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Disable Delete Confirmation Dialog in Windows Vista

Every time you delete a file, Windows asks you "Are you sure you want to move this file to the Recycle Bin?" This is typically a good thing, to prevent you from deleting files by accident, but if you are trying to do some cleanup and need to delete a lot of files, you might not want to be prompted every single time.

There's a simple way to turn it off, thankfully, although I'd recommend you leave it on the majority of the time.

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Just right-click on your Recycle Bin and choose Properties from the menu.

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Now you'll see the Trash Properties dialog, and notice the "Display delete confirmation dialog" at the bottom.

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Just uncheck the box, and close the dialog. No more confirmations!  (I'd still recommend that you turn it back on when you are done cleaning up your computer)

The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. When he's not coming up with great how-to articles, he's probably writing at his personal blog. This article was written on 07/24/07 and tagged with: Windows Vista, Desktop Customization

Comments (2)

  1. Itanium

    Well, just press the Shift key while deleting (either with Delete key or mouse) and it will bypass the Recycle Bin all together. Of course, this is when you really know that you won't need to recover the file from Recycle Bin :-)

  2. Wes

    No, Itanium that does something a bit different.

    Shift + Delete = permenant delete without prompt.
    Uncheckmarking the checkmark box = the item goes straight to the recycle bin without the prompt.

    This removes the prompt but doesn't permanently delete the file. So its safer for your data and removes the annoyance of the prompt. If you find it annoying. I've just gotten used to it using windows for years.


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