UIS Tip of the Week: Saving File Storage Space by Emptying Your Trash Folder

So you just tossed into your trash container that two-week-old sandwich sitting in your refrigerator. Is it gone from your home or office forever? Nope. Well, sure, it's in the trash, but that sandwich, along with any other science experiments you threw away, is still in your kitchen. Those ancient foodstuffs aren't going anywhere until you take your trash to the curb so that your friendly neighborhood sanitation person picks it up and takes it to the local landfill. Well, removing files from your computer works the same (of course, your files won't have the radiant multi-colored hue as your science experiments.)

So just because you "deleted" your files, this doesn't mean that they're gone from your computer. When deleted, your file sits in your computer's trash folder (Recycle Bin on Windows computers, and Trash on Mac computers) until you "empty" the trash. So you need to empty the trash folder so that the files are removed permanently from your computer.

If you delete a lot of files but don't empty your Trash folder regularly, your storage space can quickly add up (your Trash folder contents counts towards your total space usage). This also applies to your e-mail (GUMail) account. And don't forget to empty the trash at home.

 

Emptying Your Windows Trash Folder (Recycle Bin)

1. Look for the Recycle Bin icon on your Desktop.
2. Right-click on the Recycle Bin icon.
3. Select Empty Recycle Bin.

 

Emptying Your Mac Trash Folder

1. In the Finder, select Empty Trash or Secure Empty Trash from the Finder menu.
2. Click OK when you're asked if you want to remove the items permanently.