HELP - Vista Recycle Bin not emptying

Vista Recycle Bin not emptying
The Recycle Bin appears to be functioning correctly, in that the context menu option to 'Empty Recycle Bin' greys out, the icon changes, and even the $RECYCLE.BIN folder (and subfolder 'Recycle Bin') show empty (hidden and operating system files not hidden) with total size around 20K.

However, when running a full Windows Defender scan (with an "empty" Recycle Bin), a large list of files are lsited as being scanned within the Recycle Bin, within a sub-folder (not otherwise shown) corresponding to the HKEY_USERS key 'S-1-5-21-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxx' (actual key replaced by x's).

When used Explorer to go directly to folder 'C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxx' I am taken to 'C:\$Recycle.Bin\recycle Bin'. which is of course empty.

If I manually delete the Recycle Bin a number of folders and files are listed for confirmation to be deleted, which also are not listed within Explorer (or on Recycle Bin properties).

The Recycle Bin is automatically recreated, and the hidden files seem to disappear, but the problem again manifests itself over time.

Why are these file not being deleted by emptying the Recycle Bin, why can I not see them, and how can I delete them routinely?

Hello ch742718,

Welcome to Vista Forums!

Look through this tutorial (and related links) at the link below...

Recycle Bin Corrupted - Cannot Delete File or Folder

Keep us informed!


Later Ted

Hi Ted

Thanks for your reply. I had already been through the link your provided, and although I can solve delete and recreate the Recycle Bin, it does not solve the problem as it continually recurs.

It does not explain what is causing the problem, nor why I cannot easily locate the hidden files.

I do not want to have to manually keep checking for hidden 'deleted' files (the Recycle Bin appears empty when it is not), nor to have to continually recreate the bin each time this occurs.

I am looking for a diagnosis and prevention of the cuase, rather than repeated cures.

Thanks

Hi,
The recycle.bin folder includes files deleted by other users, that is recreated each time.
To see what you have in the S-1-5-21..... folders, just add your username with the appropriate rights in the security tab.
Sometimes, a trojan can recreate itself in these folders, so check if nothing runs from the recycle.bin

Hi Sid

Thanks for your reply.

I only have one user (myself, Administrator) on the machine (apart from the Guest account, which is turned off), so I am not sure if this is the cause of the problem.

I have just checked both bins (hard disk has 2 partitions) and nothing currently appears to be hidden there, but I will try your suggestion when the problem, recurs.

I am also fairly sure I am trojan/virus free, as I run frequent scans with numerous products, none of which have discovered anything to date.

Any other suggestions gratefully received.

OK, when you open the properties of the S....... folders, is the size equals to few bytes (desktop.ini) or size is much more higher?

I am not sure if it is the "same" problem I had one time. It happen to be that the Norton Protected Recycle Bin was check marked. After setting it to standard recycle bin I was able to clear the contents again

Hi Sid, Johannes

As to size, currently it is only about 200k, so not a problem; but when the problem does manifest itself it has been a few hundred MB (i.e. deleted files), so definitely an issue.

As to Norton, I am only running NIS, not NSW, so I do not have a Norton Protected Recycle Bin.

That could be a problem!
What do you have int it?

Hi

I have just emptied the Recycle Bin and it appears empty, with the context menu entry being greyed out.

Drive 2: $RECYCLE.BIN as follows:
Size: