What the heck is the Recycle Bin anyway? You see it every time you turn your computer on, but you haven't a clue what it's for. No problem. Just think of the Recycle Bin as your personal life-saver. Have you ever regretted deleting something from the My Documents folder? If you're anything like me, you have all kinds of junk in there: old letters, reports, awful recipes, lyrics to bad songs from the eighties and who knows what else. So you decide to delete some stuff. Every once in a while,I'll stay up late and I'll become a little trigger-happy with the Delete key. After the dust has settled, I'll turn my computer off and head for bed, smug and content that I've done a most noble and good deed. However, the next day I'll turn my computer on, prime and ready to get started on my yearly tax returns. After about two minutes of searching, I'll promptly smack myself on the forehead and realize that that document I deleted said 2005 Tax Info, not 2005 Taxi Jokes. I'll notice that the taxi Joke file is still sitting there in the My Documents folder, almost mocking me. But alas, there's no need to worry! I have the Recycle Bin and it's never let me down before. I'll calmly open the Recycle Bin, find the Tax document, and restore it. Presto, 2005 Tax Info is instantly returned to it's proper place. Even so, let this be a lesson to you folks. Deleting files at 2am is never, ever a good idea.

The Recycle Bin is essentially a temporary holding area for deleted files. Whenever you delete a file, the file gets moved there. Those files will stay put until you decide to empty the Recycle Bin, or, as I illustrated earlier, you restore the files. In my example I deleted and restored a Microsoft Word document, but the Recycle Bin works for any file type. As long as you remove the file using the Delete key, it will usually get sent to the Recycle Bin.

But enough with my monologue and my nightly excursion stories. Below are the

steps for using the Recycle Bin.

Restoring A File

1. Go to your Desktop and find the Recycle Bin icon. When you find it, double-click it with the left-mouse button. A window will appear that lists all the files that you have deleted.

2. Find the file that you would like to restore and click it once with the right-mouse button.

3. The Context Menu will appear. Choose the Restore option.

4. The file will be restored and returned to its original folder.

Emptying The Recycle Bin

Periodically emptying your Recycle Bin should be a part of your regular maintenance routine. If you go a long while without cleaning up the Recycle Bin, Deleted files start to gather up and use a lot of hard drive space. Here's what you do.

1. First things first. Double check and be absolutely sure that there is nothing in the Recycle Bin that you want to keep. I say this because once you do this emptying job, you won't be able to get those files back without additional software and a lot of time and effort. To check and see what you have, go to your desktop and open the Recycle Bin. Browse through the files and be sure there's nothing there you want to keep. If you do find something you'd like to keep, then perform a Restore on the file.

2. If you're ready to empty the Recycle Bin, then look at the toolbar and find the button that says, Empty the Recycle bin and click it. A message will appear asking if you're sure you want to delete the file(s). If you're sure, click yes. The files will then be removed.

Quick & Easy Method For Emptying The Recycle Bin

If you're confident there's nothing in the Recycle Bin worth keeping, then here's what you do.

1. Go to your Desktop and find the Recycle Bin icon. Click it with the right-mouse button.

2. The Context Menu will appear. Choose the option that says, Empty Recycle Bin. A message will appear asking if you're sure you want to delete the file(s). If you're sure, click Yes. The files will then be removed.

So there you have it. Those are the basics to using the Recycle Bin. Now you too can have an occasional deletion frenzy and not regret it later. This article is part of the Back To Basics series which can be found at SpotOn Living.Com. There, you can also listen to the audio version of this article.