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At some point you may find it necessary to delete files or folders from your
computer to free up memory space or reduce clutter.
The first step to deleting a file or folder is to locate the item you wish to
delete.
In this case,
I am going to delete a Word document that has been saved in one of my folders.
To delete the file click on the item once so that it is highlighted.
Now
you can either press the delete button on your keyboard
or choose to delete option
from the task pane.
Once you have done this you will get a message asking you if you are sure you
would like to delete this item.
This message comes up just in case you accidentally chose to delete option.
If you did accidentally choose the delete option you can click on the word NO
and your item will remain where it is.
However in this case I am sure I would like to delete this item so I will click
on YES.
You will now see that the icon for the file has disappeared.
However it has not been permanently deleted from the computer just yet.
It has been sent to the Recycle Bin, which is an area on your computer where
deleted items accumulate before they are permanently deleted.
This is done as another failsafe to ensure that items aren't accidentally
deleted from the computer.
Keep in mind though, that deleted files in folders will continue to take up memory
space on your hard drive until they are permanently deleted from the Recycle Bin.
To permanently delete files and folders from your computer
you will need to open the Recycle Bin.
There is an icon for it on your desktop.
When there are items in the Recycle Bin that are awaiting permanent deletion, the
icon will be
a recycle bin with pieces of paper inside of it.
Double-click on the Recycle Bin icon to open it.
Now you will see all the files that you have deleted,
but have not deleted permanently.
You may wish to look through these files to ensure that none of them were
accidentally sent the Recycle Bin.
If you would like to move all of the items in the Recycle Bin back to the
folders they were originally deleted from,
you can choose the Restore All Items option
from the Recycle Bin tasks
in the tasks pane.
If there are only one or two items that you would like to send back to the
folders they were originally stored in,
click on the desired item
and choose Restore This Item in the Recycle Bin tasks.
To choose more than one file at a time,
hold down the CTRL button on your keyboard as you click
the various files.
Once you're sure that you would like to permanently delete everything in the
Recycle Bin,
bring the mouse over to the task pane and click on Empty the Recycle
Bin.
Once you do this you'll receive a message asking if you are sure you would
like to permanently delete the items.
If you are sure
click on YES.
The Recycle Bin is now empty.
To close it
click on the red X in the top right hand corner of the window.
When the Recycle Bin is empty
the icon on your desktop will change.
It is now a recycle bin that does not have any paper in it.
This is another way to check to ensure that the Recycle Bin is empty.
That concludes this tutorial.
Be sure check out the Whitby Public Library's other computer tutorials
by visiting our youtube channel at www.youtube.com/whitbypubliclibrary.
For information on the Whitby Public Library's computer training classes
visit our computer training webpage at www.whitbylibrary.on.ca/computertraining.
