My desktop Recycle Bin has disappeared - why, and how do I get it back?

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Yes ... I agree with Jay ... The quickest way is ... CONTROL PANEL > APPEARANCE AND PERSONALIZATION > PERSONALIZATION > on the left side click CHANGE DESKTOP ICONS... tick recycle bin and click OK.

All you have to do (vista users) is right click on your destop, click properties, click on the "change destop icons" and click "recycle bin" Then OK

Jay, thank you , Thank You, Thank You!!! It's been driving me nuts for weeks and I have my recycle bin back. VMR has the best suggestion though...Vista Users...right click on the desktop, click "Personalize" and then change desktop icons. 2 steps! Thanks again.

RIGHT CLICK YOUR DESKTOP, CLICK 'PERSONALIZE' AND THEN CLICK THE SECTION ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS 'CHANGE DESKTOP ICONS' A WINDOW SHOULD POP UP WITH DESKTOP ICON NAMES AND CHECK BOXES NEXT TO THEM. CHECK THE BOX NEXT TO RECYCLE BIN. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DOWNLOAD ANYTHING.

there is no need 2 d/l antythin here

right clik on desktop+clik PERSONALISE
clik CHANGE DESKTOP ICONS
then check the RECYCLE BIN icon-apply/ok
+you are done

In the case where the recycle bin does not change state (empty/full) any more, you can repair this as follows: Right click on the desktop > Personalize > Theme > change the theme to e.g. "Windows Classic" > then change it back to one of the Vista themes. That will make your recycle bin function again.

Lovely! Thank you so much for the article. I deleted my Recycle Bin, thinking that I would just remove it from the desktop and could find it elsewhere. Well, guess what . . . no Recycle Bin! Now it is fully restored, and with everything I deleted in it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

thank you so much! for the longest time i have been looking for my recycle bin, i didn't even know that i accidentally deleted it! lol ;p now i already recovered it and it is full! i've freed up 8gb of memory just by emptying my recycle bin. THANKS to u!

you only give a link for xp if i had a similiar problem but with vista how would i fix it. And do you know a way to find out why it went, as this morning i turned on my computer and it was gone with me being the only one with access to it and i know for sure i didn't delete it.

even easier way to do this, without downloading bloated software!!
There is a new option in Vista which allows you to delete the recycle bin.
If you want it back do the following:
-->control panel
-->appearance and personalization
-->personalization
-->change desktop icons
then select the icons you want on the desktop

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