18 - RECYCLE BIN Into the Recycle Bin

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1 18 - RECYCLE BIN Because it is easy to accidentally delete files and something of a chore to undelete them again, Microsoft introduced the Recycle Bin way back in Windows 95. Now, when you delete files from your PC, they (usually) end up in the Recycle Bin before being removed completely. In this lesson we will explore how the Recycle Bin works and how to recover files that have been sent there Into the Recycle Bin The Recycle Bin is, by default, the only icon on your Windows 10 desktop. The icon shown here looks as if it has some crumpled paper inside it. This is to indicate that there are files or folders in the bin. To open the Recycle Bin, we simply double click on it. Figure 18.2 shows the Recycle Bin window. Figure 18.2 The Recycle Bin opens in a standard File Explorer window

2 The Recycle Bin opens in a File Explorer window just like any other folder on your PC. The ribbon will automatically change to reflect the special tasks that can be carried out with the Recycle Bin. In figure 18.2, the user has clicked on Manage under Recycle Bin Tools on the ribbon. By clicking on Empty the Recycle Bin, all the items in the window will be permanently deleted. By clicking on Restore all items, all the items shown are put back into their original folders (i.e. the folders that they were placed in before they were deleted). Notice that we said the files would be permanently deleted when Empty the Recycle Bin was clicked. This is not strictly true. There is still the possibility of recovering those files with some kind of undelete utility or data forensics tool kit. Emptying the Recycle Bin does not protect you from this. If you are working with particularly sensitive information you may need to use a third party file shredding utility. These work like their real-world counterparts and make sure that files cannot be recovered once the are removed from your computer. Naturally, it is possible to work with individual files in the Recycle Bin as well as its entire contents. Turn on the Details pane (from the View tab on the ribbon) and single click on an item in the Recycle Bin and you can see the original file path or address for the file or folder. Clicking on Restore this item will move the file back to its original location. See figure Figure 18.3 Working with individual files in the Recycle Bin

3 In figure 18.3, we can see that if we click on Restore the selected items, the pidgin exe file will be restored to C:\Users\Bucko\Downloads. This is the address or path of the users downloads folder, so the file would reappear in the downloads folder in this case. To permanently delete a selected file, right click on it and choose Delete from the context menu. This will free up the space on your hard drive that the file was occupying Sending files to the Recycle Bin Most files that you delete will initially be sent to the Recycle Bin. Take a look at figure Figure 18.4 A typical File Explorer window with the Home tab open on the ribbon There are several ways to send the file File1.txt to the Recycle Bin. We can select it and then press the Delete key on the keyboard. We can use the Home tab on the ribbon and click Delete. Alternatively, use the

4 context menu by right clicking on the icon and then choosing Delete. Whichever method you prefer, they all have the same end result, the file is removed from this folder and placed in the Recycle Bin. Once there, we can click on it and see where it came from and then restore it back to its original location if necessary Files that are not sent to the Recycle Bin While most files you delete are initially sent to the Recycle Bin, some are not. In figure 18.4 we can see a large file called DadsLaptopBackup2.tib. This file is over 20 gigabytes in size. Files this large are normally just too big to fit in the Recycle Bin. We can still remove them by deleting them with any of the methods described previously. However, this time when you attempt to delete the file, the window shown in figure 18.5 will appear. Figure 18.5 This file is too big to fit in the Recycle Bin If you click Yes then the file will be removed from your computer. Of course, it would still be possible (though somewhat inconvenient) to use special data recovery software to undelete it. Certain other files are not sent to the Recycle Bin when deleted. One example of this is a file or folder on a network storage device. Depending on the device in question, when you try to delete a file from a network storage device, you may see the window shown in figure 18.6.

5 Figure 18.6 This file on the network will be deleted permanently Clearly this file isn t too big for the recycle bin, so why will it be permanently deleted? This is because there was no recycle bin folder on this network storage location. To explain exactly what this means, we need to explore some technical information about how the Recycle Bin works Recycle Bin folders The Recycle Bin is a little like the library folders in that in actual fact it is an aggregate or combined view of several folders. Each drive on your computer, be it internal or external, can have its own Recycle Bin folder. This folder is normally a hidden folder called $Recycle.Bin. When you open the Recycle Bin then the folder that opens shows the combined view of all the $Recycle.Bin folders on your PC. If you connect to a storage device, perhaps a network drive or network folder that hasn t had a Recycle Bin configured, then any files that you delete will not be sent to the Recycle Bin, they will just be removed. Windows will warn you that the file will be permanently removed so make sure you pay attention to the messages and be extra careful. So, with those two important exceptions, all files and folders you delete are sent to your Recycle Bin first. Note that you can also empty the Recycle Bin by right clicking on it and choosing Empty Recycle Bin Recycle Bin Properties There are some advanced Recycle Bin preferences that can be changed by clicking Recycle Bin properties from the ribbon or by right clicking on the Recycle Bin and choosing Properties. Figure 18.7 shows the Recycle Bin Properties window.

6 Figure 18.7 A Recycle Bin Properties window In the Recycle Bin Properties window there are several settings we can tweak. At the top of the window we can see the Recycle Bin Location. Recall that each drive has a Recycle Bin folder associated with it. From this list you can choose the Recycle Bin to work with. On the machine that figure 18.7 was taken from there were two hard drives and so two recycle bin folders. Under Settings for selected location we can specify a maximum size. Remember the size specified is in megabytes, but the size shown under Space Available is in gigabytes. There are one thousand and twenty four (1024) megabytes to a gigabyte, so the maximum size for this Recycle Bin is around the five gigabyte mark. It is possible to increase or decrease that size by entering a new value in the Maximum size (MB): box, although for most users the default size is fine. Below the Custom Size option is the option to disable the Recycle Bin altogether. If this option is chosen, files are removed immediately when deleted. We do not recommend that beginners enable this option, in fact we don t recommend that anyone does. Having the safety net of the Recycle Bin is always a good idea.

7 Finally there is an option called Display delete confirmation dialogue. This option was turned on by default in previous versions of Windows, but Microsoft decided to turn it off by default in Windows 8 and Windows 10. If you select this option then Windows will put up a window asking Are you sure you want to remove this file? when you send a file to the Recycle Bin. You may prefer to turn this option on while you get used to your PC, to avoid accidentally sending any files to the Recycle Bin. When you are done configuring the Recycle Bin Properties, click on Apply and then OK.