Files deleted from recycle bin still there

If I go to a DOS prompt and look at the recycle bin -

cd c:\recycle
dir

I have old .txt, .jpg, and .exe files that don't show up in Windows Explorer. Windows Find doesn't find them. I can delete them in DOS, or I can copy them from recycle to another folder and see them in Windows. From that folder, I can read the .txt files and view the .jpgs.

I recognize them as old files of mine. Windows apparently didn't delete them from the recycle bin as instructed. I wonder what other unknowns are lurking on my hard drive.

Is this a known problem? Does anyone else see this? If not, maybe it's time I do a clean install of Windows. (Win98SE)

 

Do this command in pure dos mode, not a dos window.
deltree c:\recycled
Press Y that you want to delete. If you have more than one hard drive, you will need to do each drive's recycled folder for this to work. There are a couple of really hidden files in that folder that may be causing this problem and this is the best way to get rid of them.
Reboot, and that folder(s) will be recreated when windows starts up.

 

Wow! There must have been a lot of hidden stuff in there. The HD ground away for at least 10 seconds deleting it.

Back to what serves as normal, I hope. Thanks.