Recycle Bin

TECH TIP - Trash Talk

We’re talking the Recycle Bin - not NBA basketball players (I’ve been watching way too much Timberwolves lately!). Here are some tips with dealing with the Recycle Bin.

To put something in the Recycle Bin, do one of the following:

Drag the file or folder to the Recycle Bin.
Right click on a file or folder and select Delete.
Click once on a file or folder and press the Delete Key.

Items are “stored” in the Recycle Bin until you empty it.
To empty the Recycle Bin, do one of the following:

Double-click on the Recycle Bin to open it and click on Empty Recycle Bin (on the left side).
Right-click on the Recycle Bin and click on Empty Recycle Bin.
Double-click on the Recycle bin to open it. Press Ctrl-A to select all items and then press the Delete Key.

You can empty selected items from the Recycle Bin. Do one of the following:

Right-click on the item you want to empty and select Delete.
Click once on an item you want to empty and press the Delete key.

You can Restore individual items from the Recycle Bin (move items out of the recycle bin back to their original location). Do one of the following:

Open the Recycle Bin (double-click on it) and drag the file out of the Recycle Bin to the Desktop (or to any other folder on the desktop).
Open the Recycle Bin (double-click on it) and click on the item you want to restore and then click on Restore (this item) on the left hand side.
Open the Recycle Bin (double-click on it) and right-click on the item you want to Restore and then click on Restore.

Delete Files Immediately – Bypass the Recycle Bin
You can delete a file without sending it to the Recycle Bin. Just be sure that you want to delete it permanently. Use one of these methods:

Click on the file you want to delete. Hold down the SHIFT key and drag the file or folder to the Recycle Bin.
Hold down the SHIFT key. Right click on a file or folder and select Delete.
Click once on a file or folder. Hold down the SHIFT key and press the Delete Key.

Recycle Bin Properties
You can view your Recycle Bin’s properties by right-clicking on the Recycle Bin. Now you can customize the Recycle Bin.

You can choose to have all files removed immediately when deleted
You can set the size of the Recycle Bin (10% is the default setting).
You can choose not to display confirmation dialogs when items are deleted.

Uh-Oh, I changed my mind!
Did you know what when you empty the Recycle Bin, you do not really delete those files from your computer. What really happens when you empty your Recycle Bin is that you are telling your computer you no long want those files and that the computer can use that space to save other files. Well, the computer will eventually use that space to save other files. But in the meantime, you may change your mind and actually restore the files that have been emptied from your Recycle Bin.

To do this, you need some 3^rd party software. I use a neat little freeware program called Restoration, available here:
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
This software is simple and straightforward – it can be run from a floppy disk (you don’t need to install it). It will read your hard drive and locate all files that have been deleted. You can then restore these files. If you want to undeleted files, don’t wait too long, because there is always the possibility your computer will overwrite deleted files and use that space for new files. Then your files will no longer be recoverable.

One final note: As stated above, when you empty your Recycle Bin, the file is not really deleted from your computer. If you decide to recycle your computer (give it away) or just discard it, your deleted files are still on your hard drive and can be undeleted by whoever takes over your old computer. That’s a bit unnerving if you had sensitive files on your hard drive. Well, you can use 3^rd party software to wipe out your deleted files. One of the best freeware programs to do this is called Eraser. You read about Eraser and download it here:
http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/ (Click on the Download Tab)

That’s the scoop on Trash Talk!

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