open it up and it would prompt me for my password, now it doesn't even do that. How do I fix it?

RE: Wickedbliss asks:

In a windows network (client/server or peer to peer) a user can map a network drive to any node on the network. That mapped drive can then be fond under the user's "my computer icon" or "my network places" without the user having to re-establish connection.

Is there any way to have mapped network drives on a windows/mac network? Clicking "connect to server" under finder and then selecting the server/ share is a bit annoying.
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You could also drag the item into the sidebar of a Finder window and add it to the list of drives already there. That way it is available to you in any Finder window. You may have to enable that feature in Finder preferences. One caveat is that if you lose the connection to that drive it can disappear from the sidebar and you'll have to re-add it.

One more tip: There is a way to have OS X automatically open a share at login, similar to having Windows map a drive to a network share automatically at login. First, connect to your share so that an Icon appears on your desktop. Then open System Preferences, then Accounts, then click on your account, and then finally Login Items. Drag the network share into your login items. Now whenever OS X comes up it will automatically open the share (providing the network connection is available and that you do not have to enter login credentials.) To keep OS X from opening a Finder window check off the Hide box in Login Items next to your shares. I have noticed however this feature is broken with regards to network shares and sometimes still opens a Finder window anyways. In fact, I think it only worked for me in 10.5.6. Updating to 10.5.7 broke that again.