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When you try to empty the Recycle Bin using the Empty Recycle Bin context menu or from the Tasks pane, you’ll see the confirmation dialog as shown below:
Note that you can only disable the confirmation dialog shown when deleting a file or folder, but there is no option available in Windows to disable the empty Recycle Bin confirmation prompt. Here is a registry tweak to disable the empty recycle bin confirmation dialog in Windows XP and Windows Vista.
Using NirCmd to empty the Recycle Bin
We’ve covered the NirCmd tool earlier. You may use this tool to empty the Recycle Bin without any prompts.
Download Nircmd.zip from Nirsoft.net, unzip and extract the files to a folder. Move the file nircmd.exe to your Windows directory. To create a desktop shortcut to empty the Recycle Bin, use the following command:
Right-click on the shortcut, choose Properties. Click Change Icon… and pick an appropriate icon from shell32.dll.
Replacing the "Empty Recycle Bin" context menu
To make the Empty Recycle Bin command in the Recycle Bin run the above command, use these steps:
(You may use the file emptybin.reg from the Registry Fix section below to automate the following task.)
Side-effects of this tweak: The Empty Recycle Bin option will not work from the Tasks pane, after applying this tweak. Also, the Empty Recycle Bin command in the context menu will be always enabled even though there are no files in the Recycle Bin.
1. Launch Regedit.exe and navigate to the following key:
2. Create a new subkey named Shell
3. Select the Shell key, and create a subkey named emptybin
4. Similarly, create a subkey named command, under the emptybin key.
5. Select the following key:
6. Double-click (default) and set its data to:
7. Navigate to the following key:
8. Under the ContextMenuHandlers key, right-click {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} and choose Delete
9. Exit the Registry Editor.
Note: Step 8 is required to hide the the default Empty Recycle Bin command in the context menu, so that you don’t end up with duplicate entries.
Registry Fix
Download emptybin.zip and save to Desktop. Unzip the archive and extract the files to a folder. Double-click emptybin.reg to run it.
Undo Information
Run the file emptybin-undo.reg to reverse the changes.
RELATED TIP
How to hide the "Delete" command from Recycle Bin context menu in Windows Vista
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http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/emptybin.zip Don’t work on my xpp machine the undo works.
[How to perform the same if using Vista 64bit SP1], may apply to non-SP1 systems.
1. Download the Nircmd file from http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html
2. Unzip and copy the Nircmd.exe file to C:\Windows\sysWOW64 folder. (don’t copy the Nircmdc.exe file, it’s a console file).
(Don’t worry about the C:\Windows\system32 folder either.)
3. Launch Regedit.exe and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
4. Create a new subkey named Shell
5. Select the Shell key, and create a subkey named Take out the Trash (Actually, you can type whatever you’ll want to see on the Recycle bin menu)
6. Similarly, create a subkey named command, under the Take out the Trash key.
7. Select the following key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\shell\emptybin\command
8. Double-click (default) and set its data to: C:\Windows\sysWOW64\nircmd.exe emptybin
9. Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers (the registry entry referred in the original post does not exist for 64bit users)
10. Under the ContextMenuHandlers key, right-click {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} and choose Delete
11. Exit the Registry Editor.
You should have a regular working Recycle Bin but with the words “Take out the trash” AND most importantly, it’s finally a single click and your trash is gone, no more “Are you sure?? confirmation question.
Hope this helps someone (alot of peeps actually)
Interestingly. Thank you very much for useful information!