I deleted a word document by mistake and went to the recycle bin to restore it. The document was not in the recycle bin. I made a couple of dummy documents, deleted them and checked the recycle bin—documents were not there.
If you’re running Windows 98, here’s the first thing to check. Right-click on your Recycle Bin, and pick Properties. There should be a checkbox that says “Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted.” Make sure this box is unchecked. If you have multiple hard drives and independent settings for each of your drives, make sure the appropriate ones have this box unchecked.
Achernar, I have Windows2000. I looked at the properties as you suggested and the box you mention is not checked. When I deleted the documents, I did get the “Are you sure blah, blah, blah” message box from Windows—the documents are just gone and I don’t know where or why.
Did you delete the files off your C: drive or off a network drive or floppy? The recycle bin is only used for local hard drives.
What’s the exact “Are you sure blah, blah, blah” message you get? On local hard drives it will be “Are you sure you want to send ‘filename’ to the Recycle Bin?” On anything else it will be “Are you sure you want to delete ‘filename’?”.
Holding down Shift while deleting will bypass the Recycle Bin, so you might want to make sure neither of your keys is stuck down. Unlikely since you were able to post in lowercase, but you never know.
Well, he could have shift stuck down if he has “sticky keys.” As in, you press it once and it kinda stays down for commands only, not typing. My laptop has that and I cannot get rid of it. Very annoying.
In Windows 2000, go to Settings --> Control Panel --> Accessibility Options --> Keyboard --> Sticky Keys. Click on “Use Sticky Keys”. Then click on “Settings” for Sticky Keys and select the option: “Press modifier key twice to lock” (useful for typing words in capitals). Make sure “Turn StickyKeys off if two keys are pressed at once” is not chosen. The last setting is important.
If you are able to restart in DOS mode, get hold of an undelete utility that works in DOS. Provided that you know the exact path of the delted file, and you haven’t created lots of new files in the interim, there isa chance that the document can be rescued.
Of course, I am assuming that you can find your way around in DOS. If not, get your nearest geek friend to help you.
**Number,[/] this is my one and only machine; I am not on a network, so all files are on the “C” drive. The exact message when deleting is: “Are you sure you want to send ‘filename’ to the Recycle Bin?” I am positive that up to about a week ago, deleted stuff stayed in the Recycle Bin until I intentionally emptied it.
DVous Means, the document I wanted back is not one that is really important, so it isn’t worth the effort to run it down–I already recreated it. I would need a guide dog to lead me through DOS—maybe I should buy “Doss for Dummies” if there is such a thing.
bouv, none of the keyboard keys seem to be stuck and the “sticky key” option outlined by CnoteChris is NOT selected.
Maybe the computer is just trying to save me the trouble of emptying the recycle bin, but I wish it would ask first.
I’m not trying to be a smart ass here, but were the files ever actually “saved” to begin with. I mean was it named and filed and the PC rebooted, then checked to see if they were where they were supposed to be. You can type up a paper and save it during your work process but never actually load it onto your hard drive or in the proper location. If you then delete the file it can “disappear”. If you are lucky, go to documents and do a text search. Sometimes the file will be stored in a backup and can be retreived. Good luck!
(last bit of hijacking I will do, I swear) CnoteChris: I have 98, not 2000, and I have looked EVERYWHERE in my control panel, and I can’t find that option anywhere.
bouv, try this. Click on “Help” from the Control Panel window, then “Help Topics”. Scroll down to the accessibility topic. If you double-click on any sub-topic the first thing in the associated help should be "Click here to open the Acessibility Properties dialog box. Hopefully, if you click on “click here” you’ll find what you’re looking for.
sorry , I got confused, disregard. Bouv, win 98 doesn’t have the same option as 2000. My first thought to the OPs problem is that you have your recycle bin set to permanently delete files over a certain size, like I do. I save very little space on my HD for recycled files, anything too big goes bye-bye for good.
Check “properties” again and see that you have a percentage of the hard drive set for the Recycle bin. I tried setting it to 0%,deleted a test file and it was not in there and there was no warning message that there was no space set.
I have 10% of a 10Gbyte hard drive reserved for the recycle bin. But wait—there’s more!! The recycle bin icon is in its “stuff inside me” mode–the icon looks like an overflowing wastebasket. But, when I open it, there is nothing visible inside–no documents, no folders, nada. However, and I just made this discovery, if I click the “empty recycle bin” option, I get a message that says “do you really want to delete these five items.” What damn five items? I don’t see no stinking five items. Whatever is lurking in the recycle bin is concealed from my view and I don’t know why. I am so confused, but that condition is fairly standard with me.
Do you have any security policies or a program like Fortres? I have used computers with security junk installed that caused the full bin icon/can’t see anything/will let you empty effect.
This is going to sound like I think you’re an idiot, but I’ve got to ask anyway: When you have the Recycle Bin open, does its window have scroll bars?
I’ve done this myself. I keep opening a folder, wondering why the window is empty. Then I realize that it’s opening scrolled down below where the contents show.
mblackwell, I have the free version of ZoneAlarm installed. I also have Ad-aware and Shred. These three programs have been installed quite a while and the mystery of the recycle bin is a recent phenomenom. I also have McAffee VirusScan. The VirusScan and Ad-aware programs are run once a day, if that is relevant.
Saltire, there are no scroll bars in the recycle bin window.
I just used the “Empty Recycle Bin” option, even though I could see nothing in the Recycle Bin Window. The icon has now reverted to its empty waste basket appearance. Obviously there was something in the Recycle Bin, but hidden from view. I then deleted another test file and the Recycle Bin icon went to its overflowing waste basket appearance. This time, when I opened the Recycle Bin, the file I just deleted is clearly visible. It seems that the problem has been aleviated, but not explained. If someone has an explanation, I would be pleased to hear it.
Try opening Explorer and turning on the option that lets you view hidden files. I don’t know the sequence in 2000, but in 98 it’s View->folder options->view
If it knows that files are there but won’t let you see them this may be the case.