Solving Issues With the Recycle Bin – Windows Operating Systems

The Recycle Bin. Has been with the various Windows operating systems since at least Windows 3.0. Most people put in their files for deletion, yet may not have it set to empty. This is fine and does no harm, yet over time you will have files accumulate that you believe you have removed in the past. Those files have not become removed or deleted, they are just out of sight hence out of mind.

This is easily resolved, if you have items in your recycle bin, check it now and if you are sure you want to delete these files, right click on the bin and select empty recycle bin. Alternatively you can right click on the icon on the desktop, select properties and click the radio button for – Do not move files to the recycle bin. Remove files immediately when deleted. Also if you want, check on the green tick for – Display delete confirmation dialog. That way you know you will be prompted to double check if you really want to delete that file before removal, if you change your mind, simply click on the cancel button.

If you are having problems using the icon on the desktop, in the search bar on Vista and Windows 7 or the cmd.exe file in Windows 95/98/2000/ME and XP, start the command prompt from the start menu and use the one of either two of the following commands.

del C:\RECYCLER\?*.*) or try

ATTRIB C:\RECYCLER\* -R -S -H /S /D 
DEL C:\RECYCLER\* /F /S /Q 
RD C:\RECYCLER /S /Q

If you are missing the actual icon, desktop properties for the recycle bin may have changed. To restore it for Windows 95/98/2000/ME and XP do the following

Right click your desktop and selecting properties. On the window that appears, select the desktop tab, then click customize desktop. On the next window, select recycle bin (full) and click restore default, then repeat with recycle bin (empty).

To restore it for Windows Vista & 7 do the following

Right click your desktop and selecting personalize. On the window that appears, select the desktop tab, click once on change desktop icons, click the white box once to show a tick next to the recycle bin name.

Using these helpful tips will easily resolve the most common problems when using this resource or finding that the icon for some reason has disappeared form the desktop.

Tags: Issues, Operating, Recycle, Solving, Systems, Windows