Windows Vista, Recycle Bin Won’t Empty or Delete the Files Problem/Issue

When running a disk cleanup on your computer, it shows you the space that it is getting ready to delete and asks you to ok it. The issue in Vista is that it acts as if it is deleting these files, but it doesn't. You can run the clean up again and the same amount of space is still there. I did some searches on the net, didn't find anything that helped. One said check permissions which I did, all was good. Another said to delete the actual recycle bin because it is just an icon problem. This wasn't the case either.

Let's check to see if your computer has any errors. To do this, go to your Start Menu > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer. For this particular problem, the error log showed that every time I tried to empty the recycle bin, it had a disk error.

For any errors, always run a Check Disk. To do this, access Computer > Right Click on your Main Drive, usually C: > go to Properties > Click on the Tools Tab > Click Check Now. A window will pop up, make sure both options are check marked and click start. It will most likely not be able to scan, it will ask for your permission do check disk at the next start up. Do this and see if your recycling will empty now because mine does!