Q I share a Windows 95 PC at work. Invariably, the other users open their own documents, and this messes up the recent documents listing available from the Start menu. They also leave the Recycle Bin full. Is there any way of deleting all the contents of the Recycle Bin and clearing the recent documents listing at start-up or shut down?

A Files listed on the Documents menu can be cleared very easily whenever Windows 95 is shut down, but you will need Tweak UI ù part of the PowerToys add-ons for Windows 95 (available on our cover CD and from www.microsoft.com).

However, this means that you will not be able to access your own recently opened documents. A better solution would be to set up individual user profiles. Do this by going to the Passwords Control Panel. Select the User Profiles tab and click on the radio button labelled Users can customize their preferences and desktop settingsà You don't have to worry about the other options in this dialogue box ù you can select them according to your own personal preference. Each user will need to log on with a different username, but you will get individual listings of recent documents.

Caption: This "instant death" option effectively disables the Recycle Bin, but requires users to be cautious when deleting files

Caption: User profiles are useful when many users share a single PC

For the Recycle Bin, the only solution I can think of is to set the properties to delete files immediately. Right-click on the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop and choose Properties from the context menu. Select the Global tab and then click the checkbox marked Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately on delete. Be warned that this option will mean that every file that you delete will be permanently lost. It would be worthwhile discussing this with your co-users so that they are aware of this.