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Hide Delete Option From The Recycle Bin Context Menu
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The context menu of the Recycle Bin icon includes a Delete option that lets you delete the icon from the desktop. To prevent anyone from deleting the icon off the desktop, you can hide the Delete option from the context menu.
To hide the Delete option in Vista:
- Download the file called Vista_recyclebin_hidedelete.reg from this page (scroll down to the bottom).
- When prompted, save the file to your desktop.
- Right click on the file and click Merge.
- If prompted, type in your administrative password.
- Click Yes to continue.
Once the reg file is applied, the Delete option will no longer appear on the context menu for the Recycle Bin.

2 Comments
Dan Wilson
June 27th, 2008
at 5:49pm
Would be nice if the article included the link to download the .reg file.
Nick
August 24th, 2008
at 11:22am
Would be even better if i can find the same sort of information regarding Windows XP, as i just recovered my recycle bin which i killed by mistake LoL, but i need to deactivate the delete feature on XP … can u help????