Ask Owen

I’m trying to put another file in my recycle bin but my computer is saying there’s no more space. I’ve got tons of free space on my hard disk and I don’t really want to empty my bin. Can I make it any bigger?

Increasing the size of your recycle bin is relatively easy. Right-click the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and choose Properties. A window will appear allowing you to choose what percentage of the hard disk’s total space can be occupied by deleted items: use the slider to increase this, then click Apply and finally OK to save the setting. I’m assuming you DO have free space on your hard disk; some of these smaller netbooks actually don’t have much space available.

It’s important to clean out your recycle bin when you get a chance. The purpose of the this is to provide a 2nd chance in case you delete something by accident. You sound like you’re using it as a backup location for your files. It’s better to use a USB disk or optical media for your backup. Or you can check out an online backup solution like Dropbox. It’s always great to be covered.

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