Right-click the Desktop, and choose Personalize. Then click on "Change
desktop icons", under Tasks (on the left side of the window). Put a check
next to Recycle Bin.
You probably rightclicked on the Bin and chose 'delete' instead of
'empty bin'. To get it back rightclick on your desktop -> choose
'personalize'-> in the left pane choose 'Change desktop icons'.
--
Mamamegs.
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
(Adam Savage)
Right-click on the Desktop, click Personalize, and in the left pane, click Change desktop icons. In the Desktop Icon Settings dialog, enable the Recycle Bin checkbox. Click OK. See also:
In addition to the instructions from the other posters, do us all a favor
and send a complaint to Microsoft. Several of us warned the Vista Team
during beta testing that putting Delete on the context menu was going to
lead to this kind of thing. It is the one place where "Delete" and "Empty"
just sound too much alike, given what the user is wanting to do. I argued
that "Hide the Recycle Bin" was a better choice. Someone at MS got hung up
on "consistency" across context menus.