My recycling bin has disappeared and I cannot find it.

Anonymous

My brother went on my laptop and after he was finished, he said he 'deleted' my recycling bin. I'm not sure if that is what happened, but I cannot find it. I have searched for it, and it isn't showing up.

Help greatly appreciated.

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Anonymous

Hi,

Just for general info first: Your brother may be right. It actually is possible to delete the recycling bin, or more specifically the recycling bin shortcut. If you right click on the recycle bin icon two options are of interest here "Empty recycle bin" and "Delete". If you click recycle bin you win, the recycle bin is emptied. If you hit delete, which it sounds like your brother did, it deletes the icon itself. So that's why it's gone...

So getting the recycling bin back, here's how. This solution works for Vista and Windows 7:

Right click on a blank area of the desktop. You will see the option for "personalize", and mouse over and select this. On the left hand pane under the personalization menu you will see "Change desktop icons". Click on this. From here a tab will come up showing a check-box for major desktop icons. One of those icons is Recycle bin. Go ahead and check the checkbox. Click ok and the recycle bin will re-appear on the desktop.

Hope this helps,

Steve <> Microsoft Partner

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Anonymous

Right click your desktop, select Personalize. On the left pan, select Change desktop icons. Put a check on the Recycle Bin, and press Ok.

Your recycle bin icon will be back!

Dustin Harper

*** Email address is removed for privacy ***

http://www.mstechpages.com Microsoft News, support, FAQ's and much more!

"Martin.992" wrote in message news:de2b7b40-6711-44d2-af33-7786b3f2e8cd...

My brother went on my laptop and after he was finished, he said he 'deleted' my recycling bin. I'm not sure if that is what happened, but I cannot find it. I have searched for it, and it isn't showing up.

Help greatly appreciated.

Dustin Harper *** Email address is removed for privacy *** http://www.mstechpages.com --- Windows Help and Support Page

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47 additional answers

Anonymous

2014-12-30T19:53:37+00:00

Thanks for the response. The fix you show is the one I tried. I can't check the recycle bin box because it is greyed out. I haven't noticed any other items greyed out, just this one issue that I'm trying to fix. What do I try next? Thanks, Donna
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Anonymous

2014-12-30T18:13:04+00:00

Hi Donna

You haven't linked to the post showing what you tried - if you are using W7 (this is the section in which you have posted) you should get the option by typing recycle bin in the start menu searchbox that will bring up 'Show or Hide Common Items on the Desktop' click and you will see this - simply check the recycle bin box as shown below...(the greyed-out one you describe sounds like a 'hidden' version - are you seeing other greyed out items elsewhere? You may need to change a setting if so...)

Let me know how it goes....R
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Anonymous

2014-12-30T15:16:14+00:00

When I try to follow the steps I am not able to click on the recycle bin box, it is there but pale in color compared to the others and clicking on it doesn't work. Any idea of what to try next?
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