Windows 8 and 8.1 by default won’t show a delete confirmation dialog, this can be annoying if you’re used to the confirmation dialog or you accidentally hit DEL all the time, so let’s re-enable it
Open The Recycle Bin Properties
1. First of all, let’s open the desktop. Once you’re on the desktop, make sure the Recycle bin is on it – if not, you have to enable it first. You can do that by right-clicking the desktop and then clicking on “Personalize”, for the full instructions read our other guides
2. Right-click on the Recycle Bin desktop icon and click on Properties as seen below
3. Once you do that, you should see a window and at the bottom a checkbox titled Display Delete Confirmation Dialog – make sure to check this box
4. Click Apply and you’re done
Deleting Files Without Moving Them To The Recycle Bin (With Enabled Deletion Dialog)
Obviously, once you have re-enabled the deletion confirmation dialog as described above (step 1-3), then you COULD also enable the option that Windows will not move files to the recycle bin and instead remove them from your hard drive. This may help you to free up and save a lot of disk space in the long run, but could be potentially dangerous if you frequently restore files from the recycle bin. If you never restore items from the recycle bin you may want to enable it
1. Follow steps 1-2 above
2. Select the option Dont Move Files To The Recycle Bin and click on Apply
Conclusion And What To Do When You Accidentally Delete Files For Good
Make sure to properly configure the recycle bin and know what settings are currently applied or you may accidentally delete files for good when you hit the DEL key
If you accidentally delete files for good you will need some recovery software for Windows 7 to get the files back. Make sure NOT to install the program on the same partition or you may overwrite the files and they are then completely lost – better yet install a portable recovery software and put it on an external drive or USB flash drive