Vista: Add the Recycle Bin to the Start Menu

If you don’t like keeping the Recycle Bin on your desktop, but you still want to have easy access to your deleted files, you can add the Recycle Bin to your Start Menu. It’s there when you need it without having to have the trash can icon taking up space on your eye catching wallpaper.

1. Open Notepad.

2. Copy and paste the following into the new text document:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E44E5D18-0652-4508-A4E2-8A090067BCB0}]
@=”Recycle Bin command object for Start menu”
“LocalizedString”=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,\
6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,\
00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,\
2c,00,2d,00,38,00,39,00,36,00,34,00,00,00
“InfoTip”=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,\
6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,\
00,73,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,\
2d,00,32,00,32,00,39,00,31,00,35,00,2c,00,2d,00,31,00,30,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E44E5D18-0652-4508-A4E2-8A090067BCB0}\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,69,00,6d,00,\
61,00,67,00,65,00,72,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,35,\
00,35,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E44E5D18-0652-4508-A4E2-8A090067BCB0}\Shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E44E5D18-0652-4508-A4E2-8A090067BCB0}\Shell\Open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E44E5D18-0652-4508-A4E2-8A090067BCB0}\Shell\Open\Command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,65,00,78,00,70,00,6c,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,\
65,00,20,00,2f,00,4e,00,2c,00,20,00,3a,00,3a,00,7b,00,36,00,34,00,35,00,46,\
00,46,00,30,00,34,00,30,00,2d,00,35,00,30,00,38,00,31,00,2d,00,31,00,30,00,\
31,00,42,00,2d,00,39,00,46,00,30,00,38,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,41,00,41,00,30,\
00,30,00,32,00,46,00,39,00,35,00,34,00,45,00,7d,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Approved]
“{E44E5D18-0652-4508-A4E2-8A090067BCB0}”=”Recycle Bin command object for Start menu”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\StartMenu\StartPanel\ShowSetProgramAccessAndDefaults]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\StartMenu\StartPanel\ShowRecycleBin]
“Type”=”checkbox”
“Text”=”@shell32.dll,-8964″
“HKeyRoot”=dword:80000001
“RegPath”=”Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Advanced”
“ValueName”=”Start_ShowRecycleBin”
“CheckedValue”=dword:00000001
“UncheckedValue”=dword:00000000
“DefaultValue”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\StartMenu\StartPanel\ShowRecycleBin\Policy]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\StartMenu\StartPanel\ShowRecycleBin\Policy\NoRecycleBin]

3. Save the document as recyclebin_on_startmenu.reg.

4. Double-click the new file to merge it into the Registry.

5. Continue through the UAC prompt and confirm that you wish to perform the action.

6. Restart you computer (or simply stop and start Explorer.exe from the Task Manager).