How can I recover a deleted file from my computer recycling bin?

When Microsoft introduced the Recycle Bin in Windows 95, it
immediately became a failsafe for many users. If you delete
a file and realize that you actually need it, you can recover
it easily by doing the following:

* Open the Recycle Bin by double-clicking on the Recycle
Bin icon on your desktop (or you can go to the Recycle Bin
folder in Windows Explorer).
* Find the file you want to recover and click to
highlight it.
* Go to the File menu and choose the Restore option (or
right click over the filename and select Restore from the
context-sensitive menu).
* The file is now back on your computer in its original
place.

While the Recycle Bin is a great utility, there are times
that a file is not placed in the Recycle Bin when you delete
it. These include files from removable storage such as flash
memory and Zip disks, files deleted from within some
applications, and files deleted from the command prompt.
Also, there are times that you will empty the Recycle Bin and
then realize that there was a file you wanted to keep.

A common misconception is that the data is actually removed
from the hard drive (erased) when you delete a file. Any time
that a file is deleted on a hard drive, it is not erased.
Instead, the tiny bit of information that points to the
location of the file on the hard drive is erased. This
pointer, along with other pointers for every folder and file
on the hard drive, is saved in a section near the beginning
of the hard drive and is used by the operating system to
compile the directory tree structure. By erasing the pointer
file, the actual file becomes invisible to the operating
system. Eventually, the hard drive will write new data over
the area where the old file is located.

There are several hard disk utilities that you can find on
the Internet that allow you to recover "deleted" files. What
these utilities do is search for data on the hard drive that
does not have corresponding pointer information and present
you with a list of these files. Your chances of fully
recovering a file diminish the longer you wait after you
deleted the file since the probability that the file has been
overwritten increases. Sometimes you can recover portions of
a file that has not been completely overwritten.