It is easy to delete files that you no longer need. There are basically three ways to delete a file.

1. You can highlight the file and press the Delete (Del) key.
2. Right-click on the file and choose Delete from the menu.
3. Drag the file to the Recycle Bin

The answer to the computer trash problem is the Recycle Bin. Whenever you delete a file it is sent to the Recycle Bin. You'll recognize the Recycle Bin with its little trashcan icon. It was introduced in Windows 95. Due credit must be given to Apple, however, since the Macintosh trash can has been part of the Mac operating system since its inception.

The Recycle Bin is a holding place for deleted files. It is convenient because it is like taking the garbage to the trash bin outside the house. It stays there until that bin is emptied. Although you don't usually go rummaging through the trash at home, when working on the computer, there are times when a file can be inadvertently deleted and it is always nice to be able to retrieve it.

To retrieve a file from the Recycle Bin, you simply double-click on the Recycle Bin icon. You will then see all the documents, files, and shortcuts that have been deleted. When you see the file you want to retrieve, right-click on that file and choose Restore and the file will return to the place it was originally stored. You can also drag the file to wherever you want to place it.

Files remain in the Recycle Bin until you empty it by right-clicking on it and choosing Empty Recycle Bin. You can also use the Disk Cleanup to clean your hard drive and empty the Recycle Bin. Access Disk Cleanup by clicking on Start- (All) Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Cleanup. Once the Recycle Bin is emptied the addresses of all the files in it are lost and those files can only be retrieved with a special disk recovery program.

For this reason, many users never empty the Recycle Bin, but data in the Recycle Bin takes up space on your hard drive. As you use the drive and it starts to fill up, you will want to occasionally empty the trash.

Here are a few other helpful things to know about the Recycle Bin.

• The Recycle Bin is set by default to store up to 10% of your hard drive space. So if you have a 200 gigabyte drive your Recycle Bin is occupying a whopping 20 gigabytes of hard drive space. To change the amount of space allocated, right-click on the Recycle Bin and choose Properties and use the slider to increase or lessen the amount of space. In Windows Vista, you can set the Recycle Bin to the custom size of your choosing by specifying the size in megabytes.
• When the Recycle Bin uses all the space that you have allocated to it (or the 10% that is allocated by default), any new items sent to the Recycle Bin will be saved, but the oldest items in the bin will be permanently deleted to make room for the new items.
• The Recycle Bin may work differently with networked computers. For instance, when you delete a file from another computer on your network, depending on your network and settings, that file is often permanently deleted without being sent to the Recycle Bin.
• Files that are deleted from portable media like USB drives do not go into the Recycle Bin. Instead, when you delete them, they are permanently deleted.
• When you delete something, Windows will ask you to confirm the deletion by asking, "Are you sure you want to send ‘the name of the file' to the Recycle Bin?" This is often a helpful confirmation, but if it bugs you, you can turn it off by right-clicking on the Recycle Bin, choosing Properties, and removing the check mark in front of Display delete confirmation dialog.
• The Recycle Bin provides a layer of safety, but you don't have to use it. In the Properties area you can put a check mark in front of the option that says, Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted. If you usually want to use the Recycle Bin, but want to completely remove a file without sending it to the Recycle Bin, just hold down the Shift key as you press the Delete key or choose Delete from the menu. If you hold down the Shift key, after you confirm that you want to delete the file, it will be completely removed rather than being stored in the Recycle Bin.
• If you have more than one drive, each drive has its own Recycle Bin. So if you want to change the settings for the Recycle Bin, you must make the changes for each drive.

If you would like to dig a little deeper into the trash, see the Microsoft article on How the Recycle Bin Stores Files.