Want to Know a Secret?

I live dangerously.

Ever since Windows introduced the Recycle Bin, people around the world have been emptying it. I know I'm not alone in compulsively trashing my trash as soon as I make it. Download a file, decide I don't want the file, delete the file, empty the Recycle Bin.

I tried everything I could think of to mitigate this compulsion. Disabled delete prompts, so Windows wouldn't ask me if I was sure I really, really didn't need a file called DM3AEFC.TMP anymore. I went into my display settings and changed the "non-empty Recycle Bin" icon to be the same as the "empty Recycle Bin" icon. I don't know, I suppose I was trying to psychologically fool myself into not worrying about it, applying that old adage "Out of sight, out of mind".

I reduced the size of the Recycle Bin to 2% of my hard drive space. That didn't help, either.

I tried everything I could think of for nine years to minimize the presence of the Windows Recycle Bin in my life. Then it dawned on me.

I turned it off. I just went into the properties menu and turned off the Recycle Bin entirely.

For the past couple of months, whenever I delete a file, it stays deleted. And I'm so happy with this arrangement that I'm going to remove the Recycle Bin icon from my Desktop. Baby steps. Baby steps to danger.