Recycle bin weirdness

[CindySue22]

I just accidentally deleted a .zip file from my desktop, and wanted to get it back to put in another folder. Wel, when I went into the recycle bin, it was completely empty, nada! Seems that file and a bunch of others should have been in there, but nothing.

Properties of the bin does not show the "Do not move files to the recycle bin, delete files immediately" button checked. I ran a number of different searchs using "Find files and folders", and didn't find that last file either (I can't remember what else should have been in there, but the most recently deleted one was definately not.)

I did turn off System Restore to let an anti-virus program do it's scan, but turned it right back on after the scan was complete. That was a couple of days ago, btw. I don't know if this would have anything to do with the problem, but thought I'd mention it because, of course, I lost all my previous restore points.

Can anyone explain this? Or better yet, of course, tell me how to fix it (even if I can't get the old stuff back)?

 

[CindySue22]

What? No one knows? It's not just that one file I am concerned about-it's that fact that something is not working correctly, something pretty basic to XP, and if that's broke, who knows what else may be broke?

*bump*

 

[EeyoreX]

You didn't happen to press shift while deleting? (That will bypass the Recycle Bin). Long shot I am sure, but an idea.

Did you delete the files from the command prompt? These will also bypass the RB.

How much space is allocated for your RB? If it's set for 0% I think it won't work.

Otherswise, I don't really have any other ideas right now.

\Dan

 

[CindySue22]

No, I didn't do any of those things. Weirdest thing to me is that everything is gone from there-not just that last .zip file.

Does turning off, and then back on later, System Restore do this? That's the only out-of -ordinary thing I can think of doing in the last week or so.

One other possible clue, FWIW>I had about a dozen simulation "movies" saved, almost all in Windows media format, playable in WMP9. But then people started using .avi more and more, so I downloaded a DivX player to view one of those. WMP was set as default player, so the first time I opened an .avi, I got an error message. Seemed reasonable to me, so I closed WMP and used "open with" to select the DivX player to play the movie. Worked fine.

But, the next time I tried to play a .wmf, I kept getting the same error message, then I started getting a number of Windows Explorer errors. That's when I decided to delete that one .zip file, thinking that it might have corrupted something.

And now you know the Rest of the Story.

 

[altonb1]

It's possible the Windows explorer errors corrupted the recycle Bin, but I'm not sure I have ever heard of that. What other apps do you have installed? Specifically, do you have any utilities installed such as tweakUI? Some of these add-on utilities have settings that automatically delete things like recent document history, temp internet files, recycle bin, etc when the system is logged off/rebooted. I suspect you may have another application that is clearing thngs for yu automatically.

Do a test: right click on your desktop, select NEW/TEXT DOCUMENT. Throw as much or as little random characters in it, then save & close. You should now have a test text file on your desktop. delete it and see if it goes to the recycle bin. If so, shutdown/restart and see if it is still there after rebooting. if not, then you have a 3rd party app with a setting that is emptying recycle bin automatically on reboot.

Let us know.

 

[CindySue22]

No, I don't have any 3rd party apps like TweakUI installed, and I have already gone the "test text" route. Deleted a couple of them, and I get the "Are you sure you want to send this to the Recycle Bin?" popup, I select "yes", but when I then go into the bin, it is still empty.

I've ininstalled that Divx player (which MS knowledge base says can cause "some" problems, but I didn't see anything like this there), but haven't restarted yet-going to do that right now, and see if this does anything. Back in a bit.

 

[CindySue22]

Nope, that had no effect, problem remains. Drat!

And I've got to go back out on the road now, it may be weeks before I can access this machine again!

I can get online every once in awhile using my laptop, so I will be checking back here periodically.

Thanks for the feedback, if ya'll can think of anything else to try...

 

[altonb1]

Originally posted by: CindySue22
No, I don't have any 3rd party apps like TweakUI installed, and I have already gone the "test text" route. Deleted a couple of them, and I get the "Are you sure you want to send this to the Recycle Bin?" popup, I select "yes", but when I then go into the bin, it is still empty.

Have you tried changing the recycle Bin to delete automatically? Chnge it to that, delete a test file, then reboot. Once you reboot, change the setting back to using the recycle bin. Once you do this, try rebooting and try another temp file. Sometime Windows shows one setting, but a section of the registry is configured differently. Selecting another option and then setting it back to what you want may reset the values to the correct settings. Seems basic, I know, but worth trying, I guess.