Maintenance Monday: The Recycle Bin

While working on a unprotected PC computer plagued with viruses (which is content for another blog entirely), one thing I noticed about the user. They never cleaned out their recycle bin. EVER! Is that really a good decision?

You can set it up to bypass the recycle bin automatically, but I really don't recommend that. There are a times that you need to rescue something you accidentally deleted.

Bottom Line: If you intended to delete it, why use the recycle bin as a storage area when it could be filed properly on your computer and less likely to be accidentally erased.  After all, emptying the Recycle Bin permanently deletes all items in just a couple of clicks.

So you need to clean out your recycle bin to open up space on your computer and improve performance.So, for Maintenance Monday, clean out your recycle bin, usually found on your desktop. Right click and select "Empty Recycle Bin".

But what if you don't have a recycle bin on your desktop?  Well, let's go find it!

In Windows Vista,

1. Click Start, and then click the "Control Panel".
2. Click "Appearance and Personalization", click "Personalization", and then click "Change desktop icons".
3. Click to select the "Recycle Bin" check box, and then click OK. 

With Windows 7:

1. Click the Start button, type "desktop icons" into the search box, and then click Show or hide common icons on the desktop.
2. In the Desktop Icon Settings dialog box, do one of the following:
   • To hide the Recycle Bin, clear the Recycle Bin check box.
   • To show the Recycle Bin, select the Recycle Bin check box.
3. Click OK.
   
   

With Windows 8:

1. Go to the Desktop app from the start menu. 
2. Right click on the desktop. 
3. Click on "Personalize"
4. Select "Change desktop icons" on the left.
5. Click to select the "Recycle Bin" check box, and then click OK.