Managing The Recycle Bin

When you delete files and folders from your computer, they are either deleted immediately or sent to the recycle bin.

• Open My Computer.
• Open the C drive.
• Open the Windows folder
• Find the file Black Thatch.bmp. Right Click on the file and drag it on to the desktop. Select Copy Here form the shortcut menu that appears.
• Delete this copy from the desktop (select it and press the Delete key).
• The following message will appear.

Note that this tells you that the file is going to the recycle Bin and not being automatically deleted.

• Click on Yes.

You now have a file in the Recycle Bin. You can keep it in there, restore it to the desktop or delete it permanently.

Restoring Files

• Double click on the Recycle Bin icon to open it.

Select the file you want to restore by clicking on it. We will restore Black Thatch.bmp.

• Select the Edit menu and then Undo Delete. The file will be returned to where it was deleted from. In our case, it will be back on the desktop.

Deleting A File

• Delete Black Thatch.bmp from the desktop again.
• Open the Recycle Bin.
• Select Black Thatch.bmp.
• Select Delete from the Edit menu. The following message will appear.

Notice that this is the warning message for a permanent delete.

• Click on Yes.
• The file will be deleted from your computer.

Deleting All Files

• Open the Recycle Bin icon.
• Select Empty Recycle Bin from the File menu.

A confirmation message will appear that is similar to that shown below.

• Click on Yes. All the files will be deleted from the Recycle Bin.
• Close the Recycle Bin icon.