Turn Off Delete Confirmation Intended For Windows 98 Windows 95 One of the most annoying "features" of the Recycle Bin is the inability to configure the recycle bin to immediately delete a file without several nag windows. The traditional response to such nag windows is "if I didn't want to delete the file, I wouldn't have dropped it in the Recycle Bin." It would also be nice to be able to turn off the confirmation to delete .EXE files - Windows doesn't prompt you to delete .DLL files, even though they are just as necessary to run a progam as .EXE files. (another example of thoughtless design) If you're not getting these "confirmation" screens, it's likely that any files you're deleting aren't really being deleted, but are rather eating away at your precious disk space. Follow the following steps to delete files immediately after they are dropped: Solution #1: Right-click on the Recycle Bin on the Desktop, and select Properties from the menu. Under the Global Tab, select Use one setting for all drives. Turn on the option labeled Do not move files to the recycle bin. (For some unknown reason, decreasing the Maximum size of Recycle Bin to 0% doesn't do the trick.) Notice that the option labeled Display delete confirmation dialog is grayed out at this point, meaning that there is no way to truly delete files in Windows without a confirmation dialog. Also, if you have files waiting in the Recycle Bin, they will not be deleted until you do so manually, even after changing this setting. Solution #2: Create a shortcut to the Recycle Bin in your Send To folder. To delete files, right-click, and choose Recycle Bin from the Send To menu. Solution #3: Download and install RtvReco (29 kb), which can also be configured to bypass other useless, repetetive screens - freeware. Note: Microsoft has no solution at this time for overcoming this limitation, except for holding the Shift key while dragging files - not exactly intuitive or convenient (nor does it really work). Solution #4: Upgrade to Windows Me, 2000, or XP, which allows some of these Recycle Bin confirmations to be disabled. Written by: Annoyances.org Last updated: Thursday, August 16, 2001 Care to discuss this article with other Windows users? Select your operating system here, and click Continue to post your question. - Choose your OS -Windows 7Windows VistaWindows Server 2003Windows XPWindows 2000Windows MeWindows 98Windows 95 Previous discussions about this article: (open a message to see applicable responses, if any) [Windows 98] Question about 'Turn Off Delete Confirmation' (Nathalie Bost: Friday, February 1, 2002) [Windows XP] Question about 'Turn Off Delete Confirmation' (Dale : Friday, February 1, 2002) [Windows XP] Comment on 'Turn Off Delete Confirmation' (Hash: Friday, February 28, 2003) [Windows XP] Question about 'Turn Off Delete Confirmation' (ZS: Saturday, November 1, 2003) [Windows Vista] Question about 'Turn Off Delete Confirmation' (Joy Tabbi: Tuesday, July 22, 2008) Return to "Using Windows"