Windows 10: How to free space after emptying Recycle Bin?

I recorded several large video files and ran out of disk space. Moved those files to a backup drive and deleted the originals. Then emptied the Recycle Bin. The disk size in 'This PC' and also in Settings didn't change, still shows the drive as almost full. Searched for temp files created by the video recording software. Nothing. Deleted a bunch of other large files, several gigabytes, and emptied the Recycle Bin again. No change in the free space reported. So I ran the PowerShell command given in the discussion at: Empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10 Same result. Ran 'sfc /scannow' . It found and corrected some corrupt system files. Powered down and back up. Ran 'sfc /scannow' again. No problems reported this time. But the free space on the drive is exactly what it was at the beginning, almost full. Windows 10 21H1 (OS Build 19043.1165)

:)

 

Empty Recycle Bin Tip

Add Empty The Recyle Bin to right click on your desktop (Works with XP & Vista)


Just Copy the the text below to notepad and save the file .reg (tip.reg) click on the file and there ya go!


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}]
@="Empty Recycle Bin"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Empty Recycle Bin]
@="{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Empty Recycle Bin]
@="{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Empty Recycle Bin]
@="{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Empty Recycle Bin]
@="{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"

 

Stop auto-empty of Recycle Bin

"Empty Recycle Bin" is grayed out when I right click on it.

I checked with Norton - the support person said their security program does not auto-empty the bin.

This is a brand new machine so I doubt insufficient space is the issue since the files I have deleted so far are small.

I appreciate your suggestions - next steps? Ideas?

 

Recycle bin will not empty


I used a file synchronizer to get rid of a bunch of images and the program sent all the small files to the recycle bin. Anyway, there must be a thousand small file in my recycle bin that will not empty. The "empty recycle bin" begins the process by listing all the files, but it just keeps going in circles and will not empty.