TLC Tips of the Week:                          from Helen Olberg

This week’s tip applies to deleting in Windows and Windows applications and regaining storage space that was used by the deleted item.

Deleting Files and Folders:

When you delete a file or folder from your hard drive, it is not really deleted; it is moved to your Recycle Bin (another folder on your hard drive). This movement allows you to ‘change your mind.’ Your hard disk space is NOT freed up.

To regain the space used, you must remove the file/folder from the Recycle Bin. To remove it and all other deleted files and folders from your Recycle Bin at the same time, you can right-click the Recycle Bin and click ‘Empty Recycle Bin.’

If you want to get the deleted file/folder back, you may double-click the Recycle Bin to view all that have been deleted. You may then highlight your deleted item and click File Restore.

If you know for sure that you want to delete a file or folder, you may bypass the Recycle Bin as follows: highlight the file/folder and hold down the Shift key as you press the Delete key. This will delete it and make its space on the hard drive immediately available for other files/folders.

NOTE:  Do NOT delete application program files and folders this way. You should Uninstall them or use the Control Panel’s ‘Add/Remove Program’ instead.

Deleting email messages:

Deleting an email does not remove it from the hard drive. The delete action actually moves the email from the Inbox to the Deleted Items folder. You must open the Deleted Items folder and remove each in order to free up space. (You may select several at once and delete them all at once.)