Top Tips & Tricks for Windows Seven

Add Recycle Bin to Start Menu of Windows 7

Have u ever tried to open the Recycle Bin by searching for “recycle bin” in the Start menu search box, only to find nothing? So, Here is a  trick that will let u find the Recycle Bin directly from ur Windows Start menu search.

What to Do :

To access the Recycle Bin from the Start menu Search, we need to add a shortcut to the start menu.  Windows7 includes a personal Start menu folder, This trick only works in the personal Start menu folder.

Open up an Explorer window, Click on the address bar & paste the below replacing your_user_name with your user name.

C:\Users\your_user_name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu 

 

 Now, right-click in the folder, select New, and then click Shortcut.

 

In the location box, enter the following:

explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder

When you’ve done this, click Next.

Now, enter a name for the shortcut.  You can enter Recycle Bin like the standard shortcut, or you could name it something else such as Trash…if that’s easier for you to remember.  Click Finish when your done.

  

 By default it will have a folder icon.  Let’s switch that to the standard Recycle Bin icon.  Right-click on the new shortcut and click Properties.

  

Click Change Icon…

Type the following in the “Look for icons in this file:” box, and press the Enter key on your keyboard:

%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll

Now, scroll and find the Recycle Bin icon and click Ok.

 

Click Ok in the previous dialog, and now your Recycle Bin shortcut has the correct icon. 

You can even have multiple shortcuts with different names, so when you searched either Recycle Bin or Trash it would come up in the Start menu.  To do that, simply repeat these directions, and enter another name of your choice at the prompt.  Here we have both a Recycle Bin and a Trash icon.

Now, when you enter Recycle Bin (or trash, depending on what you chose) in your Start menu search, you will see it at the top of your Start menu.  Simply press Enter or click on the icon to open the Recycle Bin.

 

This trick will work in Windows Vista too!  Simply follow these same directions, and you can add the Recycle Bin to your Vista Start menu and find it via search.

 

 This is a simple trick, but may make it  much easier for you to open your Recycle Bin directly from your Windows Vista or 7 Start menu search.