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You can permanently delete files (without them going into your recycle bin) by right clicking the file, then holding down the 'shift' key while clicking 'delete'. It will ask for conformation to permanently delete the file. Click 'yes', and its GONE!


Hater of the recycle bin,

~Mike :)

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sittas87 commented: not a wise move, but a cool trick. +2

Dani AI

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Good quick tip from and the thumbs-up from — a reminder, though: “permanently delete” in Windows is not magic. Deleting a file without sending it to the Recycle Bin removes its directory entry and marks its disk space free, but the underlying data often remains until it’s overwritten. That means accidental permanent deletes can frequently be recovered if you stop using the drive right away.

A few practical points that people often miss: the Recycle Bin is managed per drive (there’s a hidden system folder on each volume), and certain deletions bypass it automatically — for example, files on network shares or some removable media, files larger than the configured bin size, or deletions done when the bin is disabled. You can control per‑drive behavior and bin size from Recycle Bin properties if you want different behavior for different volumes.

If a file was mistakenly removed without landing in the bin, reduce further writes to that disk immediately. Ideally, unmount the volume or attach the disk to another machine and run a reputable recovery utility (examples include TestDisk/PhotoRec or Recuva); always recover to a different drive. Recovery success falls the more the drive is used after deletion.

If the goal is secure erasure rather than recovery prevention by chance, use proper wiping tools: for HDDs, multiple overwrite tools; for SSDs, the drive’s built-in secure-erase or manufacturer utilities (simple overwrites may not reliably erase data on SSDs because of wear leveling). Finally, prevent heartache with regular backups or versioning (File History, OneDrive, server shadow copies) so “permanent” deletions don’t become disasters.

Member Avatar for sittas87

Nice one Mike:)

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