Die, you nasty file!

January 8, 2008 by Isaac

I am all about efficiency. In conversations I try to cut right to the chase. At work I try to sort through all the cruft people tell me and find what is really important. Years ago I came up with a little law that has yet to be proven wrong. The productivity of a meeting is inversely proportional to the number of managers in attendance. Yes, I am politically incorrect.

The same basic efficiency is what irks me when I try to delete a file on a Windows computer. First, you highlight the file. Then you press delete. Then you confirm that you really do want to recycle the file. Finally, you empty the recycle bin, only to be prompted again on whether you really want to delete those files. YES, dangit! Delete the files!

A single confirmation is still a good idea, so here is how to bypass most of those steps and just get rid of the files: press shift-delete. Yep, that's it. You will still be asked to confirm, but this time your actions cannot be undone. The file(s) will be gone forever, without seeing the recycle bin.

Posted in Administration, Windows