Rename the Recycle Bin in WinXP

This quick tutorial explains how to rename the Recycle Bin in WinXP. For those of us who like to customize our desktop environments.

Step 1

To rename the Recycle Bin in Windows XP, create a new text.txt file in your favorite directory and add the following lines:

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder]
"Attributes"=hex:50,01,00,20"CallForAttributes"=dword:00000000

Step 2

Next, rename the file extension from .txt to .reg — the other part of the file name may be whatever you prefer (e.g., RecycleBin.reg). Then, double-click the file to have Windows import it into the Registry. Now go right-click your Recycle Bin and use the new option to Rename it.

Congrats, you just renamed the WinXP Recycle Bin. I like to rename mine to something simpler, like “Trash”, “Hole”, or whatever.

Restore default name

To remove renaming functionality for the Recycle Bin, replicate the same file you created initially, and replace the last line (i.e., the third line) with the following:

"Attributes"=hex:40,01,00,20"CallForAttributes"=dword:00000000

Again, double-click the file to import it into the Registry.

About the Author

Jeff Starr = Web Developer. Book Author. Secretly Important.