How in the Tech

Are You Sure You Want to Move this Folder to the Recycle Bin?

By Adam Myers ⋅ May 22, 2008 ⋅ Tags: recycle bin, windows tips

What’s with all the confirmation boxes in the computer industry? You really don’t see them in other parts of your daily life. The television doesn’t ask for confirmation when you hit the Power Off button. The car is perfectly compliant when it is shifted from Park to Drive. The expresso machine provides the morning fix at the push of a button. Yet, when it comes to computers far too many actions require a further confirmation of your intentions. Nearly every PC game neccessitates two or three clicks of various Exit buttons in order to return to the desktop. Vista even takes the confirmation box overload a step further with User Account Control dialogs for every admin-like function.

However, one of the most annoying uses of confirmation centers around File Deletion. You select a file, press Delete, and what happens? Are you sure you want to delete this? Maybe you made a mistake! Some may be quick to point out that this is all for the user’s protection - because doesn’t everyone go around clicking delete haphazardly? Joking aside, the file still isn’t deleted but rather it ends up in the Recycle Bin. Why? Well, just in case you accidently deleted a file and agreed to delete it a second time of course.

If you find this as ridiculous as I, here is how to disable the deletion confirmation nag.

1. Right click on Recycle Bin (on your Desktop) and select Properties.
2. Uncheck Display delete confirmation dialog.



3. Click Apply.

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