I thought that this piece of information was pretty common knowledge, but apparently it isn't so I'm discussing it today. When you delete an email, it gets moved to the Deleted Items folder and accumulates there. When you delete any type of file or document on your computer, it goes to the Recycle Bil and accumulates there unti you empty it.

For email in almost any email program (except AOL), you can RIGHT click on the Deleted Items (Trash) folder and click "Empty Deleted Iterms (Trash)" option. You will then be asked if you are 'sure' that you want to delete all of the trash…click Yes. In Outlook Express, you find this function in the Edit menu as well. Outlook users will find it in the Tools menu, and Mozilla or Thunderbird users will find a similar funciton in the File menu.

For the Windows Recycle Bin, RIGHT click on it and then click "Empty Recyle Bin" to dump everything in it in one step. Lastly, keep in mind that if you hold down the Shift key on your keyboard while deleting anything, it will bypass the recycle bin or trash.

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1. Remember to take out the trash!
2. Delete your email twice
3. Keep your system running clean
4. Export your PST folder
5. How to fix Windows Mail when you can’t delete messages

Tags: delete, email, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Windows

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 29th, 2006 at 11:45 pm and is filed under Email Tips, Riding Shotgun with Rick, Windows Tips. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.