Recycle Bin. What is this folder? Isn't it a virus? RECYCLER - what is this folder

Today a neighbor came to me for help and said: “ I deleted $RECYCLE.BIN, how to restore it?!“In general, strange things happen to him. Once, after his bluetooth failed, he decided to clean his computer and erased all the blue documents and files from it.

Because I thought that since the Bluetooth label on the table is this color, then everything that is the same shade belongs to it. It’s not hard to guess how it all ended, of course - reinstalling Windowws 10. So I'm not too surprised that he did it.

Removed $RECYCLE.BIN

Even if this happened, it will recover itself after some time. But if this does not happen, you can try the next method.

In the command line (Administrator), re-register the recycle bin in the system. Run the command

and restart your computer.

If you have several volumes involved (also D, E, F, etc.), then write a command for each

$RECYCLE.BIN – what is this folder?

And this is nothing more than a basket, and the same one that is on the desktop, and where we throw all the documents we don’t need.

To be more precise, everything that we transferred to the trash can, which is located on the desktop, is placed in it. Placed files and documents wait in the wings until they are restored or destroyed, or it clears itself (in the properties you need to set the maximum size, as in my case - it is 17109 MB).

The directory is a system and is initially closed from public view. In order for it to be visible, you must open protected system files. This can be done in the “Folder Options” - you need to uncheck the corresponding item.

That's all. Hope. The information in this post helped you. Be sure to share it with your friends and like it. Thank you!

There are so many viruses today that it’s impossible to count them. Some of them can be quite dangerous, in particular those that settle on removable devices, blocking access to them, and then penetrating the operating system itself. For example, the Recycler virus on a flash drive works in a hidden form in this way. It is often impossible to remove it using standard methods. Next, we’ll look at how to get rid of this threat if it is present on a USB drive. We will focus on the manual method, since anti-virus protection tools sometimes cannot neutralize it.

Recycler threat: what is it?

If we consider this threat in terms of its initial presence on USB drives, we can immediately note that the first sign of infection is precisely the blocking of access to the device. When using the same double click, the system begins to display messages indicating that an access error has occurred.

Sometimes files and folders saved on the media may be displayed, but when you try to open them or even simply select them, you receive a notification that the item you are looking for is not found.

In system startup and the Task Manager, strange processes like cbtww.exe or fpewkqk.exe appear among the active elements, which ultimately leads to an incredible increase in the load on system resources (even the system often crashes completely, and after that requires a complete reinstallation).

Sometimes, however, a virus can masquerade as processes of trusted programs like Opera.exe or system processes svchost.exe. In this case, you need to look at the CPU load, as well as establish the location of the components responsible for these processes through the RMB menu, and then terminate them if it turns out that they are in doubt.

This is the Recycler virus. What this is, I hope, is a little clear. Now we will move on to practical steps to rid the system of this threat.

How to remove Recycler virus: preliminary steps

Since the threat is activated just at the moment of attempting to access removable storage, installing its executable elements in the above sections of the system, you first need to get rid of them.

First, let’s end all active processes in the Task Manager that have a meaningless set of characters instead of a name.

After this, you need to enter the autostart section and uncheck all suspicious services. In Windows 10, the startup tab is located directly in the “Task Manager”, and in versions below it is located in the system configurator, which is called by the msconfig command in the “Run” menu. After completing all the described actions, the system must be rebooted.

Changes to file display attributes

This is an unusual Recycler virus. We figured out what it is. Now let's see how to get rid of it completely. It will not be possible to simply find threat components on USB drives, since they all have the attributes of hidden objects.

Thus, first in Explorer you need to use the view menu, where you specify the display of hidden files and directories. However, it is too early to rejoice. Yes, the components of the virus are visible (the RECYCLER folder and the automatic start file Autorun.inf), but you cannot simply remove them, since they have appropriate protection.

Manual removal of virus components

But how then to remove all components of the threat? The Recycler file may not be present on the device, and you only need to get rid of the main directory and the autostart component.

Here you can use standard Notepad, enter the line attrib -s -h/d/s into it and save the created document under any name with manually installing the BAT extension. Now you should run this file. After the start, a command console window will appear, which will close automatically after executing the command entered in the document. And only now you can safely delete the above elements from the flash drive.

To simplify the actions you perform, you can use a small utility called NexusFile in the form of a file manager, which can both show the components of the virus and automatically remove protection from them. To display files and directories, use the combination Alt + Z, and to completely remove virus elements after selecting them, use Shift + Ctrl + D.

Scanning with handheld tools

That's all about the Recycler virus in a nutshell. What kind of threat is this? This is a very dangerous applet that can affect the system in the most critical way. To be completely sure that the threat has been neutralized, just in case, after carrying out all the steps described above, you should check the flash drive with some portable scanner program like Dr. Web CureIt!, although if you wish, you can use it at the very first stage. However, if you do not end all virus processes at least in the same “Task Manager” and do not disable virus components in system autostart, you cannot always count on complete removal. Therefore, it is better to use the manual neutralization method. At least it is she who guarantees the complete and irrevocable removal of this dangerous threat once and for all.

Continuing the topic of “obscure” files that a user can find on his computer, today we’ll look at a folder called RECYCLER (in Windows XP), or $Recycle.Bin on Seven.

This folder is located at the root of each disk, and has the hidden and system attribute. Therefore, if you have the option to show hidden files disabled, you will not see this folder.

Accordingly, in order to see this folder, you need to enable these options. This is done in the folder options, in the View tab. You can read about this in more detail in the previous article: “”.

I have already written more than once that when a file is deleted from the hard drive, it first goes to the recycle bin. So, the RECYCLER folder is and there is basket, where all deleted files are stored (I remind you that in Windows 7 it is called $Recycle.Bin).

In fact, when you delete a file or folder in the trash, it is not deleted at all, but the object is moved to this same $Recycle.Bin folder.

Each disk has its own recycle bin (the $Recycle.Bin folder is at the root of each partition). But when you open the Recycle Bin, you will see all the deleted files together.

Deleted files will be stored in the Recycle Bin until you empty it or until you restore the files. They can also be “crowded out” by other files when the recycle bin is completely full.

Right-click on the trash can icon (the one on the desktop) and go to properties.

In principle, everything is clear here, but I’ll still describe it in a little more detail:

1) The item “Request confirmation for deletion”, if checked, then before deleting (moving to the trash) a window will appear in which you will need to confirm your intention.

2) In the “Trash Location” item, select the drive for which you want to make settings:

A)“Set size”, here you can increase the maximum size if a message appears that the folder or file you are deleting is too large to fit in the trash.

P.S. When the Recycle Bin is full, new files will be placed in it at the expense of permanently deleting old ones. So you should not make the basket size too small.

b) The name of the second item speaks for itself; if you select it, the files will be deleted permanently, that is, bypassing the trash can.

P.S. It's better not to select this option. And if you need to permanently delete a file, you can do this using Shift + Delete.

And one more thing, even if you permanently delete files, they can still be restored later using special software. In the article “” you can get acquainted with one of such programs.

So if you need to delete a file in such a way that it cannot be restored later, you also need to use special programs for these purposes. For example you can use .

If you need to delete absolutely everything from the disk, there is special software for such purposes. The article “” discusses a similar program (be careful, it deletes all information from the entire disk, not from one partition, but from the entire physical disk!).

The folder called Recycle.Bin remains completely invisible to most users. Of course, this is a system folder, and therefore seeing it, to put it mildly, is problematic, unless, of course, you decide to properly study your operating system - the folder is hidden from view.

In order to see this folder, as they say, “live”, you need to use the functionality of the operating system. Go to “Computer”, click on the “Arrange” button, and when the menu appears, select “Folder and Search Options” from it.

A window will appear. Go to the View tab, here you will see additional folder options. Find the item “Show hidden files, folders and drives” and check the box next to it. And just above, uncheck the “Hide protected system files” checkbox. Click OK.

Voila, here is the folder:

Don't forget to restore the previous folder settings later.

So what is the Recycle.Bin folder? In fact, everything is very simple - it’s just the one where you send files and folders for deletion. In fact, when a file is deleted, the latter is moved to the RECYCLE.BIN folder, where it waits in the wings: either complete deletion or restoration. After some time, the folder will be cleared, for example, if the volume of deleted files exceeds a certain limit, older files are deleted.

The most interesting thing here is that on each of the local drives on your computer you will find this very folder. Yes, yes, when you delete a file, it is moved exactly to the recycle bin of the disk where it was physically located. When the user opens the Recycle Bin on the desktop, he sees all the deleted files, regardless of which drive they were previously located on.

By the way, many users believe that Recycle.Bin is a virus, but this is not the case, as I convinced you of above. Of course, in isolated cases the Recycle.Bin folder can indeed be a virus, but this happens rarely.

How to delete the Recycle.Bin folder?

There is no need to remove it - just hide it from view using the method described above. In this case, you will never see this folder at all.

By the way, if you delete a folder in the usual way, then after some time it will still appear on the disk - when you delete something.

Hello everyone Today we will talk about a folder like $RECYCLE.BIN, what kind of folder it is and whether it can be deleted. This means that you probably could have noticed the $RECYCLE.BIN folder in the root of the disk, and it doesn’t matter what kind of disk it is, system or not, but if I’m not mistaken, then such a folder is on every disk. If you don’t see this folder, it means that you have disabled showing hidden files, the folder is hidden

Well, guys, what is this $RECYCLE.BIN folder? Here I will write what I know, this is the folder in which the Windows Recycle Bin is stored, you can also say that this folder contains all the files that you deleted. But essentially it’s like the basket itself. Each disk has its own $RECYCLE.BIN folder, and what was deleted on the disk is placed there. It’s clear that you can safely delete the $RECYCLE.BIN folder, there is no danger here, well, at least I didn’t have any fun after deleting it. Everything worked as well and stably as before, I tell you this honestly.

Personally, I have this folder both on the system drive and on another drive, and this has always been the case, so the presence of the $RECYCLE.BIN folder is the norm, I’ll tell you. I will also say that your folder can be named not only in capital letters, but also in small ones, that is, like $Recycle.Bin, this is also normal. I also found out that there is a dollar sign in the folder name, do you know what that means? This means that this folder is temporary! Even I didn’t know this...

So this is how things are guys. Look, I have this folder on the system drive (letter C):

Although I deleted it, it appeared again. On another drive (letter D) it is also there, see:

On both drives, I deleted these folders a couple of minutes ago, but they appeared again. Well, what should you do, this is normal, after all, they are system folders, they are hidden for a reason. Then I turned on my test virtual computer, it has Windows 7, and guys there is no folder $RECYCLE.BIN, look:

And here’s the funny thing, why isn’t she there? Maybe in Windows 7 this folder does not exist at all? The whole joke is that I wrote that the folder is hidden, right? Well, but in this virtual computer with Windows 7, hidden files are not displayed, that’s the whole joke! Therefore, you need to enable the display of hidden files, just in case, let me write you how to do it, you never know... So look, hold down the Win + R buttons, then the Run window will appear, you write the following command there:

Click OK, then you will see a window with icons, if suddenly there are no icons, then you need to select Large icons here:

Then you need to find the Folder Options icon, here it is:

Launch this icon, you will see a window with all sorts of settings. Here you need to go to the View tab and check the last three checkboxes at the bottom there and set the switch to Show hidden files, folders and drives:

In short, you need to do it like this, as shown in the picture, if you have Windows 10, then almost everything is done there as well. After that, I looked again at the system drive and there is already a folder here, but you see, here it is called the same, but the letters are no longer capital, but small:

And then there’s a lock hanging something... So, well, now let’s try to go into this folder, so I double-click on the folder, go in, this is what’s inside, look:

Well, that is, I think that there are no questions here, right? And so everything is clear, the Basket lives here, as I basically said. Well, if you go to this Recycle Bin, then the files that you deleted will already be there. In Windows 10 the situation is the same, you will also see that there is a Recycle Bin inside:

Well, that is, everything is the same. By the way, if you right-click on the Recycle Bin and select Properties there, then you will have a window in which it is written that this is the Recycle Bin and it lives at the address C:\$RECYCLE.BIN, see :

Well guys, I think everything is clear.. As I already wrote, you can delete this $RECYCLE.BIN folder, but keep in mind that if you delete it, your Recycle Bin will also be cleared! If suddenly the folder does not want to be deleted, and you really need to do this, really, really, then I advise you to look at the utility, it is a master at such things

But here guys there is one more problem... You may have a folder not $RECYCLE.BIN, but $RECYCLER.BIN, or something similar, that is, the folder is also hidden, but its name differs a little, well, by one letter. Once again, the folder is hidden and its name differs by one letter, does this mean anything to you? I'll tell you what it looks like, it smells very much like viruses. They do everything so that you don’t notice them, they can even disguise themselves as the $RECYCLE.BIN folder, if you see a similar folder, but there is no Recycle Bin inside, this is very, very strange, most likely it is a virus and you need to check your computer with anti-virus utilities. Although guys, for security reasons, it’s better not to even go inside the folder, which looks like $RECYCLE.BIN, because a virus might work (there’s such a thing, I’m not making this up).

In short, guys, I’m telling you honestly, if you have any suspicions, check your computer for viruses. How? Well, first, check with powerful utilities against really dangerous viruses, this is a utility and a utility. Dr.Web CureIt! This is a really high-quality and powerful utility, many already know about it, it does its job perfectly. Kaspersky Security Scan is not even a utility, but a scanner that also does its job well. Both utilities find viruses, Trojans, both old and new. And finally, I highly recommend that you check your computer with the utility, it is a specialist in finding advertising viruses that push advertising everywhere they can. Believe me, check your computer with these three utilities and 95% of the time you can sleep peacefully, honestly

Guys, I found a picture, look, it shows the properties of the shortcut, inside of which it is indicated that the virus is launched from the RECYCLER folder (the last letter should not actually be there):

This is just an example of how a folder that is similar in name to RECYCLE may contain a virus. Here’s another example, there’s already a virus folder on a flash drive, look:

And inside on the flash drive there is a virus called Lcass.exe, this is the name so that it starts and looks like the original Windows process lsass.exe, do you understand what a joke it is?

It's not a joke, but here I learned something... In short, it seems that in Windows XP (already ancient), then there seems to be a folder called RECYCLER, that is, not RECYCLE, but RECYCLER! But in new Windows, that is, in Windows 7, in Windows 10, I only saw RECYCLER there! In short, guys, I’ll tell you again that if you suspect viruses, then check your computer with anti-virus utilities, I’ve already written which ones, this is my personal advice to you, my personal!

Well guys, that’s all, I hope that everything was clear to you, now you know what kind of folder $RECYCLE.BIN is and whether it can be deleted. Well, if something is wrong, then you'll excuse me. Good luck in life