Vista - Recycle bin corrupted big time

Hey to all

have vista home basic x32 and have been having recycle bin problems for 2wks now. i have tried things listed here on links i found to fix recycle bin, dont work. i was told it could be my mcafee virus protection because its known to cause problems. i had some trojans and virus, but have since then gotten rid of it all completely, and at that time thats when the bin started acting up... wont empty, shows its full on desktop and pic of it IN the bin folder shows its full/empty.. click to empty and hear the sound but nothing happens. i send stuff to the bin then i open the bin and nothing SHOWS that its there. yet if i click empty recycle bin box comes up and says are you sure you want to perm delete etc etc, so that shows there are files in there but nothing shows in the folder...
like i said its all a mess and there has to be a way to fix it... cant i completely delete it and all that goes with it and start over with creating a new one??

thanks for reading and hope somebody has some ideas
nancy

Hello Nancy, and welcome to Vista Forums.

I'm not sure if you have tried these two tutorials, but they usually help with this.

Recycle Bin

and

Recycle Bin Corrupted - Cannot Delete File or Folder

If they do not help, then you might try a System Restore using a restore point dated before you had this problem to see if it may be able to fix it for you.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

hi shawn,

yes i have tried them all and it does nothing.... the 2nd fix thru windows explorer, i didnt do, that isnt that similar to all the other ways??
i also did this too,
rd /s /q C:\$Recycle.bin, it didnt even do anything... i did this too, Fix_Recycle_Bin.reg and now the icon on desktop is highlited ALL the time, like if i was to click on it.. it wont go away... so now what??


also im trying to do the thru explorer fix, i dont understand this part, sorry, 1. Open Folder Options.
NOTE: For how, see OPTION TWO here: How to Hide or Show Hidden Files and Folders in VistaA) Dot Show hidden files and folders.

B) Uncheck Hide protected operating system files. how do i open folder options in vista home basic?

then when i get to the part where i have computer then click on C (local disk) and same as your picture. folders on left etc but when i clicked on C local disk, in the right pane, there is NO $RECYCLE.BIN folder . like you show in your picture something really is messed up with this system.....

The recycle bin is part of the theme. Go to Theme (right click on the desktop > Properties) and change to a different theme for a minute and then change back to the theme you now have.

Try sfc /scannow in an elevated command prompt.

i dont have any themes, so thats not the problem

i am doing that sfc/scannow, now. what is that? what will it be scanning for? should i show any results on here?

the highlited bin on desktop isnt highlited anymore. just shows its full but folder is empty, yet bin INSIDE the folder bottom left is full so when i click to empty the bin box shows i have 2 files in there to delete.. i dont know.......

also at the present time i DONT HAVE VISTA SERV PACK 2 INSTALLED. I WENT TO WINDOWS UPDATE AND LOOKED TO SEE WHAT UPDATES I NEEDED and the KB954430 which is prerequisite for serv pack needed to be updated, yet in the list of already installed updates , was that exact same thing and its showing lots of times that was updated, KB954430..... i also got a box stating to install serv pack 2 and when i tried to, after a few minutes it crashed my system, so i just shut it down and then turned it back on..... i dont know whats up with this system anymore....

here is scan result.... seems fine

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

C:\Windows\system32>

What is that supposed to mean:" i dont have any themes, so thats not the problem". - Of course you have a Theme, else you would be looking at a black screen. If you want to fix your problem, you might try what I suggested.

It means whatever is the default settings is what i have. my desktop background was a pic from my pictures and its been there a long time.... i didnt change any sounds or pointers etc...

this problem didnt start til mid august

i tried to switch background THEME and nothing changed at all.... thats why i said its got nothing to do with themes....

Since it's only been a couple of weeks back when this started, you might try a System Restore using a restore point dated before you had this problem to see if it may be able to fix it for you.

i had some PAV.EXE and other tojans back at the same time this all happened with the bin... so i have since then gotten it cleaned and was told to make a new restore point so as not to get reinfected... so i cant go back to when it did work...

what do you think of vista serv pack 2 for home basic 32 bit?? i have been trying to install it but keep getting a message saying that MSDSM driver may be incompatible and there were no solutions, seems other people have gotten the same message.... what is that driver anyway? something to do with sounds? i read somewhere that the hotfix KB972036 in my update history is whats causing the problem and to somehow uninstall it and do a clean boot etc etc...

i know 1 thing has nothing to do with the other. any ideas as to where to go from here?? is it possible comp may still be sick? malware forum helped me get it all cleaned up...