If you are familiarizing yourself with Windows 7, then there are many things you’ve found that have changed even since Vista.
For me, I love to have my repetitive, mundane tasks be as short as possible. Emptying my recycle bin with the fewest clicks is probably the most important time saver for me. It’s crucial to me, because I never let me recycle bin get too full, as I am always deleting huge files and can’t afford the space.
Since I’ve taken the leap to Windows 7, Microsoft hasn’t made it easy to implement my favorite right-click context entry. I’ve searched and searched, but nobody seems to know what the string is to add it correctly to the registry.
I’ve found a work-around that is as close as I can get to emptying the recycle bin using my right-click menu. The download includes 2 files–an EXE file that runs a command to empty the recycle bin, and a REG file that adds a shortcut command to your right-click menu.
Installation Directions:
- Extract the install files from the ZIP.
- Copy “EmptyRecycleBin.exe” to the location of your choice. I’ve set the registry file to point to “C:\Windows\System32″, but if you want to change it, then you will have to edit the registry file too.
- Double-click the .REG file to add it to your registry. Again, if you didn’t copy the .EXE file to the System32 directory, the you will need to edit the .REG file to reflect where you put it.
*Note: This is merely a temporary work-around until someone finds a solution using only a .REG file without the need of an EXE.