File/Folder Manipulation Permissions (right-click)?

It's a pain having to always switch to Terminal to delete or move certain files (for example, deleting every "back" and "more" colored arrow .desktop file from my xfce menus), with these options being grayed-out from the right-click context menu. I imagine this is due to Linpus's handholding, but I'm inexperienced with linux in general. Is there a way to re-allow these options? Ideally, I would like these options available through the GUI, un-grayed-out, but with a confirmation popup to prevent accidents.

Also, how can I delete a folder? I ended up deleting the contents of my edesktop folder one-by-one via sudo remove [path] in Terminal, but am not allowed to delete even the empty folder with the same method.

Nothing mission critical here, but I'd appreciate it if you could help me out.
Thanks!

 

look here, and I'd recommend the linux pocket guide by o'reilly
http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/cmd/cmd ... th=r/rmdir

 

The reason you're seeing them "grayed out" is that you can't write to or delete any files that are not owned by you (user). If you had root privileges then you can go and destroy your system however you want. This has nothing to do with handholding. That's what Microsoft offers you with Windows. With Linux YOU do the handholding. This is the basis of Linux security where the systemspace is separated from the userspace.

To do this, you can open a terminal and do:

sudo thunar

Enter your password and you then are operating the file manager as root and can go about destroying things however you like. This is somewhat dangerous in the hands of a newbie, but if you want a GUI to manipulate files outside your userspace, that's the way to do it.

Cheers.

 

I see.

I think I'd rather trust in my own sense of knowledgability or lack of (with a confirmation dialog to be sure) in deciding to mess with things rather than flat out not be allowed unless I go out of my way somewhere else and say the special magic words (hurray impenetrability! ;-)), but I suppose it makes its own sort of sense. Though, I still feel that things like interface and menu configuration, or manipulation of items I have direct contact with as a user as in my example should be straightforwardly configurable.

At any rate, thanks for the info. A bit easier than C&Ping to Terminal over and over.